| Seven Practical Steps for Designing Networking Enclosures |
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| Nov 01 2008 | |
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advertisement: The design of enclosures to house networking servers and components should be guided by one overriding concern — heat. Servers, in particular, generate a great deal of heat, so an enclosure must be capable of dissipating that heat to ensure that the components deliver their expected life. Aside from heat dissipation, enclosures for networking systems should provide for easy access to the interior, facilitate assembly and mounting, and provide for wiring management. Here are some practical guidelines for designing enclosures for networking equipment. 1. Beat the heat. The more servers used, the more heat generated. While networks consisting of just a few servers can be housed in standard cabinets and enclosures, systems with multiple or densely packed servers should be housed in special server racks. Such racks include perforations or ventilation slots on the front, sides, rear and top to promote maximum airflow around components.To increase airflow, the enclosure should incorporate fans and blowers at strategic locations. Exhaust fans mounted at the top of the cabinet are most common and are very efficient in removing heat. However, if the cabinet is densely packed with servers and other equipment, the air flow path gets blocked and this creates back pressure inside the cabinet. Such back pressure will lower the performance (CFM capacity) of the fans. For such conditions, blowers should be used in addition to exhaust fans. Blowers are generally mounted at the bottom of the cabinet rack and blow cold ambient air into the cabinet. Fan tray assemblies can be mounted directly below critical components to direct airflow against local hot spots and to prevent hot air from being trapped within the enclosure. 2. Plan for the environment. Local conditions may dictate the use of specially designed racks and enclosures. For example, seismic racks should be specified for areas prone to earthquakes. These racks conform to Telcordia (formerly Bellcore) #GR-63-CORE, Issue 1, and feature reinforced construction to provide seismic protection. In a factory, NEMA enclosures should be used to protect components from water and dust. NEMA cabinets have door seals to prevent water and dust entry. However, care must be taken to specify the correct NEMA designation. For example, many users specify NEMA 12 enclosures thinking they provide more environmental protection than NEMA 4. In fact, the opposite is true. |
