BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Building with modern data center design in mind
-
Article
Capacity planning for virtual environments
Use strategic capacity planning to future-proof your data center's virtualization efficiency and make the most of server hardware. Read Now
-
Article
Let there be chaos in strategic planning
Enterprise IT strategy has long been based on straight-line extrapolation, but the industry must learn to embrace chaos if it hopes to thrive. Read Now
-
Podcast
Predicting the unpredictable in capacity planning
The rise of mobile devices and other advances make capacity planning a difficult proposition for IT professionals. Listen Now
-
Article
Thinking redundantly for better capacity planning
Though there is no "one size fits all" way to approach capacity planning, server redundancy is a good place to start. Read Now
Editor's note
Modern data center design involves planning carefully for the center's location, hardware and building infrastructure. It's certainly not as simple as "build warehouse, insert computers."
This guide covers capacity planning tactics, tips for building facilities, hardware selection strategies and monitoring a data center's infrastructure.
1Ideas for data center facilities planning
Capacity planning, while vital, is only one piece of the puzzle involved in modern data center design. Another piece is the data center's physical requirements. Server, network and storage systems all have power and cooling requirements. Designing for efficiency is essential to keeping costs low, but if you go too low with power and cooling, a disaster can happen. Take a look at these resources to see how to plan for a new data center and upgrade the facilities in an existing structure.
-
Article
Requirements for a modern server room
Server room design has changed. So when planning one for an existing facility, make sure it meets current and future needs. Read Now
-
Article
Should IT and facilities operate under one team leader
Data center facilities and the IT departments are separated by tasks and goals. Is it a good idea to hire a facility management member to unite the teams? Read Now
-
Article
Five ways to modernize data center facilities
These five data center upgrade strategies can revitalize older data centers and stave off expensive construction projects. Read Now
-
Article
Data center design needs more than a building
Designing a new data center isn’t just the purview of IT. Getting input from all angles can avoid costly mistakes. Read Now
-
Article
Forming a disaster recovery plan for the data center
Recent natural disasters inspire some IT pros to start working on a new data center recovery plan. Read Now
-
Article
Gas-based fire suppression in the data center
Using tanks filled with inert gas to protect the data center from fires requires proper placement to avoid danger if a rupture occurs. Read Now
-
Article
A data center design guide to get it right the first time
Corporate moves, rapid IT refreshes, virtualization initiatives and other factors affect your data center design. Use this data center planning guide for a facility that lasts. Read Now
2Choosing potential hardware systems: Modular and converged options
There is no single rule for selecting the hardware to go into a brand-new data center. Converged infrastructure and modular design are two modern data center design options that, for some shops, might be exactly what the business needs -- or might not. Here are some positives and some potential downsides of a converged infrastructure and modular construction.
-
Article
Exploring the pros and cons of converged systems
Converged infrastructure offers a way to resist the public cloud and still gain efficiencies and scalability, but few vendors offer the real deal. Read Now
-
Article
Converged infrastructure takes over the data center
The rise of converged systems has brought a new level of manageability to the data center, but these integrated offerings have a few drawbacks. Read Now
-
Article
Considerations for modular data centers
A container-based modular data center can ease the strain on the existing data center. Follow these tips to avoid snags prior to deployment. Read Now
-
Article
Containerized data centers might not weather a storm
You're interested in a containerized data center, but have you considered how long you plan to keep it? Read Now
Free Guide: 5 Ways IT Infrastructure Automation Can Ease Your Day-to-Day
For IT admins, the maintenance of networking, storage and compute is an overwhelming task -- especially as data center technology becomes more complex. Fortunately, automation can help ease the burden of tedious tasks, but how exactly? Our expert explains 5 ways IT infrastructure automation lessens the load for data center teams.
3Meet the Experts
4Glossary
-
Definition
building management system
Building management system (BMS) is a computer system that tracks power used by IT equipment and air conditioning systems in the data center. Read Now
-
Definition
capacity planning
In information technology, capacity planning is the science and art of estimating the space, computer hardware, software and connection infrastructure resources that will be needed over some future period of time. Read Now
-
Definition
redundancy
Redundancy is a system design in which a component is duplicated so if it fails there will be a backup. Read Now
-
Definition
service-level management
Service-level management is the monitoring and management of the quality of service(QoS) of an entity's key performance indicators(KPIs). Read Now
-
Definition
data center resiliency
Data center resiliency is the ability of a server, network, storage system, or an entire data center, to continue operating even when there has been an equipment failure, power outage or other disruption. Read Now
-
Definition
economizer
An economizer is a mechanical device used to reduce energy consumption. Economizers recycle energy produced within a system or leverage environmental temperature differences to achieve efficiency improvements. (Continued...) Read Now
-
Definition
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) is an organization devoted to the advancement of indoor-environment-control technology in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry Read Now
-
Definition
computer room air handler (CRAH)
A computer room air handler (CRAH) is a device used frequently in data centers to deal with the heat produced by equipment. Read Now
-
Definition
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a form of cloud computing that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet. Read Now