EXPERT OPINION
The crucial task of data centre testing
Effective loadbank testing of facilities is essential . There are plenty of expensive examples of companies that failed to test their systems and lost millions thanks to an unexpected outage . In the UK some years ago , a leading financial institution suffered a data centre outage that left millions without access to its accounts and cost the company an estimated £ 370 million . The reason ? An untested data centre .
Testing provides insight into any weaknesses inherent in the system , flaws that may only be apparent when pressure is applied to the system . To prevent critical infrastructure from being the source of potential downtime , ensure that every part of the data centre is carefully tested before the facility starts operations . Loadbank testing puts immense pressure on the data centre , determining whether it is capable of withstanding full load demand conditions , or not . This testing process follows five key steps to ensure that maximum capacity is not the point at which a data centre fails , but when it succeeds .
The first step is factory acceptance testing that ensures all equipment has undergone evaluation before and after assembly . This determines whether it has been built according to design specifications and can operate within those parameters . Resistive and reactive loadbank testing can simulate electrical loading for generators and UPS systems to ensure 100 % performance at full load .
The second step is site acceptance testing . This is carried out by OEMs and installation contractors on-site to ensure
IT IS ESSENTIAL TO TICK TWO PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT BOXES WHEN INVESTING IN A ROBUST DATA CENTRE STRATEGY . www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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