New home construction considerations

[NB2020]

Hello all. I am in the process of designing a new home for myself and I need advice on the network topology and building requirements for a dedicated server room.

I believe my setup would be fairly typical. The equipment I plan on using include a dedicated router/firewall, 1-2 switches, 2 file servers, 1 media server, 1 NVR, 2 UPS's. All of these should fit on a standard 42U rack. I will add that I am new to servers so please let me know if my ideas below seem strange or impractical.

1. Most of these servers would be on the same LAN. However, I would like some of the devices to be isolated from the main network and internet, such as a server that is used only for backing up the other servers or the IPMI ports on all of the servers. I know VLANs can probably do this, but I want to know if there is a better method. Right now I am leaning towards physically separating the network using an additional router or switch that is not connected to the internet.

2. Given the above equipment and including room for growth, what type of electrical wiring and outlets should I install? I want to run 240V into the room for the higher efficiency. I don't have any of the specific hardware picked out to get an estimated total wattage and I hope some of your experiences would point me in the right direction. This would also help me with choosing an appropriate UPS.

3. I'm seeing some UPS's out there with input voltage of 208V and 230V. Would I be able to use them on 240V circuits? I have never seen 208V service in residential homes. I assume those are meant for commercial use.

4. I want to have designated outlets around the house have power supplied by a UPS in the server room. I think these outlets would be connected to a power inlet in the server room, which would be connect to the UPS via standard power cord. Has anyone done something like this? Basically, any place that might have a PC or NAS would be powered by a centralized UPS before being triggered to shutdown.

5. Will I need active cooling and ventilation? The room is fairly large for the amount of equipment I am using (10.5' W x 13.5' L x 8.5' H) and there are windows behind and in front of the servers in my layout. The room is also located in the basement where temperature stays fairly constant throughout the year. I can also consider not insulating the foundation walls in this part of the basement if that makes a difference.

Thank you in advance. I would be sure to provide additional details if needed.

 

[zunder1990]

You dont say your location based on you using 240volt and feet I am going to say USA. In the USA on a home you really only have a choice of 120 volt split phase 240 volt. That means you get two hot legs each at 120 volts for you get 240 volts when using both hot legs. Those 240 volt UPS and servers are designed for 240volt on a single hot leg which you really dont find in a home setting. You can get 240volt single leg by using a transformer to convert 120v/120v into 240v single leg but you will lose alot of power to waste heat.

TLDR from an energy efficiency point of view stay with 120volt for the ups and servers.

 

[NB2020]

Ah I see. I didn't know there was a difference between 240v split and single leg as far as supplying power to the equipment. You're correct that I am in the US. Based on other threads, it seems that most people are using 20A for residential settings. I guess I will stick with 120V 20A circuits for the server room with NEMA 5-20R outlets.

 

[zunder1990]

Coming back around to this. For cooling take a look at this. It will take power from solar then use grid when solar is not enough or at night time. Also you can turn off the breaker to have it run in solar only mode and it will scale the cooling/heat output to match the power from the solar. Also you dont need any permits or permission from the power company to use it since it will not back feed power.

DC Solar Air Conditioner Heat Pump | Solar Air Conditioning | Solar Heating | Manufacturers

Vlans are fine from separately devices on the network. Have a good firewall that you are comfortable config to limit traffic between vlans. Anything else like physically separation would be way overkill.

The 4th port, yes that is possible I know at one point APC had network software that you would install on all of your windows boxes and would connect to the UPS to tell windows to shut down.

 

[cesmith9999]

You might want to look at using a different outlet colors to designate that the outlet is from your UPS. I see this in the hospitals. red outlets are for emergency power. grey is for a different type of circuit, etc...

Chris

 

[Blinky 42]

If doing a rack, I would run 2 circuits of 30A 240 to a pair of L6-30R's (in the USA) along with a 20A 120V circuit for things that can't be powered by 240. In other countries there are a mix of other common outlet types (ex. IEC 309 32A in the UK).

Most of the larger rackmount UPS's are spec'd to run just fine on 208-240V, just check the specifications. I have a mix of 3kVA through 6kVA units in use currently with a pair of UPS's at the bottom of each rack with a dedicated 30A breaker for each power run.

208v isn't going to be seen in residential use, it is a product of 3-phase power you will see in datacenters and industrial/commercial buildings - see High-leg delta - Wikipedia for more info.

 

[NB2020]

Coming back around to this. For cooling take a look at this. It will take power from solar then use grid when solar is not enough or at night time. Also you can turn off the breaker to have it run in solar only mode and it will scale the cooling/heat output to match the power from the solar. Also you dont need any permits or permission from the power company to use it since it will not back feed power.

DC Solar Air Conditioner Heat Pump | Solar Air Conditioning | Solar Heating | Manufacturers

Vlans are fine from separately devices on the network. Have a good firewall that you are comfortable config to limit traffic between vlans. Anything else like physically separation would be way overkill.

The 4th port, yes that is possible I know at one point APC had network software that you would install on all of your windows boxes and would connect to the UPS to tell windows to shut down.

The solar AC is a good option. However, I will be installing solar panels for the entire house since it's almost a requirement for new buildings in my area. I am also installing central ac. I could just run a vent to that room and designate it as a separate zone just in case I need it.

You might want to look at using a different outlet colors to designate that the outlet is from your UPS. I see this in the hospitals. red outlets are for emergency power. grey is for a different type of circuit, etc...

Chris

Yes, I work in hospital IT and that is actually where I got the idea from. The different colors was definitely something I planned on doing. I was just wondering if I would get pushback from the electrician for doing something like this. I've also found out that UPS's generally keep the output voltage the same as input voltage with no way to change it. If I go this route, it would probably be much easier to wire everything at 120V to avoid having someone plugging in a device into a 240v outlet and burning it out

 

[NB2020]

If doing a rack, I would run 2 circuits of 30A 240 to a pair of L6-30R's (in the USA) along with a 20A 120V circuit for things that can't be powered by 240. In other countries there are a mix of other common outlet types (ex. IEC 309 32A in the UK).

Most of the larger rackmount UPS's are spec'd to run just fine on 208-240V, just check the specifications. I have a mix of 3kVA through 6kVA units in use currently with a pair of UPS's at the bottom of each rack with a dedicated 30A breaker for each power run.

208v isn't going to be seen in residential use, it is a product of 3-phase power you will see in datacenters and industrial/commercial buildings - see High-leg delta - Wikipedia for more info.

The L6-30R looks like the electrical dryer outlets, which are 2 hots at 120v each and a ground. zunder1990 commented that the 240V UPS's only take one hot at 240V. How would this work with the outlets for the servers, which are 3-prong with hot, neutral, and ground? I apologize if there is something I am misunderstanding.

I am aware 208v would not be possible in my setup, so my choice is between 120V and 240V. Right now it seems that 240V for residential use would pose additional obstacles.

 

[ano]

are theese GPT bots?

 

[Peter Blanchard]

If you install solar, it might be worth considering a home battery over a UPS.