Questions To Ask Your Datacentre

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I have worked with many customers who build private, hybrid or public cloud infrastructures based in many datacentres. From here, services are created for scalability and consistent performance for demanding yet fluctuating activities for data streaming or e-commerce transactions.

However not all datacentres are the same, and the following are a number of questions that should be asked when considering any colocation provider. 

1. What Are The Different Types of Datacentre?

Datacentres are classified into tiers by a system developed by the Uptime Institute based on availability. The system has evolved from a shared industry terminology into the global standard for third-party validation of datacentre critical infrastructure.
Datacentre type
Characteristics
SLA (per annum)
Tier IV
Two independent power utility supplies
Fully redundant (2N+1)
Able to sustain 96 hours power outage
99.995% availability
25 mins downtime 
Tier III
Multiple power and cooling paths
Fault tolerant (N+1)
Able to sustain 72 hours power outage
99.982% availability
1.6 hrs downtime
Tier II
Single path of power and cooling
Some redundancy in power and cooling
99.749% availability
22.7 hrs downtime
Tier I
Single supply of power and cooling
No redundant components
99.671% availability
28.8 hrs downtime



 2. How well Connected is the Datacentre?

Connectivity is the datacentre’s lifeline and required for all infrastructure, content and services housed at the facility. As businesses become more ambitious in their use of external facilities, latency becomes important for database and e-commerce applications, not just voice and video. 

·       Who else uses the datacentre? 
·       Which carriers are present in the building and can they provide a list? 
·       How many duct/fibre entries are there to the building?


3. How Is The Datacentre Powered? What Are The Contingencies? 

Most datacentres will have multiple supplied from the national grid, as well as some form of resiliency supply such as generators or batteries. Power interruption is one of the greatest risks within a datacentre. 

·       What is the average and maximum power density per cabinet?
·       What is the current facility load and what is the maximum capacity? (understanding scalability)
·       Are there UPS batteries? How long do they last?
·       How many generators supply power?  And how many standby?
·       What are the capacity of the generators? Can they cope with projected increase in demand from new customers?
·       How often does the datacentre load test its generators?
·       How often are they tested at full load?
·       How long can the generators operate for?


4. What Cooling Systems Are In Place?

Adequate cooling is critical and cooling systems are coming under more pressure than ever, as rack power densities increase. ASHRAE’s environmental guidelines for datacentres recommend that equipment be kept between 18c to 27c with a maximum humidity level of 60%. 

·       Are the computer room air conditioners (CRAC) kept outside of the data halls to isolate water supplies from IT areas? 
·       Are there multiple independent paths for coolants?
·       Does the datacentre create cold/hot aisle containments areas to increase efficiency? 
·       How are cooling zones provisioned to maintain operating temperatures during maintenance or failures of CRAC/CRAH units?


5. What Security is in Place?

Security is essential for any datacentre. 

·       What safeguards and processes are in place to prevent unauthorised access to equipment and the assets stored on them?
·       What are the highest risk natural disasters for the area, and what has the datacentre done to mitigate their impact?
·       Does the datacentre comply with security standards such as ISO27001 and, where appropriate, PCI-DSS?



6. Other things to consider?

·       How often are the fire suppression systems tested?
·       What are the minimum skill sets of the datacentre hands & eyes staff?
·       What certifications has the datacentre earned, and do they undergo annual audits to maintain them?
·       How does the datacentre track SLA compliance, and what is their historical track record? Can they provide their last 5 failure reports?
·       How clean is the datacentre?
·       Does the datacentre comply with management standards such as ISO9001?

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