1. Best Practice in Data Centres

2. Best Practice in Data Centres
Presented by: Greg Goode
The Frame Group Pty Ltd
Bicsi South Pacific 2015 Conference – Dockside Pavilion Sydney

3. Best Practice in Data Centres
Best Practice at an Engineering Solution Level
Discipline
Architecture
Data Cabling
Electrical
Racking
Mechanical
Infrastructure Management
Security
Fire
Facility Integrated Communication Network

4. Best Practice in Data Centres

5. Best Practice in Data Centres
“Best Practice” Perspective
Is it objective or subjective – where is the evidence to support either?
Is Best Practice transitory or permanent?
“A big call” – Can it be identified when there are so many models of delivery in 2015?

6. Best Practice in Data Centres
“Best Practice” Historical Context
Best Practice in the modern data centre – circa 2005 (it was established through a standards org being prescriptive)
10 years of history to date
IT infrastructure is the driver for facility Best Practice
Tiering – does not drive Best Practice

7. Best Practice in Data Centres
What is “Best Practice” ?
A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark.
I would be a millionaire (no, billionaire) for every time its been quoted. (quote by myself)

8. Best Practice in Data Centres
Superior Results – measured by examining
Technical – IT infrastructure or Facility Infrastructure solutions
Commercial – capital versus operational cost | TCO
Operational – capacity planning, change management, configuration management, CMDB, SLAs,
Management – adherence to standards, continuous improvement, governance (ISACA)

9. Best Practice in Data Centres
Best Practice underpinned by:
Standards - local | global | related to safety | quality | prescriptive engineering
Industry Associations and forums – local | global | promote discussion | reference documentation | develop consensus
Government regulations and codes – local and national guidance (social engineering) | law
Vendor ‘R&D’ engineering - innovation

10. Best Practice in Data Centres
Best Practice underpinned by:
Industry Associations – Bicsi
ANSI/BICSI , Data Centre Design and Implementation Best Practices, :
All major aspects of data centres
Modular and “container” data centres
DCIM and building systems e.g. BMS
DC power
Hot and cold aisles
Multi-data centre architecture and data centre service outsourcing
Energy Efficiency 

11. Best Practice in Data Centres
Best Practice underpinned by: (cont’d)
ANSI/BICSI , Data Centre Design and Implementation Best Practices, :
Data centres and the design process
Risk, reliability and class rankings
Site location
Building specifications
IT equipment and aisle layout
Computer room layout and design
Data centre electrical systems
Data centre cooling
Data centre telecommunications and cabling
Data centre security and fire protection
Automation and control systems
Green data centres
Commissioning and maintenance planning

12. Best Practice in Data Centres

13. Best Practice in Data Centres
Best Practice stifled by:
Ideological ideas - driven by vendor centric preferences
“It cant be done” – it doesn’t have history | its always been done this way | never see this technology
Parochial attitude – not invented here | overseas
Lack of ‘currency’ in product/solution knowledge

14. Best Practice in Data Centres
Best Practice challenged by:
Changing IT technology – disaggregating from facility
Industry metrics – ASHRAE data hall temperatures/humidity
DC Models – engineering design moving faster than conventional models

15. Best Practice in Data Centres
So lets dive into it

16. Best Practice in Data Centres
There are losses every where
Reproduced from Google

17. Best Practice in Data Centres
Structure:
Embedded design principles – modular | scalable | flexible (it was an IT mantra and now every DC discipline lines up)
Design for maximum capacity, build only what is needed
Location – mixed tenancy | stand alone (BP is agnostic)

18. Best Practice in Data Centres
Structure:
Structure – micro to mega data centre (BP is agnostic)
monolithic
warehouse style
mixed tenancy
alternative e.g. containerised
Architectural Design – Flooring | service corridors | access ceiling | risers | structural strength| lighting | materials

19. Best Practice in Data Centres
Electrical: Power Train
PUE – Introduce measured PUE | manage power efficiency | IM or equivalent
UPS – high efficiency (PF) | avoid stranded capacity (ensure it is scalable) | modular design | environmental conditions – monitored by IM or equivalent
DRUPS – eliminate static UPS | simplifies managing loss of power | monitored by IM or equivalent

20. Best Practice in Data Centres
Electrical: Power Train
Busduct – overhead power (removes access floor from building) | disaggregates power from rack installation |scalable connectivity | circuit monitoring by DCIM
CPDU – IP switched | interfaces devices (temp, humidity) | circuit monitoring DCIM
Eliminate shared power train resources – multiple gen-sets, UPS, Switches, ATS, STS, complex control | singular modular power train with no switching

21. Best Practice in Data Centres
Mechanical:
PUE – Introduce measured PUE | manage power efficiency | monitored/managed by IM or equivalent
Hot and cold aisle – fundamental | multiple ways to deliver
Containment – the most significant best practice to improve power efficiency
hot or cold aisle containment
multiple solutions – rack/aisle containment, chimney racks

22. Best Practice in Data Centres
Mechanical:
Mechanical solutions – free air solutions (best practice if it can be achieved) | closed systems using efficient CRAC/Chillers | access floor v no access floor | rear cabinet cooling | perimeter CRACs v In row CRACs | liquid cooling (boutique) | AHU only solution (no CRAC’s)
Fan technology – EC fans in CRAC’s, chillers, cooling towers etc
Control – infrastructure manger or equivalent to optimise demand side (IT) v supply side (mechanical) cooling | power efficiency
Plenum (supply/return) – access floor void | false ceiling void

23. Best Practice in Data Centres
Data Cabling:
Best Practice – highly structured | standards abound | vendor solutions embed Best Practice
Electron (Cu) vs Photons (Si) – Connectivity being challenged by IT network infrastructure (spine leaf architecture) | developing trend - IT i/f adopting photonic technology (space, power advantages)
Pathways – overhead | disaggregates connectivity from floor/rack

24. Best Practice in Data Centres
Racking:
Engineered (integrated)
Power cable management
Data cable management
mechanical – air flow management
power management
Security
Infrastructure management
Containment – energy efficiency
IT infrastructure

25. Best Practice in Data Centres
Infrastructure Management in Data Centre:
BMS – Monitoring (generic building)
DCIM – Monitoring | DC centric | genesis 2010 |Single Glass management reporting
Distributed (Industrial) Control System - PLC | SCADA | Integration - computation of analogue/digital inputs for control | DBM | data analytics | Reporting | Middleware

26. Best Practice in Data Centres
Fire:
Solutions - Gas | Dry pipe | ASD
Security
Physical Security – Access control | Biometrics | CCTV | Location management

27. Best Practice in Data Centres
Integrated (Infrastructure) Communication Network :
Data services – distributed control system/DCIM/BMS | power train – mains to CPDU | mechanical | security | data base | lighting (IT architecture) | cable management system
Network - common
Severs – virtual | applications
Security – firewall | policies
DBA
Network management

28. Best Practice in Data Centres
Nirvana “Best Practice” simple data centre
Warehouse construct
Free cooling (‘goldilocks’ atmospheric environment)
Modular (containerised (data halls) - all infrastructure embedded in engineered container (cabling | mechanical | fire | security | racking | power)
Power train – discrete power train (no shared power train infrastructure)
IM – industrial control system

29. Best Practice in Data Centres
Por Fin

30. Best Practice in Data Centres