Data Center Infrastructure Design Best Practices
Whatever its size, there’s one thing all businesses have in common – the server room is the heart of the whole operation. Your enterprise’s data center is always a core component of your corporation, from the latest HP servers to breakthrough new connectivity technologies.
Of course, healthy data center investment is one thing – effectively putting your HP’s latest server models and other assets to work is another. While the likes of the HP ProLiant server family are designed to be intuitive, the truth is that some data center setup practices can make a massive difference to the efficiency and connectivity of your business.
Essential Data Center Components
For the most effective data center operation, it’s important to understand how your HP server family and other elements in your data center interact.
In data center design, your organization’s HP servers are just one feature. Your data center also needs:
- Security infrastructure
- Storage infrastructure
- Network connectivity infrastructure
- Cables
- Racks
- Cooling and ventilation
Creating an effective setup that facilitates temperature control, airflow, ventilation, connectivity, and accessibility for members of your team to conduct vital HP server maintenance check inspections are key considerations for effective data center design.
Build with an Eye Towards Growth and Scalability
As with any significant technology investment, your HP servers and overall data center infrastructure ought to be implemented with futureproofing in mind.
While figuring out how to effectively budget for data center design is often a hurdle, it’s often the more down-to-earth challenges that catch many organizations off guard when setting up their HP servers.
For example, something as simple as disorganized cabling can create the need for extensive downtimes, disconnectivity, and HP server maintenance check callouts. Moreover, it’s a question of calculating the pace of your future growth – and your forthcoming HPE server needs accordingly. That means not only the physical space your HP server family will take up, but also:
- your future capacity needs
- the amount of power your servers will need
- that all-important heat management strategy
Can You Have Too Many HP Servers?
On average, organizations use one server per 20 connected computers – an office of 100 people would use five HP Proliant servers, for instance.
While keeping an eye on future growth is admirable, having several hi-tech units like the HP Proliant DL380 Gen10 server standing idle too far ahead of time can be costly – however, it also prevents something of a security threat, in terms of both cybersecurity and physical security, given the value of HP servers themselves.
A good HP server service specialist can help to conduct an audit of your data center space and the computer systems you intend to implement in your business.
Solutions to 5 Common Server Room Problems
While operating a data center might sound prohibitively complex, understanding how to keep your HP servers performing at their best ultimately comes down to a few key factors. Proactively plan against these data center challenges, and your HPE server systems will rarely let you down.
Temperature
Perhaps the most well-known yet widely reported HP server issues arise due to mismanagement of temperature. Even advanced machinery such as HP Gen10 servers build up tremendous heat as a result of everyday operation, and managing that heat is vital.
To perform at their best, HPE servers need a consistent ambient temperature of 68°– 72°F (20°– 24°C). That means you need to control the heat generated by the servers themselves, using
- Fans
- Airflow
- Panelling
Humidity
While humidity in your data center is often the by-product of temperature control, there are ways in which it can get out of hand if you don’t monitor humidity levels for your HP servers closely.
Ideally, a 50% humidity level in your data center, with 5% of ‘wiggle room’ on either side, provides an optimal working environment for HPE servers, Canada-based and otherwise.
Failing to manage server room humidity can have dire consequences. If your data center gets too dry, the risk of electrostatic discharge becomes pronounced – and if it’s too humid, water condensation can cause rust and short circuits.
Vibration
Even when running quietly, HP servers are demonstrating thousands of barely perceptible movements all the time. After all, hard drives are inherently mechanical, and their spinning alone can cause improperly mounted hardware to shake loose and fail.
However, vibrations from the world around us can have a similarly catastrophic effect on an unprepared data center. Heavy traffic from a nearby road can create vibrations that loosen server racks – even lots of people passing by can have this kind of effect.
Water
Sure, you made sure your trusty HP server system didn’t get wet from humidity - but what if a leak springs in your building’s plumbing? What if damp gathers in old walls and falls through cracks into your data center?
Checking that your servers are as isolated as can be from any and all sources of water is vital in ensuring you don’t suffer outages, downtimes and HP server service callouts.
Poor Cable Management
Even the latest server models on the market can experience slowdown and inefficiencies if their cables are mismanaged.
Avoid bunching cables through too-tight holes that restrict their physical performance, and definitely make sure your cables aren’t laid out in ways that block your data center’s airflow either.
It’s important to keep the human side of this story in mind as well: haphazard and jumbled-up data center cables are time-consuming to sort and troubleshoot, which will lead to longer downtimes if you ever need HP server service callouts.
Plan Properly for Your Data Center with IT Yuda
Through proper planning, you can create a data center facility that meets your organization’s performance goals and business needs today and tomorrow. IT Yuda is always ready to help you ensure your facility operates well from the very beginning. Contact our expert team today to help you smooth the journey to data center success with our wide selection of networking and server equipment.