1 Introduction

Organizationalnetworkshavebecomevastandcomplex.Manycompaniesthroughoutthe world
havedatacentersthathaveevolvedfromsingleroomswithinlargercompany operationcentersinto
enormousstandalonebuildingsthathousethousandsupon thousandsofservers.Thereisnolongera
notionthatadatacenterbelongsonlytothelarge organizationsoftheworldassmallerandsmaller
businessesarebeginningtorelyonthe centralizationandbenefitsofrunningadatacenterthatcan
assistwiththeiroverall efficiency.Datacentersrangeinvaryingsizeandcapabilitiestodayandalsoare
comprised withvaryingcomponents.Thereareanumberofdifferentpieceswithinadatacenterthat
mustmeshtogetherseamlesslyforperformancetobeoptimal.Inorderforanorganization to
implementandbuildadatacenter,heavyplanningisinvolvedtounderstandtheneedsof the
organizationandtodeterminethefullscaleoftheendresult.Someorganizationsmay payparticular
attentiontofinancialsideofthedatacenter,whileotherorganizationsmay payattentiontooverall
spacethatcanbeachieved.Thisparticularneedwillvaryfrom organizationtoorganization,however
therearemultiplekeyareasthatmustbeaddressed todesignafunctionaldatacenter.
Thisresearchaimstoprovideasolutionforacademicinstitutionstoprovidestudentswitha locationto
learnaboutdatacenterdesignandnetworking.Byprovidinginformationabout datacenterdesignand
networking,studentswillbeabletoutilizeexperiencesand informationfromtheclassinfuturecareers
fororganizationsthatwishtoreconfigure,plan orretrofitenvironmentsforusageasadatacenter.

1.1 Problem
Datacentersrequirealargeamountofplanning,interactionwithdifferentresourcesanda largeunderstanding
ofdifferentareasofexpertisetoimplementfromstarttofinish.Thereis a largeamountofcostandtime
dedicationtounderstandalltypesoftechnologyand componentsthatmustbeimplementedwithinadata
center.Thereisinformationavailable acrossmanydifferentplatforms(theInternet,books,articles,etc,)
howevertherelacksa resourcethatcanhelpstudentsunderstandthecomponentsandtheimportanceof
design intheplanningofadatacenter.Thedevelopmentofacourseofferingthatcoversthese topicswillallow
studentstoshareexperiencesthattheyhaveencounteredandalsowill allowstudentstocollaborativelylearn
differentfundamentalstogetherthroughdiscussion.

Thereisampledataavailableinlibraries,theInternet,variousbooks,andmagazinearticles thatcanassistinthe
planningandimplementationofadatacenterforanorganization. Manyoftheseresourcesaredifficulttoobtain,
containinformationonasinglepieceofthe infrastructure,lackcomprehensiveinformationinonesourceanddo
notprovideadequate recommendationsbasedonexperiences.Theinformationcanbedifficulttoobtaindueto
financialinvestmentandalsocantakelongamountsoftimetocorrelate.Thelargeamounts ofdatamakeit
difficultforausertodecipherexactlywhatcomponentsarecriticalandvital tothesuccessoftheproject.Itis
importanttodesignthedatacenterforcurrent organizationalneeds,yetplanforthegrowthofthedatacenterto
meettheneedsofthe organizationsforthenexttentotwentyyears.

Acourseofferingthatcompoundstheinformationandallowsindividualstudentexperiences tobesharedisone
approachtodecreasetheneedforvariousdifferentexternalresources. Thisresearchhasnotfocusedonthe
benefitstocentralizationofinformationinregardsofa datacenter,butpresentsasolutiontoassiststudents
comprehendandunderstandthe necessarycomponentswithinadatacenterandtakesalargestepofgathering
the informationoutofthepicture.Manysourcesdiscusshowtocreateadatacenter surroundingcurrent
organizationalneeds.Adatacenteristhendesignedsurroundingthese “needs,”howeverwithintwotothree
yearstheorganizationcouldrealizethatithasrunout ofspaceandneedstodeterminetheircourseofactionyet
again.Howcouldtheresponsible personthengobacktotheorganizationandaskagainforhundredsof
thousandsofdollars

foryetanotherdatacenter? Thoughtfulplanningandestimationthroughoutthedesign processcouldhave

mitigatedthisbyunderstandingscalabilityconcepts.

1.2 Importance
Planningthroughouttheentireprojectofadatacenterisimportantasitallowsforthe correctestimationand
scopeofthevariouscomponentssupportingthedatacenter.The infrastructureofthedatacentercanallow
flexibilitiesinthesystemcomponentsinstalledin thedatacenterifplannedcorrectly.Thevariouscomponents
fromelectrical,andheating, ventilationandairconditioning(HVAC)systemsinstalledinadatacenterareusually
modifiedtoprovidehighercapacitiesandmanyorganizationscouldutilizetheskillslearned inancourseoffering
toprovideconsciousdecisionsduringprojectssurroundingtheirdata centers.Thisresearchwillbenefitany
organizationthatislookingtobuild,retrofit,ormodify adatacenter.Itwillalsobenefitanyinstitutionlookingto
implementsuchacoursetoassist studentsinunderstandingdatacenterdesignandmajorcomponents.

2 Review of current research

Researchregardingthecomponentsofadatacenterandtheirimportancehasbeencovered inindustryand
academialedresearch.Thereisanimportanceunderstoodthatthedata centeritselfprovidesmany
opportunitiesanduniquefeaturesthatothertypesofcomputing donotfeature.Highlypoweredcondensed
serverclustersandhighavailabilityhardware makethedatacenteracriticalcomponenttotoday’s
organizationalsuccess.Howcanthese typesofenvironmentsbeplannedcorrectlyforfullscalability?
Furthermore,howdoallof thesecomponentsworktogetherinafashionthatcanbemanagedsuccessfully?In
this section,priorresearchispresentedaboutdatacentercriticality,poorsiteplanning,network components,
managementandlastlyscalabilityimportance.

(Alger, 2005)focusedontheneedforadministratorstorealizeandfullyunderstandthe criticaltieofaData

Centertothebusinessitsupports.Thepurposeofhispublicationwasto informadministratorsandexecutivesof
theplanninginvolvedwithaDataCenter.Theother focusofthepublicationwastoaddressthemagnitudeof
componentsthatgointoaData centerandhowtochoosethebestsolutionfortheneedsofthebusiness,or
customer.His researchwasqualitativeregardingthecomponentsandincludedquantitativemethods
involvingdesigninganalysis.Thebookwaswrittenpullingtheexperiencefromtheauthor andthosefromthe
CiscoInfrastructureTeamtogiveadministrators,professionalsand executivesabetterunderstandingofaData
Center.Thebookstructuresitselfintothekey areasofthedatacenter;thesite,thespace,theelectricalsystem,
thenetwork,theairand temperatureofthesite,andthemanagementoftheDataCenter.Theresultsofthe
publicationaremultipledifferentviewsandopinionsaboutthedesignandimplementation oftheDataCenter
andtheavailableoptionstothecustomerallinasinglepublication.This publicationisuniqueinthatitcombines
almostallaspectsofthedatacentertogetherinan analysistothedepththatallkeypointsarecovered.The
technicalflawofthispublication wasthatitdoesnotcoverthedepthnecessaryinDataCentersfornetworking
segregation andflowlayout.
Anothersimilarpublication(Snevely,2002)discussesthoroughlyaboutthelackof constructionplanningwhen
approachingaDataCenter.Themainfocusofhisresearchwas toprovidethoseinterestedinplanningthe
constructionorre‐constructionofaDataCenter andevenasminuteasreconfiguringorretrofittinganexisting
infrastructurewiringcloset. HisattemptwasnottocovertheallaspectsofthedesignofaDataCenter,butto
provide resourcestohelpassistthedesignofaDataCenterbasedoffoftheneedsandrequirements oftheData
Centerforconstructionalpurposes.Hisresearchincludedqualitativemethodsof constructionanddesignfrom
previouscasestudies,experienceanddocuments.The materialcoveredinsidethebookrangesfromexterior
spacedesignsdowntothewiring insideaDataCenterrackandevenincludestrashcontrolmethods.Rob
extensivelycovers andstressestheimportanceofplanninginaDataCenter.Eachsectionwithinthebook

coversatleastonetiporkeypointtomakenote.Thebookalsocoversindepththeneedto followlocalandfederal
buildingcodeinregardstotheconstructionandimplementationofcomponentsinDataCenters.Thisisaunique
featurethatshouldbetakennoteduringplanningstages.TheconclusionthatSnevelymadeduringhisbookwas
thatwhilethe planningofDataCenteriscomplicated,ifdonecorrectlytheDataCentercanprovidea scalableand
modularenvironmentforanysizeandcapabilityneededbythecustomer.The otherresultofthebookisa
publicationthatcanprovidequickreferencefordesign requirementsandtips.Thedifferenceinthispublication
incomparisontootherworksisthat whileitdidnotcomprehensivelycoverservercomponents,ornetwork
componentsitdid coverthemajorityoftheenvironmentalcomponentsnecessarytodatacenterdesignand
shouldlookedatasavalidresourceforstudents.

(Berktowitz,1999)presentedanin‐depthanalysisofenterprisenetworkingandcomponents ofenterprise
networks.Inparticular,thispublicationfocusedfullyonenterprisenetworking ratherthannetworkingin
general.Theauthorrecognizedaproblemwithnetworking “cookbooks”thatclaimtoteacheverything,butlack
thefollow‐throughofexplainingthe “whatandwhy”ofnetworking.Inthispublication,particularlychapters
sevenandeight,the authordistinguishedthedifferentlayersofthenetwork.Itisauniquepublicationthattakes
directlyintoconsiderationtheflowofthenetwork,theperformance,andmostnotable,the implementationof
networksegmentation.Theresultofthissectionwasacomparison betweenthedifferenttechnologies
availableandtherecognitionofcostintheequation duringplanninganddesignstages.Theauthoralso
recognizedthevastarrayofdifferent technologiesavailabletothecustomeranddiscussestheneedto
understandthebusiness’ customer’sneedspriortodesigningthenetworkportionoftheDataCenter.This
publication directlyaddressedtheneedforenterprisenetworkdesignandwentintogreatdetailabout this
topic.ThepublicationdoesnotaddressanyintegrationorcasestudiesofDataCenter integrationandalsodoes
notmentionotherportionsofnetworkingintheDataCenterother thanLayers2andLayer3oftheOSImodel
commonlyreferredtoinnetworking.Whilethe

studyisusefulforasingleimportantcomponentwithinthedatacenter,itdoesnotpresent anyinsightintothe
integrationofanyothercomponentsrelevanttoadatacenter. AgroupatCarnegieMellonUniversity(Sun,2007)
focusedonmanagementofDataCenters. TheyfoundthatmonitoringisacrucialcomponenttoaDataCenter’s
functionalityand maintenance,yettherewerenotcomprehensivesolutionstoaddressmanagement.The
teamatCarnegieMellonthendevelopedanalgorithmthatwillassistinthemanagementof theDataCenterwith
lessofanimpactontheadministrator.Thepurposeofthisresearch wastointroducetothearenaofmonitoring
anothertoolthatprovidedadaptiveandreliable resultsfortheDataCenter.Theirresearchusedmixedmethods
totakeexistingknowledge abouttheSNMPprotocolandmanagementsoftware,whilenewmethodswere
proposed basedupontheseexistingmethods.ThealgorithmwastestedonalargeclusteratCarnegie Mellonto
testfunctionalityandscalability.TheirimplementationutilizedSNMP,whichis oneofthemostubiquitous
protocolsavailableformonitoringpurposes.Thefocusoftheir algorithmwastoassistinandfurtherenhancethe
configurationportionofmonitoring,the reasoningalgorithmusedtodetermineifaneventisanomalous,and
thestorageofthe historicaldata.Theresultsoftheirstudyincludedresultsthatwerenotonlypositive,but
exceededwhattheyfeltweretheirgoalsintheproject.Theirresearchwasrelevanttothe topicofthisthesisin
thatmanagementandmonitoringarecrucialaspectstoaDataCenter.Al‐Fares,Loukissas,andVahdat(Al‐Fares,
2008)discussedthoroughlytheneedforScalable interconnectivityinclusters,economicavailability,and
backwardscompatibilitywithlegacy protocolsandsystems.Theirprojectaddressedaconcernforconnectivity
inhierarchical networkswherebandwidthiscrucialandexpensive.Thepurposeoftheprojectwasforthe team
tointroducetheproblemtothenetworkcommunityandproposeaneconomic solutionthatutilizedexisting
equipmenttosatisfybandwidthneeds.Theirsolutionwasa technologycalledfat‐tree,whichsegregatesthe
networkinto“Pods”andtwo‐levelrouting thatallowslookupsformulti‐pathrouting.Theprojectimplemented
newcodeontoexisting routersandswitchesthathelpedandallowedthemtoperformthetwo‐levelroutingand

lookups.Theimplementationandtestingofthistechnologywassuccessful,howevernot ideal.Thecore‐
switchinglayercanbecomecongestedduetocollisionandroutingdecisions madebytheroutersdownstream.
Theotherresultthatwasnotoptimalwasthenumberof cablesrequiredtocreateameshtopologyforthe
network.Thisprojectvisitsaunique problemthatoccursinDataCenters.Theneedforscalablebandwidthfor
interconnectivity isstillnotascapableastheclustersandtechnologythatisavailableforusage.(Sharma,2008)
addressedtheimportanceofcooling,power,andcomputinginaDataCenter withtherecentchangestoserver
equipmentanddesign.Sharma,Shih,BashandPatel describethechangesinserverhardwareandthatithas
becomemoreandmoredenseand powerfuloverthelastdecade.Thishascreatedahigherlevelofnecessary
resources availablefortheseserverstooperatesuccessfullyandefficiently.Toaddressthisissue,the group
fromHewlett‐PackardproposedacontrolenginetocreateaDataCenterthatcan throttleandchangeits
requirementsforcooling,powerandcomputing.Theauthorsalso discusshowthissolutionvariesfrom
traditionalDataCentermethodologyinthateachgiven areainaDataCenterissegmentedfromothersvia
controlengines.Thethreeareas(Power, Cooling,andComputing)canbethrottledupordownbasedoff
algorithmsthattheauthors havespecified.Ifahigherdemandisnecessaryforonesection,otherscanthrottle
downto allowresourcestobedistributedtotheotherworkloadareasintheDataCenter.Theyalso discussed
thatthethreeneededtobemanagedasanensembleandnotseparateentitiesfor benefitstobeobtained.The
outcomeofthisprojectwastherealizationthatenergy consumptionandflowswillcontinuetobecriticalinData
Centersandthatthemanagement ofthesecommoditieswillbecomemoreandmoreofafocusduringthedesign
oftheData Center.

3 Background
Inpastimplementations,manydifferentgroupsfromdifferentexpertiseandbackgrounds havedesignedthe
variouscomponentsindatacenters.Eachdifferentgrouphadanichein theirrespectivefieldandcompleted
theirinstallationbasedoffofinformationthatwas providedtothembytheprojectmanagerorleadofthe
project.Serverrequirementsinthe pastweremuchdifferentthanthatofserversandequipmenttoday.The
equipmentwas morebulky,andmostsystemsdidnotresideinrackcabinetsoftoday’sstandards.Most systems
calledmainframeshadentirecomputerroomsbuiltaroundthemrequiringhigh amountsofpowerandHVAC
systemsforoperation.Theirfunctionwastoprovidehighly processorintensivecalculationsforanorganization.
Theyalsoallowedforhighdatatransfer andmulti‐clientconnectionasthedevelopmentofthesesystems
progressedthroughthe years.SomeofthemostwellknownofthesesystemswerebuiltandinstalledbyIBM
(Mainframe.)Thecomponentswerenotasdemandingincomparisontotoday’sdatacenter ascomputing
powerwasneitherhighlycondensednorscalable,butthepowerandHVAC requirementsofthesemainframes
wereuniqueandrequiredspecialdesignsfor implementation.Computershaveadvancedconsiderablysince
thepeakofthemainframein the1980’sandmanysystemshavebeenreplacedforserversystemswithinthe
samerooms ordatacentersthatoncehousedtheselargemainframes(Mainframe.)

Asthedemandfortheclient‐serverbasedarchitecture,theInternetandindividual computershasgrown
exponentiallyinthepasttwodecades,theneedtodeploysystemshas alsoincreased.Whilethesenewer
systemsdonothavethefullcomputingpowerthat comparablemainframeshave,theirfootprint,technological
flexibilityandlowerindividual costcreatesalargedemandthusmoreandmoreserverswereimplementedin
short amountsoftime(DiMinico.)Withfurthertechnologicaladvancetheseserversnowcanbe placedinracks
thatcanhouseasmanyas50serversperrack.Theirfootprintcondensesthe heatoutputandelectricalintake.
Withthismanysystemsinasinglerack,onecanclearlysee thechangesandstressthatinfrastructuresnowplace
onthesameenvironmentalsupportofthesedatacentersthatwereoriginallydesignedformainframeusage.
Becauseofthese changes,manyorganizationschoosetoredesign,rebuiltorstartfreshwiththeirdata centers.

Asenvironmentsarere‐built,ithasbecomeanorganization’sabilitytoplanforthescalable futureofits
infrastructure.Fromtheexperiencecompanieshavegainedfromconversionof mainframetoserverclusters
andimplementations,itcanbeexpectedthatthetrendof higherpowerinasmallerlocationwillcontinue.This
createsuniquerequirementsfor electricityandHVACsystem,whicharethetwomostcriticalenvironmental
factorsinadata center(Alger.)Planningforthesetwosystemsmustprovideadequatescalabilityforatento
fifteenyearperiodinregardstoanorganizationalgrowthoutlook.

Inthepastdatacenterimplementationsindividualsresearchcomponentsduringtheproject. Componentsare
researchedonaneedtoknowbasisandsolutionsareprovidedbythese individualsorbyspecializedthirdparty
contractors.Individualswiththeunderstandingofall facetsofthedatacenterarehardtofindandcanchargehigh
ratestouseforconsultation. Informationforindividualsororganizationstocompleteaprojectofthisnaturehas
typically beendispersedinmultiplelocationswithinbooks,Internetarticlesandpersonal experiences.Having
thisinformationavailableisalargetoolthatcangreatlyassistinthe planningofthedatacenter.Havingthe
informationavailable,inonelocationand understoodbyanemployeeorgroupofemployeeswithinan
organizationcanonlyassist withtheplanningandallowforabetterprojectoutcome.Thisisanimportantpiecein
adata centerprojectandisafocusofthisresearch.