“How-to” Guide for Transitioning from Air to Liquid-Cooled High Performance Computing Systems

This document is the result of a collaborative effort to provide guidelines for transitioning from air to liquid-cooled high-performance computing solutions. While the focus of this effort is directed at high-performance computing cooling, the same ideas are applicable and relevant for any liquid-cooled computing system. This guide is intended for people who are responsible for operating data centers that contain high-performance computing equipment and have not yet transitioned from air to liquid cooling. It gives advice for taking an incremental “small-steps how-to approach” for transitioning without a lot of redo and cost. It assumes that you already have a data center with air-cooled equipment, and that some modifications will be needed to support liquid cooling.