What is Data Center Design?

Data center design is the architecture of a physical data center facility. Data centers contain vast amounts of computing infrastructure and house multiple tenants close to their places of business. The design of these data centers focuses on maximizing the availability of the computing infrastructure at all times. Design considerations include power, cooling, networking, and physical security. Organizations use modern data centers as part of their hybrid cloud environments.

The primary goal of data center infrastructure management is to create a facility that helps to keep computing infrastructure available and secure at all times. The process typically involves managing the configuration and use of many different building systems.

Physical security

Physical access to data centers should be tightly controlled, as network access is an important consideration for critical infrastructure. Access control measures at major data centers commonly include biometric readers at access points, video surveillance systems, and on-site security personnel.

Environmental safety systems

Data centers should also include “clean agent” fire suppression systems designed to better protect computing resources. Modern options include halon and other non-conductive gaseous agents, as well as fine-mist water suppression systems, designed to absorb heat and evaporate before it can damage equipment. Depending on the data center’s local region, other safety measures can also be necessary, such as seismic bracing in earthquake-prone areas or waterproofing in flood-prone areas.

Computing infrastructure

Data centers rely on varied numbers and types of servers to run applications and process data. Servers come in different types to meet various performance and space requirements. Multiple servers can be stacked in racks to optimize floor space usage. Server racks often include features such as mesh doors for airflow, sliding shelves, dedicated areas for cabling and cooling, and other data center equipment.

You often see compact, modular blade servers deployed for high-density computing in data centers. Blade servers slide into a shared enclosure called a chassis, which provides power, cooling, and network connectivity. This design consolidates support systems and cabling into single units to save space and improve energy efficiency.

Storage infrastructure

Data centers use highly scalable storage solutions to manage the large volumes of data used in modern computing. Block storage devices, such as hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs), store data in fixed-sized blocks. These drives can be grouped into Storage Area Networks (SANs), which provide high-performance, low-latency access to datasets that span multiple servers. Depending on the use case, you can also observe network-attached storage (NAS) devices used for scalable file-level storage.

Network infrastructure

Key networking equipment in data centers includes switches, routers, firewalls, and structured cabling.

Electrical and power systems

Traditional data centers typically need redundant power feeds, backup generators, and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) for all major computing infrastructure to help make sure systems remain available during power outages.

Temperature control systems

Most data centers incorporate climate or temperature control systems into their design because computing and network infrastructure can generate substantial amounts of heat. Common options can include HVAC systems, airflow containment, and environmental monitoring tools to help maintain optimal temperatures.

Networking

Engineers typically design modern data center components for high-speed, resilient network connectivity. Their goal with network design is to make sure the data center can maintain low-latency communication internally and with external users and systems.

Data center design standards provide a framework for building reliable and secure facilities. Among the most widely recognized standards is the Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System. It defines four levels of design standards to classify data centers depending on desired performance levels.

Uptime Institute Tiers

Tier I (Basic Capacity): Data centers meet this standard if they include key components such as dedicated cooling systems, use of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and a backup generator. Data centers at this tier can protect against disruptions from human error, but not unexpected failure or outage, or human errors in maintenance.

Tier II (Redundant Capacity): This tier adds redundant power and cooling equipment on top of Tier I standards to provide better maintenance opportunities. While system shutdowns for system maintenance may still be required, they are far less common.

Tier III (Concurrently Maintainable): Data centers at this tier deploy redundant components so that systems do not need to be shut down for engineers to perform maintenance or replace equipment.

Tier IV (Isolated and Concurrently Maintainable): A Tier IV data center features several independent, physically isolated, and redundant systems to help meet maximum possible uptime. All equipment must have a fault-tolerant power design to meet this standard.

Other major data center standards

Several other global standards also guide best practices in data center design:

ANSI/BICSI 002: This standard covers all aspects of data center design from site selection and electrical systems to security, fire safety, cabling, and energy efficiency. It applies to traditional, modular, and edge data centers.

EN 50600 (DC): This is a European standard that defines requirements for data center physical infrastructure, including availability, security, and operational sustainability.

Designing even a single data center requires careful planning to ensure the facility is reliable, efficient, and scalable for the future. Using data center services built according to industry best practices can help meet your current and future business needs.

Resilient design philosophy

Data centers should be able to resist a broad range of potential disruptions, from power outages to natural disasters. Important design considerations can include using fault-tolerant data center architecture and redundant power sources, such as backup generators and UPS systems.

Monitoring and automation

Facility temperature, humidity, power use, and system health are all metrics you can monitor to optimize data center stability and performance. Where possible, use modern, automated detection systems to identify high-priority issues, such as overheating or failing hardware.

Energy efficiency

Data centers should be designed for energy efficiency, using efficient power distribution, modern cooling technology and techniques, and energy-efficient hardware to reduce environmental impact. Liquid cooling systems and airflow strategies, such as hot/cold aisle containment, can help minimize energy consumption.

Scalability

Scalable designs allow you to adapt faster to changing workloads and evolving technology requirements. A well-designed data center that can support growth needs to have space, power, and cooling capacity to add new server racks as demand increases.

Configuration documentation

Maintaining clear records can help you respond to issues and simplify upgrade processes, which might otherwise incur unnecessary downtime. Document all essential configurations in your data center. That should include cabling, server hardware and software configurations, network topology, and control system settings.

A hybrid cloud combines two or more separate computing environments, such as an on-premises data center and public clouds, to function as a single, flexible IT infrastructure. Integrating these environments allows you to place workloads where they fit best.

Extend your existing network

You can use a public cloud’s global network to transfer sensitive data between geographically dispersed data centers securely.

Manage large data sets

Hybrid cloud environments help you move large datasets reliably and at scale.

Application migration and modernization

Migrating legacy systems to the cloud can be challenging when they depend on low-latency connections to on-premises databases or hardware. Hybrid cloud environments can help you to segment migrations into smaller portions that you can address one at a time.

Local data processing and archival

For big data sets generated at the network edge, such as by IoT devices or medical imaging systems, sending everything to the cloud isn’t always practical. A hybrid cloud environment can allow you to process and analyze data locally. After processing, only the necessary data is sent to long-term storage systems in the cloud, or for analytics or training of machine learning models.

Data center design must evolve as more organizations adopt hybrid cloud models. Success can depend on aligning physical infrastructure with cloud capabilities in three key areas.

Dedicated connectivity

For a hybrid cloud to operate reliably, it is important to maintain low-latency connections between your data center and the public cloud. Instead of relying on public internet connections for this purpose, many organizations use dedicated connections such as AWS Direct Connect to improve application performance and security.

Cloud-compatible hardware

To run cloud-native workloads locally, you can maintain hardware that supports data center operations across all relevant environments. That includes systems that can host containerized applications, automation tools, and management platforms used in the cloud.

Aligned security standards

Security policies used by your data center should also align with your cloud environment’s systems. This includes consistent identity management, network segmentation, encryption practices, and monitoring tools. By applying the same security model on-premises as in the cloud, you minimize gaps that attackers could enter.

AWS supports hybrid cloud configurations, helping you to create a more integrated cloud and data center environment.

• AWS Direct Connect allows you to link your AWS and modern data centers to build applications that span environments without compromising performance.

• AWS Local Zones are a type of infrastructure deployment that places compute, storage, database, and other select AWS services close to large population centers. These local zones are close to your on-premises data center or end-users to provide a low-latency hybrid cloud.

• AWS Outposts is a family of fully managed solutions delivering AWS infrastructure and services to virtually any on-premises or edge data center location for a truly consistent hybrid experience. Using Outposts, you can run AWS services in your data center.

• AWS Wavelength allows you to run applications using AWS Infrastructure and services in AWS telco partners’ data centers to meet your low-latency, data residency, and resiliency needs.

Get started with hybrid cloud on AWS by creating a free account today.