Exploring Server Rack Grounding

Grounding plays an essential role in data center availability. Data centers are increasingly power-dense, and power surges are a common problem. Even miles away, a lightning strike can generate a surge that can travel through cabling and damage IT equipment. Proper grounding protects against these events.

When most people think of grounding (or “earthing” in British English), they think of creating a direct path to the ground that carries electrical energy. Data center grounding systems go beyond electrical codes to direct harmful current away from sensitive IT equipment. Typically, grounding systems incorporate a grounding busbar that provides a convenient, central location for equipment ground connections. In addition, the components within the rack or cabinet should be bonded together before grounding. Best-in-class cabinets, such as Enconnex cabinets, come with their components pre-bonded.

Electrical current also flows where there is a difference in electrical potential. Equalizing the electrical potential minimizes current flow. Therefore racks, cabinets, and other metal components in the data center should be bonded to the grounding system to reduce the risk created by electrical surges.

Server Rack Grounding Requirements

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) have developed the ANSI/TIA-942 standard for standardizing data center infrastructure and ensuring high levels of availability. It contains requirements for data center telecommunications, electrical and mechanical infrastructure, including grounding.

Data centers receive ANSI/TIA-942 certification according to one of four rating levels. Level 1 is the most basic, with one nonredundant power distribution line to each server rack and minimal protection against physical events. Grounding is not required, although it may be desirable to meet the requirements of equipment manufacturers.

At the other end of the spectrum is Level 4, designed for data centers used by financial institutions, healthcare organizations, and others requiring maximum availability. It specifies multiple independent, active power distribution lines to support IT equipment and protection against most physical events. This creates a fault-tolerant data center in which there’s no single point of failure that can cause downtime. Grounding is essential in a Level 4 data center.

How to Ground a Server Rack

Many organizations don’t ground their server racks and cabinets even though they have grounding busbars and a common bonding network (CBN) in place. Some don’t ground their racks and cabinets correctly. A common mistake is to daisy-chain racks together, which can cause an entire row of racks to become energized during a power surge. Additionally, painted components may not achieve continuity, so special paint-piercing hardware should be used when bonding racks to the grounding system. Enconnex employs this technique in many of our racks and cabinets.

Grounding and bonding require careful planning and implementation to be successful. The ANSI/TIA-942 standard provides specifications in its section on grounding. All metal components should be properly bonded to the grounding system, and grounding should be installed before any other cabling.

Should You Ground Your Server Racks?

Should you ground your server racks? The answer depends upon the manufacturer’s recommendations for your IT equipment and the uptime requirements of your data center. In many cases, bonding your racks and cabinets to a grounding system is a smart decision that significantly reduces the risk of damage and downtime due to electrical surges.

Enconnex Can Assist You With Server Rack Grounding

Enconnex offers a comprehensive line of racks and cabinets to meet a wide range of requirements. Our data center infrastructure specialists can help you develop a strategy for bonding our cabinets to your grounding system.

Enconnex cabinets offer many benefits when it comes to grounding. The components within our racks and cabinets come pre-bonded. They also passed UL2416's limited short circuit test for grounding continuity with a 0.49V voltage drop result, much lower than the limit of 2.5V from any accessible conductive part and the earth. Our grounding kit provides a dedicated, low-resistance grounding solution for any environment where additional electrical grounding is required. Its flexible design makes it an optimal electrostatic grounding solution for cabinets, protecting equipment to maximize uptime.