How to make your own home data center

I want to convert a storage room that is external to my house into a home data center. This is a very small room (3foot X 3Foot X 10Foot) and my idea is to have 2 or 3 computers + xbox + dvd players and other toys; Some of them will be ON 24/7.

However, even though this is a very small room and small project, I realize it requires some serious knowledge of data centers to come up with a good design that will keep the room temperature and humidity in acceptable ranges, keep the equipment working properly to prevent damage and keep the costs and energy consumption to the lowest possible.

Given my reduced knowledge about construction and data centers, I think that I will need to pay someone to do the job for me.

Does anyone know of a company that could do this type of jobs?

Given the fact that this is just my home and the size of the project is very small I hope this is affordable. Does anyone have any similar experiences? Any information or comment will be highly appreciated.

Reply to
emoreno
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Bear in mind that it might be less expensive to built a new room that's already designed as an interior space than to retrofit one.

When you mention 'external' how are you planning on accessing the machines during regular use? Things like game consoles do require access to change the disc.

Designed spaces and affordable are rarely found in the same sentence.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

I would hope there would be some openings and/or natural light windows in this room. I doubt you want to sit in a closet for hours on end and take medications for anxiety/SADS to make up for the lack of social interaction.

However, even though this is a very small room and small project, I realize it requires some serious knowledge of data centers to come up with a good design that will keep the room temperature and humidity in acceptable ranges, keep the equipment working properly to prevent damage and keep the costs and energy consumption to the lowest possible.

Given my reduced knowledge about construction and data centers, I think that I will need to pay someone to do the job for me.

Does anyone know of a company that could do this type of jobs?

Given the fact that this is just my home and the size of the project is very small I hope this is affordable. Does anyone have any similar experiences? Any information or comment will be highly appreciated.

Reply to
Josepi

I ran HDMI, Coax, Cat6 and fiber optics into my house. I use the Cat6 cables to extend the USB and IR ports; it means that I have full control of the machines from any room in my house. However for very nasty tasks I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse inside the storage room in case it needs physical intervention.

I haven=92t solved the problem about changing the xbox disks from my house, however for the movies I have a thin USB DVD drive attached behind the LCD TV. As of right now I use my Xbox mostly for the online content so I=92m not really in a hurry to solve the disks problem.

Reply to
emoreno

HDMI **into** your house? Did you mean "inside"?

How far can you run HDMI?

I haven?t solved the problem about changing the xbox disks from my house, however for the movies I have a thin USB DVD drive attached behind the LCD TV. As of right now I use my Xbox mostly for the online content so I?m not really in a hurry to solve the disks problem.

Reply to
Josepi

Yes, I=92m using 50 Foots and works very well. I tested it before wiring my house and it reached 150 foots until I noticed some deterioration.

Reply to
emoreno

Can you get those connector and make you own cables?

Are you trying to set up a "server" room and not a "computer /games" room?

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Reply to
Josepi

Clearly, you don't know many computer admin folks...

Reply to
Bill Kearney

An HDMI cable tip is reasonably small. Enough to cram through most holes. And since they're such small connectors it's a bitch to resolder them in the field. You're better off making a splice further up the cable instead. Then you have to deal with the potential signal loss.

Um, yeah, that's pretty much what he's asking.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

Bear in mind if you do the job right it will probably require pulling a building permit. This will require inspections. Most home-grown cabling installs won't pass inspections. Just so's you know... But you'd have to pull all the equipment out of there to have the work done anyway.

You might get some advice from a regular building contractor. One licensed for your area.

You're basically just talking about making the room habitable. Basically just bringing it into the same interior building 'envelope' as the rest of the house. Simply done it's just a matter of making sure the vapor barrier and insultation is done to make that work. The harder part would be supplying HVAC to/from the space. Your existing HVAC system may or may not have the spare capacity to properly supply that space (and where it's located).

Reply to
Bill Kearney

"Josepi" wrote

That was pretty clean from the original post and the subject of the post. No long term sitting in the room. The room is external to the house so "into" was the proper term.

Reply to
B Fuhrmann

Heh, heh, heh... :^)

Reply to
Robert L Bass

I called an electrician; he suggested that an exhaust fan and a thermostat should solve the problem after proper wall insulation. Then I called a HAVC expert and basically he told me that he couldn=92t help and most likely I needed a server farm expert instead. He guessed that a dedicated air conditioner could help but that doesn=92t sound like the optimal solution to me.

I will try to ask a build contractor as you suggest and see if we can find a more effective solution.

I finished the wiring part and already started to install the fiber glass on the walls (I had to remove the drywall and put it back again). However I don=92t have a construction permit yet neither for the multimedia wiring or to re-build the walls; do you happen to know what should I do now? If I request a construction permit at this point, will I have a penalty for not doing it in advanced?

Reply to
emoreno

If you want to be completely up front, just tell the guy you didn't realize you need a permit and you're applying for it now. Most of the inspectors I've dealt with over the years are only interested in making sure you don't burn the house down or electrocute someone. Fines are usually only given to people who willfully disobey an inspector's orders or do really dumb stuff.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

There are things like vapor barriers to consider. Do them wrong and you GREATLY raise the risk of mold damage. How the barriers are installed and how they're integrated with your existing living space depends on a lot of other variables. It is specifically NOT ENOUGH to just cram fiberglass batts into the stud walls.

When you have a difference in temperature from the outside air you need to consider moisture problems. Warm air on one side and cold air on the other WILL cause condensation. This will happen in both summer and winter. Having an appropriate barrier set up will keep it from becoming a much greater problem (like rot inside the walls and causing mold to spread throughout your house). That means the wall and roof has to be set up to allow decent air exchange to minimize the risk. It's not hard or necessarily expensive to do this properly. But it can be VERY expensive later if it goes wrong.

You should *stop* and consider paying a licensed residential construction contractor to assist in the work.

Also consider that computer equipment can generate a lot of heat. You need to have a plan for getting that heat out of the space and cool air in to replace it. As in, you can't just dump a HVAC duct into the space without also having a means to pull it back out. Your existing HVAC system may or may not have enough spare capacity to do this. If you just graft a duct onto your existing setup you may end up raising your HVAC costs way out of proportion. HVAC systems are supposed to be balanced.

Where are you located? Not specifically, what state and what climate?

Computer equipment can tolerate running in cool environments. Too much heat or too much moisture will cause problems. Depending on how cold it gets in the winter you may not need to add heat to the space. But you'll probably need to have a way to keep it cool come warmer days. Depending on your area dealing with moisture might be necessary year-round.

That depends. Worst case, yes you could be fined. But not terribly likely. More likely you'd have to remove anything that blocks the inspector from seeing the work. Inspections are done during the whole construction process, to make sure the work is done properly. The inspector needs to see what's been done in the walls before you put up drywall.

Also consider that if you do it wrong and it burns down your house (or causes mold damage) your insurance policy may refuse to cover anything.

When seeking a permit it might be best to limit the description of what you're going to do with the space. Getting overly detailed about the network and other non-electrical wiring may cause permitting problems. Having the non-electric wiring all installed properly (up to code) is important for the safety of you and the property. But getting a permit for a 'computer room' might be a bigger hassle. Getting a permit to put electric in and insulate the closet would probably be a lot simpler. Of course, how you decide to present the project is entirely up to you. I'm certainly not suggesting you misrepresent anything.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

I=92m located close to Seattle, so humidity is something to keep in mind year around. I=92m not very concerned about low temperatures as rarely we go bellow 20F.

Reply to
emoreno

If the space abuts the exterior of house, you could just vent it, top and bottom into the dwelling. A fan panel at the bottom can draw air from the house into the data closet, creating a positive pressure in the room. Insulate the exterior of the closet just as you would the exterior of the home. The vapor barrier on the insulation plus the air flow should keep the space clear of moisture and the temperature will be the same as inside the house.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

A small window unit through the wall would be more than needed for the space. These things are cheap. The last one I got at Home Depot cost less than $75. I wouldn't worry about it unless the room temp got above

90F on a regular basis.

You could run SpeedFan

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on one of the PCs to see what the CPU and internal temps run. It is a great program that does real time and graphs so you make good decisions about ventilation.

There are two ways the temperature in this external building can rise. The first is heat gain of the room itself. This is primarily due to sunlight. If the building is in the shade then this problem can be minimized. Likewise color and roof ventilation can do quite a bit to minimize heat buildup from the sun. Second is heat from the equipment in the room. This could be minimized by using power conservation on the equipment or arranging the equipment with the hottest on top with a small vent to the outside.

Be careful about fans. In your area they could drag in moisture causing more harm than good.

Reply to
Lewis Gardner

I guess tha explains and justifies itself...LOL

Reply to
Josepi

In this area, I suspect all you will need is venting in the summer. The heat given off by the computers should be plenty to keep it warm and dry in the winter. A simple thermostat controlled vent fan could be used to keep the temp down when it gets too warm.

Reply to
Bob F

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