The Nerve Center

Efficient running of your business depends, to a large extent,

on the unseen physical layer running from your employees' desktop to the nerve

center—data center. An uninterrupted service and continuous access are

critical to the daily operation and productivity of a business.

When employees and customers are unable to access the servers,

storage systems, and networking devices that reside in the data center, the

entire organization can shut down. Millions of dollars can be lost in a matter

of minutes for businesses like banks, airlines, shipping facilities, and online

brokerages. Faced with these consequences, IT executives must optimize their

data centers, particularly the network infrastructure.

With downtime translating directly into loss of income, data

centers must be designed for redundant, fail-safe reliability and availability.

Depending on the business, downtime can cost anywhere between $50,000 to over $6

mn per hour. Keeping in mind that 70% of the network downtime can be attributed

to physical layer problems, specifically cabling faults, it is paramount that

more consideration is given to infrastructure design.

Want to lower your total cost of ownership, support future

growth, reduce your risk of downtime, maximize performance, and improve your

ability to reconfigure? Then, you need to strategically design your data center

from the very beginning. Stick to the following principles of data center

design, and you can't go wrong.

Pathways for Reliability



The cabling itself should support current bandwidth needs while enabling
anticipated migration to higher network speeds without sacrificing performance.

In fact, the data center infrastructure should be designed and implemented to

outlast the applications and equipment it supports by at least 10-15 years. Note

that most active equipment are replaced every three to five years.

The protection of cabling and connections is a key factor in

ensuring data center reliability. Components that maintain proper bend radius

throughout cable routing paths are critical to that protection. When cabling is

bent beyond its specified minimum bend radius, it can cause transmission

failures, and as more cables are added to a routing path, the possibility of

bend radius violation increases.

Pathways must maintain proper bend radius at all points where

the cable makes a bend-both at initial installation and when cables are

accessed or added. The separation of cable types in horizontal pathways, and

physical protection of both cable and connections should be implemented to

prevent possible damage.

Cable Management



The infrastructure should be designed as a highly reliable and flexible
utility to accommodate disaster recovery, upgrades, and modifications.

Manageability starts with strategic, unified cable management that keeps cabling

and connections properly stored and organized, easy to locate and access, and

simple to reconfigure.

Cable routing paths must be clearly defined and intuitive to

follow while enabling easy deployment, separation, access, reduced congestion,

and room for growth. This is especially important in data centers with large

volumes of cables. Cables managed in this manner improve network reliability by

reducing the possibility of cable damage, bend radius violations, and the time

required for identifying, routing, and rerouting cables.

The use of a central patching location in a cross-connect

scenario provides a logical and easy-to-manage infrastructure, whereby all

network elements have permanent equipment cable connections that once

terminated, are never handled again. In this scenario, all modifications,

rerouting, upgrades, and maintenance activities are accomplished using

semi-permanent patch cord connections on the front of the cross-connect systems.

Deploying common rack frames with ample vertical and horizontal

cable management simplifies rack assembly, organizes cable, facilitates cable

routing, and keeps equipment cool by removing obstacles to air movement. Cable

management at the rack also protects the bend radius and manages cable slack

efficiently. Connectors must also be easily defined and accessed for maintenance

or reconfiguration with minimal disruption to adjacent connections.

Cooling



Servers and equipment are getting smaller, but more powerful to accommodate
the need for high-density data center installations. However, this concentrates

an enormous amount of heat into a smaller area.

Adequate cooling equipment is a must, as well as the use of hot

aisle/cold aisle configuration where equipment racks are arranged in alternating

rows of hot and cold aisles. This practice, which has met wide industry

acceptance, allows cold air from the cold aisle to wash over the equipment where

it is then expelled out the back into the hot aisle.

Power Requirements



Electricity is the lifeblood of a data center. A power interruption for even
a fraction of a second is enough to cause a server failure. Therefore, the

measures you deploy to prevent disruptions should be based on the level of

reliability required.

Some of the common practices include two or more power feeds

from the utility company; uninterrupted power supplies; multiple circuits to

systems and equipment; and on-site generators.

It's important to properly estimate your power requirements

based on the devices currently in use in the data center, as well as the number

of devices you anticipate are needed in the future to accommodate growth. Power

requirements for support equipment should also be included.

Prepare for Future



Businesses can optimize their data centers by selecting data center
infrastructure solutions that work together. By recognizing the value of the

data center infrastructure and its components, you can ensure that the employees

and customers have access to the servers, storage systems, and networking

devices they need to carry out daily business transactions and remain

productive.

Avoiding costly downtime, preparing for the future, and lowering

total cost of ownership with space savings, reliable performance, and effective

manageability are the ultimate means to a thriving data center and overall

successful business.

Dileep Kumar



product manager, Enterprise

Networks, ADC Krone.



vadmail@cybermedia.co.in