A data center is a physical location that stores computing machines and their related hardware equipment. It contains the computing infrastructure that IT systems require, such as servers, data storage drives, and network equipment. It is the physical facility that stores any company’s digital data.
Why Are Data Centers Important?
Every data center business needs computing equipment to run its web applications, offer customer services, sell products, or run internal applications for accounts, human resources, and operations management. As the business grows and IT operations increase, the scale and amount of required equipment increases exponentially. Distributing equipment across several branches and locations takes a lot of work to maintain. Instead, companies use data centers to bring their devices to a central location and manage them cost-effectively. Instead of keeping it on-premises, they can also use third-party data centers.
What Is Inside A Data Center?
Most enterprise data center infrastructure falls into three broad categories:
- Compute
- Storage
- Network
Also, data center equipment includes support infrastructure like power systems, which help the main equipment function effectively.
- Computing infrastructure
Computing resources include several types of servers with varying internal memory, processing power, and other specifications.
- Rack servers
Rack servers have a flat, rectangular design, and you can stack them on racks or shelves in a server cabinet. The cabinet has special features like mesh doors, sliding shelves, and space for other data center resources like cables and fans.
- Blade servers
A blade server is a modular device that can stack multiple servers in a smaller area. The server is physically thin and typically only has memory, CPUs, integrated network controllers, and some built-in storage drives. You can slide multiple servers into a storage unit called a chassis. The chassis facilitates any additional components that the servers inside it require. Blade servers take up less space than rack servers and offer higher processing speed, minimal wiring, and lower power consumption.
- Block storage devices
Block storage devices like hard and solid-state drives store data in blocks and provide many terabytes of data capacity. Storage area networks (SANs) are storage units with several internal purposes and act as large block storage systems.
- File storage devices
Like network-attached storage (NAS), file storage devices can store many files. You can use them to create image and video archives.
- Network Infrastructure
Many networking devices, such as cables, switches, routers, and firewalls, connect other data center components and to end-user locations. They provide flawless data movement and connectivity across the system.
- Support infrastructure
Data centers also contain these components:
- Power subsystems
- Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
- Backup generators
- Ventilation and cooling equipment
- Fire suppression systems
- Building security systems
What Are the Standards in Data Center Design?
As data centers increased in size and complexity and began to store sensitive and critical information, governments and other organizations imposed regulations on them. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) established four levels or standards that cover all aspects of data center design, including
- Architecture and topology
- Environmental design
- Power and cooling systems and distribution
- Cabling systems, pathways, and redundancy
- Safety and physical security
Similarly, the Uptime Institute established four tiers to compare site performance objectively and align infrastructure investments with business goals. We list the four data center tiers below.
- Tier I
A Tier I data center is the basic capacity level to support IT systems in an office setting and beyond. Some of the requirements for a Tier I facility include:
- Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for power outages and spikes
- A physical area for IT systems
- Dedicated cooling equipment that runs 24/7
- A backup power generator
Tier I protects against service disruptions from human error but not against unexpected failure or outage. You can also expect an annual downtime of 29 hours in Tier I data centers.
- Tier II
Tier II facilities provide additional cooling components for better maintenance and safety against disruptions. For example, these data centers must have the following:
- Engine generators
- Chillers
- Cooling units
- Pumps
Although you can remove components from Tier II data centers without shutting them down, unexpected failures can affect the system. You can expect an annual downtime of 22 hours from a Tier II data center.
- Tier III
Tier III data centers provide greater data redundancy; you can maintain or replace equipment without a system shutdown. They also implement redundancy on support systems like power and cooling units to guarantee only 1.6 hours of annual downtime.
- Tier IV
Tier IV data centers contain several physically isolated systems to avoid disruption from both planned and unplanned events. They are completely fault-tolerant with fully redundant systems and can guarantee a downtime of only 26 minutes annually.
What Are The Types of Data Center Services?
Depending on your requirements, you can choose from many types of data center services.
On-premises data centers
On-premises data centers are fully owned company data centers that store sensitive data and critical applications for that company. You set up the data center, manage its ongoing operations, and purchase and maintain the equipment.
An enterprise data center can provide better security because you manage risks internally. You can customize the data center to meet your requirements.
Setting up your own data center and managing ongoing staffing and running costs is costly. You also need multiple data centers because just one can become a single high-risk point of failure.
Colocation data centers
Colocation rack server facilities are large data center facilities where you can rent space to store your servers, racks, and other computing hardware. The colocation center typically provides security and support infrastructure, such as cooling and network bandwidth.
Colocation facilities reduce ongoing maintenance costs and provide fixed monthly fees to house your hardware. You can also geographically distribute hardware to minimize latency and be closer to your end users.
Limitations: It can be challenging to source colocation facilities globally and in your target geographical areas. Costs could also add up quickly as you expand.
Cloud data centers
In a cloud data center, you can rent both space and infrastructure. Cloud providers maintain large data centers with full security and compliance. You can access this infrastructure using different services that give you more flexibility in usage and payment.
Bottom line
A cloud data center reduces hardware investment and any infrastructure’s ongoing maintenance cost. It gives greater flexibility regarding usage options, resource sharing, availability, and redundancy.
