Physically protecting a server in small company

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remey

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Hi,
We rent three rooms in a Georgian building. Two rooms are full and the third has 4 hot desks so there may be one or two people in there at any time. The server is in a cabinet in the corner of this room.
In a recent risk audit we were advised to house the server in a separate room. This would mean leasing another room which isnt viable at the moment.​

Any recommendations for a 'cage' which could be locked or some other way of seperating and protecting the server. The landlord will allow us put a temporary structure around it as long as it doesnt go as high as the coving (very old property) but is a cage or stud wall type structure the best.​

Thanks​
 
Just to clarify, did the audit identify a security risk because the server is in a room with access by lots of people, or some other risk.

Are you trying to lock the server away ?
I assume that the cabinet it is currently in, has adequate air movement to prevent overheating. Any locked solution would have to take this into consideration.

The server rack that burmo suggested may be a solution.
 
HI,

Thanks for the replies.
The cabinet that Burmo suggested is currently what we have.

Yes huskerdu, they said its at risk being in a room with traffic going through.
They want it in a seperate room with key code access and suitable ventilation.
There's no risk of it overheating at the moment in this cabinet because its a well ventialted room.
Any other thoughts? I was thinking a stud wall type thing around it but it'll look awful. A cage will too to be honest but we have to do something.

Thanks
 
Hi,

Assuming that this information stored on that server is "business critical", you could use something like:
[broken link removed]
for your cabinet which contains the server.

If you go with recommendation of separate room, then you will need to cost the rental of the room, charge for setting up the "keycode" access, managing the access to this "lab", also the rewiring of the server access. Also, the ventilation may not suffice for the server(s) - ideally machines need to be a temperature controlled room, whats good for us, would be too warm for servers...

Have you a "back up" system for this critical server, in case it crashes? Regular back ups etc... all should have been covered in the audit - off topic I know, but something to consider.
 
You could reconfigure the two rooms with less traffic to put the server in one of those rooms, possibly swapping it with some non essential item in those rooms such as a stationary cupboard or the like.
You could also possible consider getting rid of the servers out of the office and hosting them in a data centre which would reduce the risk and free up the space. It would also allow you to be really cool by operating in the 'cloud' !!

There are probably many risks that would not be solved even if you rented another room. As it is a shared building, there is an increased risk of theft. The fire system is probably not designed to protect servers. The power system is probably not optimal either.
 
or you could farm out housing your server to an off-site locating it in a reputable company specialising in that work.
 
as previously suggeste a rack cabinet would do. although the one suggested was a little big.
 
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