3 Tips to prolong the life of your IT Infrastructure
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1. When considering data centre cost-saving and energy efficiency, data centre physical infrastructure preventive maintenance (PM) is sometimes neglected as an important tool for controlling TCO and downtime.
Preventative maintenance ensures maximum reliability by taking precautionary and proactive steps to reduce unscheduled equipment downtime and other avoidable failures. The purpose of preventive maintenance is to schedule inspections so that defects can be spotted before they evolve into something more severe.
Preventative maintenance should not be confused with unplanned maintenance, which is a response to an unanticipated problem or emergency. Most of the time, UPS, Generator or Cooling maintenance includes the replacement of parts, the thermal scanning of breaker panels, component / system adjustments, cleaning of air or water filters, lubrication, or the updating of physical infrastructure firmware.
Performing preventive maintenance on UPS systems and batteries greatly reduces the chance of failure during power outages. In a recent study, the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) for UPS units that received two PM service events per year is 23 times higher than a machine with no PM service events per year.
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2. Provide a suitable operating environment for your equipment
Temperature fluctuation is a common cause of electronic component failure. Electronics are designed to support specific temperature ranges. If temperatures remain within the design range of the equipment, failures rarely occur.
If, however, temperatures stray beyond the supported range, failure rates increase significantly. In fact, according to studies conducted by high-performance computing researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the failure rate doubles for every rise of 10° C (18° F). The recommended operating temperature range for IT equipment, according to the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) TC 9.9, is 68- 77°F (20-25°C).
Dust is another major cause of downtime to electronic equipment. Regularly clearing air inlets on your servers, switches, storage devices, UPS system and cooling equipment is vital when it comes to ensuring adequate airflow is maintained. Clogged vents prevent cold air circulating and can cause devices to over-heat even if the environment they are kept in is properly cooled.
Proper airflow can help maintain consistent and safe temperatures and can help to sustain environmental conditions that translate to longer component life and increased time between failures. If your air conditioning system uses a raised floor to deliver cold air it is important to make sure that air ways aren’t obstructed with data cabling and that your equipment is receiving sufficient cooling to prevent failure.
3. Implement an environmental monitoring and management system
50% of all IT downtime in the Data Centre is caused by physical threats! Unlike outages that are caused by software errors, the downtime with physical defects is usually longer and more expensive. Common threats in your data centre, server room and IT racks are: Over Temperature, Power Outage or UPS error, Fire or smoldering fire, water leakage and human error.
Environmental monitoring systems combined with the use of SNMP network management cards in your UPS system and Cooling equipment give you a holistic view of the physical environment of your data centre. Installing temperature and humidity sensors in the racks provide you with early warnings of an over temperature condition and allow you to act before it causes a bigger problem which will likely result in system downtime.
Leak detection can prevent water damage and corrosion, smoke sensors provide early fire detection and most environmental monitoring systems also have optional access control to prevent intruders and physical human threats.
Detecting threats in time to prevent them escalating and becoming more serious helps to not only prevent downtime but to prolong the life of your equipment.
If you would like to find out more about our preventative maintenance options or would like to discuss our environmental monitoring solutions, contact one of our team today!
Call: 01252 692559 or email: info@sourceups.co.uk
When we started planning a refresh of our UPS estate, we stumbled upon Source UPS. They are one of those companies you hope you will find. They are true experts in their field and made some great suggestions that have made managing our server rooms much easier.
