Editing Noise (section)

== Vibration ==
[[File:homemaderack.png|250px|border|right|Rack mount servers using 2x4 wood blocks with rubber insulation and acoustic absorption foam to reduce noise]]If you choose to run rack mount servers, or indeed any other server with high fan speeds and large metal cases, a common problem can be vibration and hence low-frequency noise. This is especially an issue if you locate your homelab in your loft / attic where it can actually generate a significant amount of noise against the timber floors and through the rafters of the building. Indeed any wooden or hard surface can conduct and amplify this noise.

For standard servers, any kind of acoustic isolation feet can have a significant improvement on noise levels. There are a huge number of different isolation feet available on the market of all different shapes and sizes, and YMMV. Some success has been found in the community using isolation feet for Hi-Fi equipment, and one well known vendor is AcoustiProducts, whose AcoustiFeet can be very effective, and can even be retrofitted to devices such as your home NAS device. This has been proven to be successful in significantly reducing the noise from a [[Synology]] DS412+ in [[User:AlexGalbraith|Alex Galbraith]]'s homelab (situated on his wooden living room TV cabinet), but of course YMMV.

Once you get to [[http://openhomelab.org/index.php?title=Building_a_Homelab#Vendor_Style|rack mount servers]], it may be that you dont actually have a [[rack]] within which to mount them! In this case one option would be to separate each server in your lab by a 2"x4" block of wood with silicon / rubber door seals used to "float" the blocks and provide some acoustic dampening (as seen in the picture on the right). It is far from perfect, but it can help.