Considerations when building your IT Server rooms

August 23, 2018

by CYBTECH

Businesses, today, run through connectivity. It’s the time when getting disconnected from network or internet feels like lagging behind from competitors, especially when you are running an enterprise. Server rooms are the place where the connectivity of the business to the internet is taken care of, by configuring the physical infrastructure it needs.

Planning a server room while or before the complete infrastructure is getting planned will prove to be fruitful for businesses with efficient speed and flawless business flow through the internet. It might seem a place where servers, cables, wireless protocols, printers, monitors, and security appliances – everything works together.

Planning of the server room needs not only focus and attention to the present business capacity, but also, it needs to keep in mind future expansion plans, calculation of increased load on networks, safety of data during disasters, plan B for such situations and backup and recovery plans well in advance. In this article, we’ll talk about the considerations that an organization should keep in mind during the planning of a server room.

Some benefits of having a planned server room for a business

You are having a centralized space for data, network, servers, voice and security protocols and equipment.
The environment of a planned and well-maintained server room gives longevity to your precious equipment.
Easily welcome the changes, increased pressure and future expansion as well as growth requirements.
Strong security to protect your equipment, protocols and data.
Safety and recovery for well-known disasters.
With a time-to-time Network Security Assessment, you can stay safeguarded from all the cybersecurity threats. For this, you should hire Pen Testing Experts or Security professionals.

Things to keep in consideration while planning for a dedicated server room

There are certain factors that influence the planning of a server room, like – future growth prospects, disaster possibilities, an increment in the speed of internet in the future and many more. To cope up with all the above, businesses should consider the following elements during the initial planning of a server room:

1. Location – This is a very important decision to make when you are building your infrastructure from scratch. Server room should have space to accommodate all the servers, racks, equipment, cables, safety stuff and enough spare space for future. Also, the server room should be at a place where it is not accessible or visible easily from the main entrance. It means it has to be on the spacious and best corner of your office infrastructure.

2. Basics – Basic things that a server room requires are the most overlooked and the most important thing to be considered during planning. Basic requirements include – lighting, cooling techniques, temperature requirements analysis, data cabinets, cabling, power generators or backups, UPS standards, power supply, cable trays, racks, flooring conditions, material of walls, doors & ceiling, fire suppression system and physical safety equipment.

3. Security – Security is a major thing that is needed to be kept in mind first as everything that is connected to the internet (servers/racks), are vulnerable to attacks. For the data and network security protection packs from vendors, multi-layered security protocols, patches, locks needed to be installed and implemented. Security policies to be written and implemented strictly. Bio-recognition system or card to be installed for a limited number of people who has the access to the server room. Modern camera vigilance system can be installed too to keep watch on the way in and inside of the server room.

4. Disaster Management – We cannot fight with nature. Therefore, advanced planning for natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts, or severe weather conditions like tornadoes or lightning is necessary. A good recovery plan is also needed for such conditions.

5. Monitoring – Just implementing the concept of Server rooms won’t work, organizations should consider maintenance well in advance as well. Monitoring regularly of the physical devices, networks, data loads, temperature, and everything is very important to maintain a server room that runs in a 24*7 environment. Monitoring includes auditing, keep eye on checkpoints daily, backups, routine cleanups physical and virtual spaces and every possible aspects and components of a server room can contain.

Getting Managed IT Support Hong Kong or anywhere in the world can help enterprises handle and build server rooms efficiently.

Planning with organized, calculative and analytic manner keeping in mind both the technology and enterprise in mind, you can build a safe, secure, highly efficient and flexible server room for your business. The process will be smooth and effortless through these advance considerations, if you have taken right Server room solutions.