44 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
44 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
# Cooling
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!!! info "This feature was introduced in NetBox v4.7."
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As part of its DCIM feature set, NetBox supports modeling data center cooling infrastructure, from facility plant down to the coolant connections on individual devices. This is used to document liquid- and hybrid-cooled environments (chillers, cooling distribution units, manifolds, rear-door heat exchangers, and cold-plate servers) as a source of truth.
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## Model Overview
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Cooling infrastructure is modeled as a hierarchy running from facility plant down to individual devices:
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**cooling source → cooling feed → device cooling intake / cooling outflow**
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A few properties of the model are worth noting up front:
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- **Connections are direct references, not cables.** Coolant hoses are not modeled as structured cabling; instead, an intake references the outflow that supplies it directly. Tracing a loop is a walk along these references.
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- **A single feed represents the entire loop.** A cooling feed covers both the supply (cold) and return (warm) paths of a loop, rather than modeling each direction as a separate object.
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- **Intakes and outflows both sit on the supply path.** Both device components describe the cold, coolant-distribution side of the loop: an intake receives coolant and an outflow passes it onward to downstream equipment. The warm return path is not modeled per-component — it is captured by the feed loop.
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## Cooling Sources
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A [cooling source](../models/dcim/coolingsource.md) is the furthest upstream cooling element modeled in NetBox, representing a chiller, cooling tower, dry cooler, or CRAC/CRAH unit. Each source is associated with a site, and may optionally be associated with a particular location within that site. A cooling source is not a device; it represents external facility plant, and records the coolant (fluid type) and total rated cooling capacity for the loops it originates.
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## Cooling Feeds
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A [cooling feed](../models/dcim/coolingfeed.md) represents a coolant loop running between a cooling source and a particular rack. Each feed records an operational status, a rated cooling capacity, and a rated (design) flow rate.
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## Device Components
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Devices participate in cooling through two component types, instantiated from templates defined on the device type:
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- A [cooling intake](../models/dcim/coolingintake.md) is a coolant intake on a device, such as a server cold-plate inlet or a CDU facility intake. It records the connector type, diameter, and rated maximum flow, and optionally references the upstream [cooling outflow](../models/dcim/coolingoutflow.md) that supplies it.
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- A [cooling outflow](../models/dcim/coolingoutflow.md) is a coolant supply point on a device, such as a CDU or manifold outlet. It optionally references a parent cooling intake on the same device — the device takes coolant in through its intake and passes it back out through its outflow.
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!!! tip "In-rack cooling equipment is modeled as a device"
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Coolant distribution units (CDUs), manifolds, and rear-door heat exchangers (RDHx) are modeled as ordinary (typically zero-U) [devices](../models/dcim/device.md) installed in the rack — exactly as a PDU is modeled as a device with power ports and outlets. The device's make and model come from its [device type](../models/dcim/devicetype.md), and its cooling connections are represented by cooling intake and outflow components. There is no dedicated CDU or RDHx model.
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## Racks and Devices
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Racks and devices carry lightweight cooling attributes independent of the feed/component topology:
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- A [rack](../models/dcim/rack.md) records a **cooling capability** (air-only, hybrid, or liquid-only) and a **cooling capacity** in kilowatts, typically inherited from its rack type.
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- A [device](../models/dcim/device.md) records a **cooling method** (air, liquid, hybrid, or immersion), inherited from its device type and overridable per device.
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