Rack ’n Room: What’s the difference?

A data centre is usually made up of a number of cabinets.

Typically the cabinets are aligned in hot and cold aisles. The cabinet inlet air is taken from the cold aisle and the hot air is expelled into the hot aisle. Air is then taken from the hot aisle and cooled by the air conditioner. The cool air is then injected back into the cold aisle again.

Any problems with the air conditioning are first going to manifest in the cold aisle. You should start your monitoring efforts by recording the ambient temperature in your cold aisle(s).

Effectively, the only difference between a rack and room environment monitor is the form factor.

Rack-mount monitors are very convenient for cabinets. The AKCP sensorProbe8 or securityProbe8 and Sensatronics Senturion can often be fitted into a rack “zero U” because of their thin design, it can fit behind other equipment taking up space that is otherwise unusable.

A room monitor, like the AKCP sensorProbe2, EM1 or E4, can be placed into a rack though it is more difficult to effect a tidy install.

Both rack and room monitors support external probes. So, they are very flexible in where you can place your probes.

A rack monitor can monitor a room and a room monitor can monitor a rack. Precisely how you lay out the probes then becomes a matter of your own convenience.