best practices for planning your datacenter

Best Practices for Planning Your Data Center

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Business-wise, Future-drivenTM

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Schneider Electric Table of Contents

Best Practices for Planning Your Data Center

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................3

Step1: Determine IT design parameters ................10

Step 2: Develop system concept ..........................11

Step 3: Determine user requirements ....................12

Step 4: Generate specification ..............................13

Step 5: Generate construction design ...................14

Conclusion ................................................................15

Poor planning examples ..............................................4

New vs. upgrade? .......................................................5

Jump-start the planning process .................................6

Planning errors to avoid ...............................................7

System planning process .............................................9

Business-wise, Future-drivenTMBest Practices for Planning Your Data Center

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Data CentersIntroduction

Early planning mistake…

In building a new data center, the “Achilles’ heel” is the early planning process; one minor planning mistake on the front end can turn into major issues later on. But, if you use a standardized, tested, documented planning process as your roadmap, then many potential pitfalls can be eliminated. The purpose of this eBook is to provide you with a reliable roadmap to that will help you avoid project delays, overrun costs, wasted time and system flaws.



Data CentersPoor planning examplesMost of us probably have our own war stories and scars of poor data center planning. Whether it was accidentally ordering the wrong equipment, going through too many design iterations or not getting the funding you needed, these missteps are all too common and costly.

But, the good news is that they are avoidable or easily managed by following planning best practices.



Data CentersNew vs. upgrade?

During the planning phase, one of the first questions you face is, “Should I build new or simply upgrade?” In some cases data center professionals will be forced into a data center “build vs. upgrade” decision by factors beyond their con-trol. For example, a building lease that runs out and can’t be renewed would force a “build new” situation. In other cases, data center owners have not exhausted all the options that make an upgrade more attractive. Location, condition of build-ing, lease status and tech-nology and business needs all play a key role in the assessment. When decid-ing whether to build new or upgrade, you should make a checklist, similar to the one you see here, to determine which decision makes the most sense.

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Data CentersJump-start the planning processThe key to getting off on the right foot in a planning process is to involve the right people at the right levels. Finance, the CEO, IT executives and facilities executives all need to have a seat at the table in order for the priorities to be clearly defined and agreed upon. Ask the important questions about capacity, budget, criticality and efficiency. Using planning tools and calculators will allow senior management to experiment with “what if” scenarios concerning size of load, capital costs and efficiency. For example, what if the proposed data center is a 1 megawatt instead of a two megawatts? What impact will that have on sizing and capital cost?

• Capacity

• Budget

• Growth plan

• Criticality

• Efficiency

• Density

• Finance exec

• CEO

• IT exec

• Facilities exec

Balance the priorities Use decision assist tools

Involve the right people



Data CentersPlanning errors to avoidFour common planning errors often creep in when you’re trying to roll out a new data center project. Be on the lookout during the early phases of plan-ning so you can nip them in the bud immediately.

You can avoid all of these costly mistakes by following a structured planning process, such as the one we discuss in subsequent chapters. These best practices will guide you through system planning so that you end up with a data center that meets your business needs, on time and on budget.

Mistake 1: Miss the check-writer’s business requirements Miss the check writer’s requirements early on and you will will likely run into a budgetary impasse. All too often, the initial data center design gets presented to the C-suite only to learn the budget is half of what was expected.

Mistake 2: Emphasize the hardware too early (the technical deep dive)Emphasizing the hardware too early puts the cart before the horse, wasting too much effort on “speeds and feeds” without ensuring the technical design aligns with business goals. It’s such an easy mistake to make, and the only way to avoid it is by talking at the right level of abstraction.

Mistake 3: Do it the old way and expect a different resultIf you’re building a new data center, it’s a great time to take advantage of new technologies and

new designs. The more you accommodate legacy systems and rely on the familiar “old way” of building data centers, the more you put your business at a technological disadvantage.

Mistake 4: Facility and IT departments work independently instead of togetherIf you’re building a new data center, it’s a great time to take advantage of new technologies and new designs. The more you accommodate legacy systems and rely on the familiar “old way” of building data centers, the more you put your business at a technological disadvantage.



Data CentersPlanning errors to avoidCommunicating at the right levelAs pointed out earlier, one of the most common problems is focusing on implementation details (“speeds and feeds”) instead of desired outcomes (business needs). Getting wrapped up in the technical details too early steers your project away from meeting business needs. It happens all too often and usually causes delays, overrun costs and unhappy executives. Make sure your planning team is talking at the right level of abstraction during the early phases of planning by using the examples below as a guideline. As we outline the system planning process in the following sections, keep this point in mind any time you evaluate needs, requirements, parameters and preferences.



Data CentersSystem planning processWhile there are many approaches to planning the physical infrastructure system for your new data center, the most effective share common elements. They begin by determining the Design Parameters. Execution of this first step will result in five important outputs: a capacity limit, a defined budget range, a growth plan, a criticality level , a density capacity, and an efficiency number. Step 2 highlights the development of the system concept. Step 3 identifies the user preferences and constraints. Step 4 generates a usable spec from which Step 5, a detailed construction design can be devel-oped. White paper 142 describes in detail how these steps flow into one another and the specific actions that need to be taken, but we will briefly touch on each in the following sections.

For sample worksheets and examples of outputs in each stage, see Schneider Electric’s System Specification and Project Manual.

http://www.apc.com/whitepaper/?wp=142

http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/VAVR-64CHBJ_R0_EN.pdf

http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/VAVR-64CHBJ_R0_EN.pdf



Data CentersStep1: Determine design parameters

During the first phase of system planning, have your busi-ness management and IT management teams meet to identify IT needs and determine how much money is avail-able to address them. Through these discussions, you should ultimately define your needs in terms of capacity, budget, growth plan, criticality, density and efficiency.

The capacity need refers to how much IT load (kW) the data center is expected to support. The budget represents how much CapEx will be required to implement the project. The growth plan outlines the maximum, minimum and average IT load the data center is expected to support over the life of the facility. Criticality refers to tier and redundancy levels required given the nature of the business and the acceptable levels of reliability risk. Density refers to the peak and average kW / rack. Finally, efficiency considers increasing demands for data centers to meet new standards for reducing energy consumption. You will use these six design parameters to develop your initial sys-tem concept (step two).

Who is involved?

Business managementIT Management

OUTPUTS

CAPACITY Ultimate IT load (kW)

BUDGETSpending will impact the four other parameters

GROWTH PLANInitial IT load, maximum, minimum and average final IT load, and time to reach final load

CRITICALITYtier / redundancy levels (N, N+1, or 2N)?

DENSITYPeak and average kW / rack

EFFICIENCYA major new consideration in design



Data CentersStep 2: Develop system concept

Who is involved?

Business managementIT managementFacility management

Tip:

OUT

PUTS

REFERENCE DESIGNUse as a starting point for your detailed design, select a reference design that meets the capacity, criticality and growth plan laid out in step one

ROOM or SITE CHOICEIdentify special considerations of the room that may impact the design, such as size, location of doors, and support columns, floor strength and ceiling height.

Next, take the criticality, capacity, and growth plan established in step one and develop your system concept ( a rough draft of the data center design). Start by selecting a reference design – a quick way to select a tried and true data center design as a starting point for your system concept, and it saves weeks of planning. You can literally peruse a reference design catalogue until you find one that meets your IT parameters. Keep in mind that reference designs almost always need to be tailored to meet your specific requirements, so consider the constraints of the room or site while you evaluate your options, such as size, ceiling height or location of doors. You may want to use special tools to compare various designs for TCO, CapEx, efficiency, density capability or floor space for IT equipment. Once you have made your choice, use this information to help to determine user requirements and to generate the specification (steps three and four).

A System Concept worksheet can be found in the System Specification and Project Manual, pg. 26

tools.apc.com



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Who is involved?

Facility managementIT managementFacility operatorsIT operators

Tip:

OUT

PUTS

CONSTRAINTSPre-existing conditions that are difficult or impossible to change, such as a physical characteristic of the room or a law your must comply with.

PREFERENCESThings you want, but can change your mind about if you get new information, such as your choice of:

• Delivery path• Generator• Power• Cooling• Monitoring system• Racks, etc.

Determining user requirements may be one of the more difficult tasks because it involves multiple teams at middle management and operating levels who may have trouble communicating what they need at the right level of detail.

User requirements for the project are a list your preferences for features and options, but these requirements must be tempered by a list of room constraints, existing IT constraints, and logistical constraints. For example, if the data center is intended to be a showcase, a glass wall might be a preference, but financial cost and security risk might rule it out.

At this stage, collect and evaluate your list of constraints against your preferences to determine whether they are valid or should be adjusted in some way to reduce cost or avoid problems. This list will be used along with the reference de-sign to generate the specification (step four).

User requirement worksheets can be found in the System Specification and Project Manual, pg. 27-45

Step 3: Determine user requirements



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To translate the user requirements (from the previous step) into a detailed construction design (in the task following this one), you must first create a system specification. It serves as a set of rules to be followed when you design a more detailed system. It contains both stan-dard specifications that are common to all systems, and user specifications that are specific to your particular sys-tem, usually including the floor plan, room/row/rack level specs, phase-in plan and process specs. Separating the specifications into these two buckets greatly simplifies the job of specifying the complete system, because the body of standard specifications is much larger than the body of user specifications. The user-specific specifications can be filled in on worksheets and attached to the standard speci-fication, together forming the complete system specifica-tion for the project.

Who is involved?

Facility operatorsIT operatorsProject implementation personnel

OUTPUTS

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

Standardized elementsDo not vary from project to project. Comprise the major portion of the specification. Examples include regulatory compliance, compatibility of subsystems, workmanship, safety and best practices.

User-specific elementsThese are the user requirements (preferences and constraints) defined in the previous task. Includes floor plan, room / row / rack level specs, phase-in plan and process specs.

Tip: A sample specification can be found in the System Specification and Project Manual, pg. 46 - 105

Step 4: Generate specification



Data Centers

The last step is creating a detailed design for the installed system, including:

• Detailed component lists• Exact floor plan of racks, including power and cooling

equipment• Detailed installation instructions• Detailed project schedule• Actual “as built” characteristics of the design, including

efficiency, density, and expandability.

Creating a detailed design, even if partially automated by a design tool, requires a professional engineer, much like an architectural drawing needs one even if the building has already been fully designed.

Who is involved?

Suppliers / providersEngineering firms

OUTPUTS

DETAILED CONSTRUCTION DESIGN

• Detailed component lists

•Exactfloorplanofracks,including power and cooling equipment

•Detailedinstallationinstructions

•Detailedprojectschedule

•Actual“asbuilt”characteristicsofthe design, including efficiency, density, and expandability

Step 5: Generate construction design



Data CentersConclusion & Resources

Planning for a new data center is no small feat, requiring expertise and extreme organization. Despite its crucial importance to the success of the project, system planning has historically been considered unstructured and difficult, carried out as art rather than science, ripe with opportunities for missteps, wrong assumptions, and miscommunication that have serious consequences later on. Lessen the difficulty by using a standardized process, as outlined in this eBook, to ensure that your final data center design fulfills your original business need.

For further learning and assistance, use the resources below.

Data Center Power Sizing CalculatorData Center Capital Cost CalculatorData Center Efficiency Calculator

141 Data Center Projects: Project Management142 Data Center Projects: System Planning

System Specification and Project ManualVolume 1 - Optimized for Small and Medium Data Centers

ISBN: 0-9713658-0-6

tools.apc.com whitepapers.apc.com

White Papers

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whitepapers.apc.com



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