Ken's Korner

Is Your Data Center Looking Like a Crime Scene? Orange cones and caution tape shouldn’t be the first thing people see when they visit a data center, but it was when I toured a data center just the other day. The data center was recently built and up and running.  Holes had been cut in the raised floor waiting for...

Tips on Avoiding Accidental Emergency Power Off Disconnects Click here to view, print and share a pdf of this article. You spend thousands if not millions of dollars to design and build a data center to ensure continuous uptime, including implementing safety procedures and training programs for people working on site.  You purchase backup power components like N+1 UPS modules...

Raised floor labeling ideas to improve uptime I’ve had people call me obsessive compulsive, anal retentive and other not so flattering names in my data center career, but when it comes to managing a mission critical facility and ensuring continuous uptime, being a little controlling is a good thing. One of my more obsessive traits involved labeling. Most of you...

Communicating Critical Information With most data centers running 7x24, it is important that each team member is aware of problems or issues with critical equipment. This could include what components are on order and their lead times and current vendors called to your site to address specific problems. Even with today's technology (i.e. blackberries, iPhones, etc.) managers and team members...

The Devil’s in the Detail The old saying "The Devil's in the Detail" can be related to almost every aspect of data center planning and execution. What detail has been the devil for you? Do you have maintenance outlets in your data center? If not, you should. Maintenance outlets are power receptacles that are NOT fed from the UPS and/or...

Rules of the Floor Do you have rules for your critical raised floor? Implementation of this easy project can save time and money by avoiding problems that can occur in your data center. I found that floor rules are easily communicated by posting large signs on all the entrance doors to your critical raised floor, as well as providing small...

Beware the Dangers lurking inside your Server Cabinets! You’re responsible for millions of dollars in equipment and infrastructure investments.  Success is measured in uptime and most people outside of the IT inner circle don’t even know you exist.  Failure is downtime measured in lost revenue, which can run into the millions of dollars per occurrence, and the notoriety that follows...

10 Tips for Dealing with Data Center Contamination Click here to view, print and share a pdf of this article. Data Center contamination can lead to overheating, corrosion damage, electrical and mechanical failure of disk and tape drives, power supplies and circuit boards. Data Center Contamination - 10 Steps for Dealing with them As electrical components shrink, they become more...

20 Data Center Cleaning Tips Click here to view, print and share a pdf of this article. Contaminants in a data center can lead to overheating, corrosion damage, electrical and mechanical failure of disk and tape drives, power supplies and circuit boards.  Maintaining a clean data center is critical to its long term success and continued uptime. The sub-floor air...

Cleaning a Data Center Raised Floor Beware Dirty Floors In most cases, a data center’s under floor is also its air plenum.  Not cleaning beneath a raised floor can result in contaminants being drawn into sensitive computer equipment, which can cause overheating and shorten their life. Under floor contaminants will also contribute to dirtier environment throughout the raised floor area...