Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the Data Center and Server Room Standards is to describe the minimum requirements for designing, installing, securing, monitoring, maintaining, protecting,
and decommissioning a data center or server room at the University of Kansas.
APPLIES TO:
University employees (faculty, staff, and student employees), students, and other covered individuals (e.g., University affiliates, vendors, independent contractors, etc.) in their
access and usage of University technology resources during the course of conducting University business (administrative, financial, teaching, research, or service).
CAMPUS:
Lawrence
CONTENTS:
I. Physical Plant Layout and Management2
A. HVAC3
B. Electrical Systems4
C. Access Control and Safety5
D. Raised Floor Systems6
E. Server Cabinet Systems7
F. Cable Plant8
II. Support Services9
A. Server Installation10
B. Network Layout11
C. Server Removal12
D. Emergency Response Management13
E. Procedure and Policy Development14
F. Management of Site Support Tools and Equipment15
POLICY STATEMENT:
I. 16Physical Plant Layout and Management
A. 16HVAC
1. CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) Units:
a. Cooling and related equipment must be sized to account for:
i. The size of the cooling load of all equipment.
ii. The size of the cooling load of the building (lighting, power equipment, personnel, building envelope).
iii. Over sizing to account for humidification effects.
iv. Over sizing to account for redundancy should a unit fail.
v. Over sizing to account for appropriate future growth projections.
b. All cooling equipment must be designed, installed, and maintained by qualified technicians that meet local and state codes. All cooling equipment must
follow the vendor’s recommended maintenance schedule.
c. Air filtration media should be installed at air intake points. Media should be replaced on a regular schedule based on the manufacturer recommended
filter lifespan.
2. Humidity/temperature control:
a. Humidity and temperature must be maintained at a level that is compliant with the equipment installed on the data center floor.
b. Humidity injection units must have separate drains and be fed by conditioned water.
3. Cooling towers:
a. Units must be maintained by qualified maintenance technicians following factory guidelines.
b. Units must be in a secure mechanical yard.
c. Units should be designed and installed to eliminate single point of failure.
d. Tower restart after power failure must be automatic.
e. Towers must have a redundant power source to allow time for a controlled shutdown of supported areas.
4. Pump systems:
a. Units must be located in a secure mechanical room.
b. Units should be designed and installed to eliminate single point of failure.
c. Pumps must restart automatically after a power failure.
d. Pumps must have an emergency power source to allow time for a controlled shutdown of supported areas.
5. Pipe system:
a. Pipe must be constructed of high quality rust- and coolant-resistant material.
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b. Pipe loops must have valves in several locations that allow sections of the loop to be isolated without interruption to the rest of the loop.
c. Pipe loops must have isolation valves for each CRAC unit.
7. System monitoring:
a. All infrastructure systems supporting machine space services must be monitored on a continual basis.
b. Monitoring must be at a central location such as a Network Operations Center.
c. Monitoring system must support a master reporting console that can also be accessed remotely (including history logs) and must notify support staff of
alarms at central and remote sites.
B. 16Electrical Systems
1. Main and step down transformers:
a. Must be located in a secure mechanical room.
b. Must have HVAC systems to support heat load and correct humidity levels for each unit.
c. Must be maintained by a qualified technician to factory standards and be supportable by extended factory warranty.
4. UPS systems:
a. UPS systems in the data center must be sized to meet current and future needs, with sufficient battery backup to allow for a controlled shutdown of
primary servers.
b. UPS systems must be designed, installed and maintained by authorized electricians and technicians and housed in a secure location. UPS systems
follow manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule.
c. UPS systems must have bypass capability to allow for periodic maintenance.
5. Backup batteries:
a. Must follow manufacture’s recommendations for system to be of sufficient quality and capacity to ensure a long life thus limiting breaks in the battery
strings.
b. Must be located in secure area with proper ventilation as required.
c. Must be installed and maintained by authorized technicians.
d. Must be approved for use in computer equipment UPS systems.
6. Sub-panels:
a. Must be sized to meet current and future needs.
b. Must be located in the data center to minimize power runs to desired equipment.
c. Panel maps must be maintained to reflect their most current usage.
d. Sub-panels must never be opened at the face plate by anyone other than qualified electricians.
e. All materials must be at least three feet away from sub-panels.
8. Power strips:
a. Must be sized to meet the power requirements of the cabinet in which they are installed.
b. Power receptacles for power strips must be installed by qualified electricians.
c. Monitoring systems must be IP capable.
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b. Equipment power cables should be the minimum required length and slack/strain management must be employed.
c. Cables must be arraigned to minimize air flow disruptions.
2. Video security:
a. Allows for local and remote surveillance of secured and public spaces.
b. Recording device (tape or hard disk) must be located in a secure area.
c. Recording must be done on a regular basis to ensure proper operation of the video security system.
d. All security recordings must be saved for no less than 30 days.
4. Emergency procedures:
a. All sites must maintain published emergency procedures that address:
i. Emergency contact information
ii. Various and the respective site’s planned responses
iii. Ongoing testing and staff awareness
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2. Cleaning:
a. Must be done with vacuum cleaners equipped with HEPA/S-class filters.
b. Must be done on a continual basis.
4. Floor grounding:
a. Must be separate from building ground.
b. Must comply with all state and local codes.
2. Cabinet layout:
a. The cabinets will be configured in a standard hot aisle cold aisle configuration.
b. The cold aisle edge of the equipment enclosures must line up with the edge of the floor tiles.
c. Hot and cold aisles must be wide enough to insure adequate access to equipment and safe staff work space.
d. In cases where vented floor tiles alone are insufficient to heat load for an area, additional cooling measures will be used.
e. Blanking panels will be installed in any unused rack space to minimize cold/hot air mixing.
3. Cabinet security:
a. All cabinets must be lockable.
b. All cabinets must reside in a secure area within the data center.
4. Cabinet loading:
a. Rack loading must not exceed the weight rated capacity for the location’s raised floor.
b. Rack heat load must not exceed the cooling capacity of the location.
c. Large servers and equipment must be installed at the bottom of the rack.
F. 16Cable Plant
1. Overhead delivery system cable layout:
a. The data room must have a system to support overhead delivery of data connections to the equipment cabinets.
b. The data pathways must maintain a minimum separation from high voltage power and lighting in accordance with ANSI/TIA-469-B Standards (American
National Standards Institute/Telecommunications Industry Association) and the University of Kansas Design and Construction Standards Division 27 for
Telecommunication Systems.
2. Fiber standards:
a. Fiber installation must use 50 micron OM3 Laser optimized fiber.
b. All fiber installations must be labeled and comply with the KUIT Labeling Standard.
3. Copper standards:
a. Copper jumpers must be CAT6 with Booted RJ45 connectors.
b. All copper data cables must be labeled and comply with the KUIT Labeling Standard.
4. Grounding:
a. All cabinets and cable delivery pathways must be grounded in compliance with the University of Kansas Design and Construction Standards Division 27
for Telecommunication Systems.
2. Rack space:
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3. Data connections:
a. Cable must not exceed required length by more than one foot.
b. Must be isolated from the system and rack power delivery system.
c. Must be clearly labeled and comply with the KUIT Labeling Standard.
4. Fiber connections:
a. Fiber must not exceed required length by more than one meter.
b. Must be clearly labeled and comply with the KUIT Labeling Standard.
c. Must not exceed minimum bend radius as specified by the manufacturer.
B. 16Network Layout
1. Standard switch layout:
a. All networking equipment will be installed by KUIT staff regardless of ownership.
b. Switches must be installed in a fashion to minimize the length of data cables required to provision a data connection.
C. 16Server Removal
1. Power reclaim:
a. The asset management database must be used to create a removal list of all hardware, power, and connections related to the server(s).
b. All equipment to be removed must be powered down before removal.
c. The power management database entries must be updated.
d. The PDU (Power Distribution Unit)/Wall Breaker Panel map must be updated.
e. All breakers must be turned off.
3. Documentation:
a. A change request documenting removal must be completed and approved before work begins.
b. The asset database and all other records relating to this server must be updated to reflect the change.
c. If this unit will go to eWaste, all inventory removal and eWaste forms must be completed.
4. Disposition:
a. The disposition of the server after removal must be documented before the process starts.
b. All components must be inventoried and a list created for the history file and turnover to client or eWaste service.
c. All university asset removal/repurpose forms must be completed.
d. All items will be processed using eWaste procedures for the disposal of electronic equipment.
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CONSEQUENCES:
Faculty, staff, and student employees who violate these University standards may be subject to disciplinary action for misconduct and/or performance based on the
administrative process appropriate to their employment.
Students who violate these University standards may be subject to proceedings for non-academic misconduct based on their student status.
Faculty, staff, student employees, and students may also be subject to the discontinuance of specified information technology services based on standards violation.
CONTACT:
Chief Information Officer
345 Strong Hall
1450 Jayhawk Blvd
Lawrence, KS 66045
785-864-4999
kucio@ku.edu17
APPROVED BY:
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
APPROVED ON:
Thursday, December 10, 2009
EFFECTIVE ON:
Thursday, December 10, 2009
REVIEW CYCLE:
Annual (As Needed)
BACKGROUND:
The attached standards are designed to represent the baseline to be used by the Data Center and Server Rooms located on the University of Kansas main and satellite
campuses. While specific-standards organizations are referenced for examples of best practices, it should be noted that site conditions, special requirements, and cost of
modification will be taken into consideration when implementing the final configuration of a site. These standards will be regularly reviewed and updated based on new industry
standards, new technology, and lessons learned.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) Service on the University of Kansas Data Network23
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Network Policy25
Security Policy: Assessment for Local IT Environments and Outline for Risk and Vulnerability Assessments26
DEFINITIONS:
These definitions apply to these terms as they are used in this document.
CAT 6: Category 6 cable, commonly referred to as Cat-6, is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols that feature more stringent specifications for
crosstalk and system noise.
Data Center: A large facility designed to support large numbers of servers in a large conditioned room. Data Centers are usually composed of a large number of racks (25 or
more) and are manned 24/7/365.
eWaste: Electronic equipment disposal service provided by Information Technology on the KU campus
HEPA/S: High Efficiency Particulate Air filters are used in vacuums cleaners in computer rooms to collect fine dust particles.
Hot/Cold Aisles: A method of arranging computer racks which focuses cold air delivery at the front intake of a rack and expels hot air at the back. Rack rows are arranged so
the backs of rows face each other and hot air is collected above the row by a ceiling plenum, which returns the air to the CRAC unit directly. The fronts of the racks face each
other in a row that has vented tiles in the raised floor to deliver cold air to the rack fronts from the CRAC units.
Level I information: University Information with a high risk of significant financial loss, legal liability, public distrust or harm if this data is disclosed
Level II information: University Information with a moderate requirement for Confidentiality and/or moderate or limited risk of financial loss, legal liability, public distrust, or
harm if this data is disclosed.
NOC: Network Operations Center is the location in the Data Center, which is staffed 24/7/365 and monitors and responds to all incidents that affect service availability.
OM3: Fiber optic cable used to support high speed communication in the 10GB range
PLC: Program Logic Control is a computer-based control system used to manage main power distribution switching panels.
Response Kit: A special tool kit used by Floor Space Planning technicians to support services on the Data Center Machine Room Floor.
Server Room: Typically a small conditioned space designed to support computing equipment. These are usually satellite processing centers supporting a specific department
and not the entire enterprise. A server room at KU can also be defined as any room containing a server or servers critical to the support and operations of a unit or department
and/or contains any Level I or II information as defined by the KU Data Classification and Handling Policy19 and/or Procedures Guide20.
SLA/VRLA: Sealed Lead Acid/Value Regulated Lead Acid are two types of batteries that are used to support Data Center Machine rooms during loss of utility power. They are
attached to a UPS system.
University Information: Data collected or managed by the University to support University activities. University Information may include records as well as other data and
documents.
UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply is a system used to condition utility power before it is fed to computer systems and provides power failure ride-thru when the main utility
fails. These systems have a battery bank attached, which will provide a set number of minutes of ride-thru time. The UPS monitors the batteries and keeps them at full charge.
It reports on power and battery problems.
Standards Organizations:
The University of Kansas Design and Construction Standards Division 27 for Telecommunication Systems: Campus construction standards
KEYWORDS:
data center, server room, server installation, server removal, physical plant, HVAC
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30
1. https://policy.ku.edu/taxonomy/term/21
2. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#physical
3. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#HVAC
4. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#electrical
5. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#access
6. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#raised
7. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#server
8. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#cable
9. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#support
10. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#installation
11. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#network
12. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#removal
13. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#emergency
14. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#procedure
15. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-standards#management
16.
17. kucio@ku.edu
18. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-center-server-room
19. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-classification-handling
20. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/data-classification-handling-procedures
21. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/info-access-control-policy
22. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/VPN-remote-access-procedure
23. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/VPN-policy
24. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/info-technology-security-policy
25. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/network-policy
26. http://policy.ku.edu/IT/security-procedure-assessment-local-environments
27. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/TRI-policy
28. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/wiring-policy
29. https://policy.ku.edu/IT/wireless-policy
30. https://policy.ku.edu/comment/reply/168#comment-form
policy@ku.edu
785.864.9600
Strong Hall, Room 115
1450 Jayhawk Boulevard
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
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