Data center upgrade proposal

Data center upgrade proposal (phase one)

Data Center model review and recommendations

2

Executive Summary

Great Lakes began a recent dialogue with a customer regarding current operations and the potential for performance improvement

within the The customer data center.

After a series of initial conversations, the customer expressed a desire to gain an assessment of the current operational status of the

company’s data center, along with data center infrastructure management (DCIM) recommendations which could provide

multi-generational support as the company’s IT needs continue to evolve.

Great Lakes Case & Cabinet was contracted to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the customer’s Data Center and to conduct

complete computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the facility in its current form. Numerous site visits were conducted and

numerous on-site measurements were taken. The operational capabilities of the current data center were captured in a CFD to

establish baseline standards against which any potential future improvements might be measured.

Great Lakes was also asked to look at the short, medium and long term potential for increased density within the data center as well

as an expansion of IT operations within the space. As part of that effort, Great Lakes would offer infrastructure recommendations,

supported by CFD analysis which would create real world performance estimates of future operations within the data center, as those

recommendations might be implemented.

The following pages outline the scope of work performed by Great Lakes as well as the presentation of data collected, infrastructure recommendations made to

the management of the data center (along with estimates and ROI for recommended solutions) as well as CFD modeling designed to estimate data center

performance conditions as those recommendations might be implemented.

Overview - Phase 1 recommended action plan:

The following recommendations are described to increase the performance

and efficiency of the data center based on the modeling data and discussions

with the data center team.

Phase 1 includes:

Network Core tile migration— pg. 4-6

Migrating floor tiles— pg. 7

Removing under-floor baffle— pg. 8-9

Cold aisle and enclosure containment— pg. 10–16

Eliminate air re-circulation in current enclosures

Deployment of cold aisle containment

Core switch migration— pg. 17-18

Increasing CRAC unit set point (as desired)

Additional Information:

Recommended action plan— pg. 23

Bill of Materials— pg. 24

PUE, Cooling Cost Reduction and ROI— pg. 25

Conclusion— pg. 25


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Network Core (Baseline)

Enclosure #207

Rendered view Rendered view with airflow patterns

Rendered view with airflow patterns

Enclosure 207 was chosen for an internal view to demonstrate the airflow

patterns inside the enclosure. The excess air introduced by the unsealed

cable cut-out lowers the temperatures inside the enclosures in the row

protecting the side-to-side airflow equipment from overheating.

207


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Network Core (Phase 1)

Enclosure #207 Rendered view



Enclosure 207 was chosen for an internal view to demonstrate the airflow

patterns inside the enclosure. The excess air introduced by the unsealed

cable cut-out lowers the temperatures inside the enclosures in the row

protecting the side-to-side airflow equipment from overheating.

Perforated floor tiles have been moved to provide a higher flow of conditioned air to the equipment. A high

207


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Network Core (Baseline)

Side to side airflow equipment creating a

cascading heat elevation scenario

Unblocked cable cutouts provide a supply

of cool air inside the enclosure

This reduces the temperature

cascading effect

Network Core (Rearranged floor tiles)

Floor tiles reorganized providing higher flow

of air directly in front of the enclosures

High flow tile installed in front of #207 to

provide additional airflow to core switches

in nearby enclosures

Sampling the temperatures at enclosure

#204 we can see a 7.1o Fahrenheit decline in

temperature.

Temp at 81.5o F

Temp at 74.4o F


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Under-floor

Baseline

With the under-floor plenum installed, the secondary zone created is highly pressurized. In addition, there is minimal to no load in the

secondary zone. This greatly reduces the efficiency of the two CRAC units installed in the zone. It is recommended that this barrier be removed to allow the

two units to supply additional cooling to the entire room.

Entrance


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Phase 1

With the plenum barrier removed, the CRAC units airflow from the secondary zone can travel to the entire data center sup-

porting IT loads where needed. This is especially significant when utilizing cold aisle containment. With the cold aisle con-

tained the proximity of the CRAC unit in a data center to the load becomes less critical. Every unit in the data center can sup-

ply conditioned air to the entire facility. In the event of unit(s) failures(s) provided that the overall cooling capacity does not

fall below the IT load the equipment will continue to operate without interruption. This increases uptime by reducing the

criticality of any one unit, and makes unit maintenance more manageable.

Underfloor

Entrance


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Tile Migration

Entrance

Tile migration for phase 1 development. By removing tiles in the hot aisle and locations not directly near IT equipment the under-floor pressure increases

creating a higher velocity of airflow to the equipment providing better cooling. In addition, by reducing the amount of conditioned air mixing with exhaust

air the return temperature to the CRAC units increases which increases the efficiency of the entire HVAC system.


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Equipment Orientation—Baseline

Entrance

Shown is the current layout of enclosures and floor tiles in the data center. The red X on the CRAC unit indicates that it is currently non-operational.


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Aisle completion with enclosures

Aisle completion: The following enclosures are recommended to complete the rows. These were based on discussions with IT and their future expansion plans.

GL840ES-2442 enclosures - qty 13 (2 enclosures will replace enclosures highlighted in red)

#1— Qty. 2

#2— Qty. 4 (6)

#3— Qty. 5

GL840ENT-3242MSS enclosures—qty 3

#5— Qty. 3

1

2

3

4


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Equipment Orientation—Phase 1

Entrance

Phase 1 layout shows the completed rows, migrated tiles overhead panels and aisle doors are hidden to show cold aisles.


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Server Farm (Baseline)

Unfinished rows increase potential for

recirculation of hot air

Open rack spaces create short circuits inside the

enclosure, allowing conditioned air to bypass

equipment and hot aisle to recirculate back into the

equipment intakes

Server Farm (Phase 1)

Additional enclosures complete rows and segregate hot

and conditioned air

Open rack spaces have filler panels installed to

reduce short circuits

Cisco 6500 switches migrated from EMC

enclosure to 30” wide enclosure

Floor tiles have been moved from other areas in the

datacenter to complete cold aisle

Model temperature comparison shows an 10.9o F

61.1o F

71.9o F


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Server Farm Cold Aisle Containment

Shown is an overhead view of the complete aisles with containment doors at the end of the aisles and overhead containment panels containing conditioned

air in the cold aisle. This design was tested based on discussion with the data center team based on its ability to reduce the criticality of any one CRAC unit

failure, eliminates hot air re-circulation improving the performance and extending the life of the equipment.


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San Switch Migration—Phase 1

Cisco Catalyst 6509-E core switches are migrated to two of the GL840ES-3048 enclosures in the 700 row.

Baffle kits are installed to prevent air recirculation from one switch to the next eliminating the potential

for cascading heat issues.


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San Switch—Phase 1

(side view w/baffles)

Intake side (baffle side hidden)

Exhaust side

Baffles reduce recirculation by directing conditioned air toward the intake side and exhausting the hot air

toward the cold aisle. Used in conjunction with a brush grommet kit, side-to-side airflow operates efficient-

ly in a hot aisle/cold aisle configuration.


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Baseline—Top View

Entrance

1

1. Highest temp in the cold aisle currently. Model data average temp 73.6F

2. Network core temps outside of the enclosure reach upwards of 75F

2

CRAC Unit Specifications

Set Point 72o F

Supply Temp. 61o F


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Phase 1—Top View (Polargy panels hidden to make cold aisle visible)

Entrance

1

1. Cold aisle temp consistent at 62.2F

2. Network core temps outside of the enclosure at 73.4F

3. Migrated SAN switches are active and exhausting temps at 82F

By implementing containment, cold aisle temperatures are within a few degrees of under-floor tile supply. This

allows the CRAC units to be increased in one degree increments and cold aisle temps will increase accordingly.

2 3

CRAC Unit Specifications

Set Point 72o F

Supply Temp. 61o F


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Baseline—Look Down View


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Phase 1—Look Down View

SAN switch migration creating

temps of 87F


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CRAC Unit Failure Analysis—Baseline

When the CRAC unit with the highest load on it (conditioning the most air in the data center) is shutdown, the hot air from

the server farm (specifically the blade server enclosures) travels to the next nearest unit. This increases the load on that unit

as well as increases the cold aisle temperatures. This scenario creates massive short cycling of hot air, increasing the

equipment intake temperatures, resulting in equipment “thermal-ing down/off” or failing.

90.1F Temp


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When cold aisle containment is implemented and the CRAC unit is shut down the hot air continues to travel to the nearest

available unit. However, with the cold aisle contained a consistent flow of conditioned air is supplied into the aisle equipment

intakes; no hot air short cycling can occur, resulting in uninterrupted service in the event of a single unit failure.

Temps taken at enclosure 508 show a delta of 8 degrees Farenheit. In addition temps taken in the cold remain a consistent

60-63 degrees F.

CRAC Unit Failure Analysis— Phase One

82.1F Temp


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Recommended Action Plan

Network Core tile migration— pg. 4-6

Migrating floor tiles— pg. 9

Removing under-floor baffle— pg. 7-8

Cold aisle and enclosure containment— pg. 10-14

Completing aisles with enclosures pg. 11-13

Eliminate air re-circulation in current enclosures

Install filler panels in open RMU

Install solid top panels— IT3

Install side panel blanks— IT4

Deployment of cold aisle containment

Install Polargy Polar-Plex panels— IT6

Install aisle containment doors— IT1/IT2

Core switch migration— pg. 15-16

Installation of Baffle Kits— ESSAB14

Increasing CRAC unit set point (as desired) - For every degree the set point is raised 4% efficiency gain*

*source: The American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers TC 9.9


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PUE, Cooling Cost Reduction and ROI

PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness):

Average PUE for 2011 (based on data provided) 1.84

PUE estimate (after phase 1 completion) 1.39

Current and Projected cooling costs:

Current average monthly cooling cost (based on data provided) $4,153.38

Projected average monthly cooling cost $1,930.75

Estimated savings $2,222.63*

*Projected average savings and ROI can be improved by raising set point(s), reducing fan speed and cycling CRAC units. Performance will vary

based on system flexibility and tolerances


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Conclusion:

Great Lakes has designed and modeled a solution that provides the customer with a data center upgrade plan designed to in-

crease the energy efficiency and reliability of their current design by segregating hot and cold air, optimizing air delivery, and

deploying cold aisle containment.

Recommendations:

1. Adjust the floor tiles providing airflow to the enclosures at the network core. Moving the tiles directly in front of the en-

closures will allow a greater supply of conditioned air to reach the equipment, greatly improving the exhaust tempera-

ture of the airflow equipment installed in the racks and lowering the internal enclosure temperatures. This effort will

result in a decreased risk of thermal issues: performance degradation, thermal shutdown, and early equipment

mortality.

2. Create and fully contain the cold aisles in the server farm. This can be achieved in several steps: redeploying and consoli-

dating floor tiles; completing the aisles with enclosures; installing filler panels in any unused RMU; and containing the

cold aisle through the use of end of row doors and overhead containment panels.

Through containment, the conditioned air is segregated from hot exhaust air. Contained conditioned air will remain at

delivered temperature until used by the equipment. Another advantage of cold aisle containment is consistency in cold

aisle temperatures which will be very close to the supply temperatures of the CRAC units. Any increase to the set points of

the CRAC unit should proportionally increase the conditioned air supplied to the cold aisle. This should make it much easi-

er to the deliver a consistent supply temperature to every piece of equipment.

Modeling revealed that the removal of the under floor baffle could increase the amount of cooling capacity to the entire

room. A fully open raised floor, in conjunction with cold aisle containment, could reduce the impact a single CRAC unit failure

will have on the data center. This scenario was modeled at the CRAC unit with the highest load in the server farm. Hot aisle

temperatures increased dramatically, while the cold aisle remained at supply temperatures. (pgs. 21-22)


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Conclusion:

By completing the Phase 1 recommendations, the data centers

overall performance will be improved by:

Better utilizing the conditioned air

Balancing the load per CRAC unit more effectively

Increasing the available capacity (in RMU) on the datacenter floorspace

Significantly reducing recirculation in the enclosure

Improving reliability

Reduced intake temperatures increasing equipment lifespan

Balanced CRAC unit load reduces dependency on a single unit failure

Cold aisle containment allows the server equipment to continue operation even

when closest proximity CRAC unit fails

Documents

Data center upgrade proposal