What is the ideal temperature for a server room?

The best temperature range for a server room is 18-27°C (64-80°F). This ambient temperature range provides a comfortable environment for technicians and engineers to work in, and a suitable environment in which to run IT servers, networking devices and associated critical infrastructure including uninterruptible power supplies. Below 18°C and the room can become a little too cool and energy is wasted cooling the space. Above the temperature and the server room becomes a little too warm with the potential for humidity related problems. Whilst this is an overall suitable server room temperature range, it is important to identify ‘hot-spots’ i.e., warmer temperatures within the room and server racks which could potentially lead to heat-related problems.

Maintaining a cool temperature for your server room helps to ensure the proper functioning of the IT systems and servers running within server racks and helps to prevent overheating. Higher temperatures can lead to performance issues and potentially damage IT hardware and it should be noted that different IT devices and computer equipment may have different temperature tolerances. It is important to check the manufacturer’s recommendation for each specific piece of hardware to ensure the room cooling and design is sufficient to ensure that the IT equipment has sufficient air flow to and heat management. Proper airflow management is important when designing a server room, computer room or data centre as is selecting the most appropriate form of cooling. This is typically an air conditioning system, but additional air handling units or liquid cooling may be considered as part of a heat management strategy.