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Old 06-12-2005, 08:35 PM
jtm22
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Default DC Construction - Things to keep in consideration

Hi,

I was tossing around the idea of a datacenter, and well, I'm not exactly well versed in all aspects of what I should, and should not have, and need, not need.

My two main considerations are power, and adequate cooling of the datacenter, getting bandwidth is just a matter of time, and the 30 days it takes for a loop. Say I was looking at a property with 300A service, would this be good enough to run a decent sized center? I have no idea how many PDU's I'd need, nor the capacity of each one. I'm assuming, if I hire an electrical contractor locally to do all of that, that they would be able to help with purchasing equipment, basing 1.25A for every power supply in a rack/shelf. Again, not sure, this is my darkest subject.

As for being completely redundant, I've thought about the battery room I'd surely need if I had a true ups. I was thinking about getting some of the APC rackmount units, maybe 3/rack giving me a longer time on the battery. Also, nobody around here will permit a standby generator being constructed on their property, however the smaller trailer mounted generators are accepted. Again, I'd have to get that forementioned electrician to wire a switch panel that'll have that generator automatically kick in. Power is tricky stuff.

As for AC, the one property I am considering leasing does have AC throught the building, with an impressive filtration system. It's sort of an office park, and lots of doctors are there, so there's a medical grade filtration system throughout the complex, pretty cool. I spose my main question with this is what temperature, and humidity should I keep the actual server room to? I was thinking a constant 68-72 with 10-25% humidity should be fine, but again...not sure.

I've also had lots of considerations on racks, mainly how many racks, and then bakers racks (metro shelves) to get, and how much power to wire to each one. Based on the earlier statements, I'd have roughly 39U with my three rackmount apc battery backups, instead of going 39 X 1.25, i'll just go 42X1.25, cause at one point in time or another the ups' will have to recharge. The breadracks I was considering are 21"W X 60"L. Or, enough room for 7 servers across, by 4 levels. About half the capacity of a regular rack. So for that I was thinking the same PDU could serve two breadracks, and one regular rack (I am probobly horribly wrong here.)

If you could point me in the right direction, or give some well needed advice I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Josh
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Old 06-13-2005, 04:29 PM
Dennis Nugent Dennis Nugent is offline
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Sounds like you might want to consider hiring a consultant that has designed and/or built several data centers. There are a lot of different ways to approach this. Also, I hate to say it, there are so many ways that a contractor can take advantage of the situation that it is not funny.

Get a real clear definition of what you want, and why. Set your expectations early, and keep them.
Then, based on those expectations, develop clear criteria: exactly how many racks, cages, cabinets, etc. what the power per rack will be, how to get Cat5 and fiber to them, etc.

You menttioned doing a local loop in 30 days -- strongly reommend that you look for buildings that have fiber in them, or next to them (in the manhole out front, in the same office park but in a building next door, etc. ) Getting DS3/OC3s are a lot cheaper with existing fiber.

With 300 amps of power -- if that is at 480V that would be good for 130-150 racks fully loaded. They seldom are fully loaded. One rule of thumb is 20 amps peak per rack.

Another rule of thumb is 17-20 sq ft of space per rack.
Lighting is around 1 watt per st ft
Air conditioning is around 1 ton per 3 fully loaded racks.

For a data center of this size you would want 2 - 3 150 kW UPSs and a 300 kW generator. Several different ways of wiring those to the PDUs

BTW, hopefully you have well over $1 million budgeted for this....
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Old 06-13-2005, 05:55 PM
kjbaudry
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Yes You need a concultant. They cost money but can get you on the right track. You might consider asking teh equipment rep for help but then they are only goinf to help you with thier product. APC has a pretty good architecture for small data centers.

While you may sell service based on $/amp, engineers design based on KVA and power factor. A 1U server is typically rated 200-250VA (0.2 - 0.25kva). Run out the number of servers x 250 and that will give you a rough UPS size.

At 250va and 1.0PF, one Ton of Airconditioning will cool roughly 14 servers. You need to allow something for people and lights (both of which give off heat) and for heat that is absorbed thru the building shell into your space. Figure 1 ton per every 10 to 12 servers (as a budget).

For a rough generator size take UP size x 1.25 plus AC Tons x 1.5 and you will have a rough Kw budget for a Gen Set.

Questions:

Does your building aie run 7x24x365?

If the buiding air is down, how long will it take to get repaired?

Most medical office buildings smell like medical office buildings. Do you really want to be in a medical office building?

How many watts/sf will they allow you? Typically 5-7w/sf which isn't goping to be sufficient to pwoer a data center.

How many tons of HVAC will they allow you? Typically matched to the watts/sf that they allow you, which isn't going to be enough.


Will the floor support your equipment? Batteries, PDUs, Full IT racks trend to be on the heavyu side?

You will need inside space for your UPS, Panels, Transfer Switch, etc.?

You will need exterior (roof or service courtyard) space for your condensing units and/or generator set.

Verify what SPCC requiremenst are for deisel fuel are before hand. Meeting these requiremenst even for a small gen set could run as much as $30,000.

If you don't have multiple (CLEC) fiber carriers then your fiber is going to cost you more then your rent.

Don't forget to include preventative maintenance service on your UPS, Generator and Air Conditioning equipment.



I don't know what your experience level is? From your questiosn, I would think you have an IT background and not a facilities background. No to rain on your idea but the learning cure could be expensive. There are a lot of colo hotels and other data center providers taht will set you up as a reseller, or sell you space by the rack or cage. Its a lot less risk and in the end making money isaboput sales not production. If you are successful at filling up your colo space then in a couple of year build your own. AWhile in the colo space ask a lot of questiosn and lear about facilities. At least you will have a book of clients when you build your own data center. Financing will be easier.

kjbaudry
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