Data Center Management

Overview of a Data Center

A data center is a centralized location for numerous computer servers. There are many reasons for a datacenter in an organization such as providing services internally or externally, hosting enterprise wide websites, hosting transactions and storing integral information that is important to any organization. Whether the business is medium sized or large; data center management plays an integral role in any business. The history of data center management dates far back as many computers were the size of an entire room. The earliest data center management occurred from these very large computers as they required careful maintenance and very specialized skills. Most older datacenter layouts relied on the central mainframe computer and it was important for it to be up at all times. The old mainframe computer featured design layouts which are still implemented to this day such as elevated floors and cable trays to improve cooling and air flow. As mainframe computers shifted to microcomputers many organizations required bigger and better servers and cooling. A shift from centralized mainframe computers to outsourced data centers occurred instead. The shift in outsourcing IT was far more economical as many organizations wished to take advantage of the dot com boom. As of today there are far more cooling options than just an elevated floor and cable tray. Thanks to improved size, efficiency and changes in equipment it is important to always have data center management.

Data Center Management

There are many steps in data center management for an organization. Such variables as cooling, hardware maintenance, software maintenance, building maintenance, uptime, monitoring and security play huge roles. Each topic can be discussed in great length but this article is to provide an overview of some of the key points of data center management.

Data Center Management - Cooling

There are many different types of cooling in a data center. Some of the more popular ways to cool one are Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) / Computer Room Air Handlers (CRAH). This allows a data center to have top performance as they will allow for server hardware to stay cool and performing. The difference between a CRAC and a CRAH is that a CRAC is much like an air conditioner which features a compressor and a CRAH uses fans. Other key features of cooling a data center are Hot / Cold aisle containment which allows for specific cooling of key areas in the room. Hot / Cold aisle containment must be planned carefully as a poorly planned containment can be worse for the data center. There is also In-Rack cooling which provides a data center a more direct way of cooling servers. The cold air is directly placed near the equipment.

Datacenter classification types:

For businesses it is important to know what type of data center it is dealing with. For some organizations a simple web server with a few transactions every day may be sufficient for their needs. However, for many others a downtime of even twenty minutes a day could mean millions in lost revenue. It is therefore important to understand what a data center provides. Thanks to data center standardization which acts as a baseline for performance it is easier to know what sever provides certain services. Some of the classifications are the following:

Tier 1: If a provider wishes to be a Tier 1 data center then some of the following guidelines must occur in order it to be classified as that. A tier 1 data center has non redundant distribution paths, few to any backups for either power generation or disk mirroring. A tier 1 datacenter provider will also provide 99.671% availability of services.

Tier 2: A tier 2 provider provides what a tier 1 does however it features redundant power or cooling. To be classified as a tier 2 provider a 99.741% uptime must be achieved.

Tier 3: A tier 3 includes everything a tier 1 and tier 2 does but there are multiple distribution paths along the network. A tier 3 provider boasts a 99.982% uptime throughout the year.

Tier 4: A tier 4 includes everything from tier 1, 2 and 3 but also features dual powered cooling equipment(for redundancy) and Computer Room Air Conditioning and Computer Room Air Handlers in order to allow a cool environment for the data center. A tier 4 provider is the ultimate in data center management as it features full redundancy, multiple distribution paths, multiple power supplies, backup power generators, offsite backups and data mirroring. A tier 4 provider features the highest uptime and is available for 99.995% uptime. This tier is usually reserved for mission critical data centers.