Data Center risks: we built, built and finally built ... Or actions on the construction site

You have allocated a place under the data center, decided on its reliability, selected contractors and are ready to proceed to its most difficult process - construction? Stop! From this point on, any mistake entails not just expenses, but sometimes very large expenses. Having more than a decade of experience in building a data center, we want to share moments that should be paid close attention.

To begin, make sure that all the air ducts, pipes and cables that are located on separate plans do not intersect each other. Would it not be a surprise for you at a certain stage of construction that the UPS is located next to the central heating pipe, and the power cables need to be pulled through the duct?

Partly help in this matter can 3D-design. 3D-model facilitates the perception of the entire data center and allows you to consider the location of any of its systems, both separately and in combination. You can create such a model with the help of various programs, for example, we have the following data center projects:
')

About subordination and interaction

But the 3D model, unfortunately, does not always save from the initiatives of Russian builders or visitors from the south involved in this process. For reasonable or not-so-good reasons, installers may deviate from the project, so it is very important to agree that all adjustments are agreed with the general designer, and chaos does not occur at the site.

The issue of subordination at the construction site is one of the main ones. The best option is when the installation team is subordinate to the integrator. Builders must join the project team, and not be hired by the customer separately.

For example, one of the customers independently hired an installation team to reinforce the ceiling. But it cannot be said that he saved on this. The brigade was not part of the general contractor’s team, and some time later, to reinforce the structure, it erected a wall in the middle of the server room. Do I have to say that it was not in the data center project? As a result, we had to revise the project and enter the data center in a new room, as well as wait for the builders of new surprises, instead of cohesively working as a team.

It is equally important that the general designer and the general contractor be the same person, since the first lays the concept for many years to come, and the second knows how to best implement it. But if these are different faces and there is discord between them - expect trouble. In one of these situations, the project documentation was simply abandoned. The assembly of the entire system was carried out not according to the approved drawings, but according to the schemes of the brigadier without a single signature. As a result, an incorrectly mounted system, a failed project, the dismissal of a foreman.

Trust but check!

The construction of a data center is a specific process, and it will not only be much more difficult for an ordinary construction team to cope with the work properly, but also to fully assess all possible risks.

Proven contractors are the foundation of the data center. Previous joint work experience in a single team is the guarantor of responsibility and reliability of builders. Brigades, hired by the customer, are conditionally cheaper. But low price often means low quality. There were cases when low-skilled builders laid bricks and building materials under the raised floor, and the customer found them several years later. Or, when in one of the server rooms the builders made an uneven floor, but with the correction they delayed (it is possible that on purpose). The customer had to start the data center as quickly as possible, and the installers put up the racks. As a result, it was no longer possible to fix the floor, as the team happily told the integrator.

It is necessary to remember the author's supervision and professional technical supervision. Moreover, it is necessary to control not only the work performed, but also the conditions in which the employees are located. More than once, unscheduled inspections of the management revealed a complete violation of sanitary and living standards, living conditions of people and storage of project documentation. Finding something in such conditions is practically impossible, which once again confirms the importance of order and at the work site, and the organization of the staff.

Ordering equipment is not directly related to the construction of a data center, but it has a very strong effect on it. The inattention of one of the parties - the supplier or ordering - sometimes leads to serious changes in the project due to the equipment already paid and delivered. It is necessary either to go along the path of long coordination with the designer, or to make adjustments directly at the construction site. One day, due to an error in the order, conditioners came in that were larger than the door. In order to bring them into the server room, I had to make a separate opening. Any company that is engaged in the construction of a data center will have more than one example of such curiosities. And the crane is hired, so that the servers on the 10th floor can be dragged, and holes in the floor are made in order to let the UPS down into the basement ...

The construction stage is the most difficult, it becomes obvious and corrects all the mistakes made during the planning and design stages. We have described far from all the surprises with which you can meet on the court. Probably, it will not be possible to foresee all situations and funny cases, so carefully check the original project and choose good contractors. Their reliability is the reliability of your entire data center and the tranquility of your nerves. And let your data center be built on the project!