The hot and humid days of summer are upon us again, stress testing the limits of our cooling systems. And while many organizations have converted to colos and cloud computing, there are still many small- to mid-sized data centers and “server rooms” in operation. I have written about this before, but many firms still see their data center cooling systems pushed to, and sometimes beyond, their limits. So you may want to consider using some of these cooling tips to keep your servers from overheating.
There are many posts about ASHRAE’s expanded thermal guidelines and free cooling, but that doesn’t really help if you are in a site with marginal cooling units. This is also a common issue for server rooms located in mixed-use buildings that are not using large dedicated cooling systems or systems with enough extra capacity for those very hot summer days. Virtually any cooling system’s performance will decrease with higher outdoor temperatures and humidity. Many IT departments are “sweating” out the summer (again), hoping that they will not have servers suddenly crashing from temperature shutdowns.