We just got a couple of HP DL360 G7′s, and I notice it has vents on the top. More hot air seems to exit through these vents than it does anywhere on the back. All our servers in the past have always vented all the hot air through the back. How are these servers with top vents supposed to be mounted? Everyone always says airflow is best by not leaving gaps on the rack, but [...]

We are a small company, so we have a small closet with one server rack. This closet has very good ventilation, so that’s not a problem – but today the air went out on this side of our company suite. It didn’t occur to me until just now, that means the closet is very hot, and indeed I came in to find the servers all with fans on full blast and the temperature in there [...]

We need a new, fanless, managed 24-port switch for our small office and I’m considering the Cisco SG200-26. The issue is that the network cabling in the office means that the switch must be wall-mounted, oriented vertically, with the side containing the ports facing to the right and the two vented sides at the top and bottom, facing the ceiling and floor, respectively. So, my questions are: is it bad for a switch to be [...]