Ask DrPeering

Last week, the ask.DrPeering.net clinic took a tour of the Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX)¹, one of the oldest and best connected Internet Exchange Points in the world. A couple newbie guests accompanied us and reminded us that everyone goes through the same FIRST Internet Data Center Tour Experience...

The problem everyone faces on their first Internet Data Center tour is that

1)you are entering into a cold and noisy environment with cages (enclosing equipment that doesn’t appear to have any interest in trying to escape), and
2)you are then being shown banks of tall beige or grey boxes that you have never seen before and will never have to understand how to operate, and

3) you are told no less than 50 discrete pieces of acronym laden information that may or may not be relevant to your use of the facility.

You leave overwhelmed from your first tour, unable to explain what you saw. There are no “You are Here ᐅ” maps to provide context.

All of this expensive equipment simply controls the environment to make sure that the power never goes off, and that the equipment is all properly cooled.

What helps us more seasoned folks is the conceptual model in our heads of what Internet Exchange Points have. This model conveniently helps us place the information we hear into a contextual map of what is going on here.

So, for the friends of DrPeering (all of you reading this), we have created a very rough work sheet to take along with you on your data center tours.

This will give you a sense for the kinds of statements/issues that will come up and where to place the answers to those questions in the model. There are lots of in depth articles about data centers on the net - you will find as much detail as you want about all the equipment you will see and the tradeoffs data center architects make.

So print out this “Data Center Tour Companion” for your first tour and see if it helps at all.

-- Dr Dee Cee

DCee@DrPeering.net

DrPeering@ask.DrPeering.net

¹ When AboveNet purchased the PAIX from DEC it duplicated the PAIX model and rebranded PAIX as Public Access Internet Exchange to remove the Palo Alto centric nature of the name.

The First Internet Data Center tour is confusing and overwhelming. Just remember that all this expensive equipment controls the environment to make sure that the power never goes off, and that the equipment is all properly cooled.

So you want to tour an Internet Exchange Point

Monday, July 6, 2009

Internet Service Provider(s)

A Data Center Tour Companion

Real Estate

Real estate - Facility Name:

Address:

Proximity to fiber - data centers with easy access to fiber means the cost of getting into the building will be lower

Sold by sq ft or by the rack or cage or private suite?

Do you provide racks or do customers ship them

Rack size? Sq Ft per rack?

$/sq ft _______________ OR ________ sq ft

$/rack _______________ for ________ racks

Right of First refusal? ________

SIZE

What is the size of the data center?

How much rentable space is there?

How much space is available?

Floor Load Capacity:

BUSINESS MODEL

Carrier Neutral -OR- Carrier sells space to customers -OR- ISP sells space to customer

(These impact who they see as the most desirable customers and impacts what you can and cannot reasonably do in the facility.)

When was building built?

Are there other locations?

What is the process for space acquisition?

Core Infrastructure and Operations

Here is where real estate becomes a workable data center with enough reliable power cooling and security to support computing and network services.

You will hear about three main support systems that all Internet Data Centers possess - use the spaces below to fill out the information you hear in each of these categories

Operations

Core Infrastructure

Real Estate

Security Systems

These sub systems control and monitor access to the facilities.

Access Control - Security and Ease of accessing your equipment

Hours and Rules for accessing the building

bag searches

scheduled in advance mandatory?

security staff - outsourced to who? company staff?

when are escorts required?

Access to colocation area mechanism?

Time to access to customer equipment? Rack lock type? Cage lock type?

Do you require an open ticket to drop ship equipment?

Mantrap ?

Badges? Signing in?

Surveillance

Cameras - external, corridors, cages, loading docks

video stored for how long?

video monitored by who?

Loading dock?

Storage area for equipment to be installed?

Freight elevator?

Wiring system layout?

EXTERIOR

Building protection? Concrete Bollards?

Fire suppression System

Heating Venting Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems

Here you will hear about the chillers, forced air systems or raised floor systems. There is a lot of religion surrounding raised floor versus forced air and cold and warm aisles.

Power Systems

How many Generators and of what size? Where are they? Fuel tanks where? How long can they run on the fuel? How does fuel conditioning occur? Who provides refueling?

UPS Systems?

Flywheel systems?

A/C Plant - level of redundancy? 2N or 2N+1 are common

D/C Plant - level of redundancy?

Maintenance Schedules

How is power provisioned here? Is there enough power? Power per square foot available?

All Internet Data centers include some form of the following core systems:

1.Real Estate: Places to put customer equipment and support infrastructure

2.Infrastructure: Hardware and Software Systems required for data center operation including Power, Heating Cooling / Air Conditioning (HVAC), Security, etc. and monitoring equipment for the infrastructure.

3.Facilities Operations: Activities to ensure the infrastructure is operating properly.

4.Network: Support for connectivity into/out of data center (This includes both a sustainable business model and infrastructure support).

Operations

Core Infrastructure

Real Estate

Carrier Network(s)

Carrier Networks

How many carriers provide fiber or transport (circuit) services into the data center?

List of Carriers

Is there a meet me room for carriers? How much capacity did they bring in to service the building? Do they have expansion space - ability to increase capacity as needed for the population here?

Does the facility offer transport between other facilities where peering occurs?