Design ideas for computer equipment enclosure

[Adrian Ponik]

Hi everyone,


My wife and I recently bought a new house and in the process I kind of lost my office space. There isn't a dedicated room like I used to have for a desk and computers. For most people this is no big deal, but I'm kind of a nerd and have 3 servers currently stacked up. They each look like this:


http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/11-147-154-02.jpg
Dimentions: 7" tall, 17" wide, 24" deep


The only real place for these that I can find in the new house is either in the basement (which makes me nervous) or in the living room next to the entertainment center. SWMBO has ok'ed the living room placement as long as I can come up with some way of disguising/storing them. What I'm hoping to do is create an Arts and Crafts/Mission style server rack of sorts. Ideally it would allow the 3 servers to be pulled out on slides (while not disconnecting everything), have doors that would close to mostly obscure the hardware but still allow good airflow to the components. I'm having a hard time combining these requirements into something workable. The things I'm coming up with all seem to have proportions that don't really fit with the Arts and Crafts/Mission style I'm going for (I think it's because the cabinet has to be so deep). For example, I could take something like this and make it fit the dimensions, but it just looks strange when I draw it out being deeper than it is wide.
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/bizchair1_2276_12903459107


I've toyed with the idea of making something like the above, but having the doors be fake with the side being the true door, but I'm not sure I want to go down that road quite yet.


I'm open to any and all suggestions (including telling me I'm nuts and to just stick the stuff in the basement).


Thanks!


-Adrian

[Matt Meiser]

Stick the stuff in the basement! Just be sure its up off the floor and you'll be fine. While you are at it, install a battery backup sump pump system then be sure to check and maintain it a couple times a year.

My main reasoning is the noise a server generates. Even my switch is a little noisy but no one knows with it in the basement.

[Bob Michaels]

Your instinct, of deeper than wide being awkward, is right on the money. Also, if you need it in the living room, your idea of wider than deep, with the doors on the end, is the solution.

[Julie Moriarty]

Adrian, I'm with Matt, create a shelving system in the basement, up high, for the servers. More and more we are seeing plain, unencumbered workspaces with everything that can be hidden, out of sight. You can put your woodworking skills into a suspended table and shelving system, a trestle table, or any of a number of possibilities that will go well with the area where the computer(s) will go. As Leonardo da Vinci is quoted as saying, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." :)

[Vijay Kumar]

If you do the cabinet, make sure you allow for adequate ventilation. The enclosed cabinet does not allow for much air circulation. You would be better off putting it in rack in the basement.

[Mike Heidrick]

Id scrap the servers and go with something small and fanless like a gigabyte brix and a nas. It will mount on the back of your monitor (4"X4"X1") and very low power utilization.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Go with the basement. It will keep the servers nice and cool and extend their life.

[Joe Jensen]

I too would be very concerned with the heat the servers generate. Not just for their safety in the cabinet but also the amount of heat they will put into the room. In the winter it's ok, but in the summer you may not want that heat in a living space.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The only real place for these that I can find in the new house is either in the basement (which makes me nervous)
As a retired network engineer/database administrator, w over 25 years of hands on experience building networks and repairing both PC's and servers -
+1 (or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5) to the basement.

Server rooms are always air conditioned year round for good reason...
Heat kills electronics.

[Greg R Bradley]

Basement!

A typical rack mount case is designed for a completely open front and back for free airflow. I've had some issues with early enclosed racks with a front that was 2/3 glass with a completely open rear. I have to remove the door on my own APC AR1000 rack since it is the early type with partial glass front. The later ones are mesh front and rear.

I also have one 5u server, UPS, router, firewall, and network switch in a cabinet similar to the one in your picture. It stands in the middle of an office with no walls nearby. It is 46" deep with wood mesh doors that is 1/3 open holes. The doors are 24" and 15" wide. We ended up removing the 15" wide door and it still required drilling a second 3" diameter hole in the top to stay as cool as we would like. That is a HP ML350 G6 server with just one E5540 and 5 SAS drives so likely making less heat than your 3 units.

Three 5u cases could hold a lot of equipment. How much heat is generated?

[Chris Friesen]

I'm a computer guy too. If your rackmount servers are anything like the usual ones, they're not exactly quiet.

Another vote for the basement, up on a high shelf.

[Doug Richardson]

Another nerd votes basement. Our server-router-switches, etc....., require a lot of wiring exiting from the source. Wouldn't be easy to disguise upstairs.....

[Adrian Ponik]

Ok, so I'll try to address the things I'm seeing brought up.

Noise - they're quiet. I built the servers myself. One I really isn't a server, it's a router I built using an old P3 board and chip with a bunch of NICs. It doesn't have a fan installed because the heat sink is so massive, so that has zero noise. File server has 6 drives on a SAS card with 4 fans, but they are big 120mm fans that spin slow. Also quiet and run pretty cool. 3rd server is just a web server, same board and chip as the file server, but just 2 drives. The stack is sitting next to me at the moment and the hard drive on my laptop makes more noise than the server stack does. Heck, the Home theater pc that is currently right next to the TV makes more noise, and it's quiet enough to watch movies/TV from.

Heat - they do kick out some heat, but not as much as you might expect. They're currently in an extra bedroom/office that is 10x12. With the door closed it's about 2* F warmer than the rest of the house. Not a ton, but some.

There are a couple reasons why I don't want to put them in the basement. One is the concern for moisture/flooding. I doubt it will happen, but if it does I'm screwed. Second is that there is no incoming cable or phone line into the basement, so I would have to figure out how to run a line (regardless of my internet provider) to the basement and then re-run all the ethernet cables in the house from that point. Not impossible, but just not fun. The only things I really need wired are the servers and the home theater PC. The living room is currently where the incoming internet feed is, so I was just thinking it would be simpler to put all the infrastructure (modem, servers, HTPC, and wireless access point) in one place and not have to run a bunch of new cable. If I put the servers in the basement, the HTPC would be in the living room, and the wifi access point would have to go somewhere on the main floor (2 story house with basement, so putting the access point in the basement won't get good enough coverage). So I'd be looking at a minimum of 3 drops just by putting them in the basement and unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective) the basement is totally finished with a drywalled ceiling. If it was unfinished I would just run the lines, but trying to fish cable through a finished ceiling and go through joists just isn't my idea of a good time.

[Gabe Shackle]

Well, if you really want to have it in some kind of enclosure I would look at maybe using some speaker fabric type material to allow some airflow. I could see making something that's along the lines of an antique radio or tv console where the speakers are built in on either side. You could easily mount some fans behind the screens and create a decent positive/negative airflow from side to side. Maybe something along the lines of this:

276859

Found here: http://furnishmevintage.com/accessories/vintage-1960s-philco-q-1715-solid-s/

[Garth Almgren]

You could buy a small rack like this one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133039) and add some A&C/Mission style sides and top, and as Gabe said some breathable fabric in a frame for the front and open on the back to keep air moving. Depending on how much heat they kick out you might need to add a large diameter exhaust fan (to keep things relatively quiet).

[Chris Merriam]

I copied an idea from Salamander AV furniture and made my doors out of perforated metal (a grid of small holes). Went to a metal shop and asked if they had any leftovers. They cut and gave them to me for free. I spray painted them gloss black and they look just like the furniture in the store. Obviously not Arts/Crafts, but maybe you could do the rear panel that way.

[Jamie Buxton]

Do the servers have to sit horizontal, like the OP's pic? Could they be okay standing vertical? If so, the cabinet would not have to be 27" front-to-back. It could be more like 18" front-to-back, so the overall proportions would be better.