Question

What is a datacenter describe Give an example of datacenter or give a snap of datacenter architecture. Discuss few design factors.

Answer 1

A data center is a physical facility that organizations use to put their critical applications and data. A data center's design is based on a network of computing and storage resources that enable the delivery of shared applications and data

Data center architecture is the physical and logical layout of the resources and equipment within a data center facility.
It serves as a blueprint for designing and deploying a data center facility. It is a layered process which provides architectural guidelines in data center development.

The data center architecture specifies where and how the server, storage networking, racks and other data center resources will be physically placed. It also addresses how these resources/devices will be interconnected.

The key areas to consider when designing a data centre are airflow and cooling, humidification, power supply, and cabling pathways.

1. Airflow and cooling - when it comes to datacenter a large amount of servers are packed in closed space and cooling is needed to make sure no machine malfunctions because of large heat produced during computing. For proper airflow servers are mounted on racks and Server racks are arranged in long rows with space between them. On one side of the server, conditioned air will be conducted along the “cold-isle”. Server mounted fans will draw this cooled air into the rack. On the opposite side of the row, server mounted fans will expel heated air into the “hot-isle”. The hot air is then conducted out of the room.

2.humidification - Modern servers can tolerate a range of humidity between 20%-80%. A safe humidity control range is 30%-70%. An efficient humidification plan would involve a central unit that would allow for seasonal shift. If the humidification system is of the evaporative cooling type then waste heat from the data centre will provide the energy required and power consumption will be minimal.

3. power supply - As these datacenters are operated 24 by 7. A provision for backup power is vital to data centre operations. An emergency generator and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system with backup batteries should be installed in case of any interruption in the power grid. The backup batteries must be sufficient to completely power the system during the transition between grid power and emergency power.

4. cabling pathways - Server organisation and cabling is very important for a data centre. The ability to take-away or add-on components or racks to the system without interrupting operations is very important. Cabling should be organised in such a way that individual racks can be disconnected easily from the system. The cabling should also allow for additional racks to be added easily. Easy replacement is important. IT equipment such as servers, storage devices and switches are typically replaced every 3-5 years. Cabling, on the other hand can be replaced every 15-20 years.