[TriLUG] OT advice on connectivity and machine closet/room

[Greg]

> > 1. Broad band provider.
> > 2. ac unit for machine room or closet
> > 3. rack
> > 4 rackmount ups
> > 5. connection to the upstairs
> > 6. Connection to main office
> > 7. Patch panel
> > 8. Firewall/gateway/router
> > 

A note on power: you may have 208v power in the building (some do, some
don't).  Before you order anything UPS related make sure that you know
if you have 120v, 220v, or 208v in the building.

APC makes fine business-class UPS equipment in any voltage you could
possibly encounter and they make some very nice UPS/rack combinations. 
A 1U hight UPS might not cut the mustard, so to speak, to add up the
power consumption of everything in the rack and make sure you have the
power in amps coming into the racks and UPSes to support the power
draw.  APC will usually size the UPS for you if you know what you are
going to connect into the UPS and how long you want the equipment to be
on-line for during a power loss.

Take note if your building has a diesel generator or not.  You'll want
to be on the power bus that the generator is tied to (if there are two
or more).  If you have a generator make sure that someone has a contact
to keep the diesel tanks filled and check to see if your tanks are above
ground or below.  

As far connectivity between floors I would highly suggest fiber.  I
prefer single-mode fiber, but single-mode is much, much more expensive
than multi-mode.  Fiber optic cables are immune to nasty things like
electromagnetic interference which you can find in obscure places that
riser cables seem to find themselves.

If you need to connect back to another building which is off-site, and
wireless is not an option, then be prepared to lease ducts in manholes
where your fiber is going to be pulled.  This is monumentally
expensive.  

If your two facilities both have reliable (and fast) Internet
connections you may want to look at VPNs between the facilities (over
the Internet).  Many upper-managers don't like this idea as they want to
have dedicated connections between facilities but once you float the
number of how much it costs to lease ducts for fiber setting up VPNs
becomes an attractive option.  You can always get a T-1 between
facilities, but this ain't cheap either.  When thinking of VPNs over the
Internet keep in mind of the Slammer worm, however, and how it crippled
the Internet recently.

Do you have access to the new building?  Figure out where your point of
entry is in the building because this is probably where everyone will
want to terminate their gear you might order.  If you have to run
services (Internet, fiber, whatever) from the POE to another area in the
building you will have to let the service providers know all that so
they can figure that into their costs.  Note that some buildings have
multiple POEs, which is desirable, so you'll want to know where both
are.

Other than that find out your paths between floors.  Usually comm rooms
are one-atop-another and you have two (or more) nice 4 inch risers
between floors but I can't tell you how many times this IS NOT the
case.  Figure out how to move between floors before you do anything else
because if you have to cross into someone else's comm room on the way
between your two you could run into a situation where you have to lease
riser space from the other company.

Your choice of firewall/gateway/router may depend on what services you
need between facilities and what types of routers and gateways you have
at the main facility.  

I wish I could help out with this project because it sounds like fun but
I'm heading back overseas on Monday.

Greg