Comfortable work in the data center

What should be done so that the installation or the usual maintenance of the equipment brings only positive emotions? Just prepare for the visit to the data center and take the necessary tools. We will talk about how to make a visit to the data center comfortable.

Clothes and shoes

Work in the server room implies being in special climatic conditions. In server rooms, there is usually a conditional division into two zones: the “cold corridor” with a temperature of 23 ° C ± 2 ° C and the “hot corridor” in which the temperature can reach more than 40 ° C.

To feel comfortable in these conditions, it is enough to follow a few rules:
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• clothing should be light (T-shirt or short-sleeved shirt);
• shoes must "breathe" and have non-slip soles;
• earplugs or headphones (in the server room is always very noisy);
• Hoodie or light sweater is useful when you are in the "cold corridor".

Ideally, you can take removable shoes with you, but if this is not possible, then most of the data centers have special bahilators.

When working with server hardware, we recommend temporarily removing rings, watches and bracelets. Heavy server hooked on the ring, with ease will bring trouble in the form of a broken finger or ripped skin. Watches and bracelets can catch on any important cable and pull it out. This is especially true for optics, which is easy enough to break.

What to take with you

Instruments

Now we will consider everything that should be taken with you in case of installation of equipment or technical works:

1. High-quality Phillips screwdriver with a long handle.

Most server hardware is mounted using M5 / M6 bolts with a cross-head slot. The long handle will allow you to tighten the bolts, even if they are not conveniently located, for example, through a cable organizer.

2. Screwdriver with a replaceable battery and a set of bits.

This is required if you plan to install or dismantle a large amount of equipment. Be sure to include in the set of bits of asterisks of different sizes. There is one “trap” for some types of server hardware called Torx Secure . This is often "sinning" the company IBM. The slots of the bolts are in the center of the pin, which does not allow to use the standard bat with an asterisk. For them you need to use these bits:



Small life hacking: most often server manufacturers put the appropriate tool in special grooves either on the back of the server or inside it.

3. Laptop c charger.

The lighter and leaner it is, the better. It is desirable that the battery life was at least 1.5 hours. A laptop must have a gigabit network card so that you can connect to network equipment and test it at maximum speed.

Wonderful thoughts about which laptop is most convenient for the work of the system administrator are discussed in great detail in the sukhe article “A small laptop for the system administrator . ”

4. USB-to-COM cable with adapters.

Most standard network equipment supports console port control. Typically, this port is either a classic COM port or an RJ-45 connector.

5. Crimper (crimping tool) for RJ-45.

The better, the less chance of bad compression of the new cross. We can advise tools of the Fluke Networks company which already proved and are extremely convenient in use. Another very high quality crimpers are manufactured by KNIPEX .



6. Cable tester for twisted pair.

Before you enable cross-connects, especially self-crimped, it is recommended to check the quality of the connection with a tester. There are many types of such devices on the market, but it is preferable to use testers who can determine the length of each core and the presence of problems (overlap or break).



7. Strong side cutters.

This is one of the most essential tools for mounting. It is used to bite any cable, cut off the strands evenly during crimping, cut the ties. High-quality side cutters reduce installation time.

8. Antistatic bracelet.

Any electronics can traditionally be disabled by static electricity. The most affected are memory modules. Grounding solves this problem. To do this, just put the bracelet on your hand, and attach the cable from it to any bare metal part of the server rack. After that, a static charge will drain from your hand, allowing you to perform operations with critical elements of server hardware without the risk of damage.

9. Tool for installing cage nuts.

Cage nuts M5 / M6 are one of the most popular and popular types of fasteners for server hardware. They have only one serious drawback - everyone who has tried to install them into the server rack at least several times has encountered a problem. If you install them with your bare hands, especially in large numbers, you can easily hurt your fingers.

The most painful thing is when the nut breaks down and one of its antennae enters under the nail - an unforgettable feeling. To avoid this, you can adopt the appropriate tool and not spoil your hands. It looks very simple:



10. Markers.

Allows you to mark the server hardware, for accounting, as well as to reduce confusion. Properly labeled equipment is convenient to maintain. We will tell about it in more detail in one of the following articles.

11. USB hub.

It often happens that the USB ports of servers are occupied by hardware keys for software products. If you need to connect additional devices such as a USB flash drive, keyboard and mouse to such a server, then USB ports are often not enough. USB hub easily solves this problem.

Optionally, you can take with you specific tools, such as, for example, a crown knife, but this will depend on the specific task.

Separately, I would like to mention such a cool thing as Zalman ZM-VE400 / VE500 . This device is a USB case for 2.5 ”form factor drives with the function of mounting any ISO image. It emulates a virtual CD / DVD-drive, which is visible in almost any BIOS / UEFI and allows you to refuse to write disk images.

Simply copy any image into a special _ISO folder and connect it to a computer or server. Use the touch keys to select an image and press the mount. After that, you can boot from the image, as well as from any bootable media. Using this device, you can pre-assemble all the images in one place and use them according to the situation.

Consumables

Considering the essence of the planned work or installation, we recommend taking with you:

1. Patchcords of the desired length in the right amount.

Alternatively, you can take with you a sufficient amount of network cable and the corresponding connectors (usually RJ-45). Always choose a quality reliable manufacturer. It is preferable that the conductors be of copper, and not of copper-plated aluminum.

2. Power cables with required connectors.

It will be relevant if you plan to install new equipment. The most commonly used cables are Schuko-C13 (for conventional socket outlets) or C13-C14 (for AVR or UPS). A little advice on choosing the Schuko-C13 cable: it’s best to buy them not with a straight line, but with an L-shaped plug. This is due to the fact that the straight plug is much easier to tear out of the socket block, accidentally catching on the cable.

3. Thermal grease and spatula for application.

It often happens that the issue of replacing the thermal paste rises abruptly and when no one is ready for this. The dosing syringe with thermopaste and a spatula for even application weigh very little and therefore it is better to have them with you. If replacement is necessary, this operation is performed fairly quickly.

4. Cable ties.

Plastic ties are suitable for organizing copper cross-connects, and Velcro fasteners for optics. Do not take too thin or too thick ties, but in length they should be with a margin.

5. Isopropyl alcohol and non-woven napkins.

This will be very important if you need to clean the optical cables. Isopropyl alcohol perfectly cleans almost any dirt, without leaving stains. Process the pads of processors and RAM for a stable connection. Remember that this is a poisonous and flammable liquid, so take precautions.

6. Bolt sets with cage nuts M5 / M6.

With this fastener, you can easily fix almost any server hardware in a rack.

What may be required

In case of equipment failure

Often there is such a situation - departure to the data center occurs for one reason, for example, for work, and in the process of work it is found that some of the equipment has failed and requires urgent replacement. Most often fail disk drives, power supplies, RAM and fans.

If you use the same type of equipment, we recommend to have at least one unit of the above components in case of emergency replacement.

For emergency data recovery

Based on practical experience, it can be said that any drive, no matter how expensive or high-quality it is, can fail at any time. With regard to hard drives, it is often possible to understand that the state is close to critical by taking SMART readings and taking it out of work in time. What to take with you to the data center, if there is a problem and you need to urgently copy the information from the failed disk:

1. USB-SATA adapter.

Such an adapter will help in simple cases when using SATA-drives. Using such an adapter will help to urgently transfer any data from the disk to the computer.

2. Adapter for additional power.

If SATA-disks of 3.5 ”form factor are used, then for connection via an adapter, additional power must be supplied to the disk (12 volts + 5 volts). Current USB bus power is not enough to spin the spindle of a similar disk.

3. Two-disk docking station with copy mode support.

This is the most ideal option for emergency and high-speed data copying. The copying process will not require a computer, which is quite convenient.

4. Spare disks of sufficient capacity.

It is recommended to always carry with you one or two disks, with a capacity exceeding the capacity of any of the disks installed in the server hardware. This will make it possible to easily make an exact copy of any disk.

5. A pair of USB flash drives.

Sometimes for data recovery you need to load the server using some Live distribution, for example, Clonezilla . The best option is just a USB-drive. It is also useful in case of unexpected reinstallation of the operating system.

Conclusion

A visit to the data center will be more comfortable if you prepare for it in advance. We hope that our advice will help not to forget the necessary tools and save visitors time. For convenience, we have prepared a small checklist that you can use to prepare for the trip.

If you have your own life hacking, how to make work in the data center convenient - we will be happy to see them in the comments.