Data Center Management

 

Overview

Data Center Management involves coordinating the physical access, power, cooling, air conditioning, fire suppression, physical racking, lighting, and networking for systems used to provide services, including research, testing, and development services within facilities dedicated to and designed for physical computer hosting.

Covers

Engineering IT provides liaison and coordination services to Data Center Shared Services which operates data centers for the use of university personnel. Engineering IT also manages data centers for College production systems.

Features

This service provides a secure, reliable, and controlled environment for your computing equipment (servers, storage arrays, appliances,etc).

Each data center has the following features:

  • Controlled physical access
  • Availability of Uninterruptable Power Supply-protected circuits (to sustain power for short intervals of power loss)
  • Power Distribution Units that allow for remedial monitoring of power usage
  • Air Conditioning (humidity, filtering, cooling)
  • Some form of fire suppression (typically sprinklers)
  • Standard square-hole racks for systems
  • Adequate lighting

Engineering IT provides:

  • Liaison to Data Center Shared Services.
  • Coordination on installation of equipment with DCSS.
  • DCSS or Engineering IT will notify customers of outages or degradation of services in the data center facilities as soon as possible.
  • Advice on the best solution for you.

Available to

Faculty, Units, Registered Student Organizations, and Research Groups in the College of Engineering.

Service Hours

Requests will receive a response within one business day, Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, excluding University holidays.

Initial response to new service requests will be within one business day; completion of the request will vary depending on the type of request and processing time from DCSS.

Support Contacts

Cost

This service is currently subsidized by campus. There is no additional charge.

Service Terms

Users of this service agree to the following:

  • Each system deployment in a DCSS facility is considered a project, and specific terms for that deployment will be discussed at the initial meeting.
  • No systems may be deployed without authorization from DCSS or Engineering IT.
  • No network equipment or cabling may be deployed without authorization from DCSS or Engineering IT.
  • Sufficient information about  physical space, power consumption, cooling requirements, access control (who and what hours), and networking requirements for systems must be provided prior to installation.
  • Lifecycle expectation (expected retirement or refresh date) for all systems must be provided prior to installation.
  • Outdated systems may be refused hosting in the data centers.
  • Systems which are not rack mountable may be refused hosting in the datacenters.
  • DCSS policies take precedence over this document.
  • Requests involving this service must go through steps outside of Engineering IT and completion time of request can vary accordingly.

New Service Inquiries

Please email engrit-help@illinois.edu, prior to purchasing the equipment.  
Prior to installation the following information will be collected:

  • Physical space
  • Power consumption
  • Cooling requirements
  • Access control (who and what hours)
  • Networking requirements for systems prior to installation
  • Lifecycle expectations

General Service Inquiries

Mark Hart
Assistant Director for Research Services
smhart@illinois.edu

Related Services

Subscribers to this service may be interested in these additional services:

For a broader view of research-related IT support offerings from Engineering IT and on campus, please contact our Research Technology Facilitator, Mark Hart (mshart@illinois.edu)

Documentation

Data Center Shared Services