Jan Kremer s Data Center Design Consultancy

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1 Jan Kremer s Data Center Design Consultancy Datacenter Design Jan Kremer has designed a Tier Level 3 Datacenter for one of the main banks in Saudi Arabia This included Floor Plans, Power Requirements, Building Design for Power Generator Sets and UPS, Raised Floor Plan, Cabling Plan (Based on TIA-942, TIA-568A/B, Labeling requirements for all cabling, and equipment based on TIA-606-A, Fire Detection and Prevention (FM200), HVAC and CRAC cooling as well as Rack CRAC cooling, EMI Shielding, Water Detection etc. Jan Kremer provided a set of High and Low Level Design Documents with supporting drawings in AutoCAD. Knowing what the client needs are the essentials of good data center design, and the general infrastructure that a data center includes are the basic starting principles. Now we need to concentrate on its exact scope. How many layers of infrastructure should the data center include, will it be only server environment for one or many managed services capabilities, how does the main data center purpose relate to the disaster recovery data center capabilities as to scope, capabilities and service levels and what kind of tier level is required etc. Tier levels summary. Tier I: Basic Site Infrastructure A Tier I basic data center has non-redundant capacity components and single nonredundant path distribution paths serving the site s computer equipment Tier II: Redundant Capacity Components Site Infrastructure A Tier II data center has redundant capacity components and single non-redundant distribution paths serving the site s computer equipment Tier III: Concurrently Maintainable Site Infrastructure A concurrently maintainable data center has redundant capacity components and multiple distribution paths serving the site s computer equipment. Generally, only one distribution path serves the computer equipment at any time. Tier IV: Fault Tolerant Site Infrastructure A fault tolerant data center has redundant capacity systems and multiple distribution paths simultaneously serving the site s computer equipment Green Datacenters Data center cooling is where the greatest energy-efficiency improvements can be made. And cooling a data center efficiently is impossible without proper floor plan and air-conditioning design. The fundamental rule in energy- efficient cooling is to keep hot air and cold air separate. The hot-aisle/cold aisle, raised-floor design has been the cooling standard for many years, yet surprisingly few data centers implement this principle fully or correctly. Hot aisle/cold aisle is a data center floor plan in which rows of cabinets are configured with air intakes facing the middle of the cold aisle. The cold aisles have perforated tiles that blow cold air from the computer room air-conditioning (CRAC) units up through the floor. The servers hot air returns blow heat exhaust out the back of cabinets into hot aisles. The hot air is then sucked into the CRAC unit to be cooled and redistributed through cold aisles.

2 As computing demands skyrocket, servers in data centers proliferate. And now, the equation is rapidly spinning out of control as environmental concerns and cost-efficiency are overwhelmed by server sprawl. excessive energy consumption from servers running hot leads to high cooling costs, overuse of fossil fuels, pollution, depletion of natural resources and release of harmful co2 as waste. For every kilowatt of energy consumed by a server, roughly another kilowatt must be expended to cool that machine. By the end of 2008, the power costs of a server have exceeded the cost of the server itself. Reduction of the number of servers can be achieved by implementing a Virtualized Data Center. Using less equipment to do more goes to the heart of being LEAN & GREEN. Consolidating and virtualizing storage and using efficient computing practices and power-saving tactics are the route to achieving environmental efficiency and reduction of cost. Virtualized Data Centers Jan Kremer can provide Data Center Virtualization solutions based on VMware or SWSoft Virtuozzo the leading suppliers of Virtual Data Center solutions. Today s IT organizations are dealing with the consequences of exploding IT infrastructure growth and complexity. While computing resources continue to increase in power, organizations are unable to fully utilize them in single application deployments and cannot change computing resource assignments easily when application or business requirements change. At the root of the problem is uncontrolled server sprawl, servers provisioned to support a single application. Organizations that implemented hardware virtualization have unwittingly created a new problem: OS sprawl. While hardware remains a considerable cost component, software and management continue to be the largest cost considerations. The daily management and operations functions are daunting, and adding in business continuity requirements, the costs and complexity are overwhelming. Moreover, few

3 tools provide the management and automation to ease the burden on IT departments. In order to address these critical challenges, IT organizations have to find ways to accomplish the following: Improve the flexibility of computing resource assignment Decrease complexity to improve manageability of systems Automate routine tasks Reduce overall management costs through efficiency Provide cost-effective data availability and recovery Increase the return from their infrastructure investment by better utilizing resources Server virtualization, which enables several applications to run independently on a single physical server, is an important first step toward achieving a virtualized environment. But it is only by combining server virtualization with storage virtualization when enterprises can realize the full benefits of virtualization. Consolidating resources through data center virtualization techniques can improve the return on IT investments, boost IT productivity, increase system reliability and availability, and ultimately enhance the ability of IT to meet the needs of the business. Microsoft offers server virtualization technology within their new MS Server 2008 Operating System platform. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V is a built-in operating system technology that hosts virtual machines on the Windows Server 2008 platform, using server hardware virtualization. It provides a scalable and secure platform for supporting enterprise server virtualization infrastructures. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V uses Type 1 hypervisor-based virtualization, which runs directly on hardware, thereby enabling direct access to difficult-tovirtualize processor calls. Managed Services Managed Services is a proven and successful business model around the world and market dynamics are driving companies to it. Managed Services refers to the outsourcing of IT computing and/or network infrastructure, operating systems, and/or applications to a third party. The Managed Services provider assumes responsibility of the entire set of IT processes and computing/communication capabilities provided to the customer. The architecting, deployment, 24x7x365 monitoring, and proactive management of these IT environments, which typically must be always available and always secure. Services can include the applications, hardware, software, network, etc.

4 Companies find it advantageous to outsource services that provide key functions such as security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data integrity, and high availability, so they can instead focus internal IT resources on core activities and processes. Companies are facing the fundamental challenge of dealing with increasing IT complexity and cost, and the need to deliver value from their technology investments. IT departments are struggling with administrative, operational and maintenance aspects of day to day IT management, rather than on IT activities that impact revenue generation and competitive advantage. The issues they face are: Downtime business need for always on reliability. Security expensive and constantly changing security threats. Keeping pace too much focus on administrative problems vs. business problems. Compliance and business regulations increasing governance regulations and storage requirements. Security The increasing multiplicity of data centre locations and often the geographical dispersion of IT administrators increases the importance of a sound security strategy. To work effectively, the strategy should establish guidelines and responsibilities to protect the information assets of a company. Physical security Public: areas that all employees can access Controlled: areas that can and must be locked when unattended Very controlled: areas where access is restricted to registered or authorized users The question for many IT managers is how to supplement physical security strategy. The answer is to give secure, remote access and control of data centre servers and devices to authorized personnel no matter where they or the devices are located.

5 Data Center physical security includes components such as: CCTV System with central control room monitors and video recording units\ Data Center Access Control System with role based access control for the different zones and rooms within the Data Center including biometrics fingerprint scanners (employees only) Visitor temporary card issuance system for Data Center access for visitors Employee Access Card Issuance system with Digital Camera (capturing digital photo for card surface) and Biometrics Fingerprint Scanner (Fingerprint minutiae on card contactless chip for 1-1 verification at access points). Additional Biometrics systems such as Iris and facial recognition are also supported Outside CCTV cameras for Data Center perimeter security management The security systems can utilize the existing IP network for functionality for both access control requests and CCTV. This reduces the cost and complexity of adding separate physical lines. Additionally, it will allow for remote monitoring and management from any Facility. Logical security Logical security strategy requires the IT manager to identify and authenticate users. User IDs need to be established to identify the person connecting to the system. Logical security includes defining and protecting resources. What resources can users access when they have been authenticated? Physical and Logical Security Convergence "CEOs and boards don't really think about security; they think about risk. With too many security discussions, they kind of glaze over the issue, but when you're talking with executive management and explaining things to them in terms of risk to the business, that really gets the business leaders thinking about integration and convergence of physical security and IT security in the right way." Practice Leader, Global IT Services Provider Convergence of logical and physical security brings significant benefits, specifically identifying areas where the two can interconnect to the greatest positive effect. In order to make this convergence happen, security management must be integrated with existing business processes for managing facilities, personnel and IT Systems. This requires clear organizational ownership on critical management processes such as: Enterprise Security Policy User provisioning and asset management Security monitoring and auditing Incident response Business Continuity Planning One simple example of this convergence is the usage of a smartcard based Identity Card which is used for Physical Access Control as well as for authentication of the cardholder to computers and data. This Smartcard based ID card is based on a combi-chip, meaning the card has one chip which supports contact (Logical Security for Computer Authentication with biometrics based identity verification) and a contactless proximity chip (Physical Security used for access control using the same biometrics as provided by the contact portion of the chip) ITIL based Management and Services The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a set of best practices addressing the delivery of highquality, cost-effective IT services, includes best practice guidelines for multiple IT Operations activities. Release Management and Change Management are two activities within ITIL s IT

6 Service Management (ITSM) disciplines that offer guidance for deploying changes to IT services. Both Release and Change Management recommend pre-deployment testing, and best practice guidance suggests that improving these processes also benefits ITSM Incident, Problem, and Availability Management. Benefits of ITIL deployment The key benefits of implementing ITIL: Improving IT and business alignment Improved productivity Ensuring best practice Implementation of ITIL can be costly, so where can an organization expect to recover those costs? Here is a list of some of the benefits: ITIL has become the de facto best practice for running IT. The wide spread adoption of ITIL within an industry will provide guides to what works and what doesn t. ITIL brings with it a common dictionary, an item that has been lacking in the present IT world. Improved financial management of IT and a better matching of the services of IT to the needs of the overall organization. Improved relationship between IT and the organization for which it provide services. Improved utilization of the IT infrastructure. Improved utilization of IT personnel. Improved reputation of IT within the organization that IT services Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) There are many definitions for Service-Oriented Architecture in current use. The most widely accepted definition is that SOA is a set of architectural principles that help build modular systems based on services or units of IT functionality. These services, either at the business or technical level, are offered by one party, the service provider, or consumed by another. This idea of a well- defined contract that is fulfilled by a

7 provider and used by another consuming party is central to SOA principles. Providers and consumers can reside in the same organization or in separate ones even in separate companies. Much like the Internet before it, SOA is sweeping through companies and industries, upending the competitive order. Thanks to SOA, companies are fast commissioning new products and services, at lower cost and with less labor, often with the technology assets they have right in hand. Most important, SOA is helping to put IT squarely where it belongs: in the hands of the business executive, under whose direction it can create the most value. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery IT managers today must be ready for the unexpected, especially in consideration of new industry and government rules concerning data protection and disaster recovery. Disaster recovery initiatives, of course, have been around for some time; however, it is only recently that several new technologies have emerged that are changing the way we think about disaster recovery and business continuity planning. These technologies focus on WAN optimization, traffic redirection, data replication, and secure remote access. Together, they represent a new methodology for organizations seeking to consolidate cost and equipment, reduce management time, and ensure applications are always available when disaster strikes. The recovery time objective (RTO) is the maximum allowable downtime after an outage for recovering systems, applications, and functions (see Figure below). RTO provides the basis for

8 developing cost-effective recovery strategies and for determining when and how to implement these recovery strategies during a disaster situation Business Continuity Planning The results from both a 2004 IDC study and a current study highlight a continuing trend among companies looking to reduce overall downtime and increase overall availability. Through business continuity planning, the change in downtime over a four-year period has dropped more than 53% from 20.4 hours in 2003 to an expected 9.5 hours in This converts to a shift in availability from 97.2% to 98.7% over the same period. When these results are viewed with regard to business impact, adding nearly 11 hours of monthly uptime converts to 132 hours annually, or hour days. This additional amount of time could translate to a significant amount of potential revenue loss were your company not able to meet these higher availability requirements. Additionally, as you look to increase the availability of your IT environments and business processes, you will need to integrate more advanced means of achieving these results. The impact of reaching these highavailability goals will likely require greater levels of expertise, automation, and, ultimately, capital investment. Disaster Recovery Planning A Disaster Recovery Plan covers the data, hardware and software critical for a business to restart operations in the event of a natural or human-caused disaster. It should also include plans for coping with the unexpected or sudden loss of key personnel. The analysis phase in the development of a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) manual consists of an impact analysis, threat analysis, and impact scenarios with the resulting BCP plan requirement documentation.