--- Tim's Machine Room Barbie Page ---
Equipment layout exploration "Monte Carlos" with paper dolls
Below, you will find two selected equipment layouts located within a 30 x 50 foot
space. These are representative of what we are trying to accomplish in the machine
room iteself (i.e., neglecting staging, control/meeting room, and storage space)
over the next three to five years. The computing equipment included represents a
combination of our existing stuff (most of which will actually be replaced, rather
than moved) plus new machinery. Everything is to scale, and accurate in detail.
One interesting thing I learned is that - approximately - it does not matter which
rack alignment I choose... I can fit about the same number of racks: 40 to 50.
I chose Liebert air conditioning units and two different STK Corp. tape silos as
representative of these technologies. I placed enough air conditioning capacity in
the room to - with some degree of backup - cool the rack real estate, assuming an
average power density of between 160 and 260 watts/square foot. (Details elsewhere.)
These layouts are simplistic and mostly neglect detailed airflow concerns that must
be addressed for the kinds of modern, increasingly high-density machines that we'll
likely install in this room over time. For example, we probably want hot and cold
isles with associated ceiling and/or rack-top mounted air conditioning booster units,
in addition to the Liebert-style industrial air conditioner or local-loop water
chiller units that I've sprinkled around the floor. I expect that the A.C. units
create the most vibration, so I've attempted to keep them away from the common
wall, which is the one near truss #2. (More details on these issues elsewhere.)
There's a COLOR CODE: YELLOW objects are the equipment, GREEN strips represent glass,
and RED strips are either doors (if they are at the walls) or "rulers" that indicate
standard minimum required inter-rack clearances (accidentally left one in the 2nd pic.)
The extent of the glass in the these models in limited. Our present thinking, from
the point of view of our own requirements, is: the more glass, the better.
I should add: we are open to other positions and/or orientations for the machine
room. For example, locating the long axis of the room against the existing north
concrete wall might provide an opportunity for more effective vibration and noise
isolation, also perhaps enhanced by the presence (if it's left in place) of the
drain trench that runs along the east-west length of the floor.
Here are size specs for the dolls (see middle of main page for real details):
