OPINION
ongoing maintenance is needed when it comes to power
and cooling, after all, it’s our job to keep the business
running, minimise downtime, as well as ensure that our
cooling and general energy efficiency are at an optimum.
Staying online
There’s an endless amount of best practice maintenance
information available covering every distinct piece of
equipment or cabling in your data centres, and therefore no
way we could cover that here. However, there are key areas
related to power and cooling, that should be part of every
regime, regardless of the make-up of your data centre or its
size. Here’s my take, on what those areas should be:
Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
For such a critical piece of data centre equipment, the
UPS can often only receive the most rudimentary of
maintenance attention. The occasional failover test with an
unimportant server simply isn’t enough. Batteries need to
be checked, periodic impedance tests as well as checking for
software updates are essential. It’s also important to check
that configuration of the servers connected to the UPS
hasn’t changed. For example, in such a way as to overload
the appliance, or create a situation where the time the UPS
can power the servers becomes too small. Seemingly simple
things like bypass switches should also be checked.
Air conditioning units (ACU)
We’ve just had the hottest July and late August Bank
Holiday on record, so if you didn’t realise how important
your ACU systems are, then there may be no hope for you!
Inspections and refreshing of consumables should take place
regularly, along with reviews of the condenser locations
and critical condenser cleaning. All associated internal and
external pipework should be integrity checked, too.
Generators
One of the most critical aspects of data centre maintenance
and often overlooked, given they largely sit quietly waiting
for an outage. It doesn’t mean they don’t need maintaining
though – they should be routinely run. This isn’t simply
a case of saying ‘it works’, fuel analysis and load testing
should also be reviewed at regular points.
Cabling
Checks should be conducted to ensure cabling isn’t under
undue tension or showing excessive signs of wear on
terminators that are regularly manipulated. If you have a
colour-coded cable system in place, then checks should also
take place for rogue cable colours. Finally, while rare, it’s
possible for rodents and other unwanted guests to find their
way into underfloor cavities, so signs of dining and nesting
should be looked for.
Ready for every eventuality
It is easy to look at the list above and say, “yes, we have that
covered.” But do you? Or is it just that they’re written down
in a dusty process guide somewhere. Think for a moment
about the thoughts you had when that power cut struck on
9 August. Take this opportunity to review your processes,
ensure staff are trained and take these maintenance and
test regimes seriously. There will, of course, be other power
cuts in the future – so use this shot in the arm – make sure
you’re ready and your team’s conscience is clear. n
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