What is a data center?

A data center is a physical location - usually a building - that houses IT and computing services and infrastructure. To put it more simply: a data center is a physical place for storing and computing data.

Why data centers are important?

Most businesses need to store data - be it for their emails, websites, online transactions, etc. - and it can be stored on a server. Servers are like specialized computers and are connected to the coumpany's local area network and usually also to the Internet. When a company is small enough, it can choose to keep its servers in-house and manage them itself. However, as companies and their needs grow, i. H. As more data is generated, it requires more server and storage space.

One way to meet this requirement is to set up a dedicated server room on site. However, maintenance can be complicated. Because servers are running all the time, they produce a lot of heat, which in turn requires a lot of cooling so that they don't overheat. The energy required to cool servers can correspond to the energy required to operate them and can also be very expensive. It would also have to be ensured that these servers are managed around the clock so that the data is not compromised by a power outage or a cyber attack.

This is where data centers come into play. Organizations can pay for the space and power to store their data in a secure, 24/7 monitored, temperature-controlled facility that has emergency power supplies to ensure the safe storage of data. Companies can spend less time managing the infrastructure their data is stored on and focus more on their critical business needs.

What is the infrastructure of a data center?

The details of what is inside and in what amount can vary from location to location. The Uptime Institute has established a data center tier system to classify data centers based on various criteria. A typical data center infrastructure, however, contains innumerable ones Servers, which are basically all powerful computers. Servers are often stored in server racks, which basically resemble a cabinet for several servers. Servers that are located outside of data centers are often stored in server racks within a room known as a server cabinet.

In many data centers, a server cabinet houses several server racks. In particularly large data centers, there are countless rows with similar looking server cabinets, often on an open floor or sometimes spread over several floors.

In addition to these major components, there is all of the ancillary equipment required to keep these servers up and running. Data centers contain many wires and cables to connect servers to each other and to a larger network (like the Internet).

You can also find the devices that physically keep the servers running. A standard data center has an abundance of power cables and electrical plugs. Servers also generate a lot of heat, so cooling mechanisms such as fans, powerful air conditioning systems and / or pipes filled with water are installed in all data centers.

Many data centers also offer some level of security to ensure that no one tampered with or destroyed critical computing devices. Many systems have cameras, locked doors, sensors, alarm systems, security switches, etc.

In data centers, there is of course not only space for the computing devices stored there, but also for the employees who work there. Many data centers have offices, meeting / conference rooms, break rooms, etc. for employees and guests.

What happens in a data center?

What exactly happens in a data center depends heavily on its location, why it was created and who is using it. In data centers that serve as colocation facilities or as outsourced infrastructure as part of a managed service, the types of computing services and tasks vary considerably from customer to customer. Some data centers are only used to store backups, while others store and run almost all of a company's basic IT processes.

How are data centers used? Some data centers serve as networking points that connect different colocation environments. For example, in a colocation environment, a CDN can connect to a cable TV provider / ISP so users can stream movies. Other data centers are hyperscale and wholesale deployments that are intended for use and needs only by a single company.

How big is a data center?

Data centers are of different sizes. Some sites are only a few hundred square feet while others span more than an acre. For example, the Digital Realty data center in Oakland includes 55,000 square feet of raised floor in a 122,000 square foot building, while the Digital Realty data center in Houston has a total of 50,000 square feet.

Where are data centers located?

In theory, a data center can be anywhere. In most cases, however, data centers are located where the following are available:

• Power supply without interruptions; It is even better if electricity is inexpensive or can even be generated on site.
• Unlikely negative impact from natural disasters and location (if possible) outside the 100-year floodplain.
• Proximity to business centers and fiber optic backbone routes.
• Access to cooling for devices such as cool outside air, electricity for air conditioning and / or water for the heat transfer infrastructure - some data centers are even located underwater or underground for this reason.

How is a data center managed?

Each data center is managed slightly differently depending on who built it and for what purpose. If a data center belongs to a single company and is only used by that company for its own purposes, it is managed by the company concerned and its employees ensure the processes.

A common type of data center is a colocation facility. Under such an agreement, a company rents a space of a specified size at a larger location. The tenants are responsible for the installation of servers, server racks etc. as well as for their maintenance. You would also have to pay for electricity and cooling, although the main electricity and cooling infrastructure, along with the raised floor, is usually provid by the facility owner.With colocation, the owner of the facility is also responsible for building maintenance and security.

Another common situation is that a company is renting everything from one central provider. The owner of the facility owns and manages everything that can be found inside the data center and enables companies to acquire storage space on servers / the use of servers.

How does a data center differ from a server room or a server farm?

A server room is just a room in which servers and accessories such as server racks, fans, etc. are located. Server rooms are often located in larger buildings such as an office tower. In contrast, data centers are usually stand-alone structures that take up the entire structure or a large part of it.

A server farm is a kind of data center with the bare necessities. Server farms tend to be more amateur establishments, where many servers perform certain tasks, such as B. the mining of Bitcoin, and who have little or no supporting infrastructure. Data centers differ in that they contain everything that is required to efficiently and effectively power and maintain servers. This makes them particularly suitable for tasks and activities that are essential for a project and / or business-focused.

How is a cloud data center different?

A cloud data center is a facility that specifically supports as-a-service applications and workloads. For example, a vendor that makes a software-as-a-service product would store everything needed to run the program on servers in one or more data centers, and their customers could then access the software through an Internet connection. Instead of running the program on an individual computer, it is run on servers in data centers.