How to justify the need for a server room?

Question

Computer networks

Hello!!!
Colleagues, recently mine got a job as a sysadmin at a new place, where the server room is a 1x2m nook. Everything is almost back to back. Dust is walking. There are 2 servers, soon I will put the 3rd one. router, a couple of stand-alone commutators, a video recorder. Service is impossible. No matter how hot it gets in the summer. The company has computers under 40. Production is underway. A long break is unacceptable.
I want to write a service with justification for the need to organize a server room. Accordingly, everything needs to be written correctly, without ephemeral assumptions, but with a list of all the risks, confirming this with some technical arguments.
I propose to discuss everything that can be included in the service. It will be useful to our other colleagues as well.
Waiting for your suggestions!

Answer 1

In order
Quite a normal situation for a small company.
1) Clean up, clean up the place, tie up wires and tails.
2) Monitor temperature (and humidity). If the temperature rises above 80-100C on the processor - sound the alarm and turn off everything for the sake of saving data. Temperature data depends on the type of equipment, see specifications. The room temperature can be taken from the UPS.
3) Automate server shutdowns due to excessive temperature
4) Place an open rack. In a closed rack, the temperature will creep up! Well, points 1 and 2.
5) Once again about points 1 and 2.
6) I hope you have heard about backups, backups and recovery policy (is this a 2-3 page document that says what to do if everything "burned out")? Yes, backups should be stored in a separate room and made automatically and regularly!
7) To substantiate, you need to start from something, so far, without monitoring and stating the facts, this cannot be done in any way. Well, to be honest, I don’t see any point in organizing a server room at all. It is quite possible to get by with air conditioning and one rack.
Yes, do not forget that it would be nice to calculate the electrical load! If the power is from an ordinary "office" socket (which can be 10A, or can be 16A and higher), then at least you need to correctly supply the power - look at the equipment specifications for loads and add 50%. And it usually blazes due to power overloads, on a faulty machine, in a socket and wiring! The servers themselves burn very quietly, they just turn off....
Here, I decided to add. The optimum temperature (and there is also humidity) is from 10 to 28C, at a humidity of 40-60% without dew. Calculate the dew point yourself, here is a link to the temperature https://www.openxtra.co.uk/kb/recommended-server-r...

Answer 2

1. Get out of the server room already
2. Turn up the fan speed to the maximum so that it howls like a Boeing 747
3. Complain about the lack of air conditioning (if so)
4. Describe the risks of losing money and data, so that you won’t be told later that you did not frighten them convincingly enough (it was in my practice and such).
5. Estimate the budget for arranging the server room, but with a margin so that you can "shrink"

Answer 3

Everything is pretty simple.
In fact, the chance that you will be refused is very high - a server room of two squares is quite normal for such an office. You need to clean it (so that the dust does not walk) and put on air conditioning (so that the servers do not overheat).
Business is always justified in a language that it understands. That is, in the language of financial planning - here, for server equipment, an estimate of N rubles. Recovery of business processes in case of failure - M hours, downtime cost P rubles, total losses W rubles.
Have you already checked the availability of backups?

Answer 4

Simply:
1. The environment in the server room (due to air conditioning and clogged filters with dust), the percentage of depreciation of the existing equipment, and the quality of the power supply give a greater than 50% chance of the entire server room failing.
2. The price of information in the server room + loss of downtime + the cost of a new server room (servers, equipment, ventilation, wiring, etc.) will require much more costs (and not only financial!) than the costs of timely modernization of the server room.
1. We are waiting for when we have to face a major problem and lose a lot of money and time.
2. We invest now and reduce the risk to a minimum.

Answer 5

Business can only be intimidated by the loss of profits. Write a service if they refuse and everything burns down, then poke them in the face with it.

Answer 6

Recently, mine got a job as a sysadmin at a new place

Forward to a bright future! =)

Answer 7

Maybe it's time to move to the clouds?