Data Center Hardware
Data center hardware covers the physical equipment that provides compute, storage, and networking in a facility: servers, racks, switches, cabling, power distribution, cooling systems, and the design considerations that determine reliability, density, and efficiency.
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Intro
Data Center Hardware
A data center turns electrical power, floor space, cooling, and network links into computing capacity. Its hardware is a system, not a pile of servers. A processor cannot serve an application without memory, storage, network paths, power conversion, heat removal, firmware, and a physical chassis.
Use this mental model:
facility power and cooling
|
v
rack -> server -> compute, memory, storage, and network
| |
| +-> firmware and out-of-band management
+-> power distribution, cabling, and switches
Each layer constrains the next one. A rack can have empty slots yet lack enough power or cooling for another server. A server can have fast processors yet wait on memory, storage, or the network. Good hardware decisions therefore begin with the workload and include the whole operating environment.
Start with the workload
Translate an application need into resource requirements before comparing product names.
| Workload need | Hardware question |
|---|---|
| More parallel computation | How many processor cores or accelerators can the software use? |
| Large active data set | How much memory capacity and bandwidth are required? |
| High transaction rate | What storage latency, endurance, and input or output rate are required? |
| Heavy east-west traffic | What network throughput, port speed, and path redundancy are required? |
| Strict availability target | Which components, paths, and power feeds must tolerate a failure? |
| Dense deployment | Can the rack deliver and remove the required power and heat? |
Capacity is not one number. Record compute, memory, storage, network, power, cooling, rack space, and management requirements separately. Include growth and failure conditions. Peak demand, steady demand, and recovery demand can describe different hardware needs.
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Sources
- https://www.opencompute.org/community/server
Supports
- Standardized server-system scope for scale computing
- Chassis, sled, rack-compatible, and modular server design categories
- Hardware lifecycle from validation and manufacturing through operation and decommissioning
- https://www.opencompute.org/wiki/Server/ProjectOlympus
Supports
- Modular rack architecture and integrated power distribution and management
- Server enclosures, power supplies, motherboards, PCI Express risers, storage, and accelerator modules
- Rack-level monitoring, power measurement, and power capping examples
- https://www.opencompute.org/wiki/Open_Rack/SpecsAndDesigns
Supports
- Rack as a consistent interface for information-technology equipment
- Current rack, power shelf, power monitoring, battery backup, and cooling-interface specifications
- Need to evaluate rack-level mechanical, power, and infrastructure compatibility
- https://handbook.ashrae.org/Handbooks/A19/IP/a19_ch20/a19_ch20_ip.aspx
Supports
- Relationship between component heat, server inlet conditions, airflow, and facility cooling
- Recommended and allowable environmental envelopes
- Heat-load assessment and matching cooling capacity to equipment
- Air-cooled and liquid-cooled equipment concepts
- Processor, memory, storage, input and output, power-supply, fan, and heat-sink thermal considerations
- https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/technical%20resources/bookstore/ashrae_tc0909_power_white_paper_22_june_2016_revised.pdf
Supports
- Typical data center power-distribution system layers
- Power-equipment location and temperature considerations
- Need to evaluate power equipment within changing data center environments
- https://www.energystar.gov/products/enterprise_servers
Supports
- Rack, blade, and tower or pedestal server form-factor categories
- Processor socket, memory, power-supply, power-management, active, and idle energy criteria
- Energy efficiency as a procurement and configuration concern
- https://www.opencompute.org/community/storage
Supports
- Storage project scope covering devices, chassis, components, peripherals, and network-enabled storage
- Standardization, modularization, and compatibility as storage-hardware concerns
- https://www.opencompute.org/wiki/Networking/SpecsAndDesigns
Supports
- Data center leaf, spine, and top-of-rack switch design examples
- Switch port, transceiver, speed, airflow, power, and form-factor considerations
- Hardware specifications and design packages as compatibility evidence
- https://pcisig.com/specification-overview/pci-express-base
Supports
- PCI Express as an architecture for compliant systems and peripherals
- Interconnect attributes, fabric management, and programming interfaces
- PCI Express generation and system-interconnect compatibility context
- https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP0266_1.23.0.html
Supports
- Baseboard management controller as an embedded device or service for out-of-band monitoring and management
- Redfish as a model-oriented RESTful management standard
- Managed systems, chassis, managers, sensors, power, events, and resource relationships
- https://uefi.org/specifications
Supports
- Current UEFI, Platform Initialization, ACPI, and UEFI Shell specifications
- Platform firmware interfaces and structures used by operating-system loaders and operating systems
- Firmware initialization, boot, and update as documented platform concerns