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Chloride - Data Centre Tier Classifications
Chloride - Data Centre Tier Classifications
Developed from The Uptime Institute & TIA-942 Single Line Diagrams
Benchmarking Data Centre ‘Quality’
For further treatment of Availability and MTBF/MTTR see the Appendix A slides
IT functionality – Three-Nines?
The Uptime Institute [1] has, for more than 10 years, sponsored
research and practical studies into data centre design, operation and
resultant resilience and developed a Tier Classification to describe and
differentiate facilities from an availability standpoint
A White Paper [2] from the Institute (authors of which include the
originator of dual power supplies in IT equipment and the Tier system
itself) is the basis of this review of the facility and operational concepts
The Uptime Institute is a commercial organisation and the guidelines it
created are not in the form of a technical standard. However much of
the principles and details have been incorporated in TIA-942 (see next
slide)
[1] The Uptime Institute, Building 100, 2904 Rodeo Park Drive East, Santa Fe, NM 87505, USA
[2] Title: Industry Standard Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance, Turner, Seader &
Brill, © 2001-2005 The Uptime Institute, Inc
American ANSI/TIA Standard
ANSI/TIA-942-2005
- Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers
Telecommunications Industry Association
- Standards and Technology Dept, 2500 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201, USA
- www.tiaonline.org/standards/search_n_order.cfm
Follows the same Tier I-IV format and draws heavily on The Uptime
Institute publications but extends the detail, especially in connectivity
Entirely a USA centric ANSI specification, so can only be used as a
guide in EN territories
Specifically for telecom related data-centre environments and
<2700W/m2
Tier Classification – Tier I to IV
Fault Tolerant – defined as ‘a site that that can sustain at least one
unplanned worst-case infrastructure failure with no critical load impact’
Concurrently Maintainable – defined as ‘a site that is able to perform
planned maintenance activity without shutting down the critical load’.
Note that it is acceptable that the fault tolerance level will be reduced
during maintenance or after the first fault
Tier IV Classification only applies to dual power supply loads where
complete functionality is obtained with either power supply fed and
where the two inputs, in normal operation, share the power demand, as
defined by The Uptime Institute’s own specification [1]
A technical and philosophical argument reigns about Static Transfer
Switches for single-cord loads in Tier IV designs
- Is that Tier III.5 or IV.5?
[1] Title: Fault Tolerant Power Compliance Specifications, v2.0, see www.uptimeinstitute.org
Electrical Single Line Diagrams
Complete physical segregation of the two power supplies from the grid
to the dual-corded load – a true Dual-Bus system
- 2x(N+1) in every system, maximum 90% load
- Concurrent maintenance possible without load shut down and without
losing N+1 redundancy
- Needs two grid sub-stations (they will be on the same MV ring) and
diverse cable routes into the site
- Two mechanical load power switchboards in dual-bus
- Note! Many engineers question having N+1 on both A & B buses
ONLY dual-corded loads
- No STS’s, no common point of failure except the load
- Simple to operate, hence reliable
With care in design, installation, operation and maintenance, 99.999%
power Availability possible
Tier IV + STS’s + LBS = Tier how many?
Tier III.5 or IV.5? That is the question!
Ian F Bitterlin
International Sales Director
Contact details
Tel: +44 (0) 7717 467 579
E mail: ian.bitterlin@chloridepower.com
Web: www.chloridepower.com
Appendix A – Understanding ‘Nines’
UK numbers
“Availability”
The most abused piece of “data” in the industry
MTBF
Availability = x 100%
MTBF + MDT
Example
- MTBF = 25,000 hours
- MDT = 1 hour
- Availability = (25,000 ÷ 25,001) x100 = 99.996%
- Note that a 100% “reliable” system that needs annual
maintenance cannot have A=100%!
Availability Nines: A measure of “quality”?
To be able to run the load via the bypass and test the UPS
system as a parallel group is a very attractive and useful
operational/maintenance feature
- The load isolation breaker enables that function
Generally that means that between the PDU and the output
bus of the UPS system there are at least two MCCB’s or
ACB’s in series
- Typical MTBF published at 250,000h (28.5y) with maintenance
This negates the advantage of applying any reliability
enhancement strategy using N+(more than 1)
Distribution limits the UPS Availability
Utility/Generator Feed
Input Switchboard
Maintenance Bypass