The summary.
SITE SELECTION IS DECIDED BY POWER AND CONNECTIVITY
Everything else is compensation. A single power feed or a single fibre route is a single point of failure.
BLANKING PANELS AND CONTAINMENT INDICATE A WELL-RUN FACILITY
Without blanking panels, hot exhaust air is drawn back into equipment intakes and it overheats despite adequate cooling.
Mixing hot and cold air is the main cause of cooling inefficiency.
EQUIPMENT INSTALLED BACKWARDS BREAKS THE WHOLE AISLE ARRANGEMENT
Each row then exhausts into the next row's intake, and temperatures rise along the room.
Measure intake temperature at the top of racks — that is where it is worst.
LABEL BOTH ENDS OF EVERY CABLE
In a failure, at night, nobody can trace an unlabelled cable. And remove cables when equipment is removed.
WATER DESTROYS EQUIPMENT INSTANTLY AND IS SURPRISINGLY COMMON
Ask where leak detection exists.
KEEP CARDBOARD OUT OF DATA HALLS
It sheds fibres continuously. Unpack elsewhere.
FACILITIES RUN OUT OF POWER AND COOLING LONG BEFORE FLOOR SPACE
Ask what power per rack is supported, not how much space is available.
