Data ceneter Design considerations

Gopikrishnan S Menon

planning, designing, engineering, constructing, monitoring and maintaining data centers, computer rooms and server rooms that integrate, 'best-of-breed', critical infrastructure technologies. The result is an always available, scalable, redundant, faulttolerant, manageable, and maintainable data center environment.

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hyper-competitive markets, where you measure network downtime in lost profits, PTS designs solutions that protect against some of the leading causes of downtime, hardware damage, data loss, and decreased productivity

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PTS sets the standard for 'always' available solutions for data centers, computer rooms, server rooms, network closets, telecommunications rooms, network operations centers, and other mission critical facilities.

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data center design or computer room design process starts with our client's management staff determining the business's data center or computer room objectives and availability requirements. We follow with a thorough survey of the existing systems and facilities. We then work with the IT staff and the facility staff to identify and quantify the data center or computer room project needs and combine them with our understanding of the trends and migrations strategies required to adapt to future changes. Finally, we develop a conceptual data center design or computer room design from which we develop construction budgets and schedules.

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Data Center Consulting Data Center Planning & Pre-Design Data Center Power & Cooling Systems Analysis Data Center Feasibility Studies & Project Cost Budgeting Data Center Availability & Risk Assessment Data Center Computational Fluid Dynamic Services Technology Master Format Planning Data Center Site Selection Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Data Center Relocation Evaluation & Planning Data Center Owners Representation

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three most important attributes



any good data center design or computer room design are high-availability, flexibility, and simplicity...

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High-Availability All data center designs are judged by their ability to provide continuous operations for the network services they support. Data center availability is affected by both planned (scheduled maintenance) and unplanned (failures) events. To maximize availability, the impact from each of these must be minimized and/or eliminated. All data centers must be maintained on a regular basis. In most data center designs, scheduled maintenance is a planned event requiring network downtime. For this reason, general maintenance is often forgone, leaving long-term availability to chance. In robust data center designs, concurrently maintainable systems are implemented to avoid interruption to normal data center operations. To mitigate unplanned outages, both redundancy and fault-tolerance must be incorporated into the data center design. High-availability is accomplished by providing redundancy for all, major and minor, systems, thereby eliminating single points of failure. Additionally, the data center design must offer predictable uptime by incorporating fault-tolerance against hard failures. (A hard failure is a failure in which the component must be replaced to return to an operational steady state.) A data center achieves high-availability by implementing a fully redundant, fault-tolerant, and concurrently maintainable IT and support infrastructure architecture in which all possible hard failures are predictable and deterministic

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Flexibility A data center must support fast, seamless, growth, and deployment of new services without a major overhaul of its infrastructure and without a major disruption to its operation. A data center designed for flexibility can adapt to changing business conditions and thereby the demands put upon its function. The use of modular systems within the data centers design, where the characteristics of the modules are known and the steps to add more modules are simple, is an excellent method for achieving flexibility. Another key component in achieving flexibility is scalability. Scalability is the design concept of proactively planning for changing requirements. A data center that is scalable has the capacity to sustain rapid growth in performance, the number of devices that it can host, and the quality of services offered. Again, the use of modular systems is an excellent strategy to address growth without major disruptions. A data center achieves flexibility by implementing a modular IT and support infrastructure architecture allowing it to adapt quickly to unanticipated growth.

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Simplicity Like many old adages, the one about, 'keeping it simple,' is true, most especially for data centers. The major benefits of simplifying within a data center design are - reduced change of failures due to human error (the most common cause of down time every year) - reduced cost for implementation - and easier systems monitoring, manageability, and maintainability. TEBODIN works to fulfill our mission of creating satisfied customers by emphasizing pre-design and planning services to provide the optimal solutions to meet our clients' needs. This results in an early and accurate alignment between scope, schedule and budget.

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Data Center Power & Cooling Systems Analysis PTS load studies offer piece-of-mind when it comes to data center power equipment selection. Our expert technician can provide complete load profiling and reporting from simple spot-checking to week-long data logging. Our methodology combines the business and technology expertise needed to ensure customer satisfaction from concept through completion. Raised Floor Cooling Analysis Cooling Systems Analysis Data Center Power Protection Systems Analysis Single Point of Failure Analysis Assessing the electrical power required to support and cool the critical loads within the data center is essential to planning for the development of a facility that will meet the end user's availability expectations. Our experts can produce a reasonable estimate of the data center power requirements. This will help specify the size of the Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure components that will achieve the availability determined by the needs assessment. Once the sizing determination is made, conceptual and detailed planning can go forward with the assistance of a PTS consulting engineer. Cost estimation can then be made based on the size and reliability configuration determined from the data center power needs assessment process described on this site.

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Data Center Raised Floor Cooling Assessment

A PTS Data Center Raised Floor Cooling Assessment provides a company with a non-biased, independent, assessment of the current data center cooling infrastructure performance as well as recommendations for upgrades and enhancements to eliminate scheduled and unscheduled downtime. The assessment includes a comprehensive computer room site inspection and report including a raised floor cooling assessment. This is a review of the factors that most directly impact critical systems cooling. Extensive temperature, airflow, and cooling performance data are collected. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the computer room's cooling effectiveness. The resulting report gives data center and facility managers the quantitative information to understand the current status of their sites and, more importantly, to know what they can do to solve existing problems, proactively avoid potential problems and plan for future growth. Below is a sample image of a computational fluid dynamics modeling analysis, a component of our service.


BENEFITS Identify the causes 'hot-spots'. Anticipate power and delivered cooling deficiencies, before new equipment is installed. Avoid problems by identifying site vulnerabilities. Benchmark capacity planning, layout, and site management against industry 'Best Practices'. Document how well a site is performing (or not performing).

FEATURES Determine cooling capacity by area by estimating the usable power capacity versus the existing and planned load. Determine cooling performance by unit by observing the reliability of installation, quality of maintenance and measuring actual performance versus sensor calibrations. Determine cooling redundancy by area by estimating the impact of losing one or more cooling units for maintenance or failure in each area and identify whether the remaining capacity will be adequate to support the existing or planned load. Determine cooling quality by measuring spot temperature and relative humidity using calibrated instruments, and install data acquisition equipment to record temperature and humidity stability for ~30 hours in locations likely to experience worst-case conditions. Evaluate floor-tile grill placement by examining the equipment floor plan for location and heat loads by measuring static pressure and calculating the maximum possible delivered cooling. Determine the air flow by area by measuring air lost due to cable cut-outs and holes and identifying under-floor obstructions preventing free air movement. And finally, provide capacity planning direction by evaluating the variable to identifying the site's remaining cooling versus power capacity and documenting the process for initiating required upgrades.

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Data Center Design by PTS Data Center Solutions, Inc. Data Center & Computer Room Project Feasibility & Cost Budgeting Data center and/or computer room project assessment and cost estimating are accomplished by identifying the key design criteria for the two (2) main areas of the project focus within the overall data center infrastructure and services, the Technology Infrastructure & Services (IT) and the Support Infrastructure & Services (the Facility). The key design criteria are:

Technology Infrastructure & Services Support Infrastructure & Services Data Center Project Budget Since a data center project typically involves base-building design, Site Selection must also be included as a criterion placed on the overall design. A computer room project, on the other hand, can be as involved as a project within a bigger base building project or as simple as a relocation and/or upgrade of an existing computer room within an established building space. Availability Requirements The first milestone in creating a data center project budget is to determine the Availability Requirement for the facility. While it is common practice to state the need for 7x24xForever availability, the steep cost curve associated with delivering on this expectation must be realized. PTSs data center classification system is based, in part, on the Uptime Institutes tier classification system. For more information, please download our white paper on the subject: PTS Data Center Classification and Cost Guide. Power & Cooling Density The next step in defining a project budget is to determine the Power Density to be used as a basis for design. The power density can be described as the amount of power delivered to the critical load per unit of area and is directly related to the amount of heat that must be removed via the computer room air conditioner (CRAC) systems. In general, PTS defines power density in terms of Rack Location Units (RLUs). In a typical data processing environment each RLU dissipates 1,500 to 4,000 watts. However, network RLUs, 1U server RLUs, and blade server RLUs consume considerable more power, and therefore dissipate considerably more heat. The uneven distribution of RLU power density is becoming ever more commonplace, and is the number one obstacle in present day data center design. Business Objectives The final design criteria component of the project budget is the cost associated with achieving the Business Objectives for the facility. Selection of the network services delivery is what drives the final selection of all network, security, server, storage, access, communications, and monitoring infrastructure to be deployed within the facility. Ultimately, this equipment is the critical load that must be supported by the supporting infrastructure. Unfortunately, the space requirements for a computer room project are often previously dictated by management and/or the project architect. This complicates the design by restricting the power & cooling density strategy utilized as a criterion. Inevitably, this also increases the overall cost of the project. Technology Infrastructure & Services (IT) As shown in the chart at the top of the page, in the design process, data center infrastructure and services are broken down into Technology and Supporting categories for budgeting purposes. The Technology Infrastructure & Services budget is determined by working with IT personnel to identify the existing systems and growth projections, evaluate planned upgrades and improvements, and quantify financial constraints; as well as to correlate how each relate to the core business strategy they support. The technology infrastructure & services budget includes the following elements:  Project Management  Technology Systems Design (Network, Security, Server, Storage, Cable Plant, Communications, NOC and Monitoring)  WAN Services Procurement  Relocated, Replacement & New - Server & Storage Infrastructure  Relocated, Replacement & New - Network, WAN & Network Security Infrastructure  Relocated, Replacement & New - Voice Communications Infrastructure GK_MGMT_  Relocation Services  Technology Systems Installation  Cable Plant Installation  Physical Support Equipment (Cabinets, Enclosure, Racks, Trays, Troughs & Ladders)


Key Design Criteria

Availability Requirements

Power & Cooling Density

Business Objectives

Technology Infrastructure & Services

Support Infrastructure & Services

Data Center Project Budget

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Availability Requirements The first milestone in creating a data center project budget is to determine the Availability Requirement for the facility. While it is common practice to state the need for 7x24xForever availability, the steep cost curve associated with delivering on this expectation must be realized. PTSs data center classification system is based, in part, on the Uptime Institutes tier classification system. For more information, please download our white paper on the subject: PTS Data Center Classification and Cost Guide.

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Power & Cooling Density The next step in defining a project budget is to determine the Power Density to be used as a basis for design. The power density can be described as the amount of power delivered to the critical load per unit of area and is directly related to the amount of heat that must be removed via the computer room air conditioner (CRAC) systems. In general, PTS defines power density in terms of Rack Location Units (RLUs). In a typical data processing environment each RLU dissipates 1,500 to 4,000 watts. However, network RLUs, 1U server RLUs, and blade server RLUs consume considerable more power, and therefore dissipate considerably more heat. The uneven distribution of RLU power density is becoming ever more commonplace, and is the number one obstacle in present day data center design.

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Business Objectives The final design criteria component of the project budget is the cost associated with achieving the Business Objectives for the facility. Selection of the network services delivery is what drives the final selection of all network, security, server, storage, access, communications, and monitoring infrastructure to be deployed within the facility. Ultimately, this equipment is the critical load that must be supported by the supporting infrastructure. Unfortunately, the space requirements for a computer room project are often previously dictated by management and/or the project architect. This complicates the design by restricting the power & cooling density strategy utilized as a criterion. Inevitably, this also increases the overall cost of the project.

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Technology Infrastructure & Services (IT) As shown in the chart at the top of the page, in the design process, data center infrastructure and services are broken down into Technology and Supporting categories for budgeting purposes. The Technology Infrastructure & Services budget is determined by working with IT personnel to identify the existing systems and growth projections, evaluate planned upgrades and improvements, and quantify financial constraints; as well as to correlate how each relate to the core business strategy they support. The technology infrastructure & services budget includes the following elements: Project Management Technology Systems Design (Network, Security, Server, Storage, Cable Plant, Communications, NOC and Monitoring) WAN Services Procurement Relocated, Replacement & New - Server & Storage Infrastructure Relocated, Replacement & New - Network, WAN & Network Security Infrastructure Relocated, Replacement & New - Voice Communications Infrastructure Relocation Services Technology Systems Installation Cable Plant Installation Physical Support Equipment (Cabinets, Enclosure, Racks, Trays, Troughs & Ladders) NOC & A/V Equipment & Installation

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Support Infrastructure & Services (the Facility) As previously discussed, the Support Infrastructure & Services budget is determined by considering the technology infrastructure, power density, and availability requirement. In general, the higher the power density and/or availability, the greater the support infrastructure required and thereby the higher the overall cost. Within the overall data center infrastructure plans, the support infrastructure & services budget includes the following elements: Project Management Support Infrastructure Systems Design, Engineering & Construction Architectural Design & Construction Support Infrastructure Systems (Power, Cooling, Fire Safety, Architectural, etc.)

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All Together Now Consider these three elements together: Identifying the Business Objectives, or network services to be delivered by the data center and/or computer room determines the size of the critical load. Deciding the Power & Cooling Density with which this critical equipment will be deployed, ultimately leads to the total (IT infrastructure + support infrastructure) space required. The critical load density leads to the number of RLUs and the amount of IT space (raised floor space) required for the environment. In general, densities greater than 4,000-watts per RLU can be considered high-density deployments and will require increasing amounts of supporting infrastructure. For extremely highdensity deployments the ratio of support space to IT space can exceed 2-to-1. Determination of the Availability Requirements for the business use of the facility will be the number one cost driver of the project budget. Excellent data center availability can be achieved with redundancy built into all major systems and subsystems. However, always-availability can only be achieved with designs that:
   

Deploy multiple active delivery pathways for both power and cooling, Are concurrently maintainable, Have incorporated fault-tolerance, Have taken into account site selection criteria.

    

In the end, establishing the design criteria for the project will lead to the determination of: Space requirements Budget requirements Time requirements It is difficult to generalize the data center technology infrastructure budget since so much depends on the type of business, the platform utilized, and so on. However, it is not uncommon for the project budget to be ten-of-thousands of dollars per RLU, or thousands of dollars per square foot of raised floor space. For more information, please download our white paper on the subject: PTS Data Center Classification and Cost Guide.

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