UNIT 4

Data Center
 Data Centre Management:

 Introduction to Data Centre, Need and significance to Data centre,

 Types of Data Centre (Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, Tier IV), Regulations,

 best practices and operational processes, Introduction to virtualization.

 What is a data center?
 A data center is a physical room, building or facility that houses IT infrastructure
for building, running, and delivering applications and services, and for storing
and managing the data associated with those applications and services.
 Data centers are where computing facilities and networking equipment are
located and centralized. They are tasked to collect, store, process, and distribute
large amounts of data. Data centers have also been around since the dawn of the
modern computing age.
 They are also responsible for data backup and recovery, as well as networking.
These centers also host websites, manage e-mails, and instant messaging services.
They support cloud storage applications and e-commerce transactions. Even
online gaming communities require data centers to manage their online activities.
 Data center

A data center is the physical facility providing the compute power to run
applications, the storage capabilities to process data, and the networking to
connect employees with the resources needed to do their jobs.
A data centre contains all the mainframe, servers and database of the company.
It is a premise where the company's all the IT operations and equipment reside
and where they store, analyse and distribute the essential data. Many companies
require storing their data in different forms, such as emails and transactions on a
server.
 Components of Data Center
A data center consists of:
 A bunch of servers connected through network to run complex applications.
 A Cooling system to manage the heat released by machines.
 Proper Ventilation systems to ensure optimal air-flow.
 Scrutinized Security systems to prevent unauthorized access to data across
centers.
 Power Distribution & Backup Units (gensets, batteries, etc.) for smooth
execution using power supply units.
 Redundant Units / Backup systems to ensure maximum uptime.
 What are the major components of a data center?
 The IT equipment within a data center consists of three main elements necessary
for a computing environment to function:
1. Compute: The memory and processing power needed to run applications that are
usually supplied by enterprise-grade servers.
2. Storage: Data centers include primary and backup storage devices. They may be
hard disk or even tape drives, but best-in-class facilities typically feature all-flash
arrays.
3. Networking: They contain a broad array of networking equipment, ranging from
routers and switches to controllers and firewalls.
 What are the major components of a data center?
 In addition to the IT equipment it contains, every data center houses that equipment’s support
infrastructure, including the following:
 Environmental controls: Sensors monitor the airflow, humidity, and temperature in the
facility at all times, with systems in place to guarantee that temperature and humidity remain
within hardware manufacturers' specified ranges.
 Server racks: Most data center equipment is housed in specially designed racks or in purpose-
built cabinets or shelving.
 Power supplies: Most data centers employ battery-based backup power systems able to
compensate for short-term power outages and larger generators that can supply power in case
longer commercial power grid outages occur.
 Cabling and cable management systems: An enterprise data center may contain hundreds of
miles of fiber optic cable. Systems and equipment to keep that cabling orderly and accessible
are a must.
What are the major components of a data center?
 All data centers share a similar underlying infrastructure that enables reliable,
consistent performance. Basic components include:
 Power: Data centers need to deliver clean, reliable power to keep equipment
running around the clock. A data center will have multiple power circuits for
redundancy and high availability, providing a backup through Uninterrupted
Power Supplies (UPS) batteries and diesel generators.
 Cooling: Electronics generate heat, which, if not mitigated, can cause damage
to the equipment. Data centers are designed to draw heat away while providing
cool air to eliminate overheating equipment. This complex balance of air
pressure and fluid dynamics involves the uniform placement of cold aisles
where the air is pumped in and hot aisles to collect it.
What are the major components of a data center?
 Network: Within the data center, devices are interconnected so they can talk to
each other. And network service providers deliver connectivity to the outside
world, facilitating access to enterprise applications from anywhere.
 Security: A dedicated data center provides a layer of physical security far
beyond what can be achieved when computer gear is stored in a wiring closet or
other location not specifically designed from the ground up for security. In a
purpose-built data center, equipment is safely tucked away behind locked doors
and housed in cabinets with protocols to ensure only authorized personnel can
access the equipment.
 What are the major components of a data
 center?
Fire extinguishers : The equipment within a data center produces a large
amount of heat during operation. Computer equipment does not operate
efficiently and may be damaged by higher temperatures. Therfore in data
center ensures that the temperature is maintained at an optimal level. This
allows the equipment in the data center to function efficiently.
A fire suppression system is a necessary and important part of a data center.
The components required for the system include a detection system, an alarm,
portable fire extinguishers, an emergency power-off switch, an emergency
suppression delay or cancel, and a suppression agent

 Types of Data Center

 Managed services data centers. Managed by third parties, these data centers
provide all aspects of data storage and computing services. Companies lease,
instead of buy, the infrastructure and services.
 Enterprise data centers. These proprietary data centers are built and owned
by organizations for their internal end users. They support the IT operations
and critical applications of a single organization and can be located both on-
site and off-site.
 Types of Data Center
 A colocation data center or “colo” is a facility that a business can rent from a data center
owner to enable IT operations to support applications, servers, and devices. It is becoming
increasingly popular these days, especially for organizations that don’t have enough
resources to build and manage a data center of their own but still need it anyway. A
colocation facility provides space, building, cooling, bandwidth, security, servers, storage,
and firewalls etc.,
 Cloud Data Centers: One of the most popular types of data center these days is the cloud
data center. In this type, a cloud service provider runs and manages the data center to support
business applications and systems. It’s like a virtual data center with even more benefits than
colocation data centers.
 The popular cloud service providers are Amazon AWS, Google, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce,
etc. When data uploads in the cloud servers, the cloud service providers duplicate and
fragment this data across multiple locations to ensure it’s never lost. They also back up your
data, so you don’t lose it even if something goes wrong.
 Types of Data Center

 Edge Data Centers

 The most recent of all, edge data centers are still in the development stage. They are
smaller data center is located closer to end-users or devices, typically at the network edge,
to support low-latency applications . It utilizes the concept of edge computing by bringing
the computation closer to systems that generate data to enable faster operations.
 Edge data centers are deliver services and content to their local users at a greater speed
and with minimal latency. In the future, edge data centers can support autonomous
vehicles and IoT to offer higher processing power and improve the consumer experience.
 Types of Data Center

 Hyperscale Data Centers: Hyperscale data centers are massive and house thousands of
servers. They are designed to be highly scalable by adding more devices and equipment or
increasing system power.
 The demand for hyper scale data centers is increasing with increasing data generation.
Businesses now deal with an enormous amount of data, which begins to rise. Hence, to
store and manage this sort of data, they need a giant data center, and hyper scale seems to
be the right choice for it.
 Standard for data center tiers
 Uptime Institute sets the standard for data center tiers and assigns these tiers to
facilities based on a number of factors, some of which are not public knowledge. The
following are some of the known factors that the Uptime Institute considers:
 Availability, redundancy, and uptime : The amount of time annually that a data
center is expected to function and the processes in place to prevent downtime.
 Efficiency and sustainability : How well the data center uses its resources and the
longevity it’s expected to have as new technologies emerge.
 Cost : How much the data center costs to run.
 Security : What procedures are in place to protect the data center from data breaches
and other cyber security threats.
 Types of data center
 A tiered data center is a type of data center that is classified based on its level of
redundancy and availability.:
 Another way of classifying data centers based on uptime and reliability is by data
center tiers.
 Tier 1: A tier 1 data center has “basic capacity” and includes a UPS. It has fewer
components for redundancy and backup and a single path for cooling and power. It
also involves higher downtime and may lack energy efficiency systems. It offers a
minimum of 99.671% uptime, which means 28.8 hours of downtimes yearly.
 Tier 2: A tier 2 data center has “redundant capacity” and offers more components for
redundancy and backup than tier 1. It also has a singular path for cooling and power.
They are generally private data centers, and they also lack energy efficiency. Tier 2
data centers can offer a minimum of 99.741% uptime, which means 22 hours
downtimes yearly.
 Types of data center
 Tier 3: A tier 3 data center is “concurrently maintainable,” ensuring any component is safe to
remove without impacting the process. It has different paths for cooling and power to help
maintain and update the systems.
 Tier 3 data centers have redundant systems to limit operational errors and equipment failure.
They utilize UPS systems that supply power continuously to servers and backup generators.
Therefore, they offer a minimum of 99.982% uptime, which means 1.6 hours of downtimes
yearly .
 Tier 4: Critical business operations from organizations that cannotA tier 4 data center is
“fault-tolerant” and allows a production capacity to be protected from any failure type. It
requires twice the number of components, equipment, and resources to maintain a continuous
flow of service even during disruptions.
 afford downtimes use tier 4 data centers to offer the highest level of redundancy, uptime, and
reliability. A tier 4 data center provides a minimum of 99.995% uptime, which means 0.4
hours of annual downtime and 2N redundancy, which is superb.
 Data Center Regulation
 Data center regulations refer to laws, guidelines, and standards that are implemented to
ensure the security, privacy, and reliability of data center operations. The regulations can be
imposed by governments, industry associations, and other regulatory bodies, and may vary
depending on the country or region.
 Here are some examples of data center regulations:
 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): The GDPR is a European Union regulation
that governs the processing and handling of personal data of EU citizens. Data centers that
process or store personal data of EU citizens must comply with the GDPR regulations.
 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS): The PCI DSS is a set of
security standards that are designed to protect credit card information and prevent credit
card fraud. Data centers that process, store or transmit credit card information must comply
with the PCI DSS regulations.
 Data Center Regulation
 In India, there are several regulations and standards that govern the operation of
data centers. Here are some of the important data center regulations in India:
 IT Act 2000 and IT Amendment Act 2008: These are the primary laws
governing cybersecurity and electronic transactions in India. The laws provide a
legal framework for data privacy, security, and protection.
 Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) 2019: This is a proposed law that seeks
to regulate the processing of personal data by individuals and entities in India.
The law aims to ensure the protection of personal data and privacy rights of
individuals.
 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Guidelines: The RBI has issued guidelines for
banks and financial institutions for outsourcing services, including data center
services. The guidelines outline the requirements for the selection, engagement,
and monitoring of service providers.
 Data Center Regulation
 Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Guidelines:
The MeitY has issued guidelines for data center operations and management in
India. The guidelines provide a framework for the design, construction, and
operation of data centers in India.
 ISO 27001: ISO 27001 is an international standard for information security
management systems (ISMS). Many data centers in India comply with ISO
27001 as it provides a comprehensive framework for managing information
security risks.
 Uptime Institute Standards: The Uptime Institute is a global authority on data
center standards and certifications. Many data centers in India follow the
Uptime Institute's Tier Standard for data center design and construction.
 Best practices
 A data center audit involves an asset inventory and creates a library of accurate,
up-to-date information about all of the equipment in the data center—from
servers and cabinets to storage devices. The following are some of the best
practices for building up security at a data center facility.
 Conduct regular audits. Internal audits check the implemented systems and
processes. An external audit is used to check the commitment of internal audits.
Audits should check for any vulnerabilities in the data center facilities that are
provided to ensure security. Check to see if access control systems, CCTV cameras,
and electronic locks are functioning and are being maintained. Check if any job
role changes in the employees call for an update in the procedures and systems.
 Strengthen access control systems. As an outcome of the audit checks, any
facility requiring extra protection should receive additional security. For example,
multiple verification methods for personnel entry into a certain area may be
recommended, such as an access card and fingerprint or retinal recognition. Make
an audit of the entire facility to check if the access control system needs to be
 Best practices
 Enhance video surveillance. Video cameras should include both indoor and
outdoor areas of the facility. Similar to the access control systems, coupling these
with 24-hour surveillance by security staff can significantly enhance the safety of
the facility.
 Enforce security measures. This requires employee training on the security
measures to be followed and the consequences if procedures are violated.
 Establish redundant utilities. Create redundancy in utilities like electricity and
water and distribute the same to avoid common-mode failures and to achieve
high availability of the systems.
 Data Center Design Best Practices
 To help improve your infrastructure, explore these data center design best practices.
 Power & Performance : Utility costs are a major concern for most data centers. And,
of course, maximizing uptime and limiting downtime due to issues like power failure
is essential as well. Keep the following in mind when designing your power systems:
 Cooling. Your cooling systems are another major power draw. We’ll touch more on
cooling below, but for now, know that high density racking can increase the need for
cooling—which means more power. It’s important to balance your efficient use of
space while considering the impact that your infrastructure can have on things like
cooling and power consumption.
 Emergency Power. Don’t let a power failure result in downtime. Be sure to install
back up power solutions to keep your systems running.
 Data Center Design Best Practices
 Sustainability. Where possible, consider incorporating green energy sources
into your infrastructure. Solar power can be feasible in some instances, and
depending on your climate, allowing cool outdoor air into the environment
may help to reduce power draw from cooling systems as well.
 Power Usage Efficiency. Monitor your power usage and segment by IT tasks
(i.e. server power) and non-IT tasks (i.e. lighting, cooling, etc.). If your power
needs are consistent for IT essential tasks, look for opportunities to reduce
power consumption from non-IT tasks.