Cabinets have always been regarded as low-value, auxiliary products in IT applications, but they are only used to contain servers and other equipment. They are not valued. However, low-cost cabinets are the most direct physical protection for expensive IT equipment. Emphasizing IT equipment itself, but ignoring the IT microenvironment in which it is located, more data centers are being led to the brink of danger.

       What is a cabinet? Many people think of a cabinet as a cabinet for IT equipment. Cabinets are cabinets, but not only that. With the development of computer and network technology, IT facilities such as servers and network communication equipment in data centers are moving toward miniaturization, networking, and racking. This has brought new changes to the construction model of the data center. The cabinet is gradually becoming one of the protagonists in this change. For data centers, cabinets are becoming an important part of it.

　　The rack server from Intel Company makes the trend of racking IT equipment, which brings an increasingly prosperous market for cabinets. The racking of IT equipment has changed the specifications of the cabinet. The most obvious manifestation is the reduction in the size of a single server. The height space occupied by servers is decreasing, and the depth space is becoming larger and larger. Therefore, the depth requirements for cabinets are gradually increasing. In addition, the maximum installation density of IT equipment has become the current development trend of rack-mounted servers. The large number of 1U blade servers makes it possible to install up to 42 servers in a 42U cabinet, and each server uses two (or even more) CPUs. Hard disks also use internal arrays, which will be released during operation. More heat results in a very high heat density inside the cabinet. Ignoring the cooling problems of the equipment inside the cabinet may also cause IT equipment to fail and reduce the life.

　　At the same time, the compatibility of the cabinet is also a headache for users. Today, equipment from different manufacturers is installed in data center cabinets, so the cabinets must have good compatibility (such as Carlyle cabinets). If the cabinet compatibility is not good, when upgrading the IT equipment, the original cabinet may not be able to meet the demand and the user is forced to replace the entire set of equipment in the equipment room. This unnecessary cost is common in the early construction of equipment rooms. The lack of compatibility will inevitably lead to the poor scalability of the overall cabinet solution, which cannot meet the changing needs of the IT industry. For users, the life cycle of the system is obviously reduced, resulting in excessive costs.

　　With the development of data centers toward overall availability, the demand for cabinet management in computer rooms is increasing. It is foreseeable that a cabinet solution that fully meets the needs of the data center and has future scalability will be able to better solve user problems and improve the management level of user IT systems. Users should consider the following when purchasing cabinets Factors in these areas:

　　For reliable quality assurance, it is very important to choose a suitable server cabinet and wiring cabinet. A slight negligence may cause huge losses. No matter which brand of product, quality is the first link that users must consider.

　　Load bearing guarantee. As the density of products placed in the cabinet increases, good load-bearing capacity is the basic requirement for a qualified cabinet product. Cabinets that do not meet the specifications may not be able to effectively and properly protect the equipment in the cabinet due to the poor quality of the cabinet, which may affect the entire system.

　　Temperature control system. There is a good temperature control system inside the cabinet, which can prevent the products in the cabinet from overheating or cooling, so as to ensure the efficient operation of the equipment. The cabinet can choose the full ventilation series, which can be equipped with a fan (the fan has a life guarantee). An independent air conditioning system can be installed in a hot environment, and an independent heating and insulation system can be installed in a severe cold environment.

　　Anti-interference and other, a fully-equipped cabinet should provide various types of door locks and other functions, such as dust-proof, waterproof or electronic shielding, etc .; it should also provide suitable accessories and installation accessories to support the wiring Convenient and easy to manage, saving time and effort.

　　The after-sales service, the effective services provided by the enterprise, and the comprehensive equipment protection schemes provided can bring great convenience to users' installation and maintenance.

　　In addition to considering the above points, the cabinet solution in the data center should also consider the design of cable layout, power distribution, etc., to ensure the good operation of the system and the convenience of upgrading.

　　Distribution System

　　How does the cabinet cope with the increase in power density? With the increasing trend of IT high-density installation in the cabinet, whether the cabinet can exert its effective energy, the power distribution system has become a key link. Reasonable power distribution is directly related to the availability of the entire IT system, and it is an important basic link for whether the entire system can perform its required performance. This is also an issue that has been overlooked by many computer room managers in the past. Due to the increasing miniaturization of IT equipment, the density of equipment installations in the cabinet is increasing. Take a 7U blade server as an example. One requires approximately 3kVA of power distribution, while a 42U high cabinet may be installed with up to eight. The total demand for power distribution servers will reach 24kVA. This poses a severe challenge to the power distribution system in the cabinet. At the same time, the increase in input and output ports also places high requirements on the reliability of power distribution system installation. Taking into account the current dual power supply requirements of most servers, the power distribution in the cabinet is becoming more and more complicated.

　　The design of a reasonable cabinet power distribution system should follow the principle of reliability design as the core, specifically designed for the cabinet system, fully coordinated and seamlessly coordinated with the power distribution system, while considering the convenience of installation and intelligent management , Strong adaptability, easy to operate and maintain. The power distribution system of the cabinet should bring the power closer to the load to reduce the points of failure in the power path. At the same time, local and remote monitoring of load current and remote control of power distribution should be gradually realized, so that power distribution management is integrated into the overall intelligent management system of the computer room.

　　Cable layout

　　What to do if there is a problem with the cable? In a huge computer room, it is still difficult to walk through the cabinets, let alone quickly find and repair the faulty line. Whether the overall cabinet solution is in place and the management of the cables by the cabinet will become one of the key links in the inspection.

　　From the perspective of the cables attached to the cabinet, today ’s data centers have higher cabinet configuration densities and more IT equipment. Many redundant accessories (such as redundant power supplies and storage arrays) are used. The equipment configuration in the cabinet changes frequently. Data cables and cables can increase or decrease at any time. Therefore, the cabinet must provide sufficient cable channels to enter and exit the cables from the top and bottom of the cabinet. Inside the cabinet, the laying of cables must be convenient and orderly, close to the cable interface of the device to shorten the wiring distance; reduce the space occupied by the cable, and ensure that the device is not affected by the wiring during the installation, adjustment and maintenance. And ensure that the cooling airflow is not blocked by the cables; at the same time, in the event of a fault, the equipment wiring can be quickly located.