Data-Center-Site-Infrastructure-Tier-Standard---To

UPTIMEINSTITUTEDataCenterSiteInfrastructureTierStandard:TopologyUPTIMEINSTITUTEDataCenterSiteInfrastructureTierStandard:TopologyPreparedbyUptimeInstituteProfessionalServicesCopyright©2009bytheUptimeInstituteBuilding1002904RodeoParkDriveEastSantaFe,NM87505Allrightsreserved.TheUptimeInstitute’sPublicationsareprotectedbyinternationalcopyrightlaw.TheUptimeInstitute(Institute)requireswrittenrequestsateachandeveryoccasionthattheInstitute’sintellectualpropertyorportionsoftheInstitute’sintellectualpropertyarereproducedorused.TheInstitutecopyrightextendstoallmedia—paper,electronic,andvideocontent—andincludesuseinotherpublications,internalcompanydistribution,companywebsitesandmarketingmaterials,andhandoutsforseminarsandcourses.Formoreinformation,pleasevisit:TopologyAbstract:TheInstituteTierStandard:Topologyisanobjectivebasisforcomparingthefunctionality,capacity,andexpectedavailability(orperformance)ofaparticularsiteinfrastructuredesigntopologyagainstothersites,orforcomparingagroupofsites.Thisstandarddescribescriteriatodifferentiatefourclassificationsofsiteinfrastructuretopologybasedonincreasinglevelsofredundantcapacitycomponentsanddistributionpaths.ThisstandardfocusesonthedefinitionsofthefourTiersandtheperformanceconfirmationtestsfordeterminingcompliancetothedefinitions.TheCommentary,inaseparatesec-tion,providespracticalexamplesofsiteinfrastructuresystemdesignsandconfigurationsthatfulfilltheTierdefinitionsasameanstoclarifytheTierclassificationcriteria.Keywords:datacenter,infrastructure,Tier,classification,Tiers,Tierlevel,topology,availability,reliability,redundant,ConcurrentMaintenance,ConcurrentlyMaintainable,FaultTolerance,FaultTolerant,OperationalSustainability,dualpower,functionality,performance,metricsCopyright©2009bytheUptimeInstituteBuilding1002904RodeoParkDriveEastSantaFe,NM87505Allrightsreserved.TheUptimeInstitute’sPublicationsareprotectedbyinternationalcopyrightlaw.TheUptimeInstitute(Institute)requireswrittenrequestsateachandeveryoccasionthattheInstitute’sintellectualpropertyorportionsoftheInstitute’sintellectualpropertyarereproducedorused.TheInstitutecopyrightextendstoallmedia—paper,electronic,andvideocontent—andincludesuseinotherpublications,internalcompanydistribution,companywebsitesandmarketingmaterials,andhandoutsforseminarsandcourses.Formoreinformation,pleasevisit:TopologyIntroductionThisintroductionisnotpartoftheUptimeInstituteDataCenterSiteInfrastructureTierStandard:Topology.Itprovidesthereaderwithcontextfortheapplicationofthestandard.ThisUptimeInstituteDataCenterSiteInfrastructureTierStandard:TopologyisarestatementofthecontentpreviouslypublishedastheInstitutewhitepaperTierClassificationsDefineSiteInfrastructurePerformance.SelectedcontentofthiswhitepaperhasbeenreeditedintoanANSIStandardsModelformat.FutureupdatesorchangestotheInstituteTierStandard:TopologyshallbeaccomplishedthoughareviewandrecommendationprocessconsistentwithotherrecognizedStandardsbodies.TheTierClassificationswerecreatedtoconsistentlydescribethesite-levelinfrastructurerequiredtosustaindatacenteroperations,notthecharacteristicsofindividualsystemsorsubsystems.Datacentersaredependentuponthesuccessfulandintegratedoperationofatleast16separatesiteinfrastructuresubsystems.EverysubsystemandsystemmustbeconsistentlydeployedwiththesamesiteuptimeobjectivetosatisfythedistinctiveTierrequirements.Themostcriticaldecision-makingperspectiveownersanddesignersmustconsider,whenmakinginevitabletradeoffs,iswhateffectdoesthedecisionhaveonthelifecycleintegratedoperationoftheInformationTechnology(IT)environmentinthecomputerroom.Simplyput,theTiertopologyratingforanentiresiteisconstrainedbytheratingoftheweakestsubsystemthatwillimpactsiteoperation.Forexample,asitewitharobustTierIVUPSconfigurationcombinedwithaTierIIchilledwatersystemyieldsaTierIIsiterating.Thisverystringentdefinitionisdrivenbyseniorexecutiveswhohaveapprovedmulti-milliondollarinvestmentsforanobjectivereportofactualsitecapabilities.Anyexceptionsandexclusionsfootnotedintheapprovaldocumentswillbequicklylostandforgotten.IfasitehasbeenadvertisedwithinanorganizationasbeingFaultTolerant(TierIV),itwillbeinconsistenttohavetoplanasiteshutdownatanytimeinthefuture—regardlessofany“fineprint”exclusionsthatdiligentlyidentifiedtherisk.Forthisreason,therearenopartialorfractionalTierratings.Asite’sTierratingisnottheaverageoftheratingsforthecriticalsiteinfrastructuresubsystems.Thesite’sTierratingisthelowestoftheindividualsubsystemratings.Similarly,theTierratingcannotbeclaimedbyusingcalculatedmeantimebetweenfailures(MTBF)componentstatisticalreliabilitytogenerateapredictiveavailabilityandthenusingthatnumbertomatchtheempiricalavailabilityresultswiththoseofsitesrepresentingthedifferentTierclassifications.Statisticallyvalidcomponentvaluesarenotavail