Where is the data center. The most complete information about what a data center is when processing personal data and its main functions

Data processing center- this is a building or its part, the primary function of which is the placement of information processing and storage equipment, as well as auxiliary (engineering) facilities that ensure its operation (definition given in the American standard EIA / TIA-942).

In a data center, powerful servers are concentrated on a relatively small area, which store and process information; network equipment responsible for exchanging data with outside world; engineering systems that ensure the life of this "cyber brain", and security systems that protect the data center from unwanted intrusions.

Rice. Data Center Circuit Diagram

Life support systems: ventilation, air conditioning, fire extinguishing, access control and video surveillance systems, structured cabling system.

Servers and network equipment: resource servers, application servers, information presentation servers.

Information security system: antivirus protection, spam filter, intrusion protection.

What companies need a data center

Sooner or later, a growing business becomes characteristic:

• significant growth in information volumes
• growth in the number of used business applications
• data processing in subdivisions remote from each other.

The time has come to consolidate data processing and centrally manage IT infrastructure and information systems - for this it is necessary to build a data processing center (DPC).

Data centers are necessary for all companies for which the maximum degree of availability, fault tolerance, and reliability of information systems are critical. These are large companies that operate complex business applications (ERP-, CRM-systems, and others), communication service operators, banks that serve client accounts and carry out payments with plastic cards, insurance companies and others.

Rice. What companies need a data center

Now in Russia the number of projects for creating data centers is growing, data centers are becoming more complex and increasing in size. The benefits of using data centers are beginning to be recognized by medium-sized businesses. Large companies that have acquired them for a long time are increasingly resorting to creating reserve capacities. In general, the system integration market is now evolving towards the creation of data center networks.

DATA CENTER NEEDS BY INDUSTRY

The traditional consumers of IT services were and remain enterprises where information technologies are critical for business, and the very execution of business functions directly depends on the level, quality and degree of availability of IT services. These traditional consumers included state structures, banks and telecommunications companies. Today these are mature, in terms of the level of IT development, users with an established culture, approaches and understanding of the place information technologies in the hierarchy of a company or organization. From a technical point of view, these are formed data centers equipped with modern equipment and software. They are characterized by a different range of problems: where to get electricity, how, in the face of a widespread lack of qualified IT personnel, to build an effective operation service capable of serving the maximum large park equipment with a minimum number of employees, how to retain specialists, etc. For such companies and organizations, other issues related directly to their business are also important: for example, how to ensure the integrity of the IT structure when buying one enterprise by another? Or how to split the entire IT infrastructure when dividing the organization?

Today in Russia there is a new round of development of information technologies, when the most "greedy" for them are industrial enterprises, retail retail chains, Insurance companies. It is here that the greatest interest in IT is observed, in particular in data centers. Companies are in the stage of permanent search: where is the best place to locate their data center, what software tools can most fully solve the problems, what is the optimal hardware platform for running the necessary applications.

Thus, all players are aware of the criticality of information technology for business. more market segments, IT penetrate deeper into the economy of enterprises, their role is increasing as a tool for doing business. In other words, the market is booming today, and system integrators have plenty of work to do.

A source: IT Manager

Benefits of Data Center Implementation

Unlike a decentralized approach to organizing a company's IT infrastructure, the presence of a data center saves finances and increases:

• reliability of all information system(data storage reliability, hardware and software fault tolerance)
• the level of services provided by the company to its customers
• the productivity of employees by increasing the speed of execution of operations, improving control, etc.

In addition, the data center provides the following capabilities:

• modernize and expand computing systems in the context of the introduction of new business applications
• centrally manage IT infrastructure and information systems
• reduce the cost of ownership of information systems.

Corporate and hosting data centers

A corporate data center is initially created to solve the problems of automating the business processes of the customer and the owner of the data center.

A hosted data center is leased: the owner of the data center allocates racks or clusters to organizations, which are filled with the equipment of the tenant.

A mixed data center is partly focused on supporting the owner's business processes, and partly on solving the problems of tenants.

Primary and backup data centers

The main data center is the core of the information and telecommunication system. It takes over the entire load in normal operation.

Redundant data center provides normal mode provision of services in case of failure, prevention or hot replacement of equipment installed in the main data center.

The place of the data center in the IT infrastructure of the company

The Data Processing Center is a strategically important node of an organization's information system.

The data center provides:

• consolidated data processing and storage
• maintaining preset mode automation of enterprise business tasks
• safety of corporate information, as a rule, of high commercial value.

The success and competitiveness of the Customer directly depends on the stability, reliability, timeliness, efficiency and completeness of its services.

According to Meta Group, the financial costs in the event of system and equipment failure are:

• $ 6.5 million per hour in case of failure of systems providing brokerage operations
• $ 2.6 million per hour in case of failure of authorization systems credit cards
• $ 14,500 per hour in case of ATM failure
• $ 330,000 average cost per hour of data center downtime.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Data Center stands for Data Center. Many people still do not know what it is. Meanwhile, it represents whole complex, designed to store servers and equipment and ensure their uninterrupted operation. Most often, such centers are located in large buildings and include the servers of large companies.

Now the services of the data center are popular among young companies, whose investors are foreigners. In Russia and the CIS countries, the popularity of such centers is still low, but abroad they are considered profitable.

Difference from a database

Almost every company has a database to optimize workflow.

This database can be stored in different forms, and access to it must be uninterrupted. However, various factors, for example, a temporary lack of electricity, or software glitch, can affect the speed of data processing, or even temporarily restrict access to information.

Reference. The processing center provides an environment in which the equipment will operate continuously, without such failures, in a comfortable temperature environment. This is the main difference between a data center and a server room.

Views

Data centers come in two flavors.

1. Local. In this case, the room with the group of servers is privately owned and under private control. The server owner company independently locates the data center in certain premises and independently maintains it.
2. Commercial. Such centers represent large-scale projects aimed at leasing equipment to large corporate customers. Most often, commercial services are used by companies that, for one reason or another, cannot ensure uninterrupted operation of servers. It is more profitable for them to rent a processing center, providing information with reliable storage and proper protection.

Goals

In addition to the continuous operation of equipment, the data center must allow:

• improve the reliability of information storage;
• ensure the operation of all applications on one hardware;
• have sufficient capacity, required types of equipment;
• reduce the cost of IT infrastructure maintenance.

Commercial data centers, in contrast to local ones, exclude incorrect organization of the system, and also make it possible to save on the maintenance of a staff of specialists. In addition, there is no need to allocate one or more premises for the operation of data centers.

What is a data center when processing personal information?

Server

Data center operation provides high quality information at high speed, while not losing detail and maintaining the integrity of this information. Server performance is one of the top factors a company pays attention to.

In addition, the following are considered important functions of the data center as a server:

• the ability to handle heavy loads in real time;
• high degree of controllability;
• permanent access;
• redistribution of loads in order to more efficiently solve business problems.

As a service

Data center companies offer a wide range of basic and additional services... These include the rental of telecommunication racks, cabinets, dedicated servers, colocation, shared hosting and the ability to use cloud platforms.

Important! The center should have external security, provide access control and provide a guarantee of reliability.

Besides, Sustainable Internet channels are considered an important factor in the operation of a data center and the presence of traffic exchange points. The power supply must be no less reliable, include independent electricity inputs and diesel power plants.

Due to the above factors, a data center as a service can be considered highly efficient and reliable with a fault-tolerant infrastructure.

What is a location notice and how do I enter an address?

The company must send, in which it is necessary to indicate information about the location of the database of information containing citizens Russian Federation(according to amendment 152-Ф3 dated 21.07.2014 N 242-Ф3).

You can send a document to the structure both on paper and in in electronic format... The signature of an authorized person is required. The notification must contain the following information:

• name (full name) and its address;
• data categories;
• categories of subjects whose data is processed;
• a list of actions with data, processing methods;
• information about the availability of encryption tools, their names;
• Full name of an individual or the name of a legal entity, their contact details, postal addresses, e-mail;
• date of the start of data processing;
• the term or conditions for termination of processing;
• information about cross-border transfer (its presence or absence) during processing;
• information about the location of the information database.

Completing the last paragraph should contain information about the location of the database of information with personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation. You must indicate the country and the exact address of the data center, if it is local, or provide information about the owner of the center, if it is commercial. In the second case, the following information is required:

1. type of organization (physical or entity, individual entrepreneur or a foreign organization);
2. organizational and legal form;
3. name of company;
4. OGRN;
5. country and address of the location of the organization.

Important! It is necessary to indicate the place of storage of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation and only.

Rational use of data centers will allow large companies reduce the cost of time and money, ensure proper security of information storage and uninterrupted access to it. When choosing a local type of data center, it is better to make sure that the above goals are met, and when choosing a commercial one, it is important to review all licenses confirming the quality of service.

Didn't find the answer to your question? Find out, how to solve exactly your problem - call right now:

Today it is no longer surprising that a particular company has its own data center. What it is, only a few employees of this organization know, but in reality, such equipment is required for any business that wants to achieve real stability. In other words, if there is a real need to ensure uninterrupted, scalable and manageable operation of the company, when the stability of the business is directly dependent on the IT infrastructure, the data center is used.

What is it?

Thus, over time and the development of information technology, almost any organization that is somehow connected with information has its own data center. What it is? Data center, which in professional specialized literature is often called a data center. From the name it can be understood that in such equipment, various operations are carried out that are directly related to the processing of any information, that is, the creation or generation of data, the subsequent archiving and storage of files, as well as their subsequent provision at the request of the user. Wherein separate attention it should be paid to the fact that in addition to the above functions, there is also secure data destruction, for which the data center is responsible. What it is? Elimination of certain files without harm to the rest of the data and, possibly, without the possibility of recovery, if it is really deleted important information, which should not fall into third hands.

Where can they be applied?

Today there is a fairly large number of funds, including land registries, Pension Fund and a variety of libraries that are directly involved in the collection and storage of various information. It should be noted that there is also such information that generates a business by itself, for example, that which is used by various reference services. There is also information that does not take any part in business processes, but at the same time is necessary for their implementation. Such data include files of personnel services, as well as databases of user accounts in various information systems.

Industrial holdings create specialized electronic archives for performing computational tasks, storing documents, and automating business processes. Thus, different organizations use different types of information, as well as tasks that relate to its processing. It is for the solution of such tasks that the data center is being created. What it is, only knows System Administrator on whose shoulders the equipment rests.

When is a data center used?

Tasks related to different time were solved with the help of various technical means. In the twentieth century, electronic computing devices became the basis of modern business, since they took over the vast majority of computing tasks, and the appearance of devices that store information in themselves made it possible to completely get rid of paper archives, replacing them with more compact, and at the same time accessible electronic and tape media. Already in order to place the first electronic computers, it was necessary to allocate specialized computer rooms in which the required climatic conditions were maintained so that the equipment did not overheat during operation and at the same time worked stably.

Server rooms and their features

With the beginning of the era of development personal computers and small servers, the computing equipment of almost any company began to consist in special server rooms. In the overwhelming majority of cases, a certain room is provided for under such a room, in which a household air conditioner is installed, as well as a source uninterruptible power supply in order to ensure the continuous operation of the equipment in a normal state. However, these days, this option is only suitable for those enterprises in which business processes are very dependent on the information used and the available computing resources.

What is the difference between a data center and a server room?

By and large, a modern data center is an expanded copy of a traditional server room, because in fact they have a lot in common - this is the use of engineering systems that support the continuous operation of equipment, the need to ensure the required microclimate, as well as an appropriate level of security. But at the same time, there are a number of differences that are decisive.

The data center is equipped with a complete set of various engineering systems, as well as specialized components to ensure normal and stable operation. information infrastructure of the company in the mode required for the operation of the business.

Where is this equipment used?

In Russia, data processing with the help of such centers has become in demand since 2000, when various banking structures, government agencies, as well as enterprises in the oil industry began to order such equipment. It should be noted that for the first time the data center appeared back in 1999, when they began to use it to process income declarations and certificates of all residents of Moscow and the region.

Also, one of the first large data centers was the equipment that was used in the center of Sberbank. In 2003, with the support of Rostelecom, the first republican data processing center was organized in Chuvashia, which is used to systematize archived data. Such devices were provided by various local authorities, and in 2006 a center was also opened, in which data from the Kurchatov Institute center was processed. The following year, VTB-24 and Yandex also began using their own data center. Moscow, therefore, rather quickly came to the use of such equipment, as well as other large cities of Russia.

Where should you install a data center?

Nowadays, almost every large geographically distributed company uses its own data center, especially if the business is very dependent on the IT organization. Examples include telecom operators, retailers, travel and transport companies, medical institutions, industrial holdings, and much more.

A data center can be designed for a specific enterprise or used as multi-user equipment. A multi-tenant data center provides the broadest range of services, including business continuity, hosting, server rental and hosting, and many more. Data center services are the most relevant for small and medium-sized businesses, as it can eliminate the need to modernize IT infrastructure, and ultimately get a guarantee of reliability and service of the highest quality.

The key to data center success is competent design

Competent design of a data center allows you to eliminate the occurrence of serious problems in the process of equipment operation, as well as to reduce costs during operation. In general, the structure of such a center is divided into four main elements - engineering infrastructure, a building, software and specialized equipment. At the same time, the construction of buildings and premises for the installation of such equipment is carried out in a variety of standards, the main purpose of which is to ensure safety and reliability. In Western countries, extremely serious and sometimes very peculiar requirements for data centers are often established - in particular, it is worth highlighting that the building should be at least 90 meters from the extremely high point to which water reached during floods over the past 100 years, which achieving it is not as easy as it might seem at first glance.

Basically, information is provided on already implemented data center projects, or on advanced technologies used in its creation. For some reason, the question of justifying the choice of a data center, questions of competent preparation of the technical specification for it, as well as questions about effective use all the opportunities inherent in the data center are lost. To the best of my strength and capabilities, I will try to highlight these issues in more detail.

Scope of the document and a list of issues to be considered

This document is intended to obtain a set of necessary information for specialists involved in the creation and operation of data centers, server rooms and computer rooms.

The document covers:

• Problems arising at the stages of design, construction and operation of a data center, as well as possible solutions these problems
• Recommendations for the use of modern standards are given, as well as a brief description of them.
• The main design errors are given, and the problems that arise during operation, their consequences are shown, as well as possible ways to eliminate errors and solve problems
• The rules for creating successful IT projects are given separately.
• The most important requirements for the main elements of the data center are revealed, and, if possible, the reason for these requirements and the consequences of their non-compliance are explained.
• The main trends in the creation of data centers and some statistical data from foreign and Russian data centers are listed.

Of course, this is not an all-encompassing document, and within the framework of one document, it is not possible to consider the main issues arising at the stages of justification, design, commissioning and operation itself. Therefore, I will try, as far as possible highlighting the key points of the entire life cycle of the data center, to pay special attention to issues, in my opinion, the least described in the literature and the Internet. Since some issues have not received proper coverage, they do not cease to be important, especially since some of them, as will be shown below, are hushed up for very specific reasons.

Preliminarily, I will try to clarify the circle of specialists for whom the document will be targeted. These will be specialists from organizations that do not have a data center, but who want to build it, specialists who have decided to build a data center, but do not know what to look for when writing a technical task (T) W and how to choose a partner, specialists who have built a data center, but are trying to operate it. provide the declared characteristics and reduce costs. And also, the document will probably be of interest to equipment suppliers and data center developers, at least in terms of understanding the problems of their customers. Although the document will consider most of the issues that arise when justifying the choice of a data center, its design, construction and operation, the document will not contain instructions on the choice of this or that equipment, and even on the mandatory use of certain technologies. The fact is that new equipment, solutions and technologies appear every year, often, in fact, differing in the introduction of some insignificant changes, or the implementation of long-known solutions, but on a new technical level... Remember - " Knowledge of several principles frees us from the knowledge of many particulars ". Based on this, I will try, first of all, to talk about the principles of design and operation of complex computing systems, which are the best suited for data centers.

In order to discuss the problems of building and operating a data center, you need to define some terms and understand what a data center is. Therefore, first I will try to define the very term "data center".

Definition of the term "data center"

Recently, it has become very fashionable to talk about the creation of a data center. Almost every self-respecting company declares that one of its specializations is the construction of data centers or data centers. Usually companies link to positive reviews, completed projects, etc. etc.

Let's first try to figure out what a data center is, how it differs from just a good server room, as well as what properties of a data center allow it to be called a data center. We will also try to understand what kind of work when building a data center requires special attention and where you can save money without losing quality. The analysis of all this will allow not only to create a better data center, but also useful when building other data storage and processing objects.

If you turn to Wikipedia then Data center or Centre storage and data processing (Data center/CHOD) is a specialized building for hosting (hosting) a server and communication equipment and connecting subscribers to Internet channels. Another name for the data center is Data center(from the English. data center).

Comment : If a document contains the term “ Data center", It means that a document is being cited or retold where such a term is used, and not the term" Data center».

In fact, such an interpretation at least does not reveal the whole essence of what a data center is. Much closer in meaning is such an interpretation "A data center is a building (or a part of it) for which complex solutions have been applied for storing, processing and distributing information data with an IT infrastructure that allows to ensure its functions that meet certain criteria"

In any case, the definition of a data center should not emphasize the presence of hosting and the Internet, since they really can be, but their absence is not critical for the data center. As the revised data center wording is given, it most fully corresponds to the data center concept set out in the Standard TIA-942... Although, in my opinion, the wording “ Data center - This is a building, a part of it, or a group of buildings for which ... »Hereinafter. Because It may well turn out that when implementing a data center with duplication of subsystems, the data center will be geographically spaced between several buildings. Sometimes they also remember that during the operation of a data center, it is necessary to develop a set of organizational procedures and constantly train personnel. But this is not so important any more, since one has only to understand that a data center is not only a building, but also a complex engineering solutions, and not only her, but also the provision of the necessary services and the availability of qualified personnel.

Historically, data centers (the name of the data center appeared later in Russia) grew out of large server rooms available to IT companies in the 90s. This qualitative change was facilitated by the emergence of client-server technology, the emergence of new cable standards, and the emergence of hierarchical media management. The main features of the data center were formed by 2000, when data centers became very demanded for deploying Internet servers of organizations that do not have the ability to support them, as well as ensuring the operation of the expanded databases of various organizations in their data centers.

Currently, in one St. Petersburg more than 30 Data center. In fact, there are more of them, tk. some organizations have built themselves infrastructures suitable for the concept of data centers.

Regarding the Standard TIA-942 it should be noted that the document elaborates in detail the issues of building (mainly in the form of statements of requirements) engineering subsystems, but if you try to ask yourself the question of choosing a specific project for building a data center, in order to fulfill specific tasks, questions immediately arise. The TIA-942 Standard introduces the concept TIER levels... The standard considers four levels associated with varying degrees of readiness (TIA-942 terminology ) infrastructure of data center equipment. Higher levels not only correspond to higher availability, but also result in higher infrastructure costs. In fact, the TIA-942 Standard divides (classifies) data centers only by the level of reliability (sometimes they write that by the level of availability, but although this term is close, but still it is already the term “ reliability»).

Data center classification

The very concept of a data center is quite uninformative, the fact is that all data centers are different not only in size, but also in the tasks assigned to them, as far as possible to provide their main functions with a certain level (quality). And the main functions of different data centers, depending on their orientation, can be considered different functions.

If you look more closely, you can distinguish a lot of criteria by which data centers can be divided. Basically, it is these criteria that will be decisive in the operation of data centers, or these criteria will carry a set of some properties that allow you to select a certain group of data centers.

Data centers can be divided by:

• Purpose, or more precisely - to divide them into public and non-public (the term "corporate" is more often used) data centers;
• Reliability of data storage (to be more precise, in terms of the combination of reliability and availability).

There are also separate groups Disaster-resistant Data Processing Centers (KTsOD) and " trash data centers". The name "trash" comes from (eng. trash- garbage) - usually these are small data centers, in which cooling is realized only due to natural air exchange.

Such "garbage" data centers for the most part do not fully meet the requirements for data centers, but they are less expensive, environmentally friendly, and renting server racks from them is significantly cheaper.

With the division into public and non-public data centers, everything is clear, and their approach to design is different. After making a data center for itself, the organization knows quite well which of the basic properties it needs, and where it can save money. Hence the possibility of selective fulfillment of requirements for a data center. In public data centers, everything is somewhat more complicated, and if the data centers want to get certification in order to increase the number of their customers, then, at least, all the mandatory recommendations will have to be followed.

If we talk about reliability, then you need to start by considering the term "MTBF". In general, it is not a fact that the system will stop functioning after failure if one of its elements fails. If, upon failure (transition from an operational state to an inoperative) of one of the system elements, the system becomes inoperable, then they say that refusal... If, nevertheless, the system remains operational, then they say that there has been glitch... The moment and frequency of occurrence of failures and failures are described by methods of the theory of probability and are not considered in this document. The only thing to remember is that only by analyzing schema the reliability of the system and having data on the MTBF in digital terms of each of its components, we can say the level of availability or operability of the entire system. The percentage (%) of the time during the year that the system is uptime and / or downtime (% Uptime and Down time) are directly related. Downtime is a cumulative measure of downtime for a year. These terms are often used when discussing different levels (Tier) Data center. But their numerical expression for different levels is not correct since the range of resiliency indicators for data centers of the same level can be large. In the appropriate place in the document, it will be shown that all the figures characterizing the downtime at different levels of the data center are from the evil one and you cannot really rely on them. In short, the list of the most characteristic features of the various data center levels can be summarized in a simple table.

As an example, I cite the correspondence between availability, the time the system is in an inoperative state (per year). I will not tie the levels to numbers, because As I said above, the range of availability indicators per year can be quite large within the same level.

A record of the form "No redundancy" does not mean that in the event of a failure, an order and receipt of the failed unit from the supplier will be expected. The presence of calculated spare parts inventory and a decrease in the MTTR (mean time to repair) indicator also significantly affects the downtime.

Another important note. The data center will be the maximum of the same level as the minimum level of one of its constituent parts... But on the other hand, you need to remember that not all recommendations from the standards are mandatory, and if you know specifically what and how their violation affects, then usually you can save a little when building a data center.

Example

Developers, quite often fighting to improve the energy efficiency of the data center, which,assessed as the ratio of total power to power IT equipment has long fought to raise its operating temperature. The idea is sensible, because in reality the service life of most computer equipment in a data center is 3-4 years, although along the way it should be noted that the equipment responsible for power supply is usually replaced less often, however, with the correct maintenance... After this period, either the equipment is replaced, or the most critical applications are transferred to other new equipment. An increase in the room temperature by several degrees does not really affect the likelihood of equipment failure during this period, but significantly reduces cooling losses, thereby increasing energy efficiency.Now there are tendencies for some classes of data centers to further increase the permissible temperature.

Therefore, it is very important to know that why the Standards provide certain requirements, and what will happen if the standard deviates in one direction or another... All this can be dealt with only by analyzing the requirements for certain parts of the data center. It is also necessary to understand the question of what standards regulate the requirements for the constituent parts of the data center, whether they contradict each other, and whether it is generally worth observing these standards. Therefore, the next chapter will focus on standards and their requirements.

Standards requirements for data center components

First, it is necessary to determine the requirements, what standards must be followed, and most importantly - what will happen if they are somewhat "violated", respectively, for the better or for the worse. At the very beginning of the chapter, I will express a somewhat seditious thought. You need to know the standards so that, if necessary, they can be violated if necessary. More precisely, it is reasonable to make some of the requirements for your specific data center higher or lower than the standard requirements for your chosen data center class. I wrote this line and realized that now I definitely have to write the name of this "smart" standard, the requirements of which must be followed when developing a data center. But ... no - it's not that simple. Documents bearing the proud name "Standard ..." in their headings are in fact most often the generalized experience of a group of experts who created this Standard. Accessibility (% UP TIME) or downtime (DOWNTIME) recommendations are not directly relevant. Compliance with the requirements of the standards really allows you to improve these indicators, but by what amount, it is a secret covered in darkness. The fact is that it is practically impossible to take into account all the factors affecting a decrease or increase in these indicators, and even more so it is impossible to obtain data on all the equipment of your data center that you use specifically. What to do? First of all, having prioritized the requirements for the data center you are creating, try to take one of the standards as a basis and then follow its requirements as accurately as possible.

In my opinion, you need to start looking for a suitable Standard for you from the previously mentioned TIA-942 « Telecommunication infrastructureData Processing Centers "... The first version of the standard was published in 2005. It details the requirements for constructions, power supply, heat dissipation, safety control, redundancy, maintenance and commissioning procedures.

In June 2010, Building Industry Consulting Service International Inc. (BICSI) has published a new standard 002-2010 : Data Center Design and Implementation Best Practices. This standard BSCI 002-2010 reflects the growing complexity of the arrangement of data centers and the need for companies and organizations to understand the requirements for energy, mechanical loads and telecommunications in the design of the infrastructure of a computer center.

What is the best standard to use? What are their differences? How, then, do you get certified? After all, there are also standards from other organizations. For example, the main difference in certification to Uptime Institute standards is that certified professionals from that organization must verify on-site that the requirements set out in their standards are being met. In mid-2010, the Uptime Institute released another standard “ Operational Sustainability(Operational Sustainability) ”regulatory and maintenance services. It was the requirements for the operation service that were lacking in TIA-942 ... And although jointly fulfilling the requirements of the Standard TIA-942 and standard Operational Sustainability it is already possible to accurately formulate the requirements for the data center, but in practice, builders of new data centers often refer to the TIA-942 standard. The fact is that each of the standards was drawn up by a different organization and differ from each other in many details. Moreover, according to Uptime Institute experts, their order of dividing into availability levels is not functionally related to the TIA-942 levels, they assess the ability of data centers to maintain performance in the face of failures and accidents. To avoid confusion, the Uptime Institute suggests denoting accessibility levels in their interpretation with Roman numerals I, II, III, and IV. It is quite difficult to certify a data center. If you refer to the site Uptime Institute(site http://uptimeinstitute.com) then at the end of May 2012 actually provides IV Level (i.e. not only documentation and the created building with technical means in it, but also the level of operation) only 1 center, certification of the constructed facility at IV Tier was carried out for 6 data centers. Certification of documentation for building a data center IV Tier was obtained for 22 sites. Russian data centers among Tier IV on currently no. There are also not very many Tier III data centers. Provide complete fulfillment of the requirements for Level III on "Operational stability" of only 4 data centers. There are no Russians among them. The documentation and premises correspond to Tier III in 5 Russian data centers (4- Design Documents and 1 Constructed Facility).

During 2012, the TIA-942-A Standard will be published, which includes changes and additions to the following versions TIA-942-1 and TIA-942-2. Unfortunately, a new version the standard has changed greatly. The new TIA-942-A standard will only deal with cabling and will no longer be as comprehensive as TIA-942 was. Those. mostly he will only regulate the construction of cable systems... The section on energy efficiency will most likely deal with this topic only from the point of view of the cabling system and the use of the "green" data transmission medium - optical fiber.

Below is a list of the main changes included in the current draft TIA-942-A (according to the preliminary announcement of the developer). This information is in italics.

TIA-942-A is aligned with the TIA-568-C series of standards for topology, terminology, and media classifications in 568-C.0 and component specifications in TIA-568-C.2 and C .3;

• Applications, TIA-942-1 and TIA-942-2, are included in the TIA-942-A standard;
• Grounding information has been moved from TIA-942-A to TIA-607-B;
• Administration information will be moved to the TIA-606-B standard;
• Most of the information related to telecommunication cabinets and server racks, separation of power and telecommunication cabling systems, will be moved to the TIA-569-C standard;
• External cabling information has been moved to TIA-758-B;
• The limitation of the length of horizontal fiber-optic cable systems to 100 meters was canceled.
• Category 3 and Category 5e cables should no longer be used in horizontal cable systems. The working version of the standard allows the use of balanced twisted pairs Category 6 and Category 6A in horizontal cable systems. Category 6 and Category 6A can also be used in trunk cable systems;
• Approved for use in horizontal and backbone cabling systems for OM3 and OM4 multimode fiber (50/125 μm core / cladding multimode fiber optimized for 850 nm laser light sources). OM1 and OM2 cables are no longer allowed for use;
• To connect one or two fiber cables, LC-type fiber-optic connectors and for multi-fiber MPO-type connectors should be used;
• An intermediate distribution area (IDA) is included in the data center topology;
• Added a section on energy efficiency to the standard;
• Added the terms "equipment outlet" (EO - equipment outlet) and "external network interface" (ENI - external network interface), borrowed from the international standard ISO / IEC 24764.

Operational Sustainability Standard only complements the TIA-942 especially in terms of data center operation.

The "Operational Sustainability" standard describes the requirements to ensure the sustainability of data centers, as well as to minimize the associated risks. As you know, the previous widespread standard "Tier Standard: Topology" regulated the technical parameters of the data center, necessary to achieve a certain level of reliability. The peculiarity of the new standard is that it takes into account the human factor in the stable operation of the data center. And this is of great importance, since the percentage of errors in work associated with this factor reaches 70% , of which a little more 40% associated with errors of managers of the maintenance service. To minimize these errors, it is necessary to conduct targeted work with personnel, improve their qualifications, and carry out activities to retain qualified personnel.

If we consider the standards from the corporation BICSI, it can be seen that their approach differs from the approaches to assessing the resilience levels of other organizations.

The system for assessing the levels of sustainability and the main sections of the standard BICSI 002 2010 . According to the association, the developers of the standard set themselves the goal of ensuring the design and construction of data centers, taking into account the long-term perspective of their operation. The main sections of the document:

• Data center layout
• Site selection
• Architectural solutions
• Building construction
• Electrical systems
• Mechanical systems
• Firefighting
• Security
• Building automation systems
• Telecommunications
• Information Technology
• Commissioning
• Operation and maintenance
• Design process
• Reliability

Therefore, with regard to the standards for building data centers, it should be noted that all developers of common standards for data centers do not contradict each other in terms of requirements and references to Standards when building basic data center levels. Commercial data centers, by virtue of their specifics, must meet (and preferably be certified) all the requirements of the standard that they have taken as a basis. Not all recommendations affect the main quality of a data center - ensuring a given level of availability. Therefore, non-commercial data centers in some cases can ignore some requirements. Moreover, certification is not only an expensive thing, but also does not directly affect the level of efficiency of the data center... After the implementation of the data center, you can still make some changes not only to the support level, but also to other levels, trying to meet the requirements of some of the standards for obtaining certification.

The Uptime Institute at one time defined four levels associated with varying degrees of availability of data center equipment (DPC) infrastructure. In fact, although they are related to the level of accessibility, it is probably more correct to talk about TIER levels, although the term "TIER" itself is translated as "Level". Above I, knowingly disclosing the concept of "Level", did not give digital characteristics data center availability level. Numerical expressions were obtained only from the analysis of completed projects. Here is some data from The Uptime Institute's paper Industry Standard Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance.

General conclusion on the use of standards:

• It is worth considering as fundamental the use of the TIA - 942 standard with the latest additions (for example, with the “Operational Sustainability” standard;
• The new TIA-942-A standard (approved on April 24, 2012) deals only with the topic of cabling and will no longer be as comprehensive as the TIA-942 standard;
• When building a data center, you should use not only standards, but also common sense, which allows you to significantly save money without deteriorating its most demanded qualities;
• Certification is more necessary for a commercial data center, and an organization's data center may not do it. Of course, if the data center was still created on the basis of standards, then all deviations from the recommendations should be justified;
• To read, and, most importantly, to understand which Standard to take as a basis and what requirements it will need to focus on in future development, you cannot assume that you have finished working with the standards. Before proceeding to the next stage, it is imperative to re-read the old, good, but at the moment mostly forgotten GOSTs - series 34. And nothing that they have not been updated for many years, but there is a detailed consideration of the pre-design stages. They do not have the well-known words "business processes", "processor approach", but there is a concept " information model»It is quite correct to replace them. Therefore, especially at the TK stage, these documents will help you. Of course, you need to be creative and not follow literally all the recommendations, but you need to carefully read them.

The order of building a data center

Oddly enough, the initial stages make the greatest contribution to the success or failure of a future project. Actually, according to world statistics in the IT industry only one project out of 3 becomes successful... If you approach more rigidly, and evaluate the success of the project as:

• the ability to perform the declared functions with the required quality
• to complete the work within the planned time
• not going beyond the original project budget
• no emergency work at various stages of the project
• no need to immediately start work on the modernization of the project.

It will get worse. Probably no more than 20% of projects will fall under the definition of "successful".

There are many reasons for the failure of the project. Here and the wrong policy (namely, the policy, since resolving controversial issues is most often finding compromises) of the project management, lack of proper support from the head of the organization, poor study of the technical specifications and, as a result, a large number of unplanned work, poor participation of specialists of the organization for which the project any force majeure circumstances are also fulfilled.

If almost every project is dominated by the likelihood of failure, then what about the cheerful announcements of dozens of successful projects from many firms? First, you need to immediately put everything in its place, defining the term " Project».

Project(if referring to Wikipedia) - This is a unique (as opposed to operations) activity that has a beginning and end in time, aimed at achieving a predetermined result / goal, creating a specific, unique product or service, with specified resource and time constraints, as well as quality and acceptable level requirements risk... Perhaps this definition can be simplified for more specificity. Project— it is a set of tasks, activities or work performed related to the achievement of the planned goal, which usually has a unique and unrepeatable character . The main thing is that the project is always unique (at least for the persons performing it). Therefore, everything that the performers talk about as a successful project is actually successful. implementation, those. implementation of a ready-made solution. The percentage of successful implementations is significantly higher than that of successful projects. And if programmers have any spelling complex program is always a project, then in the field of building infrastructure, implementation is also possible. It is difficult enough to draw the line when implementation develops into a project. For example, if a small hardware and software complex is created for automation, some kind of remote site, and this is not the first time the developer does this, and the number of differences from those previously created both in the hardware part and in the set of installed programs is minimal, then this is an implementation. And it has a fairly high chance of success. If there are differences in terms of a significant number of new hardware, the installation of new complex software, or the emergence of new requirements that cannot be met within the framework of the implementation of previous solutions, then the creation of such a hardware and software complex will be a project. Those. the performer of the project is always at the beginning of his work in a state where goals are defined, solutions are uncertain, successful solution of the problem is questionable... Let me explain why I dwelt in detail on a seemingly terminological issue.

The fact is that there are 2 approaches to performing work and evaluating them. This is the approach of the Developer and the approach of the Customer.

The developer, when implementing the assignment from the Customer, tries to:

1. Try to apply the solution already implemented by the Developer;
2. If this is not possible, it tries to apply a solution approved by other companies (most often a solution recommended by a hardware or software manufacturer);
3. Try to lower the Customer's requirements and, if possible, reduce them to the same standard solutions;
4. In case of failure of the previous paragraph, the Developer tries to increase the time of work execution or to make the requirements for the acceptance of his work softer;
5. At the stage of acceptance try to concentrate on strengths completed project and hide your mistakes and failures;
6. Try to quickly hand over the project and start a new one, or, in extreme cases, provide yourself with outsourcing.

The Customer's approach is primarily characterized by:

1. An attempt to get as much as possible from the Developer and for less money;
2. Attempts during the development of the project to change or clarify the points of the original TOR;
3. During acceptance, try to get as much documentation as possible, and find developer errors;
4. To try, at the expense of the Customer, not only to correct the errors identified during the acceptance process, but also to make further changes to the project.

Therefore, the use of implementation, instead of development, which has significantly less chances for the success of the project, is always desirable for the Contractor. The above option is of course the most relevant if the project is being developed by a third-party organization. In fact, when ordering a really complex project (and the construction of a data center belongs to such projects) from a third-party company, the participation of the Customer's specialists is absolutely necessary, at least at the initial stages of the project. Indeed, no one knows the requirements for the created data center as well as the Customer's specialists. Of course the Customer, at least should be able to control the implementation of the project, more precisely, have information about the timing of each of the stages, the progress of its implementation, as well as not only participate in the acceptance of the project, but also participate in writing the test program... Only in this case, a sufficiently accurate formulation of Tech. tasks, prompt decision emerging issues, a comprehensive check of the result.

There are two options for solutions for the implementation of a project to build a data center. The first assumes the implementation of the project on its own, and the second assigns these responsibilities to an external contractor. V pure form such schemes are rare. Almost always, the construction of such systems is a joint work of the Contractor (or several Contractors) and the Customer. But everything rests on the question of who will lead the project. It would seem who, if not the Contractor, should be given such rights, but ... Participation in the writing of the technical specification at the same time for the Customer (since only he knows all the requirements for his data center) and the Contractor (because if you do not involve the Contractor, then the Customer may well write such a TK that no one can implement at all) allows you to develop in the process of discussion a fairly accurate idea of ​​the system that will be created, and about software tools to be applied. Those. the specialists participating in the writing of the technical assignment become at the time of the end of its writing the most competent in terms of specific requirements for a project carried out for a specific customer. I immediately answer possible questions about the joint writing of the TK. Customer in the development of large projects can single-handedly write only the Preliminary TK, which is suitable only for the competition when searching for a Contractor. A jointly written TK with disputable issues settled between the Contractor and the Customer will serve as the main document when accepting the data center, since on the basis of the TK the "Program and Test Methodology" will be written.

Therefore, one of the main mistakes of the Customer is elimination from the work of specialists participating in the writing of technical specifications and occasional participation in the draft and detailed design of only narrow specialists in solving particular issues... Specialists involved in the implementation of large projects must be at the Customer's department of complex works... And it is they who should attract, if necessary, all specialists in certain areas. In this case, the specialists of the complex department will be aware of all the "thin" points of the project and the project itself will have great chances of successful completion. Also, the specialists of the complex department must participate in the acceptance of the Customer's work, because by constantly monitoring the progress of work, they will be aware of all his problems.

A note about the work attributed to the competence of the complex department.

It is wrong to think that the workload of a complex department will be limited only to participation in large projects, of which the Customer usually does not have very many. Big projects don't exist on their own. Usually, each project requires its own expansion, docking with various subsystems, making changes in connection with newly emerging tasks. It is in solving these issues that complex specialists will come in handy. The previous one concerned not only large projects, because it is necessary to understand that only implementations of individual products not affecting a large number of the Customer's employees, it is possible to implement, bypassing the complex department.

If we turn to the experience of implementing large projects, we will notice that large organizations(for example, banks), or those specializing in IT, themselves manage projects to create their own data centers.

Summing up the stages of substantiation and preparation of technical specifications

From the above, we can conclude:

1. Speaking about the creation of a data center, first of all, it is necessary to prioritize the requirements that it will have to satisfy.
2. After setting your priorities, you need to take as a basis one of the standards that you will follow. (I would advise using TIA-942 but remember that he is not considering operational issues.)
3. All deviations from the standard for better or worse must be justified.
4. To draw up a technical specification, you need to use your own department of complex works (or create one), because on your part, people are needed who are personally interested in the successful implementation of the project and who will oversee all work with the Contractor.

If you noticed that in this part I considered the issues before the start of writing the TK, I emphasized that it is necessary to write the TK with the Contractor, and I did not write anything about the choice of the artist. The fact is that the selection of the Contractor is a separate and responsible task. And if we mention this very briefly, then usually the choice is divided into 2 stages:

1. Determination of the circle of applicants for solving the problem of building your specific data center.
2. Analysis of the material presented by firms and clarification of questions during personal meetings.

It is usually easier to select several companies implementing successful projects in this area to provide them with a preliminary TK (such a TK can be drawn up by the Contractor's specialists). Then candidates for building a data center are asked to draw up a short document that briefly describes all the subsystems of the data center and the process of its operation. Usually, based on the completeness of the issues under consideration, the validity of decisions and the results of personal communication, the choice of the Contractor becomes obvious. And I will add on my own behalf: if you are promised everything at a personal meeting and for a cheap price (in any case, much cheaper than others), this is a reason not to believe and once again check the reality and quality of the projects completed by the company. In addition, often in really complex projects for building a data center, the execution of some of its subsystems requires the involvement of other companies. In this case, you immediately need to agree that one of the firms is for this project system integrator and you will solve all technical and other questions with her. There is nothing worse than piecemeal project implementation. Otherwise, in case of any trouble, everything will be like the immortal monologue of Raikin "Do you have any complaints about the buttons?"

The era of computers is more than 50 years old, respectively, the infrastructure of their life support is the same. The first computer systems were very complex to use and maintain, requiring a dedicated, integrated infrastructure to function.

An incredible number of cables connected various subsystems, and many technical solutions were developed for their organization, which are still used today: equipment racks, raised floors, cable trays, etc. In addition, cooling systems were required to prevent overheating. And since the first computers were military, security issues and restrictions came first. In the future, computers became smaller, cheaper, more unpretentious and penetrated into a wide variety of industries. At the same time, the need for infrastructure disappeared, and computers began to be placed anywhere.

The revolution took place in the 90s, after the spread of the client-server model. Those computers that began to be considered servers began to be placed in separate rooms with a prepared infrastructure. The names of these rooms in English sounded like Computer room, Server room, Data Center, while in the Soviet Union we called them "Computer Rooms" or "Computing Centers". After the collapse of the USSR and the popularization of English terminology, our computer centers turned into "server" and "Data Processing Centers" (DPC). Are there any fundamental differences between these concepts, or is it just a matter of terminology?

The first thing that comes to mind is the scale: if small, then server room, and if large, then data center. Or: if there are only own servers inside, then this is a server room; and if server hosting services are provided to third-party companies, then the data center. Is it so? Let's turn to standards for the answer.

Standards and criteria

The most widespread standard currently describing the device of data centers is the American TIA 942. Unfortunately, there is no Russian analogue, the Soviet CH 512-78 has long been hopelessly outdated (although there was a version of 2000), it can only be considered in terms of general approaches.

TIA 942 itself states that the purpose of its creation is to formulate requirements and guidelines for the design and installation of a data center or computer room. We will assume that the data center is something that meets the requirements of TIA 942, and the server room is just a kind of room with servers.

So, the TIA 942 standard classifies 4 levels (TIERs) of the data center and names a number of parameters by which this classification can be carried out. For example, I decided to check if my server room, built together with the factory three years ago, is a real data center.

As a small digression, I will point out that the plant is engaged in the manufacture of stamped parts for the automotive industry. We make body parts for companies like Ford and GM. The enterprise itself is small (the total staff is about 150 people), but with a very high level of automation: the number of robots is comparable to the number of workers in the shop. The main difference between our production is the rhythm of Just-In-Time, that is, we cannot afford a delay, including due to the fault of IT systems. IT is business critical.

The server room was designed to meet the needs of the plant, it was not supposed to provide services to third-party companies, and accordingly, certification for compliance with any standards was not required. However, since our plant is a member of a large international holding, design and construction were carried out in accordance with internal corporate standards. And these standards, at least in part, are based on international ones.

The TIA 942 standard is very extensive and describes in detail the approaches to the design and construction of data centers. In addition, in the appendix to it there is a large table with more than two hundred parameters corresponding to the four levels of the data center. Naturally, it is inappropriate to consider all of them in the context of this topic, and some of them, for example, such as "Separate parking lots for visitors and employees", "Thickness of concrete slab at ground level" and "Proximity to airports" are not very directly related to classification Data centers and even more so their difference from the server room. Therefore, we will consider only the most important, in my opinion, parameters.

Basic parameters of data center classification

The standard establishes criteria of two categories - mandatory and recommended. Mandatory are indicated by the word "shall" (shall), recommended by the words "should," "may," "desirable" (should, may, desirable).
The first and most important criterion is the level of availability. According to TIA 942, a data center of the highest - fourth - level must have 99.995% availability (i.e. no more than 15 minutes of downtime per year). Further, downward, 99.982%, 99.749% and 99.671% for the first level, which corresponds to 28 hours of downtime per year. The criteria are pretty tough, but what is data center availability? Here, only the downtime of the entire data center is considered due to the fault of one of the life support systems, and the downtime of individual servers does not affect the operational readiness of the data center. And if so, then the most probable reason for the refusal is rightly considered interruptions in the power supply system.

Our server room is equipped with a powerful APC UPS with N + 1 redundancy and an additional battery cabinet, which is able to maintain the operability of not only servers, but also all computers in the enterprise for up to 7 hours (why do we need working servers if there is no one to connect to them). Over the three years of operation, there have never been any failures, so by this parameter we can claim the highest TIER 4.

Speaking of energy supply, the third and fourth classes of the data center require a second power input. We don't have it, so the maximum is second class. Another standard classifies the power consumption per square meter of area. A strange parameter, I never thought about it. I measured it: I have 6 kW per 20 square meters, that is, 300 W per square meter (only the first level). Although it is possible that I think incorrectly: the standard states that a good data center should have free space to scale. That is, it turns out that the larger the “scaling margin”, the lower the level of the data center, but it should be the other way around. Here we have the lowest score, but still we meet the standard.

For me, an important parameter is the node for connecting external telecommunication systems. We carry out online interaction with customers to receive orders and ship components, respectively, the lack of communication can lead to a stop of the conveyor of our customers. And this will not only negatively affect our reputation, but also lead to serious fines. Interestingly, the standard itself says about duplication of connection entry points, but the appendix does not say anything about this (although it is indicated that in the levels above the first all subsystems must be redundant). We use two connection channels with automatic routing in case of failure in one of them, plus a backup GPRS router with manual connection... Here we again meet the highest requirements.

A significant part of the standard is devoted to cable networks and systems. These are distribution points for the main and vertical subsystems of the data center common cabling system and cabling infrastructure. After reading several parts of this section, I realized that I must either learn it by heart, or put up with it and concentrate on more important things. Although at a superficial glance (category 6 twisted pair, separation of active equipment from passive), we still comply with the standard. Although I am not sure about parameters such as the distance between the cabinets, the bending angles of the trays and the correct spacing of routes for low-current cables, optics and power ones. We will assume that here we partially meet the requirements.

Air conditioning systems: there are air conditioners, there is a reservation, we can say that there is even a cold and hot corridor (albeit one, due to the size of the room.) But the cooling is not distributed under the raised floor, as recommended, but directly in the working area. Well, we do not control the humidity, but according to the standard, this is an omission. We put a partial match.

A separate part is devoted to false floors. The standard regulates both the height and the load on them. Moreover, the higher the class of the data center, the higher and more powerful the false floors should be. We have them, and in terms of height and loads they correspond to the second class of data centers. But my opinion is that the presence of false floors should not be a criterion, much less a characteristic of a data center. I was in the WestCall datacenter, where they initially abandoned false floors, placing all the trays under the ceiling. Air conditioning is done with hot and cold aisles. The building is detached, the premises are large, they provide specific services. That is, a good, "real" data center, but it turns out that without false floors, it does not formally meet the standard.
Next important point- safety system. Large data centers are guarded almost like safe deposit boxes in a bank, and getting there is a whole procedure, starting from approval to different levels and ending with dressing up and shoe covers. With us, this is simpler, but everything is present: the physical security is provided by the private security company, which guards the plant itself, and the access control system ensures that only authorized employees enter the premises. We put a plus sign.

And, finally, there is a gas fire extinguishing system. The main and reserve cylinders, sensors in the room itself, under the floor and above the ceiling and the control system - everything is there. By the way, an interesting point. When companies want to show off their data center, the first thing they show is a fire extinguishing system. Probably because this is the most unusual element of a data center, which is not found practically anywhere except in data centers, and the rest of the equipment just looks like cabinets of different colors and sizes.

The main thing, in my opinion, is the difference between the two upper levels Data centers from the lower ones - that they should be located in a separate building. It would seem that this is the sacred meaning of the difference between a server room and a data center: if it is allocated into a separate building, then this is a data center. But no, the standard says that the first two levels are also data centers.

I found the same parameter by which my server room on the data center does not pull: the size of the front door. According to the standard, there should be a minimum of 1.0 × 2.13 m, or better 1.2 × 2.13 m.And we have an ordinary door: 0.9 × 2.0 m.This is a minus, but consider it as a criterion for distinguishing a data center from a server room the size of the front door is not serious.

Almost a real data center!

So what did we get? A small server room at the factory meets almost all the requirements of the data center organization standard, albeit with minor reservations. The only major discrepancy is the size of the front door. The absence of a separate building for the server room does not leave any chances for higher places. This means that the assumption that the data center is necessarily large, and the server room, on the contrary, is always small, is incorrect. Likewise, the second assumption is that the data center serves many client companies. It follows from everything that the server room is just a synonym for a data center.

The concept of a data center appeared when they began to sell hosting services, rental of racks and server placement. At that time, the concept of a server room was devalued by negligence in the infrastructure due to the unpretentiousness of the PC and the low cost of downtime. And, in order to show that the provider has everything built for convenient and trouble-free operation, and they are able to guarantee the quality of the service, they introduced the concept of a data center, and then the standards for their construction. Given the trends of centralization, globalization and virtualization, I think that the concept of a server room will soon disappear or turn into a designation for a telecommunications hub.

I think our President is counting on about the same with the law on the police. The notion of "militia" has been devalued, and it is too late to create new rules for them. Whether it will be possible to build competent standards for the new structure - we'll see in the near future.