Retrofitting Data Centres: how to extract maximum value

EXTENDING THE LIFECYCLE OF AGEING DATA CENTRES:

HOW AND WHAT SHOULD DC’s DO FOR RETROFITS

Jonathan Price

4th August 2015

KEY DRIVERS FOR UPGRADING A DATA CENTRE

Capacity

Resilience

Efficiency

Lifecycle Replacement

Combina5on of the Above

All images and copyright belong to original owner and are reproduced here for the purposes of training and educa7on only

WHAT ARE THE BUSINESS NEEDS ?


Initial upgrade to

meet immediate business

needs

Iterative planned upgrade

steps

Final planned

upgrade to deliver final

capacity

End of lease / New

DC available

Capacity Resilience Standards

Market Drivers


Efficiency Wider

Temperature Bands

Resilience Changes in Guidelines

Cloud Services

Dynamic Load Fast Deployment

Standards Compliance Constantly Changing

Data Centre Use

Co-‐loca>on Enterprise

DO YOU REALLY NEED TO UPGRADE AND WHEN?


UNDERSTANDING THE CONSTRAINTS

»  Timescales »  Possibility of Outages »  Level of existing information


THE OBVIOUS CHALLENGES


Paralleled Systems

Lack of Isolation Points

Space Constraints

Capacities of Utilities

SOME HIDDEN ISSUES

Documentation

Technical Commissioning

Documentation »  Missing or incomplete

documentation »  Inaccurate documentation


SOME HIDDEN ISSUES

Documentation



Commissioning »  Existing systems not meeting

design capacity »  In-operable isolation points »  Unresolved defects

SOME HIDDEN ISSUES

Documentation



Technical »  Neutrals »  Circuit breaker discrimination »  Surge Suppression »  Changes in Code &

Regulations »  Latent defects »  Obsolete equipment »  Equipment fed from multiple

sources

SOME HIDDEN ISSUES

Documentation



All of the Above »  Control systems »  Power supplies to ancillary

equipment »  Non-monitored points

leading to potential latent defects

»  Single cord equipment »  IT load distribution

KNOWLEDGE, KNOWLEDGE AND MORE KNOWLEDGE

»  Understanding of existing facility is vital »  Detailed site inspection »  Discussion with facilities managers:

»  Evidence of existing facility not meeting design capacities

»  Know equipment defects »  Commissioning data »  Existing operational challenges

(unsyncronised supplies from different sources)

»  Maintenance regimes (more risk to process if switching / operating equipment that has not been maintained – supportability of equipment / spares available on site


KNOWLEDGE, KNOWLEDGE AND MORE KNOWLEDGE

»  Actual capacities based on all constraints (kW vs. kVA etc.)

»  Verify meter readings – only analogue meter may not be giving you accurate info

»  Where documentation is not there – contractor investigation or testing to verify configuration / performance

»  SPOFs as a result of distribution of IT load


DO YOU NEED TO UPGRADE THE WHOLE PLANT AT ONCE ? »  Short term, do you need to upgrade at all – retro-

commission »  Is there as simple way to utilise stranded capacity. »  Due to standard equipment sizes not all equipment

needs to be upgraded at once »  Develop masterplan »  Each step should inform the previous (e.g..

mechanical plant upgrade may increase efficiency or power factor enough to delay or even negate the need for a mains upgrade)


MASTERPLAN DEVELOPMENT


IT Load 550 560 570 580 590 600 610 620 630 640 650 660 670 680 690 700 710 720 730 740

Existing UPS

New UPS

Generator

Mains

Switchgear

Cooling

WHICH TECHNOLOGIES WILL WORK ?


USE OF MODULAR PLANT AND CONSTRUCTION

»  Provide capacity as required – delay capital spend »  Higher efficiency due to higher plant loading – could

delay upstream infrastructure upgrade »  May reduce space requirements


CONSIDER SITE AS A WHOLE – MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL INTEGRATION


»  Can be more cost effective to add new independent mechanical systems instead of augmenting an existing system »  Cost of controls resilience and expansion upgrades »  Cost of electrical resilience and expansion upgrades »  Independent plant used for transition »  Transition risk reduced on existing infrastructure »  New plant probably more efficient

»  Mechanical plant replacement can improve power factor and may negate electrical upgrades

»  Consider electrical equipment with reduced cooling requirements

IT AND FACILITIES INTEGRATION

»  Avoid the management derived SPOFs »  Consider the cloud environment

Source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_point_of_failure All images and copyright belong to original owner and are reproduced here for the purposes of training and educa7on only

IT AND FACILITIES INTEGRATION

Source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_point_of_failure All images and copyright belong to original owner and are reproduced here for the purposes of training and educa7on only

»  Avoid the management derived SPOFs »  Consider the cloud environment »  Consider the use of DCIM

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION


»  Can you have an outage? »  Potential significant cost saving »  Can significantly de-risk the process but beware of

hidden risks »  Detailed transition plan is vital?

»  Transition plan will generally drive the design »  If outage possible – transition plan just as important to

minimise outages »  Transition plan revisited throughout the project

»  Can new permanent plant be used in lieu of temporary plant?

DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AGAIN

»  Discrimination study and match switchgear »  Provide connection points for future – try to make them

technology agnostic »  Be vendor neutral where possible »  Consider adding temporary generator connection points

and possibly alternative supplies to DBs feeding single cord loads

»  Avoid paralleled systems where possible – future obsolescence and vendor lock in

»  Monitor and monitor some more – IT load as well as infrastructure

»  Commission the site properly


CASE STUDY – INITIAL CONFIGURATION


CASE STUDY – STEP 1


New generator system required for capacity utilised for transition

New chillers provided for capacity can be used in lieu of existing chillers for transition

On-floor cooling units provided with diverse supply from new generator system



New redundant UPS installed –initially only fed from the new generators

A and B static transfer switches installed – one at a time so no outage to IT equipment

CASE STUDY – STEP 2A


Existing MSB and Generator can now be isolated


ATS

ATS

New MSB installed with increased capacity

Old Generator System integrated with the new one

ATSs installed on the existing chiller DB and existing UPS Input DB and generator feed removed from existing MSB

Up-rated mains DB for on-floor cooling installed upstream of existing board. Redundant unit from existing N+1 UPS system used for back-up


From Gen

From Gen



New UPS Installed for Capacity

From Gen

ATS New on-‐floor cooling DB

ATS

From Gen


Jonathan Price, Director – Mission Cri>cal Norman Disney & Young [email protected] +61 2 9928 6868 +61 424 969 015

Engineering

Retrofitting Data Centres: how to extract maximum value