Building Secure IT Server Room & Data Center
Despite Cloud and Datacenter technologies breakthrough need for local server rooms still exists. Often the only resource available for server room design is IT support or IT project manager with no or not enough knowledge about the task.
Our research combines information and ideas available in sources like Datacenter standards and best practices, server room facility providers’ sites, Internet technical discussions and experience and provides short but complete instruction, what should be done and taken in consideration to produce a secure server room.
The results of research include description of interdependencies which exist in facility design area, so the research can be used in several special cases; however, practitioner’s consideration is to be used in every specific project.
Keywords: Server Room, IT Infrastructure, IT Infrastructure Projects, Data Center
Data Center Design and Implementation Best Practices defines a Computer Room as “an architectural space with the primary function to accommodate data processing equipment” Building a server room can be a subject of a sub-project within bigger building, relocation or upgrade project.
Server room as we want to define it is a special case of a data center. basing on Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers ANSI/TIA-942, suggests a gradation of data centers called “Tiers”, basing on availability which is represented by redundancy of operations combined with number of distribution paths:
Tier 1
Basic non-redundant server room
Tier 2
Server room with single distribution path and redundant components
Tier 3
Data center with one distribution path active & multiple path available
Tier 4
Fault tolerant data center, multiple distribution paths active
Location
Server room construction planning begins from choosing the proper location which suits installation and functionality constrains of ICT infrastructure elements.
Your first task in finding the best spot for the server room inside existing building is to determine your server room size. These requirements should be based on existing and expected future needs.
Look Forward by Looking Back
The idea that technology is relatively new, that it arose within the last hundred years, is a common misconception. There have been great advances, particularly in the electronic age, but the truth of the matter is that technology has been around since human beings began bashing rock against rock.
Keep the Design as Simple as Possible
A simple data center design is easier to understand and manage. A basic design makes it simple to do the best work and more difficult to do sloppy work. For example, if you label everything—network ports, power outlets, cables, circuit breakers, their location on the floor—there is no guess work involved.
When people set up a machine, they gain the advantage of knowing ahead of time where the machine goes and where everything on that machine should be plugged in. It is also simpler to verify that the work was done correctly.
Design for Flexibility
Nobody knows where technology will be in five years, but it is a good guess that there will be some major changes. Making sure that the design is flexible and easily upgradable is critical to a successful long-term design.
Design for Scalability
The design should work equally well for a 2,000, 20,000, or 2,000,000 square foot data center. Where a variety of equipment is concerned, the use of watts per square foot to design a data center does not scale because the needs of individual machines are not taken into consideration. This book describes the use of rack location units (RLUs) to design for equipment needs. This system is scalable and can be reverseengineered.
Use a Modular Design
Data centers are highly complex things, and complex things can quickly become unmanageable. Modular design allows you to create highly complex systems from smaller, more manageable building blocks.
Top Ten Data Center Design Guidelines
1. Plan ahead. You never want to hear “Oops!” in your data center.
2. Keep it simple. Simple designs are easier to support, administer, and use. Set things up so that when a problem occurs, you can fix it quickly.
3. Be flexible. Technology changes. Upgrades happen.
4. Think modular. Look for modularity as you design. This will help keep things simple and flexible.
5. Use RLUs, not square feet. Move away from the concept of using square footage of area to determine capacity. Use RLUs to define capacity and make the data center scalable.
6. Worry about weight. Servers and storage equipment for data centers are getting denser and heavier every day. Make sure the load rating for all supporting structures, particularly for raised floors and ramps, is adequate for current and future loads.
7. Use Raised floor system. Raised floor tiles are strong and will handle increasing weight load requirements better than tiles made of other materials. Even the perforated and grated aluminium tiles maintain their strength and allow the passage of cold air to the machines.
8. Label everything. Particularly cabling! It is easy to let this one slip when it seems as if “there are better things to do.” The time lost in labelling is time gained when you don’t have to pull up the raised floor system to trace the end of a single cable. And you will have to trace bad cables!
9. Keep things covered, or bundled, and out of sight. If it can’t be seen, it can’t be messed with.
10. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. That way, you’re never surprised.
Data Center-Server Room- Infrastructure-Networking Solutions
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