Removing Skeletons from Your Server Closet - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Removing Skeletons from Your Server Closet

Dr.

Natheer

Khasawneh

Rafat A. DasanSlide2

This chapter will cover…

Offers

guidance on how to upgrade an existing Data Center that is lacking in space or infrastructure, has been poorly maintained, or can no longer meet your company's hosting needs because of changes in the types of equipment that are to be installed

.

Addresses

the special challenges of retrofitting a less-than-perfect server environment with the least impact to devices that are already on line

.

Provides t

ips

on how to relocate a Data Center with the least possible disruption and downtime.Slide3

Topics to be covered …Slide4

Lack of Space

One of the most common reasons for upgrading a Data Center is simply that it has run out of physical space to host new equipment. This could be because the server environment was undersized during its initial design or, hopefully, because a company has prospered and requires more servers and networking devices to handle its expanding business functions

.

This can be achieved by

Space Saving Measures

New

ConstructionSlide5

Space Saving

Measures

Rerack

servers— Review how existing Data Center equipment has been installed.

Are there gaps between servers? Move devices closer together so that they occupy less cabinet space.

Are devices sitting on the raised floor that can be rack-mounted instead? Install them into cabinets to free up floor space.

Can large monitors in cabinets be replaced with smaller ones? While a standard computer monitor occupies 10U or more when placed on a cabinet shelf, there are rack-mountable models that open and shut like a laptop computer. They occupy only 1U in a cabinet, and a user slides out an extendable tray to open them to viewing size. It's also possible to link multiple devices to a single monitor, using a switch box to change displays, thereby freeing up even more cabinet space.

Reorient floor- standing devices—Rack-mountable servers aren't the only items that need to be arranged in order to conserve space. Make sure that floor-standing machines are positioned to occupy as few cabinet locations in the Data Center as possible. For example, if a storage unit has a door on one side that needs to swing open to insert or remove media, place the unit at the end of a server row. This enables the aisle to provide the clearance space for the door rather than sacrificing a usable cabinet location

.Slide6

Space Saving

Measures (Cont.)

Upgrade

to smaller devices— Today's servers, networking devices, and storage units are almost universally smaller and faster than yesterday's. Consider upgrading to newer devices as a strategy to recoup floor space. In some instances it can even be cheaper to buy a new model of server than to continue paying service contracts to support older ones. This is especially true when older systems are replaced by a smaller number of new machines. While some approaches to upgrading server performance can be difficult to sell to upper management due to their costs, a solution such as this that saves money, provides better performance, and delays the need to expand a space-constrained Data Center is an obvious winner.

As you pack equipment tighter in the Data Center, watch out for hot spots. The most dramatic consolidations might require additional electrical and cooling infrastructure. While additional infrastructure doesn't come cheap, it is still much less expensive than paying to expand the entire room.

Remove old equipment— Are decommissioned devices sitting on the Data Center floor or occupying space in server cabinets? System administrators are often diligent about installing new equipment but not as attentive about removing outdated gear. That is understandable, because there is no project or application being held up if a leftover server isn't immediately removed. Allowing old items to accumulate wastes valuable floor and cabinet space and adds unnecessary weight to the Data Center floor, however, so work with Data Center users to have equipment removed in a timely manner. When new servers or networking devices arrive for installation, check with the owner to see if they are replacing devices that can now be removed.

Reorient major infrastructure to share buffer space— Depending upon the layout of your existing Data Center, you may be able to reclaim some floor space by relocating air handlers and power distribution units so they begin to share buffer areas. This approach is presented in Chapter 4, "Laying Out the Data Center," for

newSlide7

New

Construction

Even after consolidating equipment as much as possible, you might find you are simply outgrowing the existing Data Center and that building additional server environment space is your only

option.

If

the Data Center was designed with expansion in mind and a dedicated growth path already exists, your course of action is easy. Simply design the expansion space the same way that you would a completely new Data

Center.

Assuming

that the existing server environment has successfully met your company's needs to date—how it is laid out, the type and amount of infrastructure components available at each server cabinet location—then duplicate its design in the new space, making what minor adjustments are precipitated by the footprint of the expansion space

.Slide8

New Construction (Cont.)

knock down the wall

making

one contiguous server

environment vs

. keep

wall

up and create two

separate but

adjacent rooms

.

The advantages of two spaces come from their segmentation. If their respective infrastructure systems are kept distinct, it is possible that a problem in one room—say an air handler fails or a fire breaks out—might not spread to the other

.

The disadvantage of two rooms is that the dividing wall between them occupies significant space. If you knock down the wall of the existing Data Center and expand into the growth area, you don't have to lose usable floor space to a dividing wall and associated aisles.Slide9

New Construction (Cont.)

If you

decide to

make a contiguous Data Center, take precautions to protect servers in the original room during construction. Hang thick layers of material between the old and new spaces to prevent dust, dirt, or other contaminants from entering the old space. Also limit ingress into that area by contractors. Finally, when testing the Data Center's entire electrical system, you must decide whether it is acceptable to incur downtime to servers and networking devices in the original space or whether you want to skip portions of the power tests that shut down all power to the room

.Slide10

Chaos

Before

embarking upon a major construction project to add infrastructure or expand an overworked server environment, see if any of the following can remediate the problems and make the space more usable:

Use the right length patch cords for the job

Add wire management

Make

sure that people are correctly using infrastructure

Install power strips with known electrical ratings:

Do you know how much equipment you can install into your server cabinets before you overload their power strips? If not, you are either underutilizing server cabinet space or risking downtime every time you plug in new equipment.

Redeploy

floor tiles

— 

If cooling is a problem and your Data Center has a raised floor, check that floor tiles are deployed to best advantage.Slide11

Chaos – Cont.Slide12

Infrastructure Shortcomings

Another

reason to retrofit a Data Center is because the room lacks a particular infrastructure. Power, data cabling, cooling, fire suppression, and structural support all have the potential to be lacking as a server environment fills with equipment.

Power

If

a Data Center can't provide enough power to servers and networking devices, it is generally because it has no more circuits available, not that its power distribution units are unable to provide enough raw electricity.

Second

, although a Data Center's electrical system should be designed as if every server cabinet is drawing the maximum possible load, few cabinets actually do. Drawing maximum power from a server cabinet power strip poses the risk of tripping its circuit breaker, so most installations leave a margin for safety. This small amount of unused electrical capacity adds up to a lot of amps over the span of a large Data Center.

 Slide13

Infrastructure Shortcomings – Cont.

Connectivity

: lack

of connectivity is one of the easier issues to address. It can be remediated in one of two ways.

One

option is added structured cabling. As long as the installer is careful to work around existing servers and their connections, the upgrade can usually be completed without any downtime. This cabling needs to terminate somewhere in the Data Center, however, either at a network substation or a main networking row.

A

second option, particularly when the need is for copper connections, is to install either of two networking devices

—

a console server or console switch

—

at the cabinet where more ports are needed. These networking devices can send multiple streams of information over one signal, a process known as multiplexing

Cooling

: There

are many techniques for improving cooling in a server environment. Here are five:

Relocate

air handler temperature sensors

Install

ducted returns

Distribute

servers

Install

self-

cooling cabinets

Install

additional air handlersSlide14

Infrastructure Shortcomings – Cont.

Fire Suppression :

It

is

possible, that

your company might want to upgrade the fire suppression system that was originally installed in your Data Center. It could be that the room was designed and built with wet pipe sprinklers, and you want to replace them with

preaction

dry pipe to reduce the risk of water spilling onto servers due to a leak or pipe break. Maybe the Data Center was designed without a gaseous fire suppression system, and at a later date you decide to add it for greater fire

protection.

Structural Support

: Yet

another possible shortcoming is your Data Center being unable to support enough weight to accommodate incoming servers

. Before

you reach the maximum weight-bearing ability for your Data Center, take the following steps to lighten the room's load:

Shed

unnecessary cabinet weight

— 

If you have a choice among what types of server cabinets are deployed in your Data Center, use those that weigh the least. Remove doors from cabinets that don't need to lock to secure servers. Take off the side panels, too, especially if you aren't using them to channel server exhaust into a hot aisle.

Enforce

a maximum weight for fully-loaded

cabinets

Place

heaviest items in rows with structural

columns

Distribute

serversSlide15

Paradigm Shifts

It

is also possible that your Data Center has ample physical room and infrastructure available and yet still begins having problems hosting incoming equipment. This occurs when servers, networking devices, or other machines arrive that the server environment wasn't designed to accommodate.

Maybe server manufacturers alter their designs, making machines that need more physical space or electrical power. Perhaps your company decides to pursue a different business goal, requiring equipment that your Data Center never had to host in years past.

Here are several tips to follow when making significant infrastructure changes to your existing Data Center:

Upgrade

the room in phases, say a couple of server rows at a time, rather than trying to overhaul it all at once.

When

retrofitting the Data Center dictates physically moving equipment, take advantage of devices that have dual power supplies.

If

work in the Data Center might produce debris or airborne particles, shut down the fire suppression system to avoid setting it off accidentally.

If

new servers are installed in the Data Center while it is undergoing a retrofit, place them according to how the room is going to be designed ultimatelySlide16

Acquisitions

Finally

, your business might acquire or merge with another company, and in the process end up with one or more additional server environments that are functional but inconsistent with your established Data Centers. The challenge here is deciding how much to change in the interest of standardization.

If your company plans to keep the facility, definitely perform any non-intrusive alterations that can make the server environment more consistent with your other Data Centers. Apply your standard labeling scheme to the room's structured cabling and electrical conduits, for example, and install telephones and monitoring lights as you would in a new Data Center. If the server environment is disorganized, use the suggestions listed earlier in this chapter to clean up how patch cords and power cables are routed.Slide17

Large-Scale Server

Moves

Involves

the daunting task of moving hundreds of servers ( have anew DC). Here are several techniques for making such a large-scale equipment relocation proceed smoothly and quickly:

Have

a plan

Hire

professionals

Prioritize

equipment

Run

a special backup

Label

items with destination information

Pre-cable

patch cords

— 

It can be time-consuming to redo thousands of data connections, from scratch, following a move. If you leave patch cords dangling from servers and secure them carefully during the move process, you can likely just plug them back in at their destination location.

Have

spares at the

ready

Leverage

dual power suppliesSlide18

Summary

One

common problem of infrastructure shortcoming is running out of space to host equipment. To mitigate this,

rerack

servers close together, share monitors between devices, position floor-standing machines to occupy the least space, upgrade to smaller servers, and quickly remove decommissioned servers from the Data Center floor.

Another cause for retrofitting a Data Center is the room having become disorganized with its infrastructure components hopelessly tangled. To mitigate this, swap out overly long cables, remove cords that aren't attached to functioning equipment, add wire management where needed, replace power strips that have unknown electrical ratings, and rearrange floor tiles to improve airflow.

Yet another reason to upgrade a server environment is the room having run short on certain infrastructure. Power shortcomings,

lack of connectivity and , Cooling problems

Last, you might need to retrofit a server environment that is obtained through the acquisition of another company. Upgrade the room to match your Data Center standards as much as possible. It is much easier to manage multiple server environments if they all contain the same level of infrastructure.