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Explore the latest updates from a data center construction project, covering equipment racks, power delivery, floor layout, structured cabling, safety measures, and future planning. Gain valuable insights and lessons from the experience shared.
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Data Center Construction Project Updates and ExperiencesGary Stiehr May 6, 2008 HEPiX Spring 2008
Overview • Existing data center filled and power and cooling at their limits • Started construction approximately 10 months ago on new data center • Originally expected four phases to get to 1,800 kW of redundant power/cooling • Expanded Phase 1 to 750 kW from 450 kW • Anticipate just two more phases
Clarification • Clarification from data center talk at HEPiX Fall 2007 in St. Louis: • 16,000 sq. ft. figure mentioned includes all real estate space inside and outside and partial second floor • 3,200 sq. ft. is usable data center space, about 96 sq. ft. used by Remote Power Panels. • Many sites not calculating usage of external real estate space; only percentage of raised floor space used by infrastructure
Current Status • Phase 1 is mostly complete: power and cooling for 750 kW • Installing seismic bases, racks and structured cabling this week and next week • Delay from manufacturer for 5kV switch gear • No generator backup until mid June • Temporary solution in place; no downtime to fix
Equipment Racks • Standardizing racks, especially height • Height: 47U • 40U for equipment • 7U for patch panels and other (e.g., switches, monitoring devices, grounding bus bar, etc.) • Width: 24” (610 mm) for servers, 32” (813 mm) for network • Depth: 48” to accommodate more power without taking away from cable management space • Standardization: versatile, consistent deployment, easier to enclose cold aisles
Equipment Racks: Considerations • Check that doorways are tall enough throughout delivery path to accommodate taller racks • Fire codes/regulations require a minimum clearance from ceiling to top of racks for fire suppression system • Isolating seismic vibration • Weight limits: increasing density and weight • Baying together helps with tipping hazards?
Power Delivery 3-phase, 30 A, 208 V to the rack: • Need to balance between phases in rack? • Use 60 A circuits for racks with higher loads? • Fewer power whips to rack • Fewer PDUs in the rack • More expensive to construct power whips? • Does anything need 120 V any more? • L21-30R vs. L15-30R receptacles
Floor Layout • Remote Power Panel (RPP) cabinets • Larger than originally specified • Placed such that row starts with a half tile • One at each end of row so racks confined between them • Considerations for seismic isolation • St. Louis is in a 2A seismic zone • Bracing to concrete floor thought to pass vibration to equipment, which may cause damage • Using ISO-Base™ Seismic Isolation Platform • Requires 8.5” (215.9 mm) clearance on all sides • Plus additional 2” (50.8 mm) at ends if leveling feet are used on racks
Floor Layout (2) • Racks may set on multiple tiles due to wider racks, RPP clearances and seismic base clearances: • Raised floor cutouts may cross two tiles • Implications on how to adjust cooling for a particular rack • Rack labeling scheme needs to take this into account if it is based off of raised floor tile grid system
Structured Cabling • Patch panels in each rack (EDA), running to core patch cabinets (MDA) • Category 6a (a=augmented) standards recently ratified • 10 Gb/s over copper over longer distances • More 10 Gb/s copper-based devices? • Comparing costs with fiber and SFPs • For cost, use cat5e/6 patch cables for management networks?
Safety • 3-foot raise floor: block off work areas as usual • ServerLift for loading equipment racks • ECARO-25 clean agent fire suppression • Alarms, controls: • White light and alarm for external fire/smoke • Amber light and alarm for ECARO-25 stage 1 fire/smoke inside server room • Bell ringing for stage 2; 30-seconds to release • EPO (Emergency Power Off) button • ECARO-25 temporary abort button • ECARO-25 forced activation button
Building Services Do you know who will provide these: • Maintenance on electrical/HVAC systems • Custodial/Housekeeping services inside server room, office, mechanical rooms, etc. • Staffing receiving dock (and when). • Access control (e.g., swipe card system) • Telecommunications (e.g., phone lines, fax) • Cardboard recycling, disposal of other packaging?
Future Work • Establishing more formal monitoring of temperature, air flow and electrical usage • Phase 2 planning is beginning • Increase redundant power/cooling capacity to 1350 kW • Potentially enclose cold aisles but may wait for next and final phase to gather enough data
Lessons/Advice If you are new to data center planning: • Start thinking about the considerations/options early • Consider dedicating most of an FTE to this planning and narrowing options • Continually verify measurements and placements within server room.