UPS and server seperation

crazyswede · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:30

How many U's separation should there be between the UPS and the first server? Just thinking about the safety of the server so it is not affected by the UPS (Magnetic field?).

bigredshark · 3 Apr 2010 at 17:35

I've never known anybody to really pay much attention really, I've known people who put the first server directly above and I don't know of any problems as a result.

Then again, we don't put UPS in the server racks so I've not done a huge amount of research...

Xez · 3 Apr 2010 at 19:15

We have rack mounted our UPS and these haven't affected either servers or our switches for a few years. I think by the time anything like that may damage or cause any problems they'll be needing to be renewed anyway

brainchylde · 3 Apr 2010 at 20:52

How many servers are you running anyway? Our UPS is large, not rackmountable. (One of these.) Sometimes it's more cost effective to have one for all servers, which is not rack mounted.

mikeh501 · 3 Apr 2010 at 21:31

leave 1U room for airflow. UPS's generate lots of heat and you dont want it contacting the bottom of the next server up. Other than that, do what you like.

p.s, if you can afford, dont bother with rack mounted UPS. They aren't as efficient, they cant support an entire cabinet, they are very very heavy and are a pain to actually rack mount given their weight. We had one or two 3200VA units in every cab and it just doesnt scale properly and we were forever having issues with them. We got shot of all of them and replaced with 2 30KVA units which provide power to all the commando sockets in the rooms.

crazyswede · 3 Apr 2010 at 23:31

I am at the moment leaving 1u between them them and it is something I have always done. I was just wondering if it was not enough or if I was just wasting my time. Rack mounted UPS looks neater

but I see what some of you guys are saying. It's two cabinets with 7 servers, 5 DAS boxes, switches, routers, telephone system and other devices, so it is not that much. We have 2x3000VA and 1 x 2000VA and the main servers are in the other cabinet anyway. Just curious. Still putting it all together in the new office and it has to be ready for Tuesday morning :eek:

A lot of new stuff to get my head around ...