Managing Data Center
Organizing your way to an easier Job
The Need For Organization
• Previous chapters talked about strategies for designing a
reliable, easy-to-understand Data Center. Now we will
discuss effective management of the room.
• A Data Center that is thoughtfully designed and
strategically managed takes less time to supervise because:
– The room's layout and infrastructure are easy to understand and
work with
– Less accidental downtime occurs due to mechanical failure or
human error
– Costs are avoided because fewer alterations to its cabling or
electrical infrastructure are needed
– More equipment can be accommodated because floor and
cabinet spaces are used to greater effect
The Need For Organization (Cont.)
• No matter how well-designed your Data Center is—
how robust, modular, flexible, standardized, and
intuitive its layout is—the Data Center can't be
productive if it is allowed to fall into disarray. Ex:
library, if the books that have been read aren't
returned to their proper place on the shelves. The
greatest resources becomes practically useless under
those circumstances.
• Question: Does your company have a Data Center
manager, someone who designs, supports, and
oversees all of your company's server environments?
Organizing Equipment: Form vs
Function
• The first step in managing a Data Center begins the moment the
room comes online and incoming equipment arrives.
• There are four common approaches for arranging servers within a
Data Center
1.
2.
3.
4.
Clustering devices with similar functions.
Organizing them by internal business group or department.
Grouping models made by the same manufacturer.
Not organizing them at all, simply filling server cabinet locations on
a first-come, first-served basis
• It is also important, though, to consider which of them makes the
room easiest to manage. Although there is no one right way to
organize the equipment in a server environment, some require less
time and effort to maintain than others.
1- Clustering by Function
• Gathering machines together based upon what
they do can result in either a homogenous or
heterogeneous mix of equipment, depending
upon whether your company standardizes upon
one server manufacturer or not. If it does, the
approach is essentially the same as option three,
grouping by manufacturer, and therefore has the
same advantages and disadvantages. If it doesn't,
the approach is probably similar to option two,
organizing by business group.
2- Organizing by Business Group
• in practice it is one of the simplest Data Center
organizational plans to manage. For one thing, this
approach tends to distribute equipment models
throughout the Data Center, which leads to fewer
peaks and valleys of infrastructure demand.
• server rows can be assigned to the manager of each
business organization, making them responsible for the
upkeep of their own floor space.
• Example: Group A wants to decommission a dozen
older servers and replace them with newer models
that require different power receptacles
2- Organizing by Business Group
(Cont.)
• Be aware that this benefit is reduced if your
Data Center has applications or networks that
tie equipment together regardless of their
physical location in the room.
3- Grouping by Manufacturer
• While placing all of the same machine models together
in a Data Center creates uneven pockets of demand
upon the room's infrastructure, this approach can be
easy to maintain in the short term.
• A drawback of having server rows support only one
type of machine is that it limits your flexibility when
allocating floor space for incoming equipment.
Management difficulties can also arise over time when
a given type of server either outgrows its assigned
floor space or else needs to be decommissioned and
upgraded.
4- Not Organizing at All
• Initially, this approach doesn't require any effort, certainly not on
the part of whoever would otherwise have to allocate floor space.
Data Center users just move equipment into whatever server
cabinet locations are available. As the room fills up, however,
problems can emerge. System administrators who maintain servers
must work in all areas of the Data Center, and downtime on the
part of a networking device might cut off access to machines that
are performing many different functions. Problems aren't isolated
to a particular group. Also, because no one truly controls how space
or infrastructure is allocated, Data Center users might swipe
electrical receptacles and data ports from unclaimed cabinet
locations or even try to claim more server space than they require.
• Only consider this approach in very small server environments,
perhaps a room with three server rows or less
Planning for Growth
• You want servers and networking devices to be
distributed across the Data Center so that the room is
easy to use, equipment is logically arranged, and
demands upon the infrastructure are even and
manageable
• assign space in your Data Center—from the
beginning—with an eye toward how you want the
fully-occupied room to be. Anticipate future
equipment growth. Besides setting aside a dedicated
growth path outside the server environment, leave
empty rows throughout the Data Center as you assign
space.
Planning for Growth (Cont.)
• Ex: we have 3 Groups (A, B, C)
– Group A doesn't expect any future growth.
– Group B has servers to occupy one row, but can't
predict whether it is going to need a lot more hosting
space in the future or none at all.
– Group C has servers to occupy one server row right
away and is expected to fill a second row over the
next twelve months.
• The 1st arrangement: Group A in Row 1, Group B
in Row 2, and Group C in Rows 3 and 4 (and every
thing is perfect) BUT this will lead to problems.
Planning for Growth (Cont.)
• It concentrates the heating and electrical load
in the Data Center into a small area, which can
cause hot spots unnecessarily.
• It might also trigger nuisance alarms in your
power distribution units.
• clustering the occupied rows together doesn't
enable a group to grow into additional rows
and yet still remain contiguous
Planning for Growth (Cont.)
• Allocating floor space so that rows alternate
between empty and occupied makes it easier
to accommodate future space needs by
business groups as well as distributes the
draw upon the Data Center's infrastructure.
Controlling Incoming Equipment
• the people who buy servers either know or care
relatively little about the environment that houses
them. They make purchasing decisions based upon the
equipment's performance, cost. While all of that is
important, little or no consideration is given to
whether an item is compatible with the Data Center.
• To avoid this, establish a review process in which all
Data Center-bound items must be examined and
approved before they can be purchased.
• It is much easier to head off potential problems with a
device while it is still on someone's shopping list than if
it is sitting on your loading dock
Controlling Incoming Equipment
(Cont.)
• Several factors should be considered when
reviewing a device for its compatibility with your
server environment:
– Footprint: Does the item (whether a server cabinet or
floor-standing server or storage device) fit
conveniently within your server rows?
– Power needs: Does the device need power receptacles
that are significantly different from what your Data
Center typically provides?
– Weight load: How much does the item weigh? The
more weight that is placed in a small area, the more
difficult it can be for a Data Center floor to support
Controlling Incoming Equipment
(Cont.)
– Serviceability: How easy is it to service or upgrade the
device? Servers that are the most Data Centercompatible can be accessed and worked upon while
the device remains mounted in a cabinet.
– Equipment exhaust: Does the equipment produce an
above-average amount of heat? the larger the burden
it places upon a Data Center's cooling infrastructure
– Wheels: Does the item have casters? If you're
evaluating a server that is going to be installed in a
server cabinet, you don't want wheels because the
item could roll off of a cabinet shelf