[Bioclusters] sound absorbing material for noisy server room

[elw at stderr.org]

> We recently purchased two Dell racks and they are very noisy, we have 
> had complains from people next door. We are thinking to get some sound 
> absorbing material to staple them on the wall inside of the server room. 
> Do anyone have any good idea on what kind of material is the best for 
> such purpose and where to buy them ?  I am in Canada.

you could try acoustic foam - you can usually buy/order sheets or panels 
of it (depending on size and technology) from large music stores or 
anyplace that deals with outfitting home recording studios.

[the stuff is good enough to do quite a bit of muffling of a 3-piece 
garage band, that sort of thing.  you might be able to get away with not 
covering your whole server room with it if you place it correctly - e.g. 
where it will absorb the maximum amount of sound, like behind servers 
where fan noise mostly is directed....]

p.s. the stuff is quite expensive, but not anything too terribly absurd.

--e