Things You Should Consider During Capacity Planning for a Data Center

Capacity planning is essential for the optimization and expansion of the data center. Today, capacity planning is no longer just a hardware forecast for the future. Here some important things you should consider during capacity planning for a data center.

Power Consumption and Cooling

Power consumption should be the main aspect of data center planning. You should consider the current power consumption and match it with future needs. The 220V power bandwidth in data centers is increasing because it severely affects the current draw of certain devices, therefore leading to a high density per strip. Many data centers with power intensive blade centers have already adopted 3-phase power because it balances power load. You can readily depend on various analysis and power load tools for determining current and future power consumption needs. Also, think seriously about power backup equipment to reduce downtime of the data center equipment.

After assessing power consumption, you should consider the cooling equipment, which helps to curb heat load produced from projected and current servers. Ambient air cooling and liquid cooling are two main cooling techniques employed in the data center. Today, many data center architects prefer liquid cooling over air cooling because water carries 3,500 times more heat than air and eliminates the need for constructing raised data center floors.

Rack Optimization

Consider space efficient and intelligent designs while considering the capacity planning. Employ racks with built-in channels for improving the air flow. Use intelligent design racks to squeeze the space and save on your footprints.

IT Functions

Data centers are the real asset of any organization and their optimized physical infrastructure contributes to the success of the organization. The optimized physical infrastructure allows administrators to meet their business and organizational objectives. When you are attempting capacity planning, you should consider the current IT functions and future IT requirements. You should check current equipment, legacy hardware and future equipment required for the functioning of the data center.

Green Performance

Analyze your organizations Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) and how your data centers fulfill it or relate to it. While considering data center planning, try to calculate the cost difference between renewable and traditional energy sources.

Disaster and Continuity Recovery

Take the current facility profile into account and explore the risk of potential disaster in the current data center setup. Whatever the situation, you should calculate the protection capacity.

Remember your data center’s future lies in capacity planning and you cannot ignore it. If you are struggling with capacity planning for a data center, you should consider seeking the services of experienced data center experts at Lifeline Data Centers. Schedule a tour with us today:

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.