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Keeping Your Data Center Safe from Weather And Heat

By Matthew Giannelis posted Wed August 10, 2022 09:08 AM

  

Whether you have one data centre or hundreds, natural disasters are a fact of life. Natural disasters can have a major impact on your business and the services that you provide to your customers. Hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods, and earthquakes are all threats to data centres.

Do you think about how the other buildings in the area will affect your design? Will the sun be so intensely reflected off of the building that people are forced to use artificial light and put up blinds? Will the sun be blocked, so that rooms that used to be illuminated by natural light must now be artificially lit?

The same thing happens with data centres. Servers and storage systems generate heat, which affects all the other equipment in the data centre. IBM has very power- and heat-efficient servers and storage, but sometimes that's not enough for a complete prevention and protection from the outdoors. 

You must consider all the systems that might
contribute to elevated temperatures that not only cause even'ts such as data centre electical faults, but possible personal injuries to NOC staff aswell.  

There is no way to completely prevent a natural disaster from damaging your data centre. However, there are steps you can take to mitigate the damage and lower the risk of an outage. If you’re thinking about building a new data centre in an area prone to natural disasters, or if you already have one but want to take measures to protect it from these threats, read on for some useful tips.

Make sure your data centre is built to withstand the elements

Before you even begin to think about how to protect your data centre from damage caused by natural disasters, you need to make sure the building itself can withstand the elements. Natural disasters can easily wreak havoc on flimsy structures and cause them to collapse.

If your data centre has a wooden structure, for instance, it’s possible that falling trees or other debris during a storm could cause significant damage. If you are building a new data centre, make sure it is built to withstand natural disasters. The best way to do this is to hire an architect who has experience building data centres and can help you choose the right materials and design. You may also want to consult with a structural engineer.

Back up your data frequently and securely

You can’t prevent all data loss and downtime, no matter how hard you try. However, you can greatly reduce the likelihood of a major data outage by regularly backing up your data. A good data backup strategy includes both offsite and onsite backups. Your offsite backups should be stored in a remote, climate-controlled facility.

This storage facility should be separate from your primary data centre and protected against floods, hail, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. If the worst happens, you don’t want your back-up data to be destroyed, too. To guard against data loss in the event of an onsite disaster, make sure you use a backup solution that can automatically copy your data to a remote location. You can also manually copy data to an offsite location when you have time to do so.

Use a generator for backup power

A generator can help protect your data centre in several different ways. A generator can help provide back-up power to your data centre, allowing your critical systems to stay online even if your normal source of power goes out. A generator can also help you prevent carbon monoxide poisoning in your facility by taking over for your central cooling system, which normally pulls carbon dioxide out of your building.

A generator produces exhaust fumes that contain carbon monoxide and is therefore not a suitable replacement for your central cooling system. Even if you have a generator that can power your cooling system, it’s important to install a special device on your normal source of power to guard against power surges. This device can help protect your critical systems from power surges that may be caused by lightning and other weather events.

Install heat sensors and protectors

You can also take steps to protect your data centre from heat damage. Natural disasters can cause drastic temperature changes and sudden spikes in heat. If your data centre is not equipped to handle these changes, it could be seriously damaged by heat. Install sensors on your data centre’s air conditioning systems.

If the sensors detect a sudden rise in heat, they can automatically kick on the cooling systems to prevent damage. You can also install thermal protectors on your data centre’s critical systems and circuits. These protectors automatically shut off the power to a circuit if it becomes too hot. This can prevent damage to your data centre caused by overheated circuits.

Extended Summary 

A data centre outage can be costly and extremely inconvenient for both your customers and your employees. It’s important to take steps to protect your data centre from damage caused by natural disasters. A data centre constructed with the correct materials and following proper design and construction guidelines can withstand a lot of damage.

Additionally, there are various ways to protect your data centre from the elements and avoid a shutdown. It’s important to stay on top of natural disaster news in your area so you know when you need to take extra precautions to protect your data centre.


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