Download - Mission Critical, Vol.8-Num.5
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Starting on page 16
Volume 8 Number 5
www.missioncriticalmagazine.com
Starting on page 16
September/October 2015
Volume 8 Number 5
Are There Gophers In YourData Center?
See page 6
Dont Let TAPs HandcuffYour Network
See page 36
The Importance of Codesand Standards
See page 46
WHATS INSIDE
GETM
OREA
T
MISS
IONCR
ITICA
LMAG
AZINE
.COM
September/October 2015
FROM FACILITY DESIGN TO INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT,DATA CENTER SOFTWARE HAS COME OF AGE.FROM FACILITY DESIGN TO INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT,DATA CENTER SOFTWARE HAS COME OF AGE.
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4| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
COVER STORY16 CFD And Mission Critical Facilities
Practical use of computational fluid dynamics in mission criticalfacilities.By Dr. Reza Ghias
24 The Right Time For DCIMReal-time or near-time? Find out what is right for your facility.By Matt Lane
FEATURES
30 Motors For Mission Critical FacilitiesNew design for permanent magnet motors uniquely delivers ultra-high efficiency at low speeds.By Andrew T. Holden, P.E.
36 Dont Let TAPs Handcuff Your NetworkConsider an optical tap to access critical network data.By Jennifer Cline, RCDD and Brian Rhoney
42 Changing The Face Of Facility ManagementThe Internet of Things (IoT) is coming to data center infrastructures
near you.By Bhavesh Patel
46 The Importance Of Codes And StandardsIts a matter of safety.By Chris Crosby
50 The Payoff Of Preventive MaintenanceGet a little peace of mind.By Kyle Tessmer
54 The Lithium-Ion UPS Your Ally In A DC DisasterPut your UPS in the eye of the storm.By Emilie Stone
FEATURES continued
56 IT Agility: Making Better Use
Of Power Monitoring DataDesigned for the Internet ofThings, todays data centerhardware provides valuablefeedback that enables all-softwareinstrumentation for automation.By Jeff Klaus
60 Ultraviolet Energy And TheData CenterUV is an important addition to thedata center cooling equation.by Forrest Fencl
TABLEO
F
CONT
ENTS
16
September/October 2015| Volume 8, Number 5
5 CRITICAL THOUGHTSAn Embarrassment Of RichesOur September/October issue is overflowing.By Caroline Fritz
6 HOT AISLE INSIGHTAre There Gophers In Your DataCenter?Small holes can cost big dollars.By Julius Neudorfer
10 SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONSCharacteristics Of A Culture OfExcellenceDoing everything right every time.By Terry L. Rodgers, CPE, CPMP
12 SECURITY PERSPECTIVESWhat We Forget About ServerVirtualizationA refresher in virtualization security.By Mav Turner
14 ON TARGETDisaster Recovery And The CEOWhen it comes to disaster recovery,everything is sacred.Paul Schlattman
COLUMNS
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
63 Events
63 News
64 Products
65 Heard on the Internet
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We have a great, jam-packed issue for you this month. First, we have two sto-
ries on our cover topic, data center software: Dr. Reza Ghias of Southland
Industries writes about using computational fluid dynamics to design data
centers and Matt Lane of Geist writes on new ways to use data from data center infra-
structure management (DCIM) systems.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Andrew Holden of NovaTorque writes about motors for mission critical facilities; Jen-
nifer Cline and Brian Rhoney of Corning Optical Communications weigh in on optical
taps; Bhavesh Patel of ASCO Emerson Network Power writes on the Internet of Things
and facility management; Mission Critical Unconventional Wisdom columnist Chris
Crosby forgoes his column this month to write on the importance of codes and standards;
Kyle Tessmer of Mitsubishi Electric Power writes on the power of preventive mainte-
nance; Emilie Stone of Methode pens an article on lithium-ion UPS and disaster recovery;
Jeff Klaus of Intel examines how power monitoring data can help streamline your facility;
and Forrest Fencl writes about using ultraviolet energy to help cool data centers. In addi-
tion we have our regular slate of columnists on hand as well as a new product roundup
and the latest on news and events.
As you can see I wasnt exaggerating. September/October is huge!
Connect With Us
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LinkedIn, or Google+, we update our content daily to keep you in the know. And down-
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with you throughout your busy day.
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e end-to-end reliabilitTh y forum.
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 www.missioncriticalmagazine.com | 5
Caroline Fritz
is the editor of
Mission Critical. Follow us onTwitter at @MCritical. And join us for great
industry discussion at Mission CriticalsOpen Forum
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By Caroline Fritz
CRITI
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GHTS
An EmbarrassmentOf RichesOur September/October issueis overflowing.
Caroline Fritz
Editor
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6| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
Ihave been pontificating about cooling system energy efficiency and water usage
lately. In my last column, I discovered that a single hole on a golf course can use
2.8 million gallons of water a year just to stay green. Since I am not a golfer, my
impression of golf courses is based on the 1980s comedy Caddyshack. The film was
based on a golf course that had a clever gopher that liked to dig holes, despite best (or
worst) efforts of the groundskeeper. This crafty creature ultimately costs the club money
and lost customers. While gophers are not usually a problem in most data centers, it turns
out that a hole in the raised floor for cabling can be quite costly as well.
So lets examine the issue of raised floors and cable openings, since it seems the world
will continue to use and build traditional raised floor data centers, despite all the paradigm
shifts in the data center design from Google, Facebook, Open Compute, Yahoos Chicken
Coop, etc. The classic raised floor data center with underfloor cabling may be slowly fad-
ing, but it is far from gone. Here it is, approximately 20 years after the hot aisle/cold aisle
concept was introduced and yet there are still many basic airflow issues that continue to
plague these data centers.
The classic raised floor design serves two primary purposes; a supply air plenum
and a place to hide the power and network cables. On face value the design is relatively
straightforward; just have downflow cooling units (CRAC/CRAH) blow cold supply air
into an underfloor plenum and distribute it through perforated tiles of floor grates in the
cold aisle so it is available to be drawn into the front intakes of the IT equipment in the
cabinets. Then the hot exhaust air IT equipment in back in the cabinets blow into the hot
aisle and (perhaps magically) find its way back to the return of the cooling units.
If only it were that simple. In actual practice, a myriad of issues seem to get in the way
of this designs simple concept, especially when applied to higher density cabinets. These
generally fall into two categories; wasted cold bypass airflow and hot recirculated
airflow. Lets first look at the definition of bypass air; any cold supply airflow that did
not get the intake of IT equipment. Bypass airflow occurs in any opening in the raised
floor, such as cable cutouts and miscellaneous leakage areas, spaces along the perimeter
where it meets the walls and other openings like PDU cabinets or other equipment, are
common examples
Data center managers have begun to pay more attention to this and are trying to address
it wherever possible. Proper sealing of the gaps where the raised floor meets the walls
is a good start. The other area, and the worst offender, is the cable cut-out under every
Are There Gophers In
Your Data Center?Small holes can cost big dollars.
Julius
Neudorfer is the CTO andfounder of North American Access
Technologies, Inc. (NAAT). Read his complete
archive at
www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/juliusneudorfer.
By Julius Neudorfer
INSIGH
THO
TAISL
E
TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD
Robert Aldrich
Hitachi DataSystems
Christian BeladyMicrosoft
Rudy Bergthold,P.E.CupertinoElectric, Inc.
Dennis CroninSteelOrca
Peter CrookUpsite
Technologies
Peter M. CurtisPresidentPowerManagementConcepts
Kevin DickensJacobs-KlingStubbins
Peter Funk Jr.Funk and Zeifer
Scott Good,Uptime Institute
Peter Gross,Bloom Energy
Cyrus IzzoSyska HennessyGroup
Jonathan KoomeyStanford University
Keith Lane, P.E.Lane Coburn &Associates, LLC
Bill Mazzetti
Rosendin Electric
John MusilliIntel Corp
Bruce Myatt, P.E.Critical FacilitiesRound Table, The DataCenters, LLC
Russ B. MykytynSkae Power Solutions
Dean NelsoneBay
Glen NevilleDeutsche Bank
Julius NeudorferNorth AmericanAccess Technologies,Inc.
Thomas E. Reed, P.E.
Jacobs-KlingStubbins
David SchirmacherDigital Realty Trust
Jim Smith,Digital Realty Trust
Robert F. Sullivan
Henry WongIntel Corp.
Stephen WornData Center Dynamics,OT Partners
Look for us on Twitter@mcritical
Friend us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/
MissionCritical
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At ebm-papst, we develop fans for cooling hardware. They are particularly
powerful, yet remain extremely quiet, save energy and are entirely
maintenance-free. Enabling even the IT manager to keep a cool head.
You cant see it. But you can feel i t!
For our complete product line, visit ebmpapst.us
Susanne Lohmann, project engineer at ebm-papst
Discover ebm-papst.Energy-saving system solutions for IT hardwarecooling at discover.ebmpapst.com/itcooling
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8| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
HOTA
ISLE
INSIGH
T
cabinet. Moreover, these openings range in size,
from a small 4- x 4-in. notch at the edge of a tile, to half
or even a whole tile! If left open, a substantial portion of the supply air
becomes bypass air. This results in several problems including lower
static pressure, which lowers the airflow where it belongs through the
perforated tiles or grills, causing wasted fan energy. In addition, when
the bypass air mixes with the warmed IT exhaust air it lowers the return
air temperature to the cooling unit, lowering its cooling capacity and
energy efficiency. To address bypass air, the brushed style cable grom-
met was developed over a decade ago. However, only more recently
has it moved toward more widespread use. Yet many data centers still
have not addressed this issue.
As for recirculation, it is when the warm IT exhaust air re-enters
the IT equipment (either from the same server or any other server),
which typically results in hot spots. This is a more complex problem
to solve, but the first line of defense is installing blanking plates in the
racks to minimize back-to-front recirculation within the same cabinet.
On a broader scale, aisle containment systems prevent over the top,
end-of-aisle, and aisle-to-aisle recirculation, as well as bypass air, but
are more costly and more difficult to retrofit in existing facilities.
This past July an ASHRAE white paper reviewed this issue (Ple-
num-Leakage Bypass Airflow in Raised-Floor Data Centers by James
R. Fink, P.E.). However, while the white paper discussed bypass air
and related issues as a general problem, it cited cable openings as the
majority cause of floor related bypass airflow. To quantify the issue,
a specially constructed test fixture was created that allowed accurate
measurements of leakage. In addition, to simulate real world condi-
tions, they used seven test conditions that varied the number of network
and power cables, as well as their positioning in the collar.
The overall finding of the paper noted that 50% or more of under-
floor supply air leakage is typically wasted by those cable cutouts with-
out any form of bypass air control. It also took the relatively unusual
step of analyzing and comparing different brands of cable grommets
with brush collars. While visually the brush collars appeared generally
similar, a study showed a huge variation between the best device and
the worst performing device. In order to make accurate comparisons,
the author created a sealed test chamber which used a controlled static
pressure of 0.05 in. w.c. (12.5 Pa) to simulate the typical underfloor
pressure. However, in practice this will vary and more recently higher
pressures are being used to achieve greater airflow rates through perfo-
rated floor tiles and grates to try to meet the challenge of higher density
racks. In those cases, waste from cable cutouts and the savings from the
brush collar grommet is even greater.
THE BOTTOM LINESo how much is that hole for each cable opening costing? According
the report it is an astounding $480 per year (compared to the raw open-
ing without any grommet). The whitepaper used a cost of $0.13 per
kWh (averaged over 10 years) as a basis to calculate projected savings.
The paper stated, Installation of grommets to seal cable cut-out
holes is nothing short of an outstanding investment. The relative per-
formance differential among several popular tested grommets is signifi-
cant and worthy of consideration. Moreover it noted that the vastly dif-
fering performance of various brands had a huge impact on projected
savings Between the best and the worst-performing grommets, there
is a significant difference in ten-year savings. In the hypothetical 1MW
data center with 200 equipment racks and one grommet per rack this
difference is nominally $72,000. It summarized the highly detailed
results declaring given the almost negligible cost of grommets
relative to obtainable savings, there is little reason not to choose the
best-performing grommet.
There have been many methods to save energy and improve cool-
ing performance that have been developed over the last decade. Some
are simple and cost nothing to implement, such as raising the supply
air temperature, while others may requires some cost and effort and
require economic justification. In todays highly competitive, efficiency
driven data center market, an obvious, but overlooked problem that can
be easily addressed with quick ROI is a rare find. The savings cited in
the ASHRAE whitepaper are very clear. Moreover, brush style grom-
mets are easily installed and are operationally non-intrusive and also
can be implemented over time, as resources permit. So if you have not
already done so, start sealing those cable cutout openings using the
grommets with the best performance, and in case there seems to be
some new, odd looking holes, better check for gophers.
REPRINTS OF THIS ARTICLE are available by contacting Jill
DeVries at [email protected] or at 248-244-1726.
Continued from page 6
FIGURE 2. How much money does this cable cutout waste?Photo Courtesy of Upsite Technologies
FIGURE 1. How much money could a simple brush grommetsave? Photo Courtesy of Upsite Technologies
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10| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
Over the last few years I have been fortunate to have
toured many critical facilities including performing
in depth reliability assessments of over 45 sites in
20 countries across five continents. I have inspected literally
millions of square feet of computer room spaces and support-
ing infrastructure. I have interviewed and evaluated facilities
management staff and their processes and compared their
performances against their corporate standards and industry
best practices. What I have seen is a broad cross-section of
compliance ranging from marginal to awesome.
What I have also noticed is that in almost every case my
first impressions based on a familiarization tour and initial
staff interviews pan out to be accurate in the long run. There
are obvious telltale signs that quickly reveal what the culture
is for any given site. General housekeeping and cleanliness,
organization, institutional knowledge, and availability of
accurate site specific documentation are just a few aspects that
are indicative of how well the site is managed.
In the first sentence of my first column for this magazine
I wrote, Discipline, rigor, experience, training, process
driven procedures, and a culture of excellence; thats what
it takes to deliver continuous operations over the life of a
critical facility. Everything I have seen over the last few
years reinforces this statement. What follows are some
characteristics that are common to the sites I have visited that
have a culture of excellence.
INDICATORS
General housekeeping is one of the first and most obvious
indicators of how much pride and attention the staff has in their
site. Some sites are relatively clean, especially in areas where
people are most likely to traverse, and some are, well, less so.
As you move through the site and inspect the less traveled
spaces such as mechanical and electrical closets, tank rooms,
roofs, etc., the level of cleanliness and housekeeping tend to
drop off. When instead you find even the most remote and least
accessible spaces to be clean and clear of debris, dirt, stains,
etc., it is obvious that the staff enforce a high standard of care.
Ive also noted that in many instances excellent lighting
promotes excellent housekeeping, and the opposite is also
true. Dimly lit spaces tend to get less attention. Good
housekeeping is not only superficial, but also substantive in
that a leak, stain, debris, or other discrepancy stands out and
begs to be corrected.
Another obvious characteristic follows the old saying a
place for everything and everything in its place. In a recently
Characteristics Of A CultureOf ExcellenceDoing everything right every time.
SUSTA
INABLE
OPER
ATION
STerry L. Rodgers,
CPE, CPMP, is vice
president, Sustainable Operations
Services at Primary Integration Solutions, Inc.,
the Charlotte-based commissioning business of Primary
Integration (PI). Access his entire archive atwww.missioncriticalmagazine.com/terryrodgers.
By Terry L. Rodgers, CPE, CPMP
Ive also noted that in many
instances excellent lighting
promotes excellent housekeeping,
and the opposite is also true.
Dimly lit spaces tend to get less
attention. Good housekeepingis not only superficial, but also
substantive in that a leak, stain,
debris, or other discrepancy
stands out and begs to be
corrected.
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 www.missioncriticalmagazine.com | 11
visited site, this practice was followed to perfection. Upon
entering every mechanical or electrical room there would be a
first aid kit, emergency flashlight, and floorplan. At least one
laminated and framed single-line diagram would be posted in
the room, with the portions that reside in the room annotated
by dotted line borders and color coded. These were hung by
string and wall hooks so the diagram could be removed and used
by the staff while standing in front of the respective gear and
equipment, but they were always returned to their rightful place.
Ladders, tools, and portable equipment were stored in designated
places identified by color-coded tape on the floor, and the only
items allowed to be stored in the room were those that were
applicable to the rooms purpose. Any parts or materials in the
space were directly related to the systems and equipment in the
room and otherwise the standing policy was that these spaces
were not for general or unrelated storage.
Signage, labeling, and color-coding combined with intuitive
conventions are also indicative of how standards are employed.
The best sites typically have comprehensive use of color
coded infrastructure and standardized labels such that upon
entering a room everything is easily understood. Conduit and
piping systems are simple to trace when they are painted or
otherwise color coded. Labels that not only identify the system
and/or equipment, but also conform to logical identification
conventions, can provide lots of critical information at a glance.
An example is electric panels with labels indicating what system,
switchgear, and breaker the panel is fed from and with color
codes that indicate whether the service is utility only, backed
up by generator, or on UPS. This becomes even more important
for sites with rooms and redundant systems that look similar if
not almost identical such as A and B switchgear, UPS, and
other infrastructure that otherwise could lead to human error due
to misidentification of equipment especially during emergency
or anomaly responses.
Easy access to site specific and accurate documentation is
another characteristic of a culture of excellence. How a request
for a drawing, manual, procedure, or other critical document is
responded to is a clear indication of how well the site manages
documentation. When the document is produced with ease and
the staff is confident it is current and accurate, there is likely a
formal document control system in place and enforced. When it
takes several tries to locate the document, and then it is provided
with the caveat that it may not be accurate, then there either
is no formal document control process or it is not enforced.
Regardless, the value of the information is reduced since it isnt
readily available and cant be trusted.
HIGH STANDARDS A MUST
I could continue with an almost endless number of other aspects
and indicators of what constitutes a culture of excellence. What
is consistent is that in all cases there is a very high standard of
what is considered acceptable and expectations that all staff will
not only comply, but will collectively enforce compliance by
others including teammates, contractors, visitors, and everyone
else. This means when something falls below the standard, it
gets resolved immediately. Messes are cleaned up, missing
labels get replaced, leaks get repaired, documents get updated,
and obsolete versions get archived. As parts and materials
get used, the stock gets replenished. Tools, materials, and
equipment get returned to their proper place. Staff get trained,
drilled, and recertified whenever systems are modified or the
site infrastructure changes. Contractors are supervised and their
work inspected before they are allowed to depart or their work
accepted.
As I also stated in that first article, the key is to do three
simple, but very difficult things:
Do everything
Do everything right
Do everything right every time
There is one other very important characteristic that is required
to foster a culture of excellence. There must be a properly staffed
and resourced facilities management organization. Effective
leadership champions the mission, purpose, and needs to
executive management to garner the required budget, resources,
and support necessary to succeed. The leadership must also
establish the standards that define what is acceptable. There
must be good management that can establish both organization
and processes that provide the order and structure needed
to operate and maintain the facility. Management must also
direct and supervise the staff in the execution of its duties
and responsibilities, schedule tasks and activities, and enforce
compliance through discipline and rigor. And last but not least,
there must be sufficient technicians, operators, and staff to do
everything right every time. This means qualified staff with site
specific knowledge, the tools and resources required, and the
skills to perform the tasks and activities assigned.
Insufficient staffing and/or resources inevitably results in a
reactionary culture where staff constantly has to prioritize tasks
and activities and compromise on performance. At first it is
the superficial tasks that get deferred (housekeeping, storage
and inventory control, document management, non-critical
preventive maintenance, etc.), but eventually the standards
arent met, morale degrades, and pride and ownership dissipate.
Basically, the staff no longer can do everything, much less do it
right every time.
REPRINTS OF THIS ARTICLE are available by contacting
Jill DeVries at [email protected] or at 248-244-1726.
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12| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
Remember back 10 years ago when there was still a
question as to whether you should virtualize your
data center or not? Back then, there were a lot of
interesting security arguments levied against virtualizing serv-
ers. Many of those arguments were the standard fear, uncer-
tainty, and doubt surrounding any new technology adoption.
However, there were also some really relevant concerns that
weve forgotten, but probably shouldnt have.
ISOLATION
One of the most important of these concerns has to do with
isolation. Are virtual machines (VMs) truly isolated if they
are running on the same hypervisor? Does a guest VM pose a
threat to the host and other VMs running on that host?
Although there have been occasional vulnerabilities
discovered that allowed escape from a guest to a host, in
general, this concern hasnt manifested in any wide scale
breaches. However, you should still design with this risk in
mind, particularly for systems hosting confidential data and
guests that bridge different security zones.
If possible, group these machines together to minimize
exposure in an attack. Raw access to resources increases that
risk, so be careful of granting this level of access. Most of the
security concerns are not about direct jumping from guest to
guest, or at least no more than the standard attacks that applied
to physical hosts, but the concern is about exposure to the
hypervisor. If an attacker can gain even marginal control or
data from the host, then you should consider all of the guests
compromised. This may sound extreme, but its the reality of
the security model in a virtualized data center.
Since the host is so critical to your overall security
architecture, its also important to manage it with secure
protocols, limit who has network and account access, audit
that access, and keep it up to date with patches. If an attacker
gets full control of a single host, not only will they have full
control and access to the guests running on that host, but they
will likely have very broad network access, too.
Since most hosts contain VMs performing different functions,
multiple VLANs are often trunked in. To make things easy and
limit the requests on network teams, the full set of VLANs will
often be setup, even if the current guests are only using a small
subset. As network virtualization gains traction, this will only
continue. Again, this is an important time to think about what
access each VM actually needs and which network they need to
be on. If an attacker has access to management VLANs or other
sensitive networks, they have easily compromised the entire
network, not just the single host.
IMAGES AND SNAPSHOTSA second concern that wasnt fully appreciated at the time
but that has grown as a real risk is the security of images
and snapshots. Although the technical threat was understood,
there was little appreciation for the sheer number of these files
floating around.
If an image is compromised, its the equivalent of someone
powering off a server and walking out of your data center
with it. Thats bad, and its much easier to do than ripping a
production system off the shelf and making a run for it.
Snapshots are equally dangerous because they can contain
the data running in memory at the time of the snapshot.
What We Forgot About ServerVirtualizationA refresher in virtualization security.
SECURIT
Y
PERS
PECTIVE
S
If an attacker can gain evenmarginal control or data from the
host, then you should consider all
of the guests compromised.
Mav Turner is
the director of product
marketing for the security portfolio
at SolarWinds, an IT management software
provider based in Austin, TX. He has nearly 15 years of
IT management experience, including roles in security, systems, and
network administration. Read this article online at
www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/mavturner.
By Mav Turner
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 www.missioncriticalmagazine.com | 13
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Credentials are the biggest concern for leakage here, but any
data handled by the machine is at risk.
We often talk about VM sprawl from the powered on machines
perspective and forget about all of those images and snapshots
lying around. You need to define a clear plan for where those
files are stored, who has access, how the access is audited,
and when you should delete the old snapshots. Storage costs
arent always the driving factor for better image and snapshot
management, but security certainly should be.
LEGACY TECHNOLOGY
The third and final security issue with server virtualization
to consider is how it enables insecure legacy technology to
remain in your organization. This is one of the big benefits
of virtualization, but needs to be managed properly. That
application that only runs on Windows XP and hasnt been or
cant be patched is a huge hole in your defenses.
If you cant migrate to a more secure solution, make sure
you have walled off such servers and applications as much as
possible. You might need to use local account privileges so it
doesnt have access to the domain, and it definitely should be
segmented from a network perspective as much as possible. If
the machine doesnt need internet access to function, you should
not allow it to connect outbound. It might take a few extra steps
for users or administrators to access, but it is well worth it given
the security risk old operating systems and applications pose.
IN CONCLUSION
Server virtualization is not only here to stay, but it will
continue to expand through the stack into fully virtualized data
centers. By understanding the principles of virtualization as
a technology, and recalling the initial concerns we had when
server virtualization as we know it now was the trendy new
technology, we can better manage and secure our virtualized
data centers.
Just because its common now, doesnt mean we can forget
our original concerns and assume all of the problems have
been solved. As we enter a time with hyper-converged data
centers, remember the journey and apply those early lessons in
virtualization as complexity increases.
REPRINTS OF THIS ARTICLE are available by contacting
Jill DeVries at [email protected] or at 248-244-1726.
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14| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
ONTA
RGET
THEE
VOLVI
NGRO
LEOF
THEC
IO
Paul Schlattman
is senior vice president, ESD
Consulting, Chicago, IL.
Access his entire archive at
www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/paulschlattman.
By Paul Schlattman
Ive been in the data center industry for a long, long time now
too long. One of the largest clients of my career was Comdisco.
As principal, I was in charge of the design of a majority of
their data centers nationally and internationally. Comdisco was the
pioneer in the disaster recovery (DR) industry since the 80s. While
I was the principal in the design of several projects, I also was an
alliance partner in their consulting practice. With this said, I was
continuously involved with the DR plans and design criteria around
supporting these plans.
Recently, I conducted interviews with an enterprise client that
discussed the levels of criticality within their applications. Their
response to criticality was similar to other enterprise clients and the
method to identify critical applications was to create a Tier program
Tier 1-3, with three being the highest and most critical applica-
tions (or vice versa). The problem with this antiquated method of
categorizing applications into tiers is that what may not be critical
to you, may be critical to me. If I am working in an application that
goes down, while it may not have a direct effect on the business, it
does reduce productivity. As the use of technology increases and the
dependence on it is greater, more applications are seen as critical
and not secondary. While losing email in the cloud may not have as
direct an impact as a financial application, the loss of email breaks
down communication.
TIER II CITIES
As plans are created for a DR site, several items need to be
addressed. Does latency and distance drive criticality and recover-
ability? Since many disasters are local/regional, is the secondary DR
site off the grid of the primary DR site? Are there remote hands that
are knowledgeable of DR applications at the remote DR site? As I
look around the Midwest, I see several opportunities for data center
development concerning Tier II cities and the regions they serve.
One client, Data Realty, recently built a 50,000-sq-ft data center
in South Bend, IN. The site is a greenfield development offering
numerous benefits that other sites dont. While one might think
Why invest in a data center in South Bend? the location is actually
brilliant. Data Realty in South Bend can support Chicago and India-
napolis for both DR or as a primary site. As a DR site, South Bend
is not on the ComEd grid, and is additionally not on the Indianapolis
Power and Light grid. Therefore, the location exactly compliments
the DR strategies of both cities. This coupled with hands on manage-
ment of applications during a crisis, makes Data Realty the preferred
choice in selecting a DR site.
While looking at the success of Data Realty in South Bend, I ask
Disaster Recovery And The CIOWhen it comes to disaster recovery, everything is sacred.
FIGURE 1. Digital Realty recently built a facility in SouthBend, IN.
As plans are created for a DR
site, several items need to be
addressed. Does latency and
distance drive criticality and
recoverability? Since many
disasters are local/regional, isthe secondary DR site off the
grid of the primary DR site?
Are there remote hands that
are knowledgeable of DR
applications at the remote
DR site?
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 www.missioncriticalmagazine.com | 15
800-640-3141 | MIRATECHCORP.COM
ENGINEERED TO PERFORM
EMISSIONS CATALYSTS HOUSINGS SILENCERS SCR DPF SERVICE TRAINING TURNKEY
+
myself Why cant other Tier II-III cities model this program?
Lets examine Milwaukee (Tier II city).
If youre a wholesale/colocation company, I can point to 3 MW
of demand in Milwaukee with little or no supply. Yet no one seems
interested in building a data center in Milwaukee or Madison, WI,
which is even better. Madison can support Chicago, Milwaukee, and
Minneapolis.
Several of the large collocation providers addressed Tier II cities as
if they were a larger market by building large data centers. They didnt
right-size their prototypes to support the market, and are now selling
their data centers in these markets. If addressed properly, Tier II cities
will provide a strategic play in DR as well as edge compute.
EVERYTHING IS SACRED
The business protocol for subscribing to a disaster recovery plan has
been to only back up what is critical. Due to interdependencies from
application to application, the constant need for all applications and
storage area networks creates a different DR plan than what weve seen
in the past. This combined with the proper location create an overall
DR plan that is safe and effective.
NEW CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE CIO
While disaster recovery criteria has been established for over 30
years in the industry, new technology drives a different criteria than
previously identified within the enterprise data center market. Some of
the new considerations include:
What is your cloud providers DR plan? Can you review their plan
prior to subscribing to cloud services?
Is your internal cloud or hybrid cloud recoverable?
While operating in a recovery cloud situation, is your network secure
and reliable?
Since several people now commute, and utilize a virtual office
approach, is your recovery plan accessible nationally and inter-
nationally?
DR testing is not just exercised in critical applications, but should be
tested in the virtual world directly with the endusers.
REPRINTS OF THIS ARTICLE are available by contacting Jill
DeVries at [email protected] or at 248-244-1726.
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16| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
In todays 21st century business environment, the need
for efficient data centers is increasing at unprecedented
rates as the demand for computing, processing power,
and data storage grows exponentially. The energy
consumption in a data center can be significantly more
than a typical office space, and a considerable portion of the
energy cost (30% to 50%) is dedicated to the data centers cool-
ing system. More than ever, IT equipment is getting smaller in
size yet more powerful, and the need for a proper and efficient
cooling system design plays an important role in saving energy.
The new generation of computers operates under higher temper-
atures, which does reduce the cooling cost and makes it possible
for a higher computer intake temperature (80 to 85F). However,
going beyond the intake temperatures design criteria can cause
overheating and IT equipment to be more susceptible to failure. As
a result, the need for accuracy and a scientific-based design of the
data centers thermal management requires the use of advanced
engineering tools such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to
parameterize and visualize variable designs. CFD enables design
engineers to recognize issues at early stages of the design and
tackle the engineering challenges that cannot be solved accurately
using a conventional design approach.
CONTAINMENT DESIGNAs air passes through servers, its temperature rises. The recircu-
lation of this hot air into the intake can eventually cause equip-
ment failure. Installing a containment and chimney configuration
can prevent the mixture of cold and hot air that forms hotspots
while also improving the cooling system efficiency. In order to
justify the installation costs and confirm potential energy sav-
ings, CFD should be applied during containment design. The
current airflow situation in existing data centers can be investi-
gated and the possible hotspots under the data hall's design can
be predicted through room simulation and temperature impact
evaluation. Figure 1 compares the temperature contours at 4 ft
above the floor for a data hall with and without containment/
Dr. Reza Ghias is the director of Advanced SimulationCenter (ASC) at Southland Industries, a national MEPbuilding systems firm. With more than 15 years ofexperience conducting research and executingcomputational fluid dynamics (CFD) projects in a widerange of industries, he works closely with Southlandsdesign engineers and clients to overcome designchallenges and develop innovative building systems designs. Rezahas received his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineeringand has authored and presented many papers, articles, and technicalreports proving the results of his work. He can be reached at [email protected].
By Dr. Reza Ghias
Investigate the practical use of computational fluiddynamics in the design of mission critical facilities.
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The last thing an emergency response center
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18| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
CFD And Mission Critical Facilities
chimney. The results show that the maximum temperature
was reduced from 125F (no containment) to 95F (contain-
ment) due to preventing the recirculation of hot air.
GAPS AND CRACKSWhile the use of a containment and chimney configura-
tion is effective, it is not a standalone solution to separate
cold and hot air in a data center. It
is important to also investigate the
impact of structural gaps in data cen-
ter design. Air can penetrate the gaps
and cracks that exist in the cabinet
structure between the containment/
chimney and racks. It can also enter
a failed server when its fan can-
not overcome the pressure gradient
between the cold and hot aisles.
Depending on the location and size
of such gaps, hotspots can form or
the cooling load can become wasted,
despite the investment in containment
and chimney installation. CFD can
model the impact of the gaps and
provide valuable information to predict the issue in advance
and enable the design to be improved. Further, hot air recir-
culation and cooling load leakage occur when enough pres-
sure is present to force the hot or cold air through the gaps.
Thus, the areas with a higher IT load are more susceptible to
hot air recirculation and the areas with a lower IT load are
prone to cooling load leakage. Figure 2 shows the recircula-
tion of hot air through gaps between the ceiling and contain-
ments in a data hall at the area with a high density IT load.
MATERIALS AND INSULATIONSThe materials used in data center buildings such as racks,
cabinets, and containments hold different thermal capaci-
ties, so heat resistance must be considered during the
design. For example, heat transferred through the ceiling,
cabinets, and containments has an impact on thermal man-
agement. Choosing the proper materi-
als with reasonable R-values reduces
the heat transfer between the hot and
cold aisles. The heat transfer rate
increases with higher temperature dif-
ferences between the cold and hot
sides. CFD helps model the outcome
of using materials with different heat
resistance at various temperatures in
a data center. Figure 3 illustrates side
wall diffusers located on the right
side of a data hall. It is clear that the
thermal boundary layers grow over
the surface of the containment, and
the ceiling influences the intake temperature of the servers
located at a higher height.
RISK ASSESSMENT AND CONTROLSTRATEGYIt is imperative to consider and plan for possible failure
components in the cooling system to prevent any IT damage
FIGURE 1. (a) The temperature distribution in the data hall with no containment. (b) The rackarrangement in the data hall. (c) The temperature distribution in the data hall with containment.(d) Containment (shown in green) separates the hot air in the back of the servers and cold air atthe intakes.
FIGURE 3.(a) The temperature distribution on the wall of the racks and containments exposedto cold air. (b)The growing of the thermal boundary layers on the wall of the containment andceiling increase the intake air temperature at the servers. Diffusers located on the wall can beseen on the right.
FIGURE 2. (a) The pressure distribution in the data hall at 6 ft above
the floor. (b) The temperature distribution in the data hall at 6 ft abovethe floor. (c) The recirculation of hot air from the attic into the datahall through the gaps between the ceiling and containments at thehigh density IT load area. (d) The ceiling gaps left for ceiling deflectionshould be sealed in critical areas.
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20| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
or interruption. These can occur dur-
ing the failure of one or more com-
puter room air handlers (CRAH), or
during a power outage; or if an unex-
pected recirculation occurs. There is
no conventional tool to simulate these
failure scenarios, but they can be
modeled using CFD. CFD can predict
the length of time it takes each tem-
perature to raise to the point so that an
applicable solution to the data center
is realized. Figure 4 shows a fail-
ure scenario in which three CRAHs
failed at the same time. In this exam-
ple, Southland Industries, a national
MEP building systems firm, used
CFD to calculate the right amount of
cooling load through increasing the
air flow of the adjacent CRAHs, as
opposed to intensifying the airflow of
all CRAHs. This compensated for the
failed CRAHs in an efficient manner
and ultimately conserved energy. This
figure also shows that containments
were removed at different locations
in the data hall. Containment remov-
al at some locations can cause hot
air recirculation and is more crucial
in locations where the containment
removal causes cooling load losses.
CFD also can be used to locate
the appropriate locations for control
sensors, or to devise a smart control
strategy that balances the supply air-
flow with IT density in a data hall.
This alleviates high velocity called
the wind tunnel effect that occurs as a result of rushing the
air from a lower IT density to a higher density area. Figure
5(a) highlights the zonal control strategy that balances the
airflow supply based on the non-uniform IT density in the
hall. Figure 5(b) shows the temperature contours at 4 ft
above the floor with adjusted air supply proportional to
local IT loads. Figures 5(c) and 5(d) show the comparison
between the velocity contours (ft/s) in the data hall with
equal air supply at each CRAH, as well as the adjusted air
supply based on local IT load. The illustration shows that
the high velocity region in the middle of the corridor has
been alleviated in the adjusted air supply case.
PARTICLES ENTRAINMENTSHigh humidity in a data center can cause condensation, cor-
rosion, and electric shortage, while low humidity can cause
an electrostatic issue that harms the system. Moreover, the
entrainment of generator engine emissions or other particles
into outdoor air (OA) supply can damage the computers. For
these reasons, it is important to design and control the data
center for the right humidity ratio. CFD can aid design engi-
neers in the investigation of potential humidity issues inside
the data center. It can also expose any particle entrainments
and high humid air in the data center, ensuring that the air
quality meets the design criteria. Cooling towers, emer-
gency generators, air exhaust, and suspended particles (e.g.,
sand grains) are various sources of high humidity air and
particles. Figure 6 shows the outside view of a mission criti-
cal facility. In this example, Southland Industries employed
CFD to calculate the cooling tower water particles, genera-
tor emissions, and humidity concentration at OA under dif-
ferent wind speeds and directions. This verified the appro-
priate location of the emergency generators, cooling towers,
exhaust air, and OA in the design.
FIGURE 4.(a) Temperature distribution in the data hall at 3 ft above the floor with three failedCRAHs and an adjusted flow rate at adjacent CRAHs. (b) The location of the removed contain-ments. (c) The temperature contours show hot air recirculation from the attic into the data hall.(d) The temperature contours show cold air leakage from data hall to attic.
FIGURE 5.(a) Setting up a zonal control strategy in the data hall to balance the airflow. (b) Thetemperature distribution in the data hall at 4 ft above the floor with adjusted supply air basedon the local IT load. (c) Velocities contours (ft/s) at f4 ft above the floor with equal air supply ateach zone. (d) Velocities contours (ft/s) at 4 ft above the floor with an adjusted air supply basedon corresponding IT loads at each zone.
CFD And Mission Critical Facilities
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COMPONENT EVALUATIONMany challenges can be encountered during the design of
mission critical facilities. Manufacturers typically test and
validate most of the components under specific and con-
trolled environment conditions. CFD can be used to model
the performance of the equipment including air-handling
units (AHU) and the humidifier, or of a new system under
different design conditions. As a result, any possible prob-
lems can be predicted and planned for in advance, which
brings more confidence to the design but more importantly,
efficiency and effectiveness. Figure 7 illustrates a pres-
surized Thermal Storage Energy (TSE) system. Southland
Industries implementation of CFD optimized the dif-
fusers in the tank to increase the
performance by 24%. As part of the
commissioning effort, the installed
system was tested to the same condi-
tions originally simulated in the CFD
model. The CFD results were within
2% margin of error and saved the
customer time and money on projects
during the building phase.
CONCLUSIONMany factors, ranging from IT load,
diffuser size, humidity, and rack size
to failure scenarios, ceiling height hot
spots, and many more, have an impact
on the performance of mission criti-
cal facilities. In order to save energy
and cut down on costs, these must be
considered during the design or reno-
vation process. The cooling system
design of these facilities continues to
be even more challenging when the
goal is an optimized design, yet engi-
neers push the limit to save energy
and costs. CFD is a reliable solution
that can produce results with accu-
racy. Implementing the right model in
collaboration with a partner experi-
enced in both the HVAC industry and
CFD software can shorten the design
procedure and optimize the design
effectively. The virtual design used
during this process allows owners,
engineers, and architects to visualize
the outcome, predict critical scenar-
ios, and propose practical solutions
prior to installation in a manner that
is more accurate than conventional
approaches and less expensive.
REPRINTS OF THIS ARTICLE are available by contacting
Jill DeVries at [email protected] or at 248-244-1726.
FIGURE 6. (a) The location of the cooling towers, emergency generators, exhaust, and OA airintakes. (b) The high humidity air from the cooling tower at a low wind speed. (c) The high humid-ity air from the cooling tower based on the highest wind speed and worst direction in the area.(d) The water particle tracks from the cooling tower based on the highest wind speed and worstdirection in the area. (e) The gas emission and particle tracks from the emergency generator. (f)The gas emission and particle tracks from the emergency generator in far field.
FIGURE 7.(a-f) Temperature contours in the vertical cross section of the tank at different timesduring the discharge process.
CFD And Mission Critical Facilities
Read this article online at
www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/drrezaghias
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24| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
Akey component of todays data center infra-
structure management (DCIM) systems is
gathering and analyzing live data associ-
ated with the data center. This can represent
thousands of points of information such as
temperature, power, capacity, or status of any number of devices,
meters, or sensors throughout the data center. The collected
DCIM information can easily venture into the Big Data realm
with not only collection of information, but also storage of mil-
lions of samples of historical values.
As an industry term, DCIM has been convoluted over the years
as multiple vendors use the same term to define significantly dif-
ferent feature sets. While DCIM is taking a more defined shape,
the term real-time in regards to data collection is in danger of
falling into that same confusing realm for an enduser.
Our team recently heard an enduser say that their DCIM
provider gave them real-time information as one sample each
day. There were hundreds of thousands of data points and the
software could only accommodate a single poll of each data
point every day. Naturally, that enduser was disappointed and
discouraged as their expectations of real-time data were far from
what the vendor actually produced.
Another term beginning to be heard across the industry is
near-time, and is a more accurate description of what most
DCIM systems provide. Another popular term with a separate
meaning is extended interval. At Geist we have worked hard
to define these three terms in the following way:
Real-time: a continuous sampling of data sets with a refresh
cycle of seconds.
Near-time: a sampling of data sets separated by more than a
minute but less than one hour
Extended interval:any sampling of data that is delivered less
frequently than once per hour.
These three rates of refreshed information have their own dis-
tinct use cases, along with pros and cons for each. There isnt a
one-size-fits-all approach to collecting live data. The users need
is the key driver to determine what data needs to be collected
and at what rate.
THE BENEFITS OF REAL-TIME DATAIt might be best to illustrate the benefits of real-time data with a
real-life case; a colocation provider that prior to the installation of
As a co-creator of Geists DCiM solutions, Matt Lanehas over 14 years of experience working in data centermonitoring and product development. He brings awide range of experience as an entrepreneur, businessowner, and manager. He is currently the presidentof Geists DCiM division which provides customizedsolutions for data center monitoring.
By Matt Lane
eal-time or near-time? Find out what is right for your facility
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DCIM Environet:
The whole picture througha single pane of glass
geistglobal.com/products/dcim
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26| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
The Right Time For DCIM
DCIM had been manually logging their tenants power usage
in extended intervals. Approximately four times per day they
would take physical readings, record them in a spreadsheet,
and then evaluate the spreadsheet monthly to ensure that the
tenants were all staying within their power SLAs.
After deployment of an alternative DCIM system, they
captured data on a real-time basis and then stored that data
for historical review. At the end of the first month, the reports
derived from their real-time system were quite astonishing.
The original extended interval logging had gaps large enough
that there were significant differences in what was reported
the prior month with what was being reported through this
new system. In the end, the colocation provider realized
they had several customers that were over-utilizing their
prescribed capacities for power. As a result, they were able
to renegotiate their service agreements and the cost of the
DCIM implementation was recouped in a matter of months.
Who says DCIM doesnt have a tangible ROI?
Beyond this short illustration, real-time data collection
has many benefits.
Warnings and alarms. With data refreshed within sec-
onds, users can be alerted to threatening situations and
react quickly. Real-time information may help them see
issues before they become problematic, allowing the
operator to move from reactive into a more predictive
management state.
Highest accuracy of data. With frequent polling comes
the opportunity to store additional detailed historical
information for use in data analysis. A high sample rate
ensures that quick spikes and sags in readings are cap-
tured.
Reporting and trend analysis. Real-time information
provides an increased level of detail when it comes to
reporting and identifying trends. The data center environ-
ment can change quickly and having a higher data refresh
rate ensures that the user sees the entire picture.
Validation of capacities.A database of devices and their
anticipated power draw is included in most DCIM systems
today. Real-time data allows the user to utilize the most
precise data to validate their nameplate or de-rated assump-
tions to ensure maximum usage to their full capacities.
Operational awareness. Data center operators can fre-
quently be seen entering the critical environment to take
readings, assess an audible alarm, or to just generally
evaluate the status of the site. Having real-time information
accessible through their DCIM system allows access to that
information in a more convenient and holistic way, giving
greater understanding into many aspects of their operations.
THE DRAWBACKS TO REAL-TIME DATA Cost of implementation.It takes a significant amount of pro-
cessing to collect and manage all of that real-time information,
translating into higher implementation and system costs.
Data overload. It is important that a real-time data col-
lection tool has intelligent and simple ways to make sense
of all of the collected information. Good user interfaces,
graphical representations, and reporting engines are a
must to avoid information overload.
Extended network and processing resources. Big Data
brings with it the challenge of passing vast amounts of infor-
mation across LANs and WANs as well as processing and
storing all the data collected. An efficient tool needs to be
harnessed to ensure performance of the application remains
high without degrading other systems in the process.
WHEN NEAR-TIME DATA IS HELPFULNear-time data can be somewhat less taxing for a system to
collect and manage and can provide a number of benefits to
DCIM users.
Validation of capacities.While it may not have the same
number of samples as provided by real-time data, when
collected at reasonable near-time intervals data can pro-
vide valuable insight into actual readings and associated
trends that can be used to validate assumptions made in
modeling capacities.
Replacement of sneaker reports. We see many orga-
nizations that still use technicians to walk the data cen-
ter floor and take manual readings at defined intervals.
Because those types of reports are completed on a some-
what infrequent basis, near-time data can provide at least
a one-for-one replacement and free up an employees time
to work on more productive tasks.
General planning and architecture.Near-time data can
be adequate when high-frequency operational awareness
is not required, but when general planning and visibility is
sought. A lot of data can still be gleaned from a poll rate
of 15 minutes that will provide accurate enough infor-
mation to aid planning and data center growth decisions.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEENREAL-TIME AND NEAR-TIMEReal-time data collection and near-time data collection have
many of the same benefits, but there are certain operational
elements that are not available when using a near-time rate.
Some of those could include:
Delayed warnings and alarms
Failure to capture short bursts or periodic changes in-
between polling cycles
Not enough detail to fully examine an event
The main difference between the two polling rates is the
effect on operational awareness. As an example, if the poll cycle
is every 15 minutes, and a 10-minute power outage occurs, the
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suggest features and capabilities you never even considered.
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28| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
ability to collect information about how the load transferred and
returned to normal, how the temperatures were affected, and gener-
ally review the entire event is simply not possible.
When monitoring power specifically, a near-time polling cycle
can easily miss spikes and sags or simple deviations in work-
loads that can change rapidly.
If operational awareness and greater in-depth analysis of events
is a critical factor to the success of the DCIM system, near-time
data collection is likely not the answer. Real-time polling provides
the granularity of information needed for those technicians that
are responsible for continuous equipment operation.
WHEN IS EXTENDED INTERVAL RIGHTFOR ME?Extended interval polling is a very sporadic collection of infor-
mation. This kind of data would be more useful at a macro level.
For instance, having a daily sample can give good information
into rounded readings like max megawatts utilized. During the
course of a normal day, there is too much variation in power
readings to put much stock in a single time sample.
A good use case for extended interval would be for global
capacity planning. An executive level user could be tasked with
determining when to build a new data center or when to consider
collocating. A small number of infrequent samples could provide
a close enough picture of the power footprint across an organi-
zation for the executive to start planning conversations.
Technicians, 24/7 staff, and even managers will be left want-
ing for more information as they attend to their daily duties in
an extended interval rate. So, in summary, extended interval is
really only effective for high-level planning.
CONCLUSION: YOUR TIME IS THERIGHT TIMEThe point is that there is no single live data-polling rate that is
best for everyone. However, there is a right polling rate for each
job title group within the data center.
Technicians, operators, NOC staff, and those responsible for the
daily operations of a data center, will likely find a real-time data
collection system most beneficial. It provides the highest degree
of operational awareness and the ability to complete post-mortem
analysis on past events. The other polling rates cannot provide
nearly the level of information required by this group as real-time.
Near-time polling rates are great for those responsible for
detailed planning and reporting. Generally, this responsibil-
ity resides with data center, IT, or facility managers who have
a continuing need to analyze capacities when deploying new
equipment and planning for future equipment. These managers
may not need the same level of operational awareness such as
the instantaneous alarming or power quality capture that comes
with real-time levels. However, near-time gives them a very nice
window into how power flows throughout the day and the effect
that has on their working environment.
Data center operators wont have a lot of use for extended inter-
val polling. There simply isnt enough granularity to be of benefit
to the reactive decisions and actions they must take. Extended
interval is a reasonable fit for the executive level group who are
more interested in generalities or data across lots of sites. Having
infrequent measurements still gives them enough data to make
high level decisions that can then be passed down to the managers
for greater evaluation.
In the end, it is most important to establish the business needs
first. Who is using the system? What are they using it for? What
are the goals of the system? What data needs to be collected to
accomplish those goals? If the right scope of work is defined at the
outset of the project, obtaining a system that has the appropriate
level of data polling will be simplified. There is a right choice
for data acquisition frequency and what that is depends on who is
using DCIM.
REPRINTS OF THIS ARTICLE are available by contacting Jill
DeVries at [email protected] or at 248-244-1726.
The Right Time For DCIM
FINDTHERIGHTSUPPLIERDONT WASTE PRECIOUS TIME SEARCHING FOR SUPPLIERS
Turn to the Mission CriticalBuyers Guide for companies in the data center and
mission-critical facility solutions industry.
GO TO:www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/buyersguide
or SCAN THE CODE:Read this article online at
www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/mattlane
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30| Mission Critical SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
When it comes to fans and motors more of
a good thing is not always a good thing.
A recent U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) study stated that almost
60% of the fans within buildings today
are oversized. The study went on to say that almost 10% of the
fans were oversized by at least 60%. Although the magnitude of
the issue may be surprising, the problem is well known to any-
one involved with the design and selection of fan systems. The
conservative approach, often taken when designing and purchas-
ing a fan and motor, results in a product that exceeds the system
requirements and consumes more energy than necessary.
Oversizing fan/motor systems can end up creating a host of
other issues, including higher installed and operating costs,
increased maintenance, and possibly a higher level of vibration
and noise. It is very common for the application of safety mar-
gins to be compounded through the specification and purchase
process with the accepted remedy being the addition of a VFD,
to ramp down the speed.
The issue becomes even more complicated in HVACR appli-
cations with requirements for fan speeds well below that of the
standard, 4-pole, 1,800 RPM AC induction motor.
The difficulty derives from the fact that properly sizing a
motor to lower speed design requirements, for example selecting
an 8-pole 900 RPM, or a 6-pole 1,200 RPM AC induction motor,
must be weighed against the additional cost and inferior energy
efficiency associated with these machines. Hence the most com-
mon solution has been to use a lower cost, more efficient 1,800
RPM induction motor, gear it down mechanically with belts and
pulleys, and then control the final desired speed range with a
VFD. Of course, belts and pulleys introduce their own inefficien-
cies, costs, maintenance requirements, and design complexity.
This issue is increasingly faced in the design and construction
of custom air handling equipment used in mission critical data
center applications. Here energy efficiency is of utmost impor-
tance due to the 24/365 duty cycle and the enduser focus on
lifetime operation and maintenance costs. Also, these data center
Andrew T. Holden, P.E., is a sales executive withNovaTorque, Inc., which is a California-based companythat produces ferrite based permanent magnet motors.Andy is an industrial engineer from Georgia Tech with aMBA from Georgia State and has spent almost 10 yearsin the HVAC industry as a manufacturers representative.He is currently focused on representing NovaTorquesmotors to engineers, architects, owners, OEMs, contractors, reps, andendusers. In addition to his time spent in the HVAC industry he has spentover five years in the electric power generation sector as a consultantand as a commercial manager with international responsibilities.
By Andrew T. Holden, P.E.
New design for permanent magnet motors uniquelydelivers ultra-high efficiency at low speeds.
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USE USto lower data centeroperating costs .
Xcel Energys Data Center Efficiency program can help datacenters and large-scale IT operations improve reliability and energyefficiency. By making improvements to airflow, cooling, motors andlighting, you can save energy and earn rebates to help reduce your
operating costs. As a result, you can get the reliability that ITprofessionals want, and the cost savings management demands.
Contact an energy efficiency specia