Cloud Computing-

Lecture 2
 Data Centers in Cloud
• What is a data center?
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 business needs computing equipment to run its web applications, offer
services to customers, 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 also increases
exponentially. Equipment that is distributed across several branches and locations
is hard to maintain. Instead, companies use data centers to bring their devices to
a central location and manage it cost effectively. Instead of keeping it on premises,
they can also use third-party data centers.
Data centers bring several benefits, such as:
•Backup power supplies to manage power outages
•Data replication across several machines for disaster recovery
•Temperature-controlled facilities to extend the life of the equipment
•Easier implementation of security measures for compliance with data laws
How did modern data centers
evolve?
• Data centers first emerged in the early 1940s, when computer hardware was
complex to operate and maintain. Early computer systems required many large
components that operators had to connect with many cables. They also
consumed a large amount of power and required cooling to prevent overheating.
To manage these computers, called mainframes, companies typically placed all
the hardware in a single room, called a data center. Every company invested in
and maintained its own data center facility.
• Over time, innovations in hardware technology reduced the size and power
requirements of computers. However, at the same time, IT systems became
more complex, such as in the following ways:
• The amount of data generated and stored by companies increased exponentially.
• Virtualization technology separated software from the underlying hardware.
• Innovations in networking made it possible to run applications on remote
hardware.
Modern data centers
Modern data center design evolved to better manage IT complexity. Companies used data
centers to store physical infrastructure in a central location that they could access from
anywhere. With the emergence of cloud computing, third-party companies manage and maintain
data centers and offer infrastructure as a service to other organizations. As the world’s leading
cloud services provider, AWS has created innovative cloud data centers around the globe.
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. We give some examples
below.
• Rack servers
• Rack servers have a flat, rectangular design, and you can stack them in 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 and you can stack multiple servers in a smaller
area. The server itself 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.
Storage infrastructure

• The following are two types of data center storage systems.

• Block storage devices
• Block storage devices like hard drives and solid-state drives
store data in blocks and provide many terabytes of data
capacity. Storage area networks (SANs) are storage units that
contain several internal drives and act as large block storage
systems.
• File storage devices
• File storage devices, like network-attached storage (NAS), can
store a large volume of files. You can use them to create
image and video archives.
Network infrastructure

A large number of networking devices, such as cables,

switches, routers, and firewalls connect other data center
components to each other 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
These data center components support the main equipment
so that you can use the data center facilities without
interruption.
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 to business
goals.
Tier I
• A Tier I data center is the basic capacity level to support IT
systems for 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,
and you can maintain or replace equipment without
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 each year.
What are the 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.
• Benefits: An enterprise data center can give better
security because you manage risks internally. You can
customize the data center to meet your requirements.
• Limitations: It is costly to set up your own data center and
manage ongoing staffing and running costs. You also need
multiple data centers because just one can become a
single high-risk point of failure.
• Colocation data centers
• Colocation facilities are large data center facilities in which 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.
• Benefits: Colocation facilities reduce ongoing maintenance
costs and provide fixed monthly costs to house your
hardware. You can also geographically distribute hardware to
minimize latency and to be closer to your end users.
• Limitations: It can be challenging to source colocation
facilities across the globe and in different geographical areas
you target. 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 by using different services
that give you more flexibility in usage and payment.
• Benefits: A cloud data center reduces both
hardware investment and the ongoing
maintenance cost of any infrastructure. It gives
greater flexibility in terms of usage options,
resource sharing, availability, and redundancy.
How does AWS manage its data
centers?
• AWS has the concept of a Region, which are physical locations around the world where we
cluster data centers. We call each group of logical data centers an Availability Zone (AZ).
Each AWS Region consists of multiple, isolated, and physically separate AZs within a
geographic area. Each AZ consists of one or more physical data centers, and we design
each AZ to be completely isolated from the other AZs in terms of location, power, and
water supply.
• Unlike other cloud providers, who often define a region as a single data center, the
multiple AZ design of every AWS Region offers additional advantages for our customers,
such as reliability, scalability, and the lowest possible latency. For example:
• AZs allow for partitioning applications for high availability. If an application is partitioned
across AZs, companies are better isolated and protected from issues such as power
outages, lightning strikes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and more.
• AZs in an AWS Region are interconnected with high-bandwidth, low-latency networking,
over fully redundant, dedicated metro fiber, providing high-throughput, low-latency
networking between AZs.
• Traffic between AZs is encrypted. The network performance is sufficient to accomplish
synchronous replication between AZs.
• Perimeter layer
• Perimeter security measures provide access control of the physical equipment by using:
• Security guards
• Fencing
• Security feeds
• Intrusion detection technology
• Entry control and monitoring
• Infrastructure layer
• Infrastructure layer security protects the equipment from damage and overheating. It
includes measures such as:
• World-class cooling systems and fire suppression equipment
• Backup power equipment
• Routine machine maintenance and diagnostics
• Water, power, telecommunications, and internet connectivity backups
• Data layer
• Data layer security protects the data itself from unauthorized access and loss.
Typical measures in this layer are:
• Threat and electronic intrusion detection systems in the data center
• Electronic control devices at server room access points
• External auditing of more than 2,600 requirements throughout the year
• Environmental layer
• The environmental layer is dedicated to environmental control measures that
support sustainability. These are some of its measures:
• Sensors and responsive equipment that automatically detect flooding, fire, and
other natural disasters
• An operations process guide outlining how to avoid and lessen disruptions due to
natural disasters
• 100% renewable energy and environmental economies of scale
Discussion
• CloudTech Solutions Inc. is a medium-sized IT company
specializing in cloud computing services, solutions, and
consulting. The company serves a diverse clientele from
various industries, including finance, healthcare, e-
commerce, and manufacturing. It has a dedicated team
of cloud experts and is known for its innovative cloud-
based solutions.
• Explain and discuss which hybrid cloud service(AWS
Outposts, AWS Direct Connect, AWS Snow Family, AWS
Wavelength) you would use and why?