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Initiation responsibility: Head of Site Technical Services, Head of IT Section
Implementation responsibility: Site Technical Services
Sometimes the normal air exchange and heat transfer in a room is not sufficient to ensure that IT devices remain within their permitted temperature range during operation, so that it is necessary to install air conditioning. Its function is, through cooling, to keep the room temperature within the limits required by the IT systems.
If there are also requirements with regard to atmospheric humidity, e.g. so as to avoid electrostatic charges, the air conditioning system can satisfy these through humidification and dehumidification. For this purpose, however, the air conditioning unit must be connected to a water supply line. S 1.24 Avoidance of Water Pipes should be noted.
To maintain the protective effect, regular servicing of the air conditioning plant is required. Additional monitoring of the air conditioning is recommended, especially where full air conditioning is used.
If the air conditioning fails it may be necessary for a large number of (especially important) IT systems to be switched off. The air conditioning system should therefore be designed for high availability. It should be sized so as to allow generous reserve capacity, and it should also be easy to extend. The air conditioning should not be forgotten during contingency planning (see Section 3.3 "Contingency Planning Concept").
The amount of cooling capacity that is needed for a server room or a computer centre must be determined by carrying out precise thermal load calculations. An admixture of fresh air may then be necessary if the air-conditioned room(s) is/are continuously occupied.
Measurements must also be performed for different times of the day in order to determine whether humidification or dehydration is needed in such rooms. In this connection the data provided by the manufacturers of the IT components operated should be consulted.
To prevent damage to the air conditioning causing further adverse effects, for example due to the escape of coolant or short-circuits, heat exchangers and recooling plant should if possible not be set up directly in a server room or computer centre.
The recooling plant for the air conditioning system must be protected against direct lightning strike if it is set up in the open air. Especially in high-security areas, the recooling plant should not be generally accessible and if necessary it should be physically protected against sabotage.
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by Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik |
last update: July 2001 |