Backyard data center

Ouroborus · April 27, 2017

I guess this technically falls under "exotic cooling".

I had some ideas about building a sort of server closet in the back yard. Thoughts?

These are both linked to Google docs.

mariushm · April 27, 2017

How many servers?

For a single 42u rack, I think a regular commercial air conditioning unit (maybe a step above the cheapest ones available) would be enough, you'd only have to add some dust filters and maybe something to remove humidity from air, in case you live in a humid region.

You don't need to make a freezer in that barn, the servers will be happy at 30-35c inside that place. The most sensitive components will be hard drives, which are best to work between 35c and 40c everything else can run 24/7 at up to 60-70c (for example in the case of processors)

I'd say stay stay away from server water cooling.

These days power supplies are fairly efficient, they won't produce as much heat as the ones that were used years ago in older generation servers.

As for networking, the cheaper and most compatible will probably be 10gbit through regular cat6a. Yeah, it will cost you initially the network card and the switch with at least 1 x 10gbps port but that's about it.

Ouroborus · April 28, 2017

4 minutes ago, mariushm said:

How many servers?

For a single 42u rack, I think a regular commercial air conditioning unit (maybe a step above the cheapest ones available) would be enough, you'd only have to add some dust filters and maybe something to remove humidity from air, in case you live in a humid region.

You don't need to make a freezer in that barn, the servers will be happy at 30-35c inside that place. The most sensitive components will be hard drives, which are best to work between 35c and 40c everything else can run 24/7 at up to 60-70c (for example in the case of processors)

I'd say stay stay away from server water cooling.

These days power supplies are fairly efficient, they won't produce as much heat as the ones that were used years ago in older generation servers.

As for networking, the cheaper and most compatible will probably be 10gbit through regular cat6a. Yeah, it will cost you initially the network card and the switch with at least 1 x 10gbps port but that's about it.

You make some good points and this is the kind of thing I'm interested in hearing about.

This is a personal project rather than a commercial endeavor. I'm imaging it would accumulate hardware as needs (wants) arise. A 42u rack, yes, but ranging from empty to full over a period of years. (Think of it as a hybrid personal computer/data center.) These leads to difficultly is trying to properly size an A/C system. The tank is supposed to even out what, at the beginning, would be an over-sized A/C system. I haven't been able to find a more appropriate technique. (Shipping container data center modules appear to have hookups for a local cold water source.) Area temperatures can range from -10 to 45c. In the event I want to experiment with a water cooled server, I could tie that into this cooling system.

My own, small home is well insulated and, with three computers running (and just me living there), is pretty toasty when I get home from work even down to outside temperatures as low as 10c. I usually only have to turn on the heat when it starts getting near freezing and the A/C tends to have trouble keeping up in the summer. Guesses I've made are largely based on that experience.

Tehuti Networks makes a $200 10GBASE-T card (TN9710x). I bought a couple on newegg and, once configured properly, they're pretty nice. My file server feels like SATA3 even when using SMB. The routers are another matter. Seems hard to find a "reasonably" priced router with all 10GBASE-T ports.