Data Center Environment Basics

The complexity of a data center environment seems to grow with every new batch of appliances and “cutting-edge” technology, but there are some basics that seem to be a constant, no matter how configurations change. Here are the five things to keep in mind when making the most of your environment.

You’re Only As Good As Your Power Allows

Think of it as a high school math problem: If data center x has y amount of power, how many machines can it run if each machine requires z amount of electricity? For data center managers, though, this question can be a daily challenge, particularly if higher management is requesting more storage, more bandwidth, and faster processing speed. The answer to those types of mandates is usually bringing in additional equipment or buying efficient machines such as blade servers.

But electricity is not limitless, and even more importantly, each data center has to have a backup plan if power is knocked out because of a storm or other outage event. Many have generators that can kick in and prevent data loss, but if a center is relying on a huge amount of power coming in, it may not have enough generators to compensate. Look at your setup, experts note, and consider strategies such as offsite data storage and placing mission-critical equipment in its own area that a generator can power up quickly.

HVAC Requires Education, Not Just Awareness

In conjunction with power issues, cooling is another major area of data center environmental maintenance that’s crucial for efficiency and uptime, says Giovanni Coglitore, chief technology officer at Rackable Systems (www.rackable.com). He believes a wave of innovation is imminent because data centers are demanding more and more cooling.

In the meantime, get cozy with an HVAC system by taking a course or doing some reading on how these systems work. Also, talk with whomever maintains the center’s system, which is usually building maintenance. Knowing how often filters are changed, whether there’s a plan for increasing efficiency in the warmer months, or whether construction in other parts of the building will affect cooling levels are all pieces of data that are far better to learn in advance.

Become A Monitoring Maniac

Thanks to a very competitive landscape in data center environmental controls, a number of monitoring tools are available, and many are often part of other applications. Look for tools that issue alerts to multiple people in multiple formats--often, alerts can be sent to email and cell phones simultaneously--and check the log reports that are created to make sure that there are no spikes that went unnoticed.

Management Is A Group Effort

Making sure that tasks such as monitoring and cooling tweaks are being managed can be daunting. At most SMEs, the IT staff is too busy putting out fires to develop these types of proactive strategies and checklists, but experts note that they’re vital for making sure environments are running properly.

One boon may be depending on more automated processes that deliver results of environmental tests right to an inbox. Also, doing “fire drills” for recovery processes, such as what would happen if the power went out, is vital, notes Jim Reinert, senior director of data recovery service Ontrack Data Recovery (www.ontrackdatarecovery.com). He says, “The time to find out when something isn’t working is when everyone needs it to be back up.”

Data center managers can make these tasks more meaningful if each staff member is responsible for certain roles. For example, one person might be in charge of HVAC issues, while another takes on recycling.

Every IT Department Has To Think About Growth

Even if you’ve just landed in the data center, it’s never too early to think about increasing efficiency through power, cooling, monitoring, and better management tactics because these not only decrease the chances of downtime but also put the center in a better position for growth.

And growth is inevitable, notes Ken Brill, executive director of the Uptime Institute. In a recent study, the organization found that nearly every data center manager interviewed expected to expand capabilities and equipment within the next 30 months. With that level of growth will also come a bigger bite of the budget, he adds.

“Facility costs used to be 1 or 2% of operating costs,” says Brill. “Right now, they’re about 5%, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see it go much higher in the next few years, maybe even as high as 30%.”

In other words, plan for the worst of budget crunches, and the center won’t be surprised down the road, when environmental costs might soar. “Everyone needs to create more long-range thinking,” Brill says. “Develop new muscles in terms of planning.”

by Elizabeth Millard