[olug] Computer Room Fire Suppression

[Hurley, Rod]

Case made below.  Do you have a need for D.R. servers, or clustered servers?  Why/why not?  If so, then you have the case.  Why cluster a server, or replicate it to another site, when it stands exposed as is?  Most people weigh the odds, as in, how often do you hear of a datacenter fire, compared to a server failure? This is a key point.  Insurance policies are nothing if not needed to be used.

Let's just say this.  We have run from generator for 30 hours on a sunny day, mid spring, busiest day of the month.  We have had a pipe burst above the datacenter with a sealed/fixed ceiling, and still got some water into the room.  We have had backup systems fail, along with production.  Just because you aren't a "business" (and I would differ on this) doesn't make your datacenter worth less than the cost to replace it from scratch.  I'm talking, ordering, shipping, mounting, new cages, fire cleanup, late night hours, and people waiting impatiently for your completion.  Even if you are not doing commerce, the dollars are still rising unless you volunteer your time.  

I struggle with the metrics too.  I'm on your side, believe me.  Sensed your frustration by your first response.  But I have never heard an exec complain after something like this is implemented, if I have enough reason to put it there in the first place.

-----Original Message-----
From: olug-bounces at olug.org [mailto:olug-bounces at olug.org] On Behalf Of Carl Lundstedt
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 10:49 AM
To: olug at olug.org
Subject: Re: [olug] Computer Room Fire Suppression

And if we were a business, we'd do things differently.  We'd also be able to make a case for the expenditure.  We're forced to make the choices we do by the metrics for success laid out above us.  

Carl
On Wed, 2011-06-01 at 10:39 -0500, Hurley, Rod wrote:
> This brings up a good point.  What is the cost of your datacenter's unavailability?  
> 
> I often hear this argument, that 15 grand (our cost to put in fm-200 for 400 sq ft room) outweighs the cost of the equipment.  Not sure how anyone can say that.  An admin salary alone is much higher, and they are needed to manage the equipment, so it must be worth more than that.  Whether you have $10 million in hardware or $10 thousand, your company should have some need for business continuity.  Water on servers doesn't promote that, and in fact can make the situation worse.  One server that burns up can set off FM-200 sensors and you would spend $1000 to refill the tank with a certified tech.  You now need to replace one server, and your gas.  The heat nozzle on your sprinklers needs to hit 165 degrees, and that would take a room fire to do so.  Then it sprays the entire pipe onto the room, until it's empty.  Not sure if you have seen that black sludge, but it's nasty.  It isn't like in the movies, believe me.  Yes, it might not pop/spray, and you might only lose one se!
 
 rve
>  r, but that's a gamble I'm not going to take.
> 
> -R
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: olug-bounces at olug.org [mailto:olug-bounces at olug.org] On Behalf 
> Of Carl Lundstedt
> Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 9:31 AM
> To: olug at olug.org
> Subject: Re: [olug] Computer Room Fire Suppression
> 
> We use water, but it's not because "we don't care" but:
> 
> a) Proper machine room fire suppression is very expensive.  If the cost of the system approaches the cost of all the equipment in the machine room it doesn't make much sense.  We're well past that point in equipment, but I'd rather put money into a new air handler to increase
> our capacity than fire suppression.   
> 
> b) All the hoops we'd have to hop through to get certified to work around fire suppression.  We'd like students to have access to the machine room. That can become a logistical nightmare where proper fire suppression is deployed.
> 
> The risk/cost analysis is not easy, please don't trivialize our choices by saying we "don't care".
> 
> Carl Lundstedt
> UNL
> On Wed, 2011-06-01 at 09:20 -0500, Charles Bird wrote:
> > most ppl use fm400 i think.
> > others dont care and use water.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:19 AM, Charles Bird <cbird.omaha at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > chuck norris.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:08 AM, <aric at omahax.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> What are you guys using for computer room fire suppression?
> > >> _______________________________________________
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> > >> https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
> > >>
> > >
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