Hardware heat concerns

[marcus2704]

I have an old P4 which I have been running for serveral years now, Server 2003 OS, providing me with data storage, serving, backup and RDP. Im looking to purchase a DL115 in the hope of running a RAID array, ESX and a few VMS, for both learning and practical purposes.

My question though relates to heat, the only feasable place I can store this kit is in the loft and my worry is that during the heights of summer the hardware (mainly disks) operating temperature would be too high. Im sure a number of you store your kit in the loft, and I was wondering how you find it? Is there anything I can do to improve the cooling on the DL115? Id be happy to run a large external fan if need be.

 

[bigredshark]

difficult to say for sure really, ambient temperature of up to at least 40 degrees should be fine for server style roles (ie. you're not thrashing the disk or processor with anything). Depending on the disks they may see reduced lifetime would be the main problem I'd imagine.

I'd try it and see how it goes, stick some decent monitoring on there and keep an eye on it for a few days, particularly if it gets hot, it should also be possible to tie that to a script if you want (if a sensor goes over x degrees then shut down the box)