INFO-1248 Data Center Infrastructure

In this topic
•A brief history of Data Centers
•Data Center Evolution
•Modern Data Center defined
Data Center History
Data Center History
• Data centers first began to appear during the
1950s and 1960s when they were referred to as
computer rooms.
• Computer rooms usually contained
• Main frame computers
• Human computer operators
• Computer room air conditioners (CRAC)
• (Sometimes) key punch machines for paper tape or
cards
ENIAC – 1947 to 1955
• Calculate flight trajectory in
30 secs compared to 20
hours by human
• Vacuum Tubes
• Cost equivalent to $7million
• Each of the modules you
see in the photo could hold
a 10 digit number in
memory and do simply math

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC
IBM – 1961 to 1965
• IBM 7090 popularized
recently in “Hidden
Figures”
• Ran Cobol and Fortran
• Used first transistor-
based computer
• Costs, depending on
the model, $3 million
($20 million today)
IBM – 1965 to 1970
• Remote terminal and network
communications equipment
added to computer rooms to
support remote access to the
main frame systems.
• Could be upgraded, without
rewriting code
• Used electronic circuits
• Costs, depending on the
model, $2 million ($17 million
today)
ALTAIR – 1974 to 1978
• MITS developed the
first microcomputer that
could be purchased by
the public
• Used MS Altair Basic
Programming Language
• The complete kit would
cost approximately
$1,500 ($8,000)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800
Data Center Evolution
Data Center Evolution
•What happened in the ‘70s and ‘80s that
lead to the reconfiguration of the typical
data center before that time?
1. Platform Change
2. Demand for more agile applications
3. Real-time
4. The Internet
Data Center Evolution
• The improvements in computer hardware
technology during the 1970s and 1980s lead to
significantly smaller systems
• As a result, computer rooms that had once held
only a single computer could support a number
of these newer, smaller systems (referred to as
servers), along with the communications
equipment and CRAC to support them.
Data Center Evolution
• In addition to making the hardware smaller,
manufacturers also started to make their
computer systems available in two
configurations
• Tower servers – designed to stand alone either
in a computer room or beside a desk
• Rack-mount servers – designed to mount in
equipment racks
Data Center Evolution
• Examples of tower,
blade and rack mount
servers

Sources:
• https://www.dell.com/en-
ca/work/shop/povw/poweredge-t430
• https://www.dell.com/en-
ca/work/shop/servers/sc/servers/poweredge-rack-
servers
Data Center Evolution
• Many organizations are still using their old
computer rooms as data centers today.
• They have replaced the main frames with
multiple racks containing servers, network
and storage devices in them
• Tower servers are seldom found in a data
center, but are still used in areas where
only a single server is needed.
Data Center Evolution
• As the demand for information technology systems to
support business operations increases, many
organizations are finding that the old main frame computer
room is no longer adequate for several reasons:
• No more space to add more equipment racks
• No more electrical capacity to power additional devices
• No more cooling capacity to maintain the proper environment
for additional equipment
• The floor is not strong enough to support more equipment
Data Center Evolution
• Server virtualization can extend the life of
an old computer room for a time
• Depending upon how fast the demand for
additional IT services grows, this extension
may be short-lived
• At some point, the old computer room just
isn’t viable any more. Its time for a new
modern data center
Modern Data Center
Modern Data Center
• “A data center… is a building, dedicated space within a
building, or a group of buildings used to house computer
systems and associated components, such as
telecommunications and storage systems.”
• “Since IT operations are crucial for business continuity, it
generally includes redundant or backup components and
infrastructure for power supply, data communications
connections, environmental controls (e.g. air conditioning,
fire suppression) and various security devices.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_center cited 2019-10-06

Modern Data Center
• In addition to the technology listed on the
previous slide, data centers may also include
such things as:
• Operations/monitoring center
• Washrooms
• Kitchen facilities
• Spare equipment and parts storage areas
• Staging areas/workshops
• Loading docks
Modern Data Center
•Later lessons in this course will address
key components of a data center from
an IT technical person’s point of view.
Modern Data Center
•An overview of what makes up a data
center can be seen in the “What is a
Data Center?” video at
• https://www.anixter.com/applications/datace
nter
Modern Data Center Example
•Data centers are used for on-line gaming
• https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/new
s/i-cant-stop-watching-this-data-center-
video/
Reference Information
•https://computerhistory.org/timelines/
INFO-1248 Data Centre Infrastructure
In this topic
•Data center types
• Organization owned
• Colocation
• Wholesale
• Data center redundancy tiers
• Primary and Disaster Recovery data centers
Data Center types
Organization Owned DCs
•May be
• Part of a organization-owned or leased
building(s) that also houses other organization
operations
• Separate organization-owned or leased purpose-
built or renovated building(s) that house only the
data center.
Organization Owned DCs
• Part of a organization-owned building that also
houses other organization operations
• Usually found in small to medium sized organizations
with limited IT resources
• Doesn’t usually have full redundancy for electrical
power, cooling or telecommunications services.
• May be part of the IT department’s office space
• Often a converted main frame computer rooms
Organization Owned DCs
• Separate organization-owned purpose built or renovated
building(s) that house only the data center.
• Often called Enterprise Data Centers
• Usually operated by very large organizations with very large IT
resource requirements.
• Normally have good redundancy for electrical power, cooling
and telecommunications
• Organization must have all the personnel (or contractors) to
maintain the building structure, IT equipment, electrical
systems, cooling systems, telecommunications systems and
site security on a continuous basis (24x7).
Colocation DCs
•Data centers that are owned and operated by
companies that specialize in providing data
center services to other organizations.
•These companies often own multiple data
centers in geographically diverse locations
• Multiple DCs spread out around a country
• Multiple DCs spread out around the world
Colocation DCs
• The services provided by a colocation DCs vary widely
and will include some or all of the following:
• Provide power, cooling and communications services to a wire
cage or room for a customer to set up their own racks and
equipment in
• Provide power, cooling communications and racks in a cage for
an organization to install their equipment in
• Provide a complete fully equipped dedicated or shared
environment for an organization to run their applications on
• Full technical support for customer owned equipment
• Site security
Colocation DCs
• Colocation DCs will almost always provide some level of
redundancy for power, cooling and telecommunications
• When considering a colocation DC provider, investigate their
redundancy claims carefully. The redundancy claims may only
apply within their building or a very short distance from it. For
example,
• watch for things like redundant power coming from separate
transformers (mounted on the same pole) that are connected to the
same feed from the electrical substation.
• do the telecommunications provides have separate feed coming into
the building that end up at the same nearby ‘provider hotels’?
Colocation DCs
• Use a multi-disciplinary business team to select a DC
because DCs charge for many different things.
• Physical space rental costs
• Telecommunications service costs
• Electrical power costs
• Equipment usage (if the DC owns the equipment)
• Technical support costs
• Shipping and receiving services
• Construction costs
• And many more
Colocation DCs
• Electrical usage costs are often the highest on-going cost
of using a colocation DC.
• Consists of 2 parts
• Usage fee for your equipment
• Portion of the shared services (e.g. cooling) electrical costs
• Some DCs will bill by actual usage for your equipment,
others will use a fixed charge per circuit. In most cases,
the actual usage fee is less than the fixed rate fee
Colocation DCs
• When deciding how much physical space you will
need in a DC, try and allow for some expansion right
from the start. It will make your life easier later.
• If you only obtain as much physical space in the DC
as you need initially, make sure that there is space to
expand. Try to arrange, in advance, for nearby
expansion space, otherwise you may be running all
over the DC’s building or even between buildings
Wholesale DCs
• A subset of colocation DCs that provide services
to large customers wanting 10,000 square feet
or more space in the data center

Example of H5 Data Center Provider

https://h5datacenters.com/phoenix-data-center.html
Data Center redundancy tiers
DC Redundancy Levels
• The Uptime Institute has defined a set of levels
(call Tier Classifications) for data centers that
define the level of redundancy in a data center.
• Data centers can obtain certifications for the Tier
Classification achieved. This requires that both
the data center design documentation (building
plans, etc.) and the completed building be
inspected and approved by the Uptime Institute.
DC Redundancy Levels
• The Uptime Institute certification process is
time-consuming and expensive
• Some data centers will claim that they are at a
certain Uptime Institute Tier classification
without going through the certification process
• Your organization needs to double check what
redundancy a datacenter actually has before
choosing to use it.
Uptime Institute Tier 1
• Basic Site Infrastructure
• Main frame computer rooms converted to server
rooms usually fall into this tier (if they are certified)
• If N units of electrical, cooling and
telecommunications equipment and connections are
required to operate the data center, N units are
available, no extras
• There must be fuel available for the generators to run
the data center for a minimum of 12 hours
Uptime Institute Tier 1
• Electrical, cooling and telecommunications
services are not fully redundant
• E.g. The electrical service has one feed coming
into the data center from the utility with one UPS
and one generator in case of utility failure
• Planned and unplanned maintenance of the
electrical system within the data center can
result in service interruption
Uptime Institute Tier 2
• Redundant Infrastructure Capacity Components
• Better than Tier 1 in that there is one extra unit for all
critical components in the data center (N + 1)
• There is still only needs to be one connection to the
electrical supply, telecommunications services and a
single set of cooling pipes. These connections/pipes
are referred to as paths
Uptime Institute Tier 2
•E.g. If the data center requires 2 UPS units to
carry all the normal operating load, 1
additional UPS is available in case of a
failure. Switching to the spare unit may be a
manual process
•Services may still be available as a results of
planned or unplanned maintenance
Uptime Institute Tier 3
• Concurrently Maintainable Infrastructure
• Tier 3 extends the requirements of Tier 2 such that all
critical components in the data structure are
redundant (2N)
• A single path for each type of service within the data
center is still allowed. E.g. all UPS units may be
connected to a single electrical supply bus. However,
their outputs go to different IT equipment power
supplies
Uptime Institute Tier 3
•Tier 3 data centers are susceptible to service
outages due to unplanned maintenance and
multiple concurrent failures of the same type
of component.
Uptime Institute Tier 4
• Fault tolerant Infrastructure
• A data center at the Tier 4 level provides fully
redundant electrical, cooling and
telecommunications services.
• This is the tier that defines the highest level of
redundancy
• Suitable for mission critical IT services.
Uptime Institute Tier 4
• There must be multiple active paths for electrical power,
cooling and telecommunications services inside the data
center
• Utilities (electrical and telecommunications services) must
enter the building the 2 or more physically separate entry
point and have separate termination equipment for each
entry point. These services should come from separate
sources, e.g. the electrical supply comes from 2 different
substations via separate cable paths.
Primary and Disaster Recovery Data
Centers
Primary Data Center
•The data center or data centers where an
organization’s applications are running and
being used by the organization’s users is
referred to as primary data centers.
•An organization may have more than one
primary data center based on geographic
location, business unit or other criteria
How Data Centers are used
• You will often hear the terms primary data center
and disaster recovery (or backup) data center
used.
• The data center services (power, cooling,
telecommunications) needed are the same
• In some cases, a disaster recovery data center
may be smaller than the primary one for an
organization.
Disaster Recovery Data Center
• The data center or data centers where an
organization’s applications are available in case
an organization’s primary data center becomes
unavailable for some reason is referred to as a
disaster recovery (DR) or backup data center.
• As with primary data centers, an organization
may have more than one DR data center
Disaster Recovery Data Center
• An organization’s DR data center may have less
equipment or less powerful equipment if it is not
required to have all of the services the primary data
center provides.
• This was very common at one time (before e-
commerce became popular), organization’s often only
provided DR for their financial systems. Today
complete DR is becoming the more common
approach.
Disaster Recovery Data Center
•Replication of data from primary to DR data
centers in a timely manner is critical to the
usefulness of a DR data center.
•A real-time (immediate) replication is
common but periodic replication is also used.
•All needed data (such as database records
and files) must be replicated
Disaster Recovery Data Center
•The terms active/active and active/passive
are sometimes used when talking about
primary and DR data centers
•These terms do not refer to the data center
itself but on how an organizations
applications running in a particular data
center are being used.
Disaster Recovery Data Center
• Active/active indicates that an organization’s
application is fully functional in 2 data centers at
once with both being able to take the entire load
for that application at any time.
• During normal operation, the load is usually
distributed between the data centers based on
some organization specific criteria (e.g. a user’s
location)
Disaster Recovery Data Center
• Active/backup indicates that an organization’s application
is running in the primary data center during normal
operation. When a failure occurs, operation is switched to
the DR site.
• This type of operation may be required for an application
if
• The application does not operate properly in an active/active
mode
• The software license for an application does not permit
active/active operation
Disaster Recovery Data Center
•While a DR data center is useful for
maintaining operations if there is an
equipment failure in the primary data center,
its primary purpose is to provide continued IT
operations for an organization if the entire
primary data center becomes unavailable for
some reason
Disaster Recovery Data Center
• Some reasons for primary site failure
• Severe weather (hurricanes, blizzards etc.)
• Earthquakes
• A major power outage in a geographic region lasting
longer that the generators at the primary data center
can support
• Terrorist attacks
• Nuclear accidents
Disaster Recovery Data Center
•Primary and DR data centers should be
• Separated by at least 50 km.
• Connected to different power and
telecommunications providers
• Not be on the same flood plain
• Not be near sites that may be terrorist targets
(military bases, nuclear energy plants, etc.)
References
•Carapola, A.,The Data Center Builder's Bible
- Book 1: Defining Your Data Center
Requirements: Specifying, Designing,
Building and Migrating to New Data Centers,
2018
INFO-1248 Data Centre Infrastructure
In this topic
• Rack Rails and Server Mounting
• General Racking Rules
4 Post Rack
• 42u – 19 inch 4 Post Rack
Reference: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/apc-netshelter-sv-rack-
cabinet-black-42u-19-inch/apd/a7022341/power-cooling-data-center-
infrastructure
Server Rail Assembly
Dell ReadyRails and Cable Mgmt Arm
Rack Rail Mounting
R310 Mounted in 2 post Rack
R310 mounted in 4 post closed Rack

R310 Mounted in the A3 Sliding Rails with the

CMA

INFO1180 8
Data Center Rack PDU Wiring Example
APC AP8888 PDU

Note: The PDU are feed with 415v, 3 phase power. (6 banks to balance load between phases)
General Racking Rules
• When possible rack Infrastructure Servers and Components in
separate racks from Application Servers and Components
• Recognize that some organizations have different support groups
based on IT Structure (i.e.. Network Group vs. Application Group)
• May institute security that only Network Admins can access network
tools servers, routers, etc., and Server Admins only access
application servers
• Leave space for component expansion
• SAN / NAS Storage
• Tape Library
• Tape Drives and KVM should be at a comfortable level for
repeated human access
General Racking Rules
• Separate Redundant
Components by at least 1
Rack
• Do not allow a single rack
to be a single point of
failure for your redundant
architecture
• Reduce the risk that a local
event, such as an overhead
water leak does not affect
designed redundancy
General Racking Rules
• Storage and Backup Components should not be racked together
• When Clustering, virtual or physical, never rack Active / Active or Active / Passive hardware together
• Try not to use top portion of rack due to heat stratification. [Industry Practice] If top portion must be
used, it should be for components with lower criticality.
• For Servers begin in the middle of the rack and work both up and down equally
• Preference is to not rack servers in the top or bottom 6u
• Horizontal PDUs and heavy equipment such as UPS’s should mounted at the bottom of the racks
for added stability.
• Never utilize PDU receptacles from adjacent racks. All power must be supplied withing the rack
where the equipment is mounted.
• Avoid rack shelves, but if they must be used only use ½ length to allow unimpeded air flow.
• Empty rack locations should be covered with blanking panels to assist with proper air flow.
 General Racking Rules
• Network Components should not
be racked with other types of
equipment
• Racks with dedicated Network gear
can be more focused on cable
management
• Network cabinets may be more
custom, shallow, and solid glass doors
since the equipment typically does not
generate as much heat as a server
• This may not be possible in some
small sites with or with dedicate
platform infrastructure (i.e.. Oracle
RAC, Fiber Switches for Storage etc.)
INFO-1248 Data Centre Infrastructure
In this topic
•Types of equipment racks
•Rack Fasterners
•Positioning/Mounting of equipment in racks
Types of Equipment Racks
Types of equipment racks
•Almost all data centers today use equipment
designed for mounting in some form of
equipment rack.
•Over the years, there have been many
different types of equipment racks used
including metal shelving (storage) units (not a
good choice)
Types of equipment racks
•Originally, equipment racks were designed
for specific pieces of equipment
•Resulted in computer rooms/data centers
containing a variety of different sizes of racks
and, often, a lot of wasted space
Types of equipment racks
• Today most equipment manufactures design their
equipment to fit into 19-inch equipment racks. The 19” is
the distance between the vertical support rails in the rack
• There are 3 different types of 19-inch racks in use today
• 2-post racks (AKA relay racks)
• 4-post open racks
• 4-post enclosed racks or 19-inch rack cabinets (AKA server
cabinets)
Measuring rack height
• There are many different heights of 19-inch rack
available, specified by the amount of equipment they can
hold
• The height of a rack is normally given in Rack Units or U’s
• 1U = 1-3/4 inches
• E.g. a 45U rack = 45 * 1-3/4’ = 78-3/4” =6’ 6-3/4”
• Rack and equipment manufactures follow this
measurement system
Measuring rack height
• The posts of all types of racks are marked by U to
help position equipment in the rack.
• In addition holes are provided for attaching the
equipment to the rack. These holes are spaced to
help ensure proper positioning. When mounting
equipment, if the mounting holes on the equipment
don’t line up with the holes in the rack, you have
probably not position the equipment properly.
2-post racks
• 2-post 19-inch racks are
used for mounting cable
management units (e.g.
patch panels) and network
devices (e.g. switches,
routers, modems) that do
not have special cooling
needs
Source: https://www.rack-solutions.ca/relay-
racks.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkI_U4taK5gIVCZ2zCh3MoAFlEAQYAyABEgJ
0qvD_BwE (2019-11-27)
2-post racks
• 2-post racks are commonly found in 24U and 45U
models
• Most 2-post racks are designed to be bolted to the
floor for stability.
• The mounting holes in 2-post racks are usually round
holes pre-threaded to take 10-24 or 12-32 machine
screws.
• Make sure you order the right screws for the rack you
are using,
4-post open racks
• 4-post open racks are
designed to hold equipment
that uses mounting rails with
front and rear rail mounting
points. Can be used for
servers, storage array and
network equipment that does
not have special cooling
needs.
Source: https://www.cabletiesandmore.ca/four-post-knock-down-
rack?pid=7514&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoLD81N-K5gIVBaSzCh2h6A2REAQYASABEgJ-
mfD_BwE (2019-11-27)
4-post open racks
•4 post racks may have pre-drilled and
threaded screw holes or square holes for clip
in mounting rails.
•Screw holes will be threaded for 10-24 or 12-
32 screws. You will need to have the right
sized screws to mount equipment
Rack cabinets
• Rack cabinets are 4-post
19-inch racks enclosed
within a metal cabinet. The
front and rear doors of the
cabinet are usually lockable
and can be made of solid
metal, perforated metal
(shown) or glass.
Source: https://www.rack-solutions.ca/rack-mount-
enclosure.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkI_U4taK5gIVCZ2zCh3MoAFlEAQYBSAB
EgIOv_D_BwE (2019-11-27)
Rack cabinets
• The equipment mounting rails in most
4-post cabinets have square holes
designed to accept the clip-in rails for
mounting servers and storage
devices.
• There are several types of adapters
for mounting equipment that is
intended for racks with screw holes..
• It is also possible to get rack cabinets
with screw holes for either 10-24 or
12-32 screws.
Source: https://www.rack-solutions.ca/rack-mount-
enclosure.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkI_U4taK5gIVCZ2zCh3MoAFlEAQYBSABEgIOv_D_BwE
(2019-11-27)
Rack cabinet door styles
• Rack cabinets usually have lockable doors for security.
• Solid doors (metal or glass) are used when
• forced air cooling is used for the equipment where the air
enters the rack from the bottom and exhaust from the top of
the rack. Sometimes fans are installed in the top of the rack to
aid in air flow.
• Water cooling of equipment is used
• Perforated metal doors are used when cool air enters the
rack from the front and exits through the rear door.
Rack Fasteners
Mounting Equipment
Mounting equipment in racks
• The exact method for mounting a given piece of equipment in a
rack depends upon the equipment and rack designs.
• One thing that is always the same no matter which type of rack is
used is that all equipment must be aligned with the U markers on
the vertical rails of the rack. Except for the very uncommon case
where the equipment only has one screw hole on each side of its
front panel, misalignment will become obvious when not all the
screw holes line up. Clip-in mounting rails won’t attach properly
unless they are lined up.
Mounting rails
• YouTube video showing clip in mounting rails installation
using clip-in (Versa) mounting rails (no tools)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WujEZYYZBOE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPHoa1YSwmY
• Dell specific rack rail video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI1J7jUpq0s
• Dell Ready Rails / Cable Management video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8gTTFiOh84&ab_channel
=wekaew1
Rack mounting without rails
• A lot of equipment, especially smaller networking
devices, is mounted without the use of rack rails
• This equipment either
• has tabs (or ears) at the front of the equipment with holes
in it that line up with the screw holes in the rack, or
• Has L-shaped brackets that can be attached to the
equipment at the appropriate location on the side to
permit proper mounting.
Mounting without rails
Cisco 2800 series
router in its desktop
Configuration (rack
mount kit not
Installed)
Rack mounting without rails

•Side view of a Cisco 2800 series router

with the front, center and rear rack mount
holes shown.
Rack mounting without rails
• Rack mounting kit for the
Cisco 2800 series router
• 2 L-shaped brackets with
screws for attaching the
brackets to the router.,
• The side with the 4 holes
in it is used to attach a
bracket to the router.
Rack mounting without rails
• Cisco 2800 series
router with the rack
mounting kit attached
at the rear of the unit
• This is a very common
way of mounting
network equipment.
Rack mounting without rails
• Cisco 2800 series
router with the rack
mounting kit attached
for center mounting.
• This configuration is
used for 2-post racks.
Other components in a rack
• In addition to computer and network equipment, there are
other components that are installed in racks, such as:
• Drawer units with keyboard, mouse and monitor for equipment
management, along with a switch to select the device to
manage.
• These are not as common as they were because most modern
equipment can be remotely managed.
• Power distribution units (covered in a later lesson)
• Blank panels (covered in a later lesson)
• Cable management systems (covered in a later lesson)
Useful tools
• A common set of tools
for computer servicing
is shown on the right.
• This set of tools is good
for opening and
working inside
equipment, but is
usually too lightweight
for rack mounting work.
Useful tools
• Larger sized screwdrivers or
electric screwdrivers are usually
used for rack mounting
equipment.
• Phillips head screws are the
most common type used in rack
mounting, but you may come
across Robertson and straight-
slot heads. Carry a selection of
screwdrivers and electric
screwdriver bits for all 3 types.
References
• https://www.networkcomputing.com/data-centers/cage-nuts-ultimate-guide
Electricity and Electronics for Computing
Discussion

INFO-1248 Data Centre Infrastructure

In this topic
•Some electrical terms and abbreviations
•Direct Current vs. Alternating Current
•Ohm’s Law
•Electronics Terms
•Electricity in Computing
Abbreviations
•A – Ampere (amp) is the basic unit of electric
current equivalent to 1 Coulomb of charge
per second.
•V – Volt is the basic unit of electromotive
force. 1V is the amount of electromotive force
needed to force a current of 1 amp through a
resistance of 1 Ohm (1Ώ)
Abbreviations
•W – Watt is a basic unit of power and is equal
to the amount of power in an electrical circuit
with 1A of current flowing through it when 1V of
electromotive force is applied.
•KW or kW (kilowatt)an abbreviation for 1,000
Watts
•Mw or kW (megawatt) an abbreviation for
1,000kW or 1,000,000W
Abbreviations
•AC – Alternating Current is a form of electric
current that reverses direction many times per
second.
• Used by electric utilities to generate and send
electricity over the entire electric utility system.
• In North America, AC has a frequency of 60 Hz
(Hertz), sometimes referred to as 60 cps (cycles per
second)
Abbreviations
•DC – Direct Current is an electric current that
flows in one direction only.
• The power supplies in most electronic equipment
concert AC into DC
• Batteries are a source of DC from chemical
reactions
Direct Current vs. Alternating Current
Direct Current vs. Alternating Current
• DC (Direct Current)
• Nature’s Electricity = Animals, Lightning
• Electric energy that travels in one direction (– to +)
• A battery produces direct current (same “polarity”)
• + and – side of any battery
• Voltage and the direction of current is constant
• Energy is lost is lost rapidly through a conductor (resistance)

• AC (Alternating Current)
• Man-made Electricity – created from Direct Current
• Electric current which periodically reverses direction
• Voltage changes Current changes direction
• So there is no + or – polarity
• Changes at a certain “frequency” (x per sec. = Hertz)
• Energy is easier to transmit between conductors
Ohm’s Law
Ohm’s Law V = IR
• Voltage (Volts, Symbol is V or E)
• Voltage is the "pressure" of electricity, or "electromotive
force" (hence the old term E).
• Current (Amperes (Amps), Symbol is I)
• Current is the flow of electricity (electrons). No current
flows unless a load is connected.
• Resistance (Ohms, Symbol is R or Ω)
• Resistance is a measure of how easily (or with what
difficulty) electrons will flow through the device.
Ohm’s Law
•Note that V, I, and R are interconnected
• one can not exist without the other
•The easiest to measure is V and the easiest
to modify to create new energy is Resistance
•With a given V and I, you can create any
other energy value and change it’s state
(logic) with R
Electronics
Resistors I = V/R
•A resistor is a two-terminal
electrical or electronic component
that resists an electric current
•Why is this important (think Ohm’s
Law)? As R increases, I Decreases.
•Most axial resistors use a pattern of
colored stripes to indicate
resistance.
Capacitors
• A capacitor is an electrical device that
can store energy in the electric field
between a pair of closely-spaced
conductors (called 'plates').
• Capacitors are used in electrical circuits
as energy-storage devices and filters.
• Capacitors block low frequency (like DC)
and allow higher frequency through

Good Reference Video on this subject: Capacitors and Capacitance

Inductors
• Inductance (measured in henries) is an effect which results
from the magnetic field that forms around a current
carrying conductor.
• Commonly a coil of wire, but in reality, even a straight
piece of wire has inductance.
• Like the opposite of a capacitor:
• They allow low frequency (like DC) through and resist
higher frequency
• Don’t hold any charge
Good Reference Video on this subject: Inductors and Inductance
Fundamental devices
• Wires, coils, and capacitors are combinations of conductors and isolators
(creates semi-conductors).
• Conductors allow electricity to flow
• generally metals
• though water with salt is also a conductor)
• you can’t “charge up” a conductor
• Insulators prevent the flow of electricity.
• Examples: wood, plastic, glass, air
• You can “charge” or store electricity (static) on a conductor
• Semiconductors
• Materials (Si, GaAs, etc.) that partially allow electricity to flow (Isolate)
• Si (silicon) is only of the most common elements
Diodes (a basic semiconductor)
•A diode allows a current to flow in
one direction, but blocks it in the
opposite direction
•Like an electronic version of a check
valve.
•The “lock” on a Logic Gate
•Some diodes emit light (LED or Light
Emitting Diode)
Diode Bridge Bridge Rectifier
DC to AC AC to DC
eg. Alternator / Inverter eg. Transformer / Converter

Add a resistor to create a full wave rectifier

Add a copper winding for resistance to create a

basic transformer – 1 required for each DC voltage
18
(3V, 5V, 12V) in a computer Power Supply (PSU)
Transistors
•A transistor is a semiconductor device,
commonly used as an amplifier or an
electrically controlled switch.
•It is the most commonly known building block
of all other modern electronics.
Electricity in Computing
Power Supply Unit
• PSU provides power to all PC components
• The PSU does not handle data
• Usually mounted in the corner of a desktop
• Replaced by removing connectors and screws
• Largely external for laptops, tablets etc
• Converts AC electricity (wall outlet) to DC electricity
(electronics inlet / battery)
• AC = Alternating Current, DC = Direct Current
Power Supply Unit
• Important:
• Overall power output
(Watts)
• Range from 200-1600 W
• Compatible connectors
(industry standard)
• +/-5 and +/- 12 V DC
• Manufacturers often use
proprietary form factors
Power Supply Unit
Power Supply Unit
IEC vs. NEMA Standards
 IEC sets Computer plug standards

IEC Standard Plug Types

 NEMA sets Electrical Supply plug standards

NEMA Standard Plug Types

 NEMA Supply to IEC Computer combinations

ATEN PDU Model Examples

INFO-1248 Data Centre Infrastructure
In this topic
• Overview of the electrical supply equipment
used in a data center and their interconnection
• Electrical utility connection and Transformers
• Generators and transfer switches
• Breaker panels (switch boards)
• Uninterruptable power supplies
• Power distribution units
Electrical Utility and Transformer
 Electrical Supply Overview

Reference to Raritan Power

Chain Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=H8xbpJZZyK0&feature=y
outu.be&ab_channel=Raritan
Electrical Supply Overview
• Generators provide long term backup power in
the event of a electrical outage from the utility
• Transfer switches monitor the utility and when a
min threshold is reached will automatically start
and engage the generator
• The on site UPS will act as a buffer to maintain
the level of power required during this transfer
Electrical supply for a DC
•Every data center must have some form of
electrical supply.
•The complexity of this supply increases as
the level of redundancy in a data center
increases (recall the Uptime Institute tiers)..
Electrical supply for a DC
•The diagram on the next slide shows the
basic structure of an electrical supply system
for a data center without redundancy (Tier 1).
•A Tier 4 data center would have complete
redundancy of all parts of the system shown
with at least one more generator and UPS
than required (2N + 1).
Electrical supply for a DC

In-rack In-rack In-rack

PDU PDU PDU

Floor PDU Floor RPP

480v 208v
Utility connection
•Data centers are connected to one or more
electricity utilities. The number and type of
connections depends upon the level of
redundancy being provided.
•In general, each electricity utility connection
provides enough power to support the entire
operation of a data center.
Utility connection
• The capacity of the connection to the electrical utility
will depend upon the requirements of the data center.
• A very small data center may only need the same
electric supply as an average house (240 V, 100A,
approximately 24KW in North America)
• A very large data center may have its electric supply
delivered at transmission line voltages and currents
(megawatts of power, many different combinations of
voltage and current levels are available)
Transformer
•A transformer is an electrical device used to
convert the voltage of an AC input to one or
more AC outputs at the same or different
voltages.
•Most transformers are manufactured to have
specific input and output voltages.
Transformer
• The transformer shown on the previous diagram would
normally convert the input AC to one or more lower AC
voltages.
• Input voltages for this transformer would typically be in the
range of 3.3 to 25 kV (kiloVolts). Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission
Larger data centers may have higher voltages input
• Some typical output voltages are 120V, 240V and 600V
but other voltages are also possible.
Transformer
•Transformers providing electric power to a
data center may belong to the electric utility
or the data center.
•It is also possible at very large data centers,
that there will be multiple transformers, one
after another, to provide a variety of voltage
sources for various equipment.
Generator and Transfer Switch
Generator and Transfer Switch
• Generators are electro-mechanical devices that are powered by
gasoline, diesel, propane or natural gas that produce electric
power.
• Generators used in data centers produce alternating current.
• The output voltage of a generator must match the electric utility
voltage at the point where the two power sources meet.
• The output power capacity of a generator must be sufficient to
operate all of the equipment connected to it.
Generator and Transfer Switch
• Generators and their associated transfer switches are
used in data centers to provide long term backup power in
the event that the electric utility supply fails for some
reason
• Most transfer switches monitor the electric utility
connection and automatically start the generator when the
connection fails and switches the data center load to it.
When the utility connection is restored, the transfer switch
will automatically switch the load back to the utility
connection and stop the generator.
Breaker Panels (RPP and Floor
PDUs)
• Breaker panels in this
sense are really a
combination of Floor
PDU’s and RPP,
Remote Power Panels.
These are electrical
devices containing
circuit breakers that are
used to reduce and
distribute power to
electrical circuits.
Breaker Panels
• A circuit breaker is a special type of switch that
senses the current flowing through it and
automatically turns itself off if the current exceeds its
limit.
• The high current breaker panel will have high current
and possibly high voltage) breakers to provide power
and protection to large equipment (air conditioners,
UPS, etc.). The breakers in this panel are commonly
rated at 50A and higher
Breaker Panels
• The low current breaker panel provides power to the
electrical circuits within the equipment racks in the
data center. The common ratings for the breakers in
this panel are:
• 120V 15A, 20A and 30A
• 240V 15A, 20A 30A 40A and 50A
• Whenever possible, 240V circuits should be used as
they allow more efficient overall operation of the data
center.
Wire sizes
• The size of a wire determines
the amount of power it can
carry. If you put 20 amps
through a 14 gage wire, the
wire will heat up and
potentially start a fire. The
current is made from the flow
of electrons which are
colliding with atoms and
creating thermal energy.
Wire sizes
• The insulation on a wire is for safety, it prevents
humans from shock or electrocution and
prevents arcing between wires that are close
together.
• This protection is only provided up to the rated
voltage of an insulated wire.
• A very common voltage rating for insulated
wires is 300V
Uninterruptable Power Supply
Uninterruptable Power Supply
• Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) units are
electrical devices that provide a continuous
supply of electrical power even when the input
supply to the UPS is unavailable.
• A UPS is intended to provide power after the
electrical utility fails until the data center’s
generator starts.
Uninterruptable Power Supply
• UPSs come in 3 basic forms:
• Electromechanical – An electric motor, connected to
the electrical supply, drives a flywheel and generator.
The generator in turn provides the power to the
equipment racks. When the electrical supply fails,
the inertia of the flywheel causes the generator to
continue operating for a short period of time
• This type of UPS is not very popular since it is not very
efficient and maintain power to the equipment for a very
short time.
Uninterruptable Power Supply
• The second type of UPS runs the equipment directly from the
electrical supply when it is available. At the same time, a
battery charger keeps the batteries in the system charged and
ready for use. When the electrical supply fails, there is a slight
delay before the UPS switches to battery power for the
equipment. This delay is caused by two factors, the inverter
circuitry in the UPS that converts the battery’s DC power to AC
takes time to start , and the actual switchover from main power
to battery power. This delay is usually less than 1 second but
some computer systems will shutdown because the
interruption is too long for their power supplies to maintain
operation.
Uninterruptable Power Supply
• The third type of UPS always runs the full equipment load
via the battery and DC to AC inverter. This means that
there is absolutely no interruption when the electrical
supply fails. The problem with this type of UPS is that the
battery charger circuitry (the most inefficient part of the
UPS) is constantly operating at the full load of the running
computer equipment.
• A variation of this design combines the electrical supply
and inverter output in such a way that when the supply
fails the inverter immediately takes over the full load.
Uninterruptable Power Supply
• The first and third types of UPS can also provide
protection from short term brownouts (voltage drops)
and surges (voltage increases) to the equipment
connected to them. This is because the way they
operate tends to smooth out variations in voltage.
• Some UPSs include a breaker panel for the circuits
that supply the equipment racks. In this case a
separate breaker panel is not needed.
Uninterruptable Power Supply
• It is essential to consider the time a UPS will be required
to support a given equipment load when obtaining a UPS.
It must be able to support the load long enough for the
generator to start up after a electrical supply failure.
• Some data centers have UPSs that will support the load
for only a very short time after the generator is expected
to startup (e.g. 1 to 2 minutes), others will aim for a longer
time (e.g. 30 minutes) in case there is a problem with the
generator.
Uninterruptable Power Supply
• The design of power supplies within computer and
network equipment today is such that they will
operate for a very short time (< 1 second) after power
is removed.. Modern switching power supplies do not
have the large capacitors that older power supplies
did.
• As a result, the third type of UPS or its variant is a
very common choice for data center UPS
installations.
Power Distribution
Power Distribution Unit (PDU)
• Power distribution Units are similar to the outlet strip
or power bars that are commonly used in homes and
offices except that they are specifically designed for
equipment rack installation
• There are PDUs designed for
• both horizontal and vertical mounting in a rack
• Different voltage and current capacities
• Different plug styles
Power Distribution Unit (PDU)
•PDUs are the part of the electrical supply in a
data center that IT personnel most commonly
work with since they are the point at which
computer and network equipment connect to
the electrical supply.
Power Distribution Unit (PDU)
• PDUs may have built in monitoring and control
functionality with remote network access.
• This functionality can allow administrators or
monitoring tools to monitor the power
consumption of individual pieces of equipment
and generate alarms if unusual power
consumption is detected.
Power Distribution Unit (PDU)

Front and rear views of the Tripp Lite PDUMH15 PDU.

This is a 1U horizontal mount PDU with the commonly
used 120V 15A receptacles in it
Source: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=triplite+PDUMH15&ref=nb_sb_noss
Power Distribution Unit (PDU)

•Tripp Lite PDUMH20HV PDU, 200-240V

20A with 8 C13 and 2 C19 receptacles.

• Source: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=triplite+PDUMH20HV&ref=nb_sb_noss
Power Distribution Unit (PDU)
• PDUs can be mounted horizontally in a rack
(usually on the rear vertical rails in a 4-post
rack) or vertically at the side of a rack.
• To make overall cable management simpler,
horizontal mounting is preferred. This means
that the appropriate number of Us must be
allocated for each PDU being used in a rack
• Most PDUs are 1U high but there are some 2U PDUs
Bus bar power distribution
• As an alternative to using breaker panels, some data
centers use a bus bar system to distribute the output
from the UPS
• These bus bars are usually mounted above the racks
in the data center
• Connections to the bus bar system use a special
connector that include a circuit breaker. Each
connector feeds power to a PDU inside a rack.
Bus bar power distribution
INFO-1248 Data Centre Infrastructure
Midterm Exam
• Next week February 17th, will be the Midterm Exam
• FOL Quiz + Respondus Lock Down Browser.
• You must prequalify your Respondus Browser by Taking the Review
Quiz before the end of the week (February 12th, 6:00PM EST)
• The exam consists of 75 questions covering all material from Week 1 to
Week 5
• You will have 60 minutes to complete it
• Open Book, but don't be fooled... you need to study!
• The questions consist of Multiple Choice, Multiple Select, T/F and 2 Bonus
Questions
• This exam is worth 30% of your overall grade
In this topic
• How equipment manufacturers specify
equipment power requirements
• Calculating the power requirement of a single
piece of equipment
• Calculating the total power requirement for a
rack of equipment
• Dividing a rack’s power requirement across
electrical circuits
Equipment Power Specs
• There are 3 common ways that equipment manufacturers
provide the power requirement information for a given
piece of equipment.
• The maximum power output of the power supply for the piece
of equipment in Watts
• The actual power requirement for the piece of equipment in
Watts.
• The current (in amps) that the equipment will draw at a specific
input voltage (in volts). Values for a range of voltages may
also be given for devices that can operate properly on several
different input voltages (VA).
Equipment Power Specs
• In the first case, the maximum output power of the power supply is not
the same thing as the input power requirement. Every power supply
requires some power itself depending on it’s Efficiency.
• To get an estimate of the input power required:
• Add ≈ 50% to the output power for a motor (lost energy to heat)
• Add ≈ 33% to the output power for a PSU (less lost by transformers)
• Add ≈ 20% to the output power for a light bulb (filament glow, less heat)
• When a manufacturer specifies a power in watts without specifying
whether it is the power supply’s input or output power, assume that it is
the output power.
Equipment Power Specs
• In the second case, the power requirement is
given directly and no calculation is needed to
determine the power needed by that piece of
equipment.
• In the third case, a calculation must be
performed to determine the power requirement
for the piece of equipment based on the voltage
and current given by the manufacturer.
Equipment Power Specs
• The image shows the power
requirements label from a Dell R310
server.
• It indicates that the server needs
5.2A at120V AC, to 2.6A at 240V AC
• The specs for this server on the Dell
web site show that the server can
have one 350W power supply or two
redundant 400W power supplies
(Source:
https://www.dell.com/downloads/eme
a/products/R310_spec_sheet.pdf )
Calculating Power Requirements
• Amps calculation with voltage of 12V DC
• For DC power supply, amps are equal to watts divided by volts.
• amp = watt / volt
• amps = 100W / 12V = 8.3333A
• Amps calculation with voltage of 120V AC
• For AC power supply, amps are equal to watts divided by power factor times volts.
• amps = watts / (PF × volts)
• For resistive load without inductors or capacitors, the power factor is equal to 1:
• amps = 100W / (1 × 120V) = 0.8333A
• For inductive load (like induction motor), the power factor can be approximately equal to 0.8:
• amps = 100W / (0.8 × 120V) = 1.0417A
Calculating Power Requirements
• The power consumed by a device
(apparent power) that uses an AC
electrical source is not simple because
the power supplied to a device is made up
of 2 parts, for computer and network
equipment these can be defined as:
• Real or average power – the power used to
do the actual work performed by the device
• Reactive power – power lost converting AC
to DC to operate the device.
• Image source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor
Calculating Power Requirements
• The best situation is where apparent power is equal
to real power, that is, no reactive power is involved in
powering a device
• The power factor of a circuit is the relationship
between the real power and reactive power.
• The power factor has a value equal to the cosine of
the angle θ indicated in the image on the previous
slide. This means that a power factor of 1 is ideal, but
very hard to achieve.
Calculating Power Requirements
•On older equipment that have transformers in
their power supplies, power factors as low as
0.7071 were not uncommon.
•Modern computer and network equipment
use switching power supplies (no
transformers) and have power factors close
to 1.
Calculating Power Requirements
• For example, ENERGY STARR data sheet for the Dell R310
server with the redundant 400W power supply option, the power
factor is given based on system loading
• 0.96@10%
• 0.97@20%
• 0.99@50%
• 0.99@100%
• Source:
https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/Dell-
PowerEdge-R310-400W-Energy-Star-Data-Sheet-20100325.pdf
Calculating Power Requirements
• This means that as reactive power gets close to
0, θ also approaches 0 and cos(θ) approaches
1 the formula for calculating apparent power
simplifies from
• 𝑆𝑆 = 𝑃𝑃2 + 𝑄𝑄2
• To
• 𝑆𝑆 = 𝑃𝑃2 or S = P
Calculating Power Requirements
• From basic electricity, 𝑃𝑃 = 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉
• Where
• P is the power in Watts
• V is the voltage provided to the device in volts and,
• A is the current it is consuming in amps
• So the simple formula P = VA can be used to
calculate the power required for modern
computer and network equipment.
Calculating Power Requirements
• Using the information from the R310 label shown earlier.
• P = 120V * 5.2A = 624W
• Or
• P = 240V * 2.6A = 624W
• Note: if you compare these results to the power supply ratings
given on the data sheet for the R310, you will see that these
values are higher than those stated on the data sheet.
• As explained earlier, manufacturers often use the output of a
power supply when specifying power supply capacity whereas the
calculation above is the power input to the power supply.
Calculating Power Requirements
• Make sure that you know which options you have for
a given device. The Dell R720 has 4 different power
supply options
• A single 750W power supply
• Dual redundant 495W power supplies
• Dual redundant 750W power supplies
• Dual redundant 1000W power supplies
• All of these have their own requirements, even the 2
750W options (1 or 2 power cords)
Calculating Power Requirements
• Try calculating the power needed for the following
devices
• Cisco WS-C3560C-8PC-S 100-240V 2.5 -1.25A
• Cisco WS-C3560-24TS-S 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• Cisco WS-C2960-8TC-L 100 - 240V 1.0 – 0.5A
• Cisco WS-C2960-24T-L 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• Cisco 1841 110 – 220V Maximum 1A
Calculating Power Requirements
• Try calculating the power needed for the following devices
• Cisco WS-C3560C-8PC-S 100-240V 2.5 -1.25A
• 300W @ 240V high because of Power over Ethernet
• Cisco WS-C3560-24TS-S 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• 192W @ 240V
• Cisco WS-C2960-8TC-L 100 - 240V 1.0 – 0.5A
• 120W @ 240V
• Cisco WS-C2960-24T-L 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• 192@ @240V
• Cisco 1841 110 – 220V Maximum 1A
• 110@@ 110V
Total Rack Power Requirements
• Once you have all of the power requirements for
each device to be installed in a rack, simply add
them up to get the total power required for a
rack
• The total power needed for a rack is interesting
and useful for overall data center power
requirements, BUT it doesn’t tell you how to
plug the devices into the PDUs
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• Plugging equipment into PDUs needs to
consider several things:
• The amount of power available from a given PDU
• Consider both voltage and current
• Avoid overloading a PDU
• The power redundancy required for a device
• The redundancy power provided in the data center.
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• If no redundancy is required
• Plug each device into a PDU that provides sufficient
power at the correct voltage for it to operate
• DO NOT OVERLOAD a PDU, The circuit breaker will
disconnect the circuit, how long it will take to
disconnect depends on how much the circuit is
overloaded.
• A 120V 15A circuit can deliver 1850W, you should keep the
maximum load on this circuit to no more than 1800W.
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• When redundancy is required, make sure that:
• The PDUs in a rack are equally divided between two
independent sources of power
• The PDUs from each power source are capable of carrying the
entire load for the rack
• There is a one-to-one correspondence between the power and
voltage ratings of the PDUs from each power source, including
the number of receptacles in each PDU
• E.g. if there are 2 PDUs at 240V capable of delivering 3,600 watts
with 8 receptacles each from one power source, make sure there are
2 identically configured PDU from the other power source
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• Consider the Dell R310 server discussed earlier. It
can have two redundant 400W power supplies.
• When redundancy is required, plug one of these
power supplies into a PDU for each of the power
sources.
• Since the power required for each power supply
(624W) is considerably less than the total power
available on almost all electrical circuits, more than
one device could be plugged into each PDU.
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• As another example, consider the Dell M1000e 16 blade chassis
(https://i.dell.com/sites/content/business/solutions/engineering-
docs/en/Documents/server-poweredge-m1000e-tech-guidebook.pdf )
• This device can take up to six 2,700 watt power supplies. A fully loaded chassis
needs all 6 for proper redundancy.
• This device is almost always used with redundant power sources because it
usually runs a virtualized environment with critical applications.
• An output power of 2,700 Watts per power supply, requires an estimated input
power of 3,900 watts per power supply
• The total power requirement is 11,700 watts from each of the data centers
redundant power sources. At 240V this is a current of 48.75A
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• There are 2 easily identifiable ways to connect
Dell M1000e 16 blade chassis to PDUs
• Plug 3 power supplies into a PDU connected to a
single 50A 240V circuit on each power source
• Plug each power supply into a separate PDU
connected to a 20A 240V circuit. Three circuits
connected to one of the data centers power sources
and three to the other.
INFO-1248 Data Centre Infrastructure
In this topic
•How equipment manufacturers specify
equipment power requirements
•Calculating the equipment and rack power
requirements
•Dividing a rack’s power requirement across
electrical circuits
Chapter 1

Equipment Power Specs

Equipment Power Specs
• There are 3 common ways that equipment manufacturers
provide the power requirement information for a given
piece of equipment.
• The maximum power output of the power supply for the piece
of equipment in Watts
• The actual power requirement for the piece of equipment in
Watts.
• The current (in amps) that the equipment will draw at a specific
input voltage (in volts). Values for a range of voltages may
also be given for devices that can operate properly on several
different input voltages (VA).
Equipment Power Specs
• In the first case, the maximum output power of the power supply is not
the same thing as the input power requirement. Every power supply
requires some power itself depending on it’s Efficiency.
• To get an estimate of the input power required:
• Add ≈ 50% to the output power for a motor (lost energy to heat)
• Add ≈ 33% to the output power for a PSU (less lost by transformers)
• Add ≈ 20% to the output power for a light bulb (filament glow, less heat)
• When a manufacturer specifies a power in watts without specifying
whether it is the power supply’s input or output power, assume that it is
the output power.
Equipment Power Specs
• In the second case, the power requirement is
given directly and no calculation is needed to
determine the power needed by that piece of
equipment.
• In the third case, a calculation must be
performed to determine the power requirement
for the piece of equipment based on the voltage
and current given by the manufacturer.
Equipment Power Specs
• The image shows the power
requirements label from a Dell R310
server.
• It indicates that the server needs
5.2A at120V AC, to 2.6A at 240V AC
• The specs for this server on the Dell
web site show that the server can
have one 350W power supply or two
redundant 400W power supplies
(Source:
https://www.dell.com/downloads/eme
a/products/R310_spec_sheet.pdf )
Equipment Power Specs
•Demo of to energize a HP
C7000 Chassis
Ref:
https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=
c00812857&docLocale=en_US
Chapter 2

Calculating Power Requirements

Calculating Power Requirements
• Amps calculation with voltage of 12V DC
• For DC power supply, amps are equal to watts divided by volts.
• amp = watt / volt
• amps = 100W / 12V = 8.3333A
• Amps calculation with voltage of 120V AC
• For AC power supply, amps are equal to watts divided by power factor times volts.
• amps = watts / (PF × volts)
• For resistive load without inductors or capacitors, the power factor is equal to 1:
• amps = 100W / (1 × 120V) = 0.8333A
• For inductive load (like induction motor), the power factor can be approximately equal
to 0.8:
• amps = 100W / (0.8 × 120V) = 1.0417A
Calculating Power Requirements
• The power consumed by a device
(apparent power) that uses an AC
electrical source is not simple because
the power supplied to a device is made up
of 2 parts, for computer and network
equipment these can be defined as:
• Real or average power – the power used to
do the actual work performed by the device
• Reactive power – power lost converting AC
to DC to operate the device.
• Image source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor
Calculating Power Requirements
• The best situation is where apparent power is equal
to real power, that is, no reactive power is involved in
powering a device
• The power factor of a circuit is the relationship
between the real power and reactive power.
• The power factor has a value equal to the cosine of
the angle θ indicated in the image on the previous
slide. This means that a power factor of 1 is ideal, but
very hard to achieve.
Calculating Power Requirements
•On older equipment that have transformers in
their power supplies, power factors as low as
0.7071 were not uncommon.
•Modern computer and network equipment
use switching power supplies (no
transformers) and have power factors close
to 1.
Calculating Power Requirements
• For example, ENERGY STARR data sheet for the Dell R310
server with the redundant 400W power supply option, the power
factor is given based on system loading
• 0.96@10%
• 0.97@20%
• 0.99@50%
• 0.99@100%
• Source:
https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/Dell-
PowerEdge-R310-400W-Energy-Star-Data-Sheet-20100325.pdf
Calculating Power Requirements
• From basic electricity, 𝑃𝑃 = 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉
• Where
• P is the power in Watts
• V is the voltage provided to the device in volts and,
• A is the current it is consuming in amps
• So the simple formula P = VA can be used to
calculate the power required for modern
computer and network equipment.
Calculating Power Requirements
• Using the information from the R310 label shown earlier.
• P = 120V * 5.2A = 624W
Or
• P = 240V * 2.6A = 624W
• Note: if you compare these results to the power supply ratings
given on the data sheet for the R310, you will see that these
values are higher than those stated on the data sheet.
• As explained earlier, manufacturers often use the output of a
power supply when specifying power supply capacity whereas the
calculation above is the power input to the power supply.
Calculating Power Requirements
• Make sure that you know which options you have for
a given device. The Dell R720 has 4 different power
supply options
• A single 750W power supply
• Dual redundant 495W power supplies
• Dual redundant 750W power supplies
• Dual redundant 1000W power supplies
• All of these have their own requirements, even the 2
750W options (1 or 2 power cords)
Calculating Power Requirements
Try calculating the power needed for the
following devices
• Cisco WS-C3560C-8PC-S 100-240V 2.5 -1.25A
• Cisco WS-C3560-24TS-S 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• Cisco WS-C2960-8TC-L 100 - 240V 1.0 – 0.5A
• Cisco WS-C2960-24T-L 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• Cisco 1841 110V Maximum 1A
Calculating Power Requirements
Try calculating the power needed for the following devices
• Cisco WS-C3560C-8PC-S 100-240V 2.5 -1.25A
• 300W @ 240V high because of Power over Ethernet
• Cisco WS-C3560-24TS-S 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• 192W @ 240V
• Cisco WS-C2960-8TC-L 100 - 240V 1.0 – 0.5A
• 120W @ 240V
• Cisco WS-C2960-24T-L 100 - 240V 1.3 – 0.8 A
• 192W @ 240V
• Cisco 1841 110V Maximum 1A
• 110W @ 110V
Total Rack Power Requirements
• Once you have all of the power requirements for
each device to be installed in a rack, simply add
them up to get the total power required for a
rack
• The total power needed for a rack is interesting
and useful for overall data center power
requirements, BUT it doesn’t tell you how to
plug the devices into the PDUs
Chapter 3

Plugging Equipment In
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• Plugging equipment into PDUs needs to
consider several things:
• The amount of power available from a given PDU
• Consider both voltage and current
• Avoid overloading a PDU
• The power redundancy required for a device
• The redundancy power provided in the data center.
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• If no redundancy is required
• Plug each device into a PDU that provides sufficient
power at the correct voltage for it to operate
• DO NOT OVERLOAD a PDU, The circuit breaker will
disconnect the circuit, how long it will take to
disconnect depends on how much the circuit is
overloaded.
• A 120V 15A circuit can deliver 1850W, you should keep the
maximum load on this circuit to no more than 1800W.
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• When redundancy is required, make sure that:
• The PDUs in a rack are equally divided between two
independent sources of power
• The PDUs from each power source are capable of carrying the
entire load for the rack
• There is a one-to-one correspondence between the power and
voltage ratings of the PDUs from each power source, including
the number of receptacles in each PDU
• E.g. if there are 2 PDUs at 240V capable of delivering 3,600 watts
with 8 receptacles each from one power source, make sure there are
2 identically configured PDU from the other power source
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• Consider the Dell R310 server discussed earlier. It
can have two redundant 400W power supplies.
• When redundancy is required, plug one of these
power supplies into a PDU for each of the power
sources.
• Since the power required for each power supply
(624W) is considerably less than the total power
available on almost all electrical circuits, more than
one device could be plugged into each PDU.
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• As another example, consider the Dell M1000e 16 blade chassis
(https://i.dell.com/sites/content/business/solutions/engineering-
docs/en/Documents/server-poweredge-m1000e-tech-guidebook.pdf )
• This device can take up to six 2,700 watt power supplies. A fully loaded chassis
needs all 6 for proper redundancy.
• This device is almost always used with redundant power sources because it
usually runs a virtualized environment with critical applications.
• An output power of 2,700 Watts per power supply, requires an estimated input
power of 3,900 watts per power supply
• The total power requirement is 11,700 watts from each of the data centers
redundant power sources. At 240V this is a current of 48.75A
Plugging equipment into PDUs
• There are 2 easily identifiable ways to connect
Dell M1000e 16 blade chassis to PDUs
• Plug 3 power supplies into a PDU connected to a
single 50A 240V circuit on each power source
• Plug each power supply into a separate PDU
connected to a 20A 240V circuit. Three circuits
connected to one of the data centers power sources
and three to the other.