FEATURE: DATA CENTRE COMMISSIONING
“When
considering
availability all
the key systems
such as critical
IT, power
distribution and
cooling will need
to be correctly
balanced against
the business
needs.”
to evaluate the amount of space required
for a data centre build. The initial design
factor is to understand the number of
cabinets, size of planned cabinets and
their projected power density. Knowing
this will allow you to then calculate
the additional space requirements or
restrictions for factors such as:
• Deployment of cabinets (simple hot/
cold aisle, hot/cold aisle containment
systems or zone deployment)
• Architectural restrictions within the
whitespace such as entrance/exit
clearances, structural pillars or raised
floor ramps.
• Power (PDUs and/or RPPs) and air
conditioning units. The number
may increase subject to the level of
availability required.
• Potential reserved whitespace for
future IT builds.
• Any sub-divisions or separate rooms
within the whitespace area.
Modern data centre builds now
endeavour to move the power and
cooling units outside the whitespace
area into service corridors or adjacent
dedicated rooms to maximise the space
for cabinet deployment.
What is the best way of determining
the number of Rack Location Units
(RLUs) that will be required?
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The availability of whitespace needs to
be accurately measured to understand
the usable space that is available
for rack population deployment.
The next step is to understand
the dimensions of the range of
IT equipment to be housed in the
designated racks (standard 19-inch
rack-mountable equipment). Then the
cabinet dimensions (height x width
x depth) and the load factor need to
be calculated. However, its not quite
that simple as the power and cooling
availability may restrict the actual RLU
size that can be deployed.
What sort of wattage per RLU is
considered to be a high-density
deployment?
There are many differing views on what
cabinet wattage is now considered to
be high-density but that is primarily due
to different building architecture and
IT operating environments. That said,
today’s general data centre industry
view is that seems to consider 10–12kW
cabinets as high-density.
Do high density deployments need
additional amounts of supporting
infrastructure?
The answer is simply ‘yes’ there will
be the requirement for additional
supporting infrastructures to support a
high-density design. Factors such as:
• Adequate power distribution
availability (possibly at higher voltage
supplies) and supporting standby
systems (UPS and Generators).
• Appropriate cooling systems will be
required to remove the increased
level of heat dissipation created from
the IT cabinets.
• Implementation of Hot Aisle
Containment (HAC) systems to
support the heat removal.
• Floor loading to support the
additional weight demand (raised
access floors unlikely to be utilised for
high-density environments).
• Appropriately design power and data
containment systems.
How can the ratio of support space
to IT space be determined?
The support space (i.e. electrical and
mechanical) will be very much orientated
by the size of the IT whitespace and the
projected density (present to future) of
the IT cabinets. Plus, additional areas
such as offices, workshops and storage
areas required to support the operational
needs of the data centre. There are
numerous space calculators available to
provide a good baseline before adding
the precise build needs.
How important is it to consider
Availability Requirements?
There are many factors (internal and
external) that are likely to influence the
considerations when deciding on the
level of availability for a data centre.
The first factor is to really understand
what availability means. It is the
“There are
numerous space
calculators
available to
provide a good
baseline before
adding the
precise build
needs.”
period of time or proportion of that
period for which critical IT systems are
available and operational. In simple
terms availability defines the difference
between uptime and downtime. So,
when considering availability all the
key systems such as critical IT, power
distribution and cooling will need to be
correctly balanced against the business
needs. If downtime is an unacceptable
risk to the business, the availability
levels are likely to be higher to ensure
constant uptime.
What does a CIO commissioning a
data centre solution need to consider
regarding budget requirements?
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