DATA CENTER
WHAT IS A DATA CENTER?
A central location where all IT equipment and structured cable are housed
It can be in many forms but will always have
Flooring Equipment Rack
Cooling (HVAC)
Cable Management
Power
DATA CENTER CABLING
CABLE MANAGEMENT
Cable organization in a data center
Cables are normally placed at the top of the room or under the floor
Cables going into the data center can come from other
Rooms, buildings or outside the premise
Cables can be color coded for certain purposes
Overhead Cable Tray / Duct Rack Cable Management
Under Floor Cable Tray
BAD CABLE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
GOOD PRACTICE
STRUCTURED CABLING
The design and installation of a cabling system that will support multiple
hardware uses
Design covers from “work area” to “data center” cabling
Depending on the country, there are standards for structured cabling
Europe – EN50173
US – EIA/TIA 568
STRUCTURED CABLING
Cabling infrastructure consisting of standardized elements
It has six subsystems
Entrance Facility
Equipment Room
Backbone Cabling
Horizontal Cabling
Telecommunication Room
Work Area
STRUCTURED CABLING
Image source - [Link]
STRUCTURED CABLING SUBSYSTEMS
Entrance Facility
Entrance facilities contain the cables, network demarcation point(s), connecting
hardware, protection devices and other equipment that connect to the access provider
(AP) or private network cabling
It includes connections between outside plant and inside building cabling
Equipment Room
Environmentally controlled centralized space for telecommunications equipment
Usually more complex than a telecommunications room
Usually houses the main cross-connect
May also contain the intermediate cross-connects, horizontal cross-connects or both
Source - [Link]
[Link]
STRUCTURED CABLING SUBSYSTEMS
Backbone Cabling
Provides interconnection between telecommunications rooms, equipment rooms,
access provider spaces and entrance facilities
Telecommunication Room
Houses the terminations of horizontal and backbone cables to connecting hardware
including any jumpers or patch cords
It may also contain the intermediate or main cross-connect for different portions of the
backbone cabling system
Also provides a controlled environment to house telecommunications equipment,
connecting hardware and splice closures serving a portion of the building
Source - [Link]
[Link]
STRUCTURED CABLING SUBSYSTEMS
Horizontal Cabling
Extends from the work area’s telecommunications information outlet to the
telecommunications room
It includes horizontal cable, mechanical terminations, jumpers and patch cords located
in the telecommunications room
This is normally 90 meters from the work area to the telecommunications room
Work Area
Components extend from the telecommunications outlet/connector end of the
horizontal cabling system to the work area equipment
A minimum of two telecommunications outlets should be provided for each work area
Source - [Link]
[Link]
DATA CENTER FLOORING
DATA CENTER FLOORING
Data center uses a flooring system called “raised flooring”
Raised flooring has a steel structure that should be able to carry the weight of the
rack
Flooring is modular and can be opened
EQUIPMENT RACK
EQUIPMENT RACK
A physical steel frame that is designed to house servers,
network equipment and cables
A standard rack is 19 in. wide and 36 in. deep
Height is specified as a “u”
A “u” is equivalent to 1.7 in. or 44.45 mm
Ex: if a rack is 42u this means that it has a height of 71.4 in. or
5.95 ft.
Holes on the side of the rack is also standardized
Two adjacent holes are .625 in. apart from the middle
Equipment uses bracket for mounting on the rack
Rack-type equipment are also uses “u” for the height
EXAMPLE EQUIPMENT RACK
EXAMPLE RACK-MOUNT EQUIPMENT
1u Bracket for Mounting
2u Rack-mount Server
1u Rack-mount Server
COOLING
COOLING
Data centers need cooling as equipment in the rack produces heat
When the room is hot, equipment will not function properly or may overheat
Cooling should also be energy efficient
Cooling can take up to 50% of the total power need to run the data center
Data centers should have a temperature between 21c to 24c
There are many types of cooling system for the data center
AIR CONDITIONING
Data center uses air conditioning called Precise Air Conditioning Unit
Controls the humidity and temperature precisely in the environment
There are data centers that uses standard air conditioners
Also known as comfort air conditioners
Precise air conditioning are better because it ensures the correct environment for
the equipment
CONSIDERATIONS IN COOLING THE DATA
CENTER
Type of air conditioner
CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioning) – uses refrigerant to cool the environment
CRAH (Computer Room Air Handler) – uses chilled water to cool the environment
Cooling capacity of the air conditioner
Normally specified as BTU (British Thermal Units)
Computed by engineers guided by the heat given off by the equipment and people
inside the room
Rack placing
Placement of rack affects cooling
Normal design uses the hot aisle / cold aisle design
HOT AISLE / COLD AISLE
One aisle has cold air and is vent into the rack
All hot air from the equipment goes out in another aisle
Hot air is then vented out of the data center
POWER
ELECTRICAL POWER
Each equipment used in the data center has a rating in
Volts
Amperes
Power - Watts or VA (not the same as watts)
Example:
A server can be rated as 220V / 3.5A or 220V / 600W
This means server runs 220Vac at 600W of power
Data center supply is normally rated with current in Amperes
Never go beyond the rated power supply of the data center
Will cause an overload
Also check the PDU’s rating so as to exceed it
POWER REDUNDANCY
Data centers can have electrical generators for power during outages
Data centers also uses Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) during transition to
generators in power outages
UPS are not designed for long power outages as it uses only battery to power
equipment
Home / Personal UPS High Capacity UPS Large Data Center UPS
(For data centers)
Electrical Generator
SECURITY
SECURITY IN DATA CENTER
Physical Security
Must ensure that only authorized personnel is inside the data center
Employment of locks or key card type locks
Fire protection
Smoke detectors
Fire extinguishers
Fire suppression systems
Safety
Fire exit
DATA CENTER