RE: "Hypothetical" Datacenter Overheating

[Robert Mercier <RMercier () nextdimensioninc com>]

For gear climate controls and rate of change look at ASHRAE ratings on the equipment.  Most vendors publish the rating 
of equipment on their data sheets (sometimes they include the ASHRAE rating), and it gives the required operating 
conditions as well as acceptable rates of change.  Most well run data centres follow these recommendations; this 
“hypothetical” data centre normally does as well, but may have missed some maintenance tasks it appears.  I have 
equipment in the same building which hasn’t been effected in another providers suite.



The ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) has a committee - ASHRAE 
Technical Committee 9.9 that covers Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces and Electronic 
Equipment.



2021 Data Center Cooling Resiliency Brief

https://tpc.ashrae.org/Documents?cmtKey=fd4a4ee6-96a3-4f61-8b85-43418dfa988d



2016 ASHRAE Data Center Power Equipment Thermal Guidelines and Best Practices

https://tpc.ashrae.org/Documents?cmtKey=fd4a4ee6-96a3-4f61-8b85-43418dfa988d



2020 Cold Weather Shipping Acclimation and Best Practices (included this one because it is fitting this time of year)

https://tpc.ashrae.org/FileDownload?idx=809784d5-911b-4e9a-a2da-ff3ab6ff9eea





BTW; it hit -50°C (-58°F) in Alberta last week and you aren’t hearing about the data centres in that province going 
offline.  The record low for Chicago was -27°F set in 1985; this building wasn’t a data centre at that time, and only 
became a data centre in 1999 so they would have known how cold it could get there when they did the initial system 
planning and should have accounted for this.





Rob







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Robert Mercier

CTO

Next Dimension Inc.




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-----Original Message-----
From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+rmercier=nextdimensioninc.com () nanog org> On Behalf Of Saku Ytti
Sent: January 16, 2024 2:09 AM
To: bzs () theworld com
Cc: NANOG <nanog () nanog org>
Subject: Re: "Hypothetical" Datacenter Overheating



On Tue, 16 Jan 2024 at 08:51, <bzs () theworld com<mailto:bzs () theworld com>> wrote:



> A rule of thumb is a few degrees per hour change but YMMV, depends on

> the equipment. Sometimes manufacturer's specs include this.



Is this common sense, or do you have reference to this, like paper showing at what temperature change at what rate 
occurs what damage?



I regularly bring fine electronics, say iPhone, through significant temperature gradients, as do most people who have 
to live in places where inside and outside can be wildly different temperatures, with no particular observable effect. 
iPhone does go into 'thermometer' mode, when it overheats though.



Manufacturers, say Juniper and Cisco describe humidity, storage and operating temperatures, but do not define 
temperature change rate.

Does NEBS have an opinion on this, or is this just a common case of yours?



--

  ++ytti