Building a data centre is a big task for any business, that involves a lot of planning, funding and expertise. Nowadays more and more people are starting to create their own data centres at home, whether for personal or work-based purposes. Most of the time though these are put together a lot quicker and with less of the planning, which means they’re not always that successful. That’s why we’ve created a run through of how to turn your home into a data centre efficiency.
Why Create a Home Data Centre?
A home data centre is simply a facility created on your property that has servers, storage, networking, power and cooling resources. Usually, it will be a lot smaller than those used by businesses, due to its intention for personal rather than professional use.
The main reason many people will first consider building a home data centre is that it can save on the monthly costs associated with using data centre space. However, given the added electricity, hardware and other costs, that may not always be the case, so it’s worth doing the maths first. Otherwise, a home data centre offers you complete control over everything.
What Do I Need?
Firstly, you’ll need space to start creating your home data centre. This could be a spare room, your garage or the loft. Once you’ve arranged where the data centre will be, you’ll need a few other items:
- Servers and racks
- A reliable power source with a backup option
- The bandwidth of at least 9mb and network cables from RS Components
- Air conditioning/heating to keep the data centre at around 21 degrees Celsius
- Locks and security
- Lighting that makes it clear to navigate
Once you’ve got all of these items and priced it up, you should be ready to start putting together your home data centre.
How do I Keep It Running?
As mentioned, your home data centre needs to be kept at a constant temperature of around 21 degrees Celsius. This should prevent it from overheating or getting too cold to function properly. The layout needs to be clear so that you can get around and make any fixes when required.
There are various examples of people who have created their own home data centres, offering advice on running them. For the most part, as long as you have enough power, space for the servers can keep them in the right conditions and safe, then you should be onto a winner.
Depending on your finances and time available, you could be up and running with a home data centre in no time.