We have a couple of tower servers in a small server room. The carpet is wet as a result of the cooler and no-one else really seems concerned about this but I'm not too happy. I'm only a lowly developer, but I seem to be more concerned than the hardware guys!
Is this dangerous? What's the worst that could happen? My instinct says water + (electric * allOfOurData) = dangerous.
Suppose I have a rack with several servers and other stuff. One of servers overheats severely and either starts smoking or catches fire while there's a serviceman nearby.
If anything similar happens in an apartment and there's a fire extinguisher nearby using the latter promptly often lets extinguish the fire very fast but in case of server rack improper extinguishing may lead to unneeded extra damage to surrounding equipment.
To clarify, I'm talking about a really small fire that one can try to extinguish without risking their life - like grab a nearby extinguisher, discharge it and get the fire extinguished in say ten fifteen seconds.
What's the strategy to extinguish a small local fire in a server rack? What type of extinguisher is to be used? How to minimize damage to surrounding equipment?
Our building is located approx. 100 meters from the explosive charges. They happen several times per day, and really shake the entire building a lot. This is going to go on for many days and the blasts are supposed to get stronger.
Our server rooms are nothing fancy; one of them has all the racks on hard concrete while the other one has a raised floor (the one which allows the cables to go beneath it).
Does anyone have any tips, countermeasures or best practices for us?
Currently we are thinking of the following countermeasures:
Edit: Many good answers here! However one needs to be accepted. The highest voted answer at the time of this edit will get their answer accepted.
When I was working in our server room, I noticed that it was very cold.
I know that the server room has to be cold to offset the heat of the servers, but perhaps it is TOO cold.
What is an appropriate temperature to keep our server room at?
What do I have to consider when I'm planning a new server room for a small company (30 PCs, 5 servers, a couple of switches, routers, UPS...)?
What are the most important aspects in order to protect the hardware? What things do not belong in a server closet?
Edit: You may also be interested in this question: Server Room Survival Kit.
Thank you!