Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology [Paperback]

Rob Snevely (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

• A practical guide that provides a scalable, modular methodology for designing data centers of any size and capability
• Includes design techniques for accurate planning based on data center capacities
• Covers all aspects of data center design from site selection to network connectivity

Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology is a practical guide to designing a data center from inception through construction. The fundamental design principles take a simple, flexible, and modular approach based on accurate, real-world requirements and capacities. This approach contradicts the conventional (but totally inadequate) method of using square footage to determine basic capacities like power and cooling requirements.

In addition to providing sound design advice, this BluePrint provides information about a wide range of topics including capacity sizing, site selection, data center environmental considerations, network infrastructures, building code and construction considerations, and hazard avoidance. If you are building a new data center, are retrofitting an existing one, or are working in a data center and simply want a better understanding of these complex environments, you will find this book to be a valuable resource.

About the Author

Rob Snevely is an Enterprise Architect at Sun Microsystems, working in the Quality Engineering and Deployment organization. He has over 14 years' experience working with large-scale UNIX systems in data center environments and is responsible for data center architecture for all of the Enterprise Technology Centers at Sun. Since coming to work for Sun in 1990 as a system administrator, he has been involved with network and system performance and large scale system engineering. His liberal arts background in theatre, art history, and fashion design augment his practical and pragmatic methods for designing data centers.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (February 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130473936
• ISBN-13: 978-0130473936
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to find information that is clearly presented, March 19, 2002

By 

Linda Zarate "IT Ops Consultant" (Azusa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology (Paperback)

There is a large gap between IT data center operations and facilities management professionals. This book bridges that gap, at least on the IT side, by clearly explaining the issues and factors that need to be addressed for effective management of a data center that complies with local codes and regulations. Most IT professionals are unaware of the regulatory requirements with which a data center must comply - unless they've been shut down by a city inspector at which point the concept of reliability, availability and support becomes moot. This book provides a good education about this obscure topic, as well as everything else that a data center operations manager should know in order to do his or her job. This doesn't shift responsibilities away from facilities managers, but does give IT and facilities common ground and a shared understanding of each domains roles and responsibilities. Here's an example of why this is necessary: systems that need to be brought into production usually require platforms, storage and network connections. These consume power, environmental system capacity and require space, all of which are finite and all of which are governed by building, fire and safety codes. Many organizations order equipment first, then notify facilities, when the right way is to jointly plan and manage data center growth. This book provides the basis for doing this, and if followed by both IT and facilities, will ensure smooth and uninterrupted operations and proactive physical capacity management.

The book starts with data center design philosophy, giving the top ten design guidelines. This is followed with detailed design criteria that covers project issues, insurance and local building codes. While these are of more concern to facilities managers IT needs to be aware of their impact. It also discusses availability profiles, which does directly concern IT. Chapter 3 is also of direct interest to IT because it discusses physical and logical Security, facilities system monitoring and planning for expansion. In fact, this chapter is where IT and facilities professionals intersect.

Chapters 4 through 8 are of more interest to facilities professionals because the topics cover details such as physical capacities and resources, site selection and construction details, implementing raised floors, power distribution and HVAC. Despite the slant towards facilities, reading through these chapters will give IT data center managers insights into the challenges faced by facilities, and will offer a lot of information that can be used to develop safety plans and general housekeeping procedures.

The next chapters (9 through 12) are of interest to both IT and facilities, and cover network cabling infrastructure, shipping, receiving, and staging, hazards and environmental contaminants, codes and construction. These are areas in which IT and facilities need to closely collaborate.

This is the first book that covers data center facilities in a manner that IT professionals will find readable and understandable. It usually takes years of experience and reading facilities-focused materials of which only a fraction is applicable to gain the knowledge that the author provides.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great info, bad pictures, March 16, 2006

By 

Chris Maier (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology (Paperback)

This book seems to be really informative so far. We're in the midst of designing a 700 square foot data center and there are a lot of great tips and tricks we never would have thought of in there.

My only complaint so far is the quality of the pictures. They're all black and white, which is fine, but they look like they've been photocopied about 20 times before they made it to the book. Very poor quality there for the price.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Source for Data Center Design Considerations, July 28, 2005

By 

C. Osborn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology (Paperback)

I am working on relocating a Data Center to a new building as part of a manufacturing environment. This book provided some valuable background information for selling why I needed things that aren't available in normal office environments. I was dealing with maintenance staff that has no experience with Data Centers and every penny I needed to spend on the increased power, HVAC and security requirements for the facility were a hard sell. This book helped me communicate those needs in a way they understood.