E-Commerce.

You are working for an e-commerce company called Data Tier Corporation which has offices in New York, San Francisco, and Houston. The Data Tier Corporation is a reseller and wholesaler of goods and services through its digital store front. The Company has decided to consolidate its datacenters into one new location. The CIO has tasked you with designing the Data Center and choosing a new location. Data Tier Corporation is currently using 1 Petabyte of data including company proprietary-commerce information and client account information, but wants your design to be able to handle future growth.

By choosing Option 1, your design will need to prioritize Server (i.e.; CPU & Memory) growth over Storage growth to address the company’s strategic goal of server consolidation, without sacrificing performance. For this option, you are providing increased processing power and memory through Server growth to ensure you meet the performance requirements of the online storefront. You will need to provide enough rack space to host the current number of servers and provide enough room for 10% server growth.

For your design, you must design a Data Center within the following constraints:

Server Rack
Make use of 750 - 1000 physical servers (40 - 60 racks)
Able to handle 1 Petabyte - 5 Petabyte of storage. (1 - 5 racks)
Has at least one network switch per rack
Has at least one power distribution unit
Geographical Location
Has access to one or more ISPs (Internet Service Providers)
Has access to one or more power grid(s)

Create a Visio diagram showing the floorplan layout of your new data center. Your plan view architectural design of the floorplan of the Data Center must include:
A Plan View design
Enough floor space to host office space, rack space and room for heating and cooling solutions
At least two rooms for office and personal
One or two rooms for cooling and heating solutions
Enough floor space to fit your required server and storage racks.
Provide suggestions for future trends in server storage.

Full Answer Section

  The data center is located in a secure facility with access to one or more ISPs and power grids. The facility is also equipped with fire suppression and security systems. Here are some suggestions for future trends in server storage:
  • Solid-state drives (SSDs): SSDs are becoming increasingly popular as a storage solution for data centers. SSDs are faster and more reliable than traditional hard drives, and they consume less power.
  • NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express): NVMe is a new technology that allows SSDs to communicate with the CPU more efficiently. This can improve the performance of data-intensive applications.
  • Object storage: Object storage is a new type of storage that is designed for unstructured data. Object storage is more scalable and cost-effective than traditional file-based storage.
  • Software-defined storage: Software-defined storage is a new technology that decouples storage from the underlying hardware. This makes it easier to manage and scale storage resources.
These are just a few of the future trends in server storage. As technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative storage solutions in the years to come.

Sample Answer

 
  • Office space: There are two rooms dedicated to office space, one for management and one for staff. Each office has a desk, chair, computer, and phone for each employee.
  • Rack space: There is enough rack space to fit 60 server racks and 5 storage racks. The server racks are arranged in a hot-aisle/cold-aisle configuration to improve cooling efficiency.
  • Cooling and heating solutions: There is one room dedicated to cooling and heating solutions. This room houses the air conditioning units, chillers, and pumps that keep the data center cool.
  • Power distribution: There is one room dedicated to power distribution. This room houses the transformers, switchgear, and circuit breakers that distribute power to the data center.