Server Room Planning

Developing a secure and efficient server room is a top priority for IT professionals. Whether your company seeks to overhaul its current server room infrastructure or to design a server room from scratch, PTS expertise can help your company move from the planning stage through implementation and maintenance.

A server room should function as a carefully controlled environment. Choice of location, the amount of space required and the related power requirements are all important factors that need to be considered when building or redesigning a server room. PTS team of experts is trained to assess these factors and dozens more to design a server room perfectly suited to your needs. When it comes to providing scalability, flexibility, and high availability, our designs and resources set PTS apart from the competition. Our emphasis on planning and pre-design services guarantees that your company will receive optimal server room solutions that fit within your budget and time frame.

PTS’ Server Room Planning & Pre-Design services serve as the initial phase in the progression of the data center project process and data center lifecycle. This approach leverages the first four phases of the PTS Server Room project process for successful planning leading into cohesive design services which support client requirements.

The PTS capabilities provided for a Server Room Design project typically include the following tasks:

• Key Design Criteria (KDC) Development Establish Load, Availability, and Deployment Density Design Criteria
• Site Surveys Survey the Existing Conditions to Establish Facility Constraints
• Assessment Services Establish Recommendations for Upgrade and/or Improvement
• Conceptual Design with CFD Modeling Establish a Visual Representation of the Recommendations and Verify Design Considerations using CFD Models
• Project Cost Estimating Establish a Project Cost Estimate Including All Hardware, Labor, and Professional Services
• Preliminary Master Project Schedule Development Establish a Preliminary Schedule to Understand the Project Timeline
• Architectural & Engineering Design Plan and Engineer Room, Floor, Physical Security , and Other Intrinsic Elements Using Design Approaches Necessary for Mission Critical Facilities

A few server room design tips from the PTS pros:

In comparison to the rest of the facility, anticipate an increased requirement for power in the server room. It is common to install redundant, scalable UPS and power distribution systems to provide adequate power protection and branch circuits to accommodate the increased power needs. Be sure to position the equipment emphasizing ventilation, distribution length, and convenience.

Provide adequate cooling for the load. Nothing will impact the availability of your server room faster than insufficient cooling. Today’s infrastructure, while smaller, uses just as much power, and therefore, generates just as much heat. The space gained means more equipment and following, more heat in the same physical space. Anticipate the space required to add additional cooling infrastructure.

To protect your investment, limit access to server rooms by utilizing an access control and security system. Persons authorized to enter the locked server room should sign in and out using a visitors log. Although the room may be physically secured, use password protection at the device level as an additional safety measure.

Document all software and hardware changes, including: operating system updates, configuration changes, hot-fixes, server application updates and fixes, and network hardware swap outs and additions. This log book will provide a roadmap if an error occurs or you experience system failure.

Please contact us and tell us about your project. Give us the opportunity and well provide you with the justification you need to convince your management to take the next step.