Ten steps towards an optimal IT infrastructure

What makes up the physical infrastructure of a data centre? How do you go about selecting the optimal system components? And what service aspects and services are available? The answers to these fundamental questions can be found in the new White Paper by Rittal, solution provider for IT infrastructures, and Reichle & De-Massari AG (R&M), manufacturer and provider of cabling solutions for high-performance data centre networks.

Thursday, 30th July 2015 Posted 9 years ago in by Phil Alsop

The White Paper “Ten Steps towards an Optimal IT Infrastructure” by Rittal and R&M is available now. For the first time, the two providers are presenting their expertise in a joint White Paper. It guides data centre planners and operators, as well as administrators, through the complete physical infrastructure of a data centre and provides information on how to select the optimal system components. Rittal covers the IT infrastructure from the rack through power distribution to monitoring, while R&M deals with structured cabling, polarity management, and network monitoring.

The first step in the White Paper describes an IT rack, which is the basis of every data centre: a standardized 19” cabinet that can act as a server or network cabinet, depending on whether it is used to store servers or switches. The power supply components are described in Step 2. A low-voltage main distribution board (LVMD) distributes power to each area and a generator ensures a power supply in case of emergency. The uninterruptible power supply (UPS) converts the current from the LVMD and filters out any interruptions. The power is then distributed to the server in the rack via Power Distribution Units (PDU). A climate control system ensures that the warm air extracted from the server is removed from the data centre, cooled, and fed in again.
Measuring data relating to temperatures and humidity is recorded by a monitoring system, as described in Step 4. This system transmits the data to the data centre Infrastructure Management Software (DCIM), which triggers an alarm if necessary.

In steps 5 to 10, the White Paper compares the logical network architectures and topology concepts for the standards. Both Rittal and R&M expect this to help improve communication between manufacturers, planners, and practitioners. The key task is the translation of the logical topologies into a structured cabling infrastructure in accordance with TIA-942-A or EN 50600-2-4.

The trends towards virtualization and cloud computing show that not only are numerous new systems being built, but existing systems are being retrofitted quickly too. Rittal and R&M are both concerned about the operative success of the data centres in this current dynamic period of upheaval.