E3 Power Management

E2 Equipment Hosting

Facilities are not managed simply because they exist and are owned by an organization. They are managed so that the people and equipment they contain can be used for specific purposes. In the case of IT Facilities, such as Data Centres, this adds some very specific demands to the manager of that facility.

One of these is the hosting of IT equipment. This is not just a case of providing a room and allowing the Technical Management teams to install and manage equipment. Different types of equipment have very specific requirements of the facility in which it is housed, for example:

• Water-cooled equipment needs access to cool water – which has to be supplied by the facility
• The weight of equipment varies and has to be distributed so as not to place too much stress on the floor
• Electrical supply may vary for different types of equipment.

If equipment is simply placed in the Data Centre in the order in which it is received, it will be very difficult to find anything and staff may have to cross the floor several times to tend to similar equipment. This traffic jeopardizes the integrity and security of other equipment on the floor.

This means that Facilities Management has to own the responsibility of planning and designing the layout of the Data Centre for optimal access and security of the equipment that will be hosted there. At the same time, it should be remembered that this equipment is being used to deliver IT services, and any requirements for that service need to be taken into account in hosting the equipment. For example, Data Centre standards may have to be changed in order to accommodate a non-standard server.

In addition, most Data Centres also offer the following hosting activities:

• Receipt of new equipment
• Unpacking, configuring and installing standard equipment
• Producing and maintaining Data Centre layout diagrams
• Managing the schedule of any maintenance activity to equipment hosted in the Data Centre
• Disposing of retired equipment.

From this list of activities, it is clear that Facilities Management should not be seen as a separate function, but very much part of the overall operation of IT in the organization.

Power Management refers to managing the sourcing and utilization of power sources that are used to keep the facility functional. This definition of Power Management has a number of implications, which are discussed below.

Facilities Management’s first task in managing power is to determine the power requirements for the facility. This includes defining:

• What the power is going to be needed for – e.g. office space, equipment in the Data Centre, the cafeteria, etc.
• When that power is going to be needed. Some operations require a consistent supply of electricity 24 hours a day. Others, such as office space, will use more electricity during the day and very little at night. Others only need electricity at a specific time
• How much power is going to be needed
• What type of power will be used. Although most organizations use electricity, in many locations the heating systems are dependent on natural gas.

Facilities Management will also be responsible for establishing a contract with utility companies, or in many cases the local authority or municipality that provides that service. This will include an agreed rate and a level of availability. This has become very important in locations where the electricity supply is variable due to lack of infrastructure or due to over-utilization by general consumers.

Facilities Management will be responsible for establishing standby power sources for power failures, disasters and other contingencies. This is generally in the form of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) for key equipment, and also generators powered by an alternative energy source (usually diesel). Facilities Management is responsible not only for supplying these alternatives, but also for testing them, keeping supplies of the fuel and maintaining them.

It needs to be said that any alternative power source needs to be modelled and tested to ensure that it is able to handle the required demand and also that it will automatically be activated following a power failure.

Another key activity of Facilities Management is to manage the utilization of power. Traditionally, the role of Facilities Management was just to ensure that power was available. However, as natural resources become scarcer and expensive, more attention is being focused on techniques to manage utilization more responsibly.

One such approach is the dynamic management of power in Data Centres. The principle is that during peak processing periods, more computers will be used to do the work. As the workload reduces, the work is centralized onto fewer computers, while those that are not being utilized are powered down or placed into standby mode. This requires a significant integration between the activities of IT Operations Management, Technical Management and all the Service Design processes. This is discussed in more detail under the section about Data Centre strategies.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23