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by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Sunday, 18 January 2009
zoomIt is imperative to build it right the first time. - Mario Blandini, director of product marketing at Brocade.
Distribution of power within the datacentre should also be considered and planned for properly in a datacentre.
"Enterprises should ensure that there is enough capacity for growth. They have to consider high density requirements, and make sure of the quality of the power coming in. For cooling efficiency, there should be enough provisioning for air or water cooling. Lot of customers have basic air cooling for most of their datacentre, and prefer water for their high density clusters in the same datacentre. Apart from this, there are other methods of liquid cooling," says Radlinger.
He adds: "The market shows requirements for specific rack cooling, which provides increased capacity for air cooling. Earlier there used to be 5 to 6 kilowatts of capacity within racks, now this can go up to 10 kilowatts. We are finding more of these solutions in the market."
IT staff are demanding space saving servers creating more density and heat. Heat shortens equipment lifecycle within the datacentre. For every 8°C increase above 20°C, the mean time to failure (MTTF) for active equipment is reduced by 50%.
Puddles and pitfalls
The planning process has the capacity to appear deceptively simple. In truth, enterprises can, and often do, make many mistakes, one of the most common being over-specifying or under-specifying power and cooling capacity. To avoid this, most industry players recommend that datacentres are built with different density points within the same room, and power and cooling appropriately assigned.
"It is often time recommended that new datacentres create power, server and storage pods, or areas where these resources are located. In such configurations, IT professionals may find it easier to service and grow datacentre infrastructure. Special attention needs to be paid to air filtering in areas where dust is a potential problem," says Blandini.
"Avoid designs that are built around technologies rather than data, the real asset in the datacentre. Data should be the centre, as the term implies, and above that the applications that use the data to deliver business services," he adds.
Cisco's Houbballah, on the other hand, stresses the importance of planning a datacentre to grow and scale around its networking and storage elements.
"With the levels of changes we are seeing in modern datacentres, it is important to have an open mind with regards to the new design. Many of the traditional methods are no longer appropriate," adds Sun's Dowzall.
Radlinger states, "Many enterprises do not consider the bearing load of floors. They do not plan for enough power either, not understanding the amount of power that can be used by datacentre equipment."
With raised flooring, enterprises need to remember that there is a potential for dust and rubbish to accumulate under the floor, especially if there are cables lining it. Proper maintenance should be in place to ensure that the datacentre works the way it should.
Security should also be taken into consideration, both physical and digital, with the location of the datacentre well defended from potentially malicious intruders.
"Another key element to keep in mind is to prevent any non-integration or potential problem areas between the IT and facilities teams. In order to avoid this, there should be corporate buy-in on the importance of the datacentre, and a corporate hand guiding the combined management of the datacentre by IT and facility teams," says Ward.
Experts also recommend the appointment of one central datacentre manager, who will co-ordinate equally between the IT and facilities teams, but report to a slightly higher level management, to ensure that everything runs smoothly in the datacentre. All of this must, ideally, be planned during the initial stages.
The final word
Though there are no hard and fast rules on how enterprises can plan and deploy their datacentres, there is enough documentation and experience available in the Middle East, and externally, to help any organisation on its path to setting up an efficient and cost-effective datacentre.
The only thing it needs to do is actually pay attention and put in some effort.
Some best practices for datacentres
1. Plug holes in the raised floor
Most raised-floor environments have cable holes, conduit holes and other breaches that allow cold air to escape and mix with hot air. This single low-tech retrofit can save as much as 10% of the energy used for datacentre cooling.
2. Install blanking panels
When the panels are used effectively, supply air temperatures are lowered by as much as 22°F (5.6°C), greatly reducing the electricity consumed by fans in the IT equipment, and alleviating hot spots in the datacentre.
3. Co-ordinate CRAC units
Older computer room air-conditioning units (CRACs) operate independently in cooling and dehumidifying the air. These units should be tied together with newer technologies so efforts are co-ordinated.
4. Improve underfloor airflow
Older datacentres typically have constrained space underneath the raised floor that is not only used for the distribution of cold air, but also has served as a place for data cables and power cables. Many old datacentres have accumulated such a tangle of these cables that airflow is restricted, so the underfloor should be cleaned out to improve airflow.
5. Implement hot aisles and cold aisles
Newer rack layout practices instituted in the past ten years demonstrate that organising rows into hot aisles and cold aisles is better at controlling the flow of air in the datacentre.
6. Install sensors
A small number of individual sensors can be placed in areas where temperature problems are suspected.
7. Implement cold-aisle or hot-aisle containment
Once a datacentre has been organised around hot aisles and cold aisles, dramatically improved separation of cold air supply and hot exhaust air through containment becomes an option.
8. Raise the temperature in the datacentre
Many datacentres are run colder than an efficient standard. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has increased the top end of allowable supply-side air temperatures from 77°F (25°C) to 80°F (26.7°C). Not all datacentres should be run at the top end of this temperature range, but a step-by-step increase, even to the 75°F (23.9°C) to 76°F (24.4°C) range, would have a beneficial effect on datacentre electrical use.
9. Install variable speed fans and pumps
Traditional CRAC units contain fans that run at a single speed. Emerging best practice suggests variable speed fans be used whenever possible. A reduction of 10% in fan speed yields a reduction in the fan's electrical use of around 27%. A 20% speed reduction yields electrical savings of around 49%.
10. Exploit "free cooling"
"Free cooling" is the general name given to any technique that cools air without the use of chillers or refrigeration units. The amount of free cooling available depends on the local climate, and ranges from approximately 100 hours per year to more than 8,000 hours per year.
11. Design datacentres using modular cooling
Traditional raised-floor-perimeter air distribution systems have long been the method used to cool datacentres. However, mounting evidence strongly points to the use of modular cooling (in-row or in-rack) as more energy-efficient.
Source: Gartner
1. Plug holes in the raised floor
Most raised-floor environments have cable holes, conduit holes and other breaches that allow cold air to escape and mix with hot air. This single low-tech retrofit can save as much as 10% of the energy used for datacentre cooling.
2. Install blanking panels
When the panels are used effectively, supply air temperatures are lowered by as much as 22°F (5.6°C), greatly reducing the electricity consumed by fans in the IT equipment, and alleviating hot spots in the datacentre.
3. Co-ordinate CRAC units
Older computer room air-conditioning units (CRACs) operate independently in cooling and dehumidifying the air. These units should be tied together with newer technologies so efforts are co-ordinated.
4. Improve underfloor airflow
Older datacentres typically have constrained space underneath the raised floor that is not only used for the distribution of cold air, but also has served as a place for data cables and power cables. Many old datacentres have accumulated such a tangle of these cables that airflow is restricted, so the underfloor should be cleaned out to improve airflow.
5. Implement hot aisles and cold aisles
Newer rack layout practices instituted in the past ten years demonstrate that organising rows into hot aisles and cold aisles is better at controlling the flow of air in the datacentre.
6. Install sensors
A small number of individual sensors can be placed in areas where temperature problems are suspected.
7. Implement cold-aisle or hot-aisle containment
Once a datacentre has been organised around hot aisles and cold aisles, dramatically improved separation of cold air supply and hot exhaust air through containment becomes an option.
8. Raise the temperature in the datacentre
Many datacentres are run colder than an efficient standard. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has increased the top end of allowable supply-side air temperatures from 77°F (25°C) to 80°F (26.7°C). Not all datacentres should be run at the top end of this temperature range, but a step-by-step increase, even to the 75°F (23.9°C) to 76°F (24.4°C) range, would have a beneficial effect on datacentre electrical use.
9. Install variable speed fans and pumps
Traditional CRAC units contain fans that run at a single speed. Emerging best practice suggests variable speed fans be used whenever possible. A reduction of 10% in fan speed yields a reduction in the fan's electrical use of around 27%. A 20% speed reduction yields electrical savings of around 49%.
10. Exploit "free cooling"
"Free cooling" is the general name given to any technique that cools air without the use of chillers or refrigeration units. The amount of free cooling available depends on the local climate, and ranges from approximately 100 hours per year to more than 8,000 hours per year.
11. Design datacentres using modular cooling
Traditional raised-floor-perimeter air distribution systems have long been the method used to cool datacentres. However, mounting evidence strongly points to the use of modular cooling (in-row or in-rack) as more energy-efficient.
Source: Gartner
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