Module 3

Data Centre Design

• Introduction

• Characteristics of an Outstanding Design

• Data Centre Structures

• No Raised or Raised Floor

• Aisles

• Ramp

• Compulsory Local Building Codes

• Raised Floor Design and Deployment

• Plenum

• Floor Tiles

• Equipment Weight and Tiles Strength

• Electrical Wireways

• Cable Trays

• Design and Plan Against Vandalism

Introduction

Building a data centre is an expensive initiative. The data centre is the physical site facility, which
includes the raised floor, UPS (for power failure situations), power generators (for extended
blackouts), network infrastructure (internet connection, routers, switches, terminal servers) and
air-conditioning units. A data centre is also made up of computing equipment such as servers, data
storage subsystems and shared monitors.

Both data centre and the contents are useless in the absence of the other. The data centre is just a
big, expensive, cold room if the contents are not present and the servers are just expensive boat
anchors and worth nothing more in the absence of data centre.

The process of building a data centre facility appears to be simple initially but it involves several
aspects that must be done correctly before the actual construction. Retrofitting and modifying a
live data centre involves ripping up floors, walls, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)
and electricity and that is very difficult, expensive and cumbersome. Hence, it is very important to
get it right the first time it is done.

Characteristics of an Outstanding Design

The design of data centre infrastructure requires careful planning to ensure efficient use of space.
Some key characteristics of an outstanding data centre design include:

• Simplicity
• Scalability
• Modularity
• Flexibility

• Simplicity: It is difficult to make things simple. While constructing a data centre, consider
labeling all equipment (cables, circuit breakers, servers, storage devices, network ports
and power outlets) for easy identification. Label parts such as floor tiles, ports and outlets.
Locating the equipment on the data centre floor can be quite daunting. For easy access,
keep the grid location of the tile (where the equipment is located) online. When devices are
labeled, the installation, maintenance and servicing of equipment becomes easy.

• Scalability: The initial plan for the data centre would generally have a limit on the
equipment to be installed. However, the design should be scalable, so that it works for any
size of the data centre.

• Modularity: When a complex task is broken into smaller manageable tasks, it becomes
easier to complete. Similarly, a data centre design should aim at being modular, where the
entire structure is broken down into smaller units for easy operation and maintenance. A
 modular data centre refers to a deployment method in which modular or prefabricated
components are assembled into small units. Such a design allows for quick deployment
and scalability.

• Flexibility: A data centre would keep evolving in terms of the technology being used or
the number of equipment it holds. So, the initial design should factor in flexibility such that
it is easier to replace components and upgrade the devices in future without causing too
many structural changes to the facility.

Data Centre Structures

The key infrastructural elements of a data centre structure are:

• Floor (hard floor or raised floor)

• Aisles
• Ramp

These elements make up the essential framework of a data centre. They organise the structure for
the HVAC, network connections, servers and storage.

No-raised or Raised Floor

A data centre floor can either be no-raised, also called no-raised floor or be raised. The decision
for a no-raised or raised floor is based on the type of equipment that will be used in the data centre.

No-raised Floor: This type of floor is usually used in ISP and co-location data centres. Such data
centres would have cabinets and cages constructed for their various customers. A co-location is
a data centre facility in which a business can rent space for servers and other computing hardware.

The hard floor does not have any plenum space for the cables or air circulation. Many data
centres are favouring this type of flooring due to the following advantages:

• It is suitable for large cage construction. The wire-fenced cages can be constructed from
the floor to ceiling. Each cage can be leased to a customer.

• It provides additional security. No one can remove a tile, crawl below the floor and get
unauthorized access to the equipment.

• Cold air circulates evenly throughout the datacentre, unlike a raise floor structure. With
raised floors, the sections close to HVAC may have too many perforated tiles, thus
decreasing the cold air circulation to other areas.
 • It provides ease of installation and simplicity in design as all the cables and HVAC ducts
are located above the cabinets and cages.

Raised floor: In a raised floor, there is about two feet of plenum space below the tiles. The space
is used for the:

• Cabling network
• Power distribution
• Air conditioning

Data Centre with Raised Floor

Raised flooring requires more focus because it needs to be strong enough to support the load of
heavy equipment. Such floors may need to be reinforced with additional structural support to
enable them to bear the weight of the equipment.

There are some advantages of using raised floors in a data centre:

• It enables the cables to be neatly laid out along the wireways and cable trays in the subfloor
plenum as shown in Figure. This becomes advantageous for ISP and co-location data
centres.
 Electrical Wireway in Plenum

• It removes the issues of overhead water pipe leaking. In case of raised floor, the water can
be distributed from underfloor, removing the issue of condensation and overhead pipe
leaks. It also makes the data centre look a bit less cluttered.

• It does not necessitate the use of specialised contractors to move the air vent tiles for
achieving the required temperature. Such modifications become difficult if the air
conditioning is using overhead ductwork.

Aisles

An aisle is the space allotted between two rows of racks in a data centre. Fig.ure shows the aisle
and open corner space between rows of server cabinets.
 Aisle and Open Space between Racks

While planning the rack layout, it is important to have wide aisles and open space around corners
and walls. The open space is required to move racks and large equipment. Also, the space should
be wide enough to move the forklift, which is used to carry large equipment.

If the aisle space is narrow, it would become difficult to move out a broken rack and move in a
new one.

The rack layout should also factor in the length of the racks placed side by side. Too many racks
lined up in a row would mean more time to navigate from one aisle to another. Gaps should be
added after a set of racks so that valuable time and energy is saved trying to get from one aisle to
another.

Ramp

A ramp is a sloping surface that joins two uneven levels of a structure. A ramp is mandatory when
using a raised floor to bridge the gap between the raised floor and floors that are at a different
level. e.g.: A ramp can be built at the entrance to move the equipment in and out of the structure.

In fact, a ramp is a practical solution to move heavy equipment in or out of a data centre.
The ramp should be strong enough to support the weight of the:

• Equipment itself
• Device for lifting the equipment (such as pallet jacks)
• People handling the equipment and lifting device

The ramp slope should not be too steep. A ramp slope is considered steep if it has a gradient of 1
in 10. This indicates that there is a vertical rise of 1 inch for a horizontal length of 10 inches. The
ramp slope should be gradual. e.g.: A gradient of 1 in 20 is considered as gradual. So, a 2 foot rise
in length would require a horizontal length of 40 feet.

The ramp should ideally be of 80 feet in length and 10 feet in width. It should be wide enough to
move large servers and cabinets. It should also be strong enough to carry heavy loads (up to 4000
lbs).

Compulsory Local Building Codes

While building any structure, the architect should plan the design as per the local building codes.
Thus, an immense structure, for example, a server farm needs to hold fast to the code or set of
configuration particulars that the neighbourhood city authorities characterise.
 The code specification may specify the minimum ceiling heights of the data centre
structure.

Adhering to the building codes is important from the insurance point of view as well. Insurance
companies always require a data centre to meet the design specifications, so that any damage to
the structure in the event of a natural disaster can be reduced.

In some countries, there would be two levels of approval required from the city authorities:

• Level 1: The authorities approve the design on paper

• Level 2: The authorities visit and inspect the constructed facility to verify if the structure
complies with the approved design plan.

It is important to have an understanding of the codes to prevent any last-minute changes due to
non-adherence. Such changes can prove to be very expensive if it relates to the walls or flooring.

Guidelines for Planning a Data Centre

Here are some guidelines that can be followed while designing a data centre:

• There should not be any building exterior doors and outside facing windows. Such doors
and windows increase the risk of break-in. It may also become difficult to control the data
centre temperature. If the structure has such doors or windows, then they should be
insulated and enclosed with drywall board.

• The data centre perimeter walls should be of full height and hard wall construction. Do not
build any thin, transparent walls to the interior.

• While calculating the required floor space, consider:

▪ Infrastructure elements (such as HVAC, cables)
▪ Equipment (such as servers, network equipment)
▪ Aisle and open space between racks and floor corners

• The data centre floor should ideally be on the ground or the first floor. In case of higher
floors, consider the structural strength of the building. Check if the building and the floor
can take the weight of the equipment and infrastructure.

• The entrance door to the data centre should be wide. It should be at least 8 feet high and 8
feet wide, so that large equipment can be moved easily.

• In case of raised floor, the dimensions of a floor tile should be 600 x 600. The tile material
 should be seismic braised in case of earthquake prone areas.

• Use perforated tiles as exit points in case of under the floor air conditioning.

• Plan for a storage area to store equipment temporarily. This storage area should be
approximately 15% of the total area of the data centre.

• There should be an unobstructed pathway between the equipment room, storage room and
building exterior. A minimum clearance of 8 feet x 4 feet should be given to all the
corridors, doorways and elevators in this pathway.

• The ramp should be constructed using the same material as the raised floor. Cover the ramp
with slip-resistant treads, so that it is safe and easy to move the equipment over the ramp.

• The ramp should meet the same weight loading specifications as that of the raised floor.
Many architects make ramps by pouring concrete to ensure that it can bear heavy weights.

• The raised floor, ramps and subfloor should be strong enough to support large fully loaded
server cabinets that can weigh up to 900 kg.

• The floor layout should be planned in such a way that around 65% of the area is occupied
by the racks and stand-alone equipment.

Introduction to Data Centre Design- Part II

A data centre can be constructed on a piece of land or within an existing structure. Once the basic
structure is constructed, the next step is to design the internal infrastructure of the data centre.

Floor is one of the most basic infrastructures of the data centre, which needs to be constructed
properly. Since the entire equipment stands on the floor, it should be designed very carefully to
avoid any retrofitting cost.

Based on the needs of the data centre, the floor can either be a hard floor or raised floor. Raised
floor has its own benefits related to fitting of electrical wireways and air conditioning.

Raised Floor Design and Deployment

As you already know, once the raised floor is constructed, it is going to stay. Retrofitting a floor
is a tedious affair. So, plan the floor infrastructure carefully.

Figure shows the floor grid, which supports the raised floor on which the equipment is kept.
 Fig. Floor grid supporting the raised floor with equipment

As seen in Figure, a raised floor is constructed on a ground, which has a framework

of:

• Pedestals
• Pedestal head
• Stringers

• Pedestals: The pedestals support the floor tiles. Generally, the floor tiles are 2 feet × 2
feet in size. So, the pedestals are arranged such that they support each floor tile.

Pedestal

• Pedestal head: It is fitted on top of the pedestal. The pedestal head supports the stringers
and the floor tiles.
 Pedestal Head

• Stringers: These are steel or aluminium channels that are fastened to the pedestal head.
Stringers provide lateral stability to the raised floor.

In case of an earthquake prone area, the floor grid system should be seismic braised so that it can
withstand the tremors.

The raised floor of a data centre provides:

• A place on which the equipment is kept. Therefore, the floor tiles must be able to endure
the weight of the equipment.

• Grounding for the equipment.

• Air circulation of cold air. The cold air from the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
(HVAC) units within the subfloor enclosure is directed up to the data centre through the
penetrated tiles to cool the equipment.

• An area to lay out the network cables, cables for equipment and power outlets. When the
cables are kept under the floor area, the data centre looks less filled. In this arrangement,
cables remain safe from damages caused by accidental step over.

Plenum

Plenum is the space between the data centre subfloor and floor tiles. The height of the plenum is
usually between 1.5 feet to 2 feet. This space is determined by the capacity of the HVAC as well.
The HVAC should be able to pressurise the plenum so that the cold air could circulate.

The plenum space is occupied by the floor grid system consisting of pedestals and stringers.
 Under Floor Plenum with Cables

Floor Tiles

The floor panels or tiles rest on the pedestals and stringers. It forms a supporting base for the data
centre equipment. The tiles are usually in the form of a square with dimension of 2 feet x 2 feet.

The material of the tiles is important in determining the weight that it can support. Tiles can be
made of concrete, compressed wood or cast aluminium. Usually, cast aluminium is used as
material for the tiles. Such tiles can support a weight of up to 680 kg.
The weight bearing capacity of concrete or compressed wood tiles is less (up to 225 kg) as
compared to cast aluminium tiles. If the correct tiles are not used, then they may crack due to
pressure of the equipment and may cause damage to the expensive equipment.

Tiles can be of different types depending on its function:

• Solid tiles: Do not have holes in them and are used to support the equipment. These tiles
redirect the air flow and thus help in preserving the pressure in the plenum.

• Perforated tiles: They have holes in them to allow cold air to enter from the plenum. These
tiles are used right next to equipment racks and below the heavy equipment that require its
bottom to be cooled. This placement allows the cold air directly to equipment racks.

Solid and Perforated Tiles

In order to pass the cables beneath the tiles, the tiles with cut-outs are used. Such tiles have some
space to pass the cables as shown in Figure.

Tile with Cut-out

Based on the shape and size of the data centre floor, sometimes, the tiles have to be cut so that it
can fit on the edges of the floor and around columns. In such cases, the cut edges of the tiles should
be capped with protective trims. This structure will avoid particles to enter the airstream.

Equipment Weight and Tile Strength

The size and weight of the equipment has a great impact on the design of the floor tiles as large
equipment can stress the floor structure. To determine whether a tile would be able to bear the
equipment load, the current as well as the expected future load should be considered. The initial
design should not spread out the equipment on all of the available floor space.

Therefore, the architect should know the approximate weight of the equipment and load bearing
capacity of the tiles before designing the subfloor grid system.

There are two types of loads that are calculated to understand the load bearing
capacity of the tiles. They are:

• Point load
• Static load

• Point load: Most of the equipment or racks in a data centre rest on four rollers, casters or
feet. Point load is the load on any one of these four feet.

e.g.: A large server weighs 2,400 pounds. Its point load would be 2,400 / 4 = 600 pounds.
This point load is for each of its feet. If the feet of this server rest on one square inch, then
the tile should be able to bear 600 pounds on one square inch without deflection of more
than 1 mm or 2 mm.

• Static load: This load refers to the sum of all the point loads on the tile.

e.g.: Consider, there are two racks with point loads of 600 pounds per feet. Now, if each
of the racks has one foot on a particular tile, then that tile will have a total load of (600 +
600) = 1,200 pounds. In this case, the tile should be rated for at least 1,200 pounds of static
load.

This calculation is not only for solid tiles, but also for perforated tiles. Generally, perforations
weaken a tile. Therefore, when equipment is moved along the aisle, the perforated tiles would
experience the static load temporarily. Hence, even perforated tiles should have adequate static
load rating.
Electrical Wireways

An electrical wireway is a long metal box that contains electrical cables and equipment’s power
outlets. In a raised floor structure, these wireways are found beneath the tiles.

The cut out in tiles are used to pass the power cords from the equipment to the power outlets in the
subfloor. These power outlets further connect to the circuit breakers and subpanels.

The electrical wireways enable efficient power distribution. The power distribution can be limited
to specific areas. Further, the wireway secures the power outlets. It is important to keep the
electrical wireways as small as possible. A smaller wireway in the plenum will allow for more air
circulation. Note that the electrical wireway should meet the electrical codes of the city.

Cable Trays

Cable trays are metallic wire baskets that are used to organise the cables that run parallel to the
electrical wireway. If cable trays are not used, then the large number of cables can make a mess
under the tiles. The cable mess not only obstructs the air flow in the plenum, but also makes it
difficult to perform maintenance operations on the cable. Fig. 3.2.9 shows the cable tray being
installed beneath the tiles.

These cables meet the power outlets at the end of the wireway. The cable tray can be used to
organise different types of cables such as:

• Power cables
• Network cables
• Storage cables

Note that the cable tray should be placed near the tile rather than the ground. Doing so, will allow
unobstructed air flow in the plenum. Generally, cable trays are installed approximately 2 inches
below the bottom of the tile.

Design and Plan against Vandalism

A data centre stores sensitive and mission critical information for businesses. The data stored in a
data centre is one of the most expensive assets for a business. Thus, such data should be protected
from sabotage, theft and security attacks.
This thought of protecting the data centre from malicious attacks should reflect in the design and
construction of the data centre. Listed below are some guidelines that can help in safeguarding the
data:

• The data centre facility or structure should be such that the access can be controlled and
supervised easily.

• Do not use any windows or doors, which provide direct outside access to the data centre
facility. Using walls, seal all such doors and replace all such windows to enhance security
of the in data centre facility.

• As a security measure, install alarm systems and motion detectors.

• Try to design the data centre structure in such a way that the main data centre floor is
located in the interior of the building. Avoid locating data centre in a corner or near a door
to prevent outside access.

• It is not advisable to have many entry points for the data centre. Design maximum of two
doors, if necessary.

• Have good quality monitoring devices installed in the premises. Surveillance cameras
should be installed at various locations. Plan high quality surveillance cameras in the
entrance so that the face of every person entering the data centre can be recorded.

• If the data centre structure is shared with other companies, then install physical barriers to
separate the companies.

• Install emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers at various points.

• Only trained and authorised employees should have access to the main data centre floor.
Untrained or unauthorised personnel may create security risks. So, they should not be
allowed to access the critical areas of the data centre.