Background:

Multiple coincident (both urging and promoting) factors prompted us to carry out a complete renewal of the engineering equipments (power network, air-conditioning) of the server room at the University of Szeged Computer Centre (USz CC).

• The following recent developments required extra power consumption:
• local IT projects – server consolidation, installation of blade/storage/backup system, development of core of university network;
• participation in HBONE+ project of National Information Infrastructure Development Institute (NIIFI) – we accepted that we place and operate one of the supercomputer systems of NIIFI.
• It was an increasing risk factor that the power supply and air-conditioning facilities of the server room were overaged and had no proper redundancy level.
• The local power supplier claimed the renewal (or replacement) of some equipments before the power increase happens.
• We were able to allocate sufficient financial support for the project from various sources (self-financing, project funds from USz and NIIFI).

We had to plan the complete renewal of the engineering equipments “as a whole” but the implementation was divided into two, relatively distinct phases: power network and air-conditioning.

The renewal in headwords:

Planning:

• Power network:
  General requirements; survey of conditions; power consumption requirements; determination of target conditions; distribution network; uninterruptible power supply; cabling, cable routes; a second diesel engine generator set; noise protection, equipotencial bonding; surge and lightning protection; electric shock protection.

• Air-conditioning:
  General requirements; survey of conditions; power consumption requirements; determination of target conditions; outdoor air-conditioning units; air-conditioning in the server room; cooling pipes; water in- and outlet; rack requirements; acoustics; statics; system monitoring; power supply of the air-conditioning equipments.

Implementation:

We had to implement the detailed project plan that there would be no outages in USz CC services. It was a real logistic challenge to maintain the operation of the old system during the implementation of the new one.

This paper presents the developments in the USz CC server room. It examines some fundamental problems that required considerable efforts to be solved. We hope that our experiences may help others who face with similar developments.