How to Fix Hot Spots in the Data Center

LEGACY CONTENT: This content is older yet still valid and provides valuable insights. However, it may contain data and/or messaging written under different technological or market circumstances. ------ Data center operators take a variety of actions to eliminate hot spots. Some of these actions result in short term fixes but may come with an energy penalty and some actions may even create more hot spots. Airflow management is an easy and cost effective way to permanently eliminate hot spots while saving energy and can avoid the capital expense of adding more cooling units. This paper describes the root cause of hot spots, recommends methods to identify them, reviews the typical actions taken, and provides the best practices to eliminate them.