Data center redundancy is a system design where a component is supplied in excess to ensure continued uptime in the event of a component failure. Specifically, redundancy refers to the amount of backup power, cooling, network, hardware, software, storage, or information systems available. There are different levels of redundancy and the higher the level, the better equipped the data center is to avoid costly periods of downtime.
Levels of Redundancy
There is no right or wrong level of redundancy for a data center as it depends on a multitude of factors such as the IT environment, business goals, and budget. The most notable levels of data center redundancy are:
- N. N is the capacity needed to power or cool the facility at full IT load. At this level, zero redundancy has been added and there is only enough power to account for the facility at full load. If there was a component failure or required maintenance at this level, critical applications would fail.
- N+1 or N+X. With N being the amount of a component needed to run the data center at full load, N+1 includes an additional component to support a single failure or requirement of that component. Design standards typically call for one extra unit for every four units needed.
- 3N/2. The three-to-make-two or 3N/2 level of redundancy provides nearly 2N reliability with N+1 capital and operating costs. This type of redundancy design can be very chaotic as it requires three different UPS systems where each individual systems could be backing up a separate system.
- 2N. 2N refers to a fully redundant, mirrored system with two independent distribution systems. If one component source has an interruption or an outage, the other source can support the component and accommodate the facility’s full load. With a 2N level of redundancy, the data center maintains uptime in the case of a system failure.
- 2(N+1). This design provides the highest reliability for data centers as it is double the amount of capacity needed plus an extra capacity system. This level can tolerate multiple component failures simultaneously and can maintain N+1 redundancy with an entire system down. However, this system is very costly as it includes the initial component cost as well as floor space and operation costs.
Ensure Redundancy and Save Costs with DCIM Software
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software allows data center managers to maximize space and capacity utilization by capturing historical and current power usage data. Managers can run a failover simulation report to identify which cabinets are at risk and what equipment can continue functioning safely if a PDU goes down. Additionally, with DCIM software, the possibility and severity of power outages decreases as the software polls intelligent PDUs and other equipment at user-configurable intervals to ensure they are accessible, sends notifications of warning and critical events that can remediated before there is an issue, and makes troubleshooting issues easy. Therefore, with a lower probability of a power outage, the lower redundancy level needed to support the facility, which ultimately decreases costs.
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