Data Center Design

Christopher Geyer
 A Data Center
Highly secure, fault-resistant facilities
housing equipment that connect to
telecommunications networks. The
facilities accommodate servers, switches,
routers, modem racks.  Data centers
support corporate data bases, web sites
and provide locations for CLECs, ISPs,
ASPs, Web hosting companies, DSL
providers and other IT services.
 Rack Location Units
A standard for measuring equipment
space in a data center is RLUs or Rack
Location Units

1U 2U 3U 4U…
 Elements of a Data Center
The Site
Command Center
Cable Management
Network Infrastructure
Terminal Servers
Environmental Controls
Power
 Criteria
The Budget $
-What is the available budget?
-Can the scope of the project be achieved
with the current budget?
-What are the actual funds needed to
create the data center?
-How will funds be distributed & can they
be redistributed?
 Criteria Continued
Physical Constraints:
-Available Space & Weight of Equipment
-Power Requirements
-Cooling
-Bandwidth
 Criteria Continued
System Availability Profiles
-Categorization
-Device Redundancies
-Power Redundancies
-Cooling Redundancies
-Network Redundancies
 Structural Aspects
When dealing with a raised floor ceiling
height matters.
Basement data center locations near
water are not a good idea.
Their must be a pathway for equipment to
be moved in & out of the data center.
Make sure the floor where the data center
is to be located is rated for the estimated
load.
 Power
Adequate power
Surge suppression
Proper grounding of equipment
Cable Layout
 Power Redundancy
Forms of Power Redundancy
1. Battery-feed UPS
2. Power Generators
 Networking
Each cabinet needs be to supplied with
appropriate connection media: Cat6
copper, multi-mode fiber, and/or single-
mode fiber
Proper cable
management should
be implemented
Over Flow
 Security
Physical Access
Levels of Access
Monitoring
 Past to Future

 Technology changes continuously making

versatility a primary focus in a Data Center.
 At one point in time a single computer occupied
the space of an entire Data Center. That same
space can be occupied by thousands of servers
today.
 Expandability
Create more RLUs than current needs
dictate
Power Distributions Unit (PDU)
HVAC
Physical Space
 Example RLU Definitions
Power: Bandwidth:
3.42 BTUs per Hr = 1 watt -inbound and outbound bandwidth
1 specifications
2 -Media type requirement

Weight:
-Weight of the equipment

Physical Space:
-Width and depth of rack chassis
-Cooling Dimensions

3 Functional Capacity:
-Needed to determine quantity of
servers for a particular RLU
definition
 Example RLU Definitions
Specifications RLU-A RLU-B RLU-C
(storage server) (storage server) (processing server)
780 lbs 970 lbs 1000 lbs
Weight
Two 3 Amp 208V Two 30 Amp 208V Four 30 Amp 208V
Power L6-30R outlets L6-30R outlets L6-30R outlets
3812 Watts x RM 4111 Watts x RM 8488 Watts x RM

13040 BTUs per hr 14060 BTUs per hr 29030 BTUs per hr

Cooling
24 x 48 in 24 x 48 in 24 x 53 in
Physical Space
Bandwidth 8 multi-mode fiber 12 multi-mode fiber 4 Cat6 copper
12 multi-mode fiber

5.2 TB 4.7 TB 24 CPU

Functional 96GB RAM
Capacity
 Disaster Preparation
Natural Disasters
-Flooding
-Seismic Activity
-Temperature Extremes
-Fire
Human Disasters
-Industrial Pollution
-Electromagnetic Interference
 Overview
1. What equipment will the data center
contain?
2. What will be the RLU definitions?
3. What are the required utility feeds?
4. How many RLUs will be needed?
5. What are the limiting factors?
 Bibliography
Snevely, Rob. Enterprise Data Center Design
and Methodology. Palo Alto, California: Sun
Microsystems Press, A Prentice Hall Title, 2002
Hornby, David and Pepple, Ken. Consolidation
in the Data Center. Santa Clara, California: Sun
Microsystems Press, A Prentice Hall Title, 2003
Willian, Toigo. Disaster Recovery Planning.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
PTR, 2003
Portolani, Maurizio. Data Center Fundamentals.
Indianapolis, Indiana: Cisco Press, 2004
Equinix Data Center