Tour of the data center
Hi, Habr! My name is Bozena, I am the editor of the company's blog . I often go to interesting and even forbidden places to tell readers about it. One fine day (in fact, there was slush and dirt, it ended in November, it began to snow) me and my colleague were invited to visit one of the data centers where our servers are located.
Despite the fact that the taxi driver got a little lost and drove us around the highway in circles, we arrived at our destination on time. We were met by Sergey Kubasov, deputy technical director of the Mail.Ru Group, and data center employees.
Careful, inside is a heavy gif!
How to get inside?
')
The territory was very large: detached buildings of data centers. The perimeter is supervised by the security service (as I later learned it has its own), there are only four perimeter protection levels - the entrance to the territory, the entrance to the data center building, the gateway next to the security room, and then the entrance to the hall. And this is far from everything that exists for security: the alarm button of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, IP video surveillance systems are located throughout the territory outside and inside buildings. Entry - strictly by passes, which are ordered in advance.
Almost through the blizzard, covering our faces with scarves and mittens, we got to the checkpoint, where the guards greeted us. Show your passport and sign the guest book is a standard procedure, after which you get a pass and you can go.
From the interesting - we needed a third floor, and while we were climbing the stairs, I had already uncovered a camera and tried to capture the inscriptions on the walls. As we found out later, funny expressions adorn practically on all walls and on all floors. This pointers, directing the lost to the destination, and parting words to employees, and even funny threats.
We did not stay until 21:47: we thought that the delayed people would be burned along with the forgotten things.
Once on the right floor, we left the outerwear in an improvised dressing room and put on shoe covers (and shoe covers there is one of the main things you need for work). The server maintains almost sterile cleanliness, and the boot covers prevent dust and dirt from entering technical rooms.
With its boot covers is prohibited
Temperature and humidity
Before I visited this data center, I had an idea of what the server looks like, but I never saw them live.
Here it is pure, as in the operating
Inside it was frankly cold. But exactly until the moment when I came closer to the racks. This is because the cooling of equipment in the equipment rooms is organized according to the principle of a cold-hot corridor. The cold air is supplied by the DX cabinet air-conditioned rooms under the raised floor (600 mm high), from where it passes through the perforated tiles into the cold corridor to the equipment due to the total injected pressure in the underfloor space. The cold air is taken in by the equipment and discharged into the hot hallway of the hall, where it rises up, under the sarcophagus ceiling. Our server in this data center uses Uniflair TDAR 2522 A - this is a model of an air conditioner with a steam humidifier , it has redundant compressors and external fan units. So, if you stand where hot air rises to the ceiling, you can easily warm up. I did just that.
According to the SLA (Service Level Agreement), the humidity level in the server room should be from 40 to 60%, with us it is supported by steam humidification modules in the cabinet air conditioners of the hall, which I wrote about a little higher.
We asked the guys which of our projects are located on these servers, and found out that there is almost everything in this data center. We could look at the Mail.Ru Search cells, they need to be said, they are no different from all the others :)
Safety and emergency situations
In all corridors and aisles of the data center are located video surveillance systems. Each corridor is viewed from two sides, the cameras are under the ceiling of the containment. You can get to the cameras only from a ladder, but this is almost unreal, because what is happening in the rooms is observed from the security post, and the recording is kept constantly. To my question: “Is it possible to deceive the system?” - the guys jokingly replied that you can only bypass it with the help of “stealth” technology.
Take a photograph at the exit
In addition, I was interested in the question of electricity: what happens when a failure occurs.
First, this situation is not dangerous, because the data center has a second, independent power beam. But if you still consider the situation when there is no voltage on any power supply line from the city, then the diesel generator sets start, and the uninterruptible power supplies take over the load during the generator start (not more than 20 seconds). The battery life on the fuel available in the DGU is 6-8 hours at full load. But despite this, the data center has contracts with a number of companies supplying diesel fuel, which, in accordance with the terms of the contract, must deliver fuel within 2-4 hours. And this should be enough with a margin.
Other rooms
When we left the brightly lit room of the server room and finally took off the blue boot covers, we were invited to look in on a visit to the duty shift. The data center officer accompanying us took us inside. Our attention was attracted by huge monitoring screens, followed by several people at once. I, honestly, presented, as if I got to the base of the secret service. If you look closely, then on the screens you can see (in addition to the location of the cells) video conferencing between the sites and information on open and ServiceDesk tickets.
It was as difficult for us to get out as it was to get inside. The guards looked at our faces with suspicion, but did not find the slightest danger, so we went to the office with a light soul and a full memory card in the camera.
More materials here .
Despite the fact that the taxi driver got a little lost and drove us around the highway in circles, we arrived at our destination on time. We were met by Sergey Kubasov, deputy technical director of the Mail.Ru Group, and data center employees.
Careful, inside is a heavy gif!
How to get inside?
')
The territory was very large: detached buildings of data centers. The perimeter is supervised by the security service (as I later learned it has its own), there are only four perimeter protection levels - the entrance to the territory, the entrance to the data center building, the gateway next to the security room, and then the entrance to the hall. And this is far from everything that exists for security: the alarm button of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, IP video surveillance systems are located throughout the territory outside and inside buildings. Entry - strictly by passes, which are ordered in advance.
Almost through the blizzard, covering our faces with scarves and mittens, we got to the checkpoint, where the guards greeted us. Show your passport and sign the guest book is a standard procedure, after which you get a pass and you can go.
From the interesting - we needed a third floor, and while we were climbing the stairs, I had already uncovered a camera and tried to capture the inscriptions on the walls. As we found out later, funny expressions adorn practically on all walls and on all floors. This pointers, directing the lost to the destination, and parting words to employees, and even funny threats.
We did not stay until 21:47: we thought that the delayed people would be burned along with the forgotten things.
Once on the right floor, we left the outerwear in an improvised dressing room and put on shoe covers (and shoe covers there is one of the main things you need for work). The server maintains almost sterile cleanliness, and the boot covers prevent dust and dirt from entering technical rooms.
With its boot covers is prohibited
Temperature and humidity
Before I visited this data center, I had an idea of what the server looks like, but I never saw them live.
Here it is pure, as in the operating
Inside it was frankly cold. But exactly until the moment when I came closer to the racks. This is because the cooling of equipment in the equipment rooms is organized according to the principle of a cold-hot corridor. The cold air is supplied by the DX cabinet air-conditioned rooms under the raised floor (600 mm high), from where it passes through the perforated tiles into the cold corridor to the equipment due to the total injected pressure in the underfloor space. The cold air is taken in by the equipment and discharged into the hot hallway of the hall, where it rises up, under the sarcophagus ceiling. Our server in this data center uses Uniflair TDAR 2522 A - this is a model of an air conditioner with a steam humidifier , it has redundant compressors and external fan units. So, if you stand where hot air rises to the ceiling, you can easily warm up. I did just that.
According to the SLA (Service Level Agreement), the humidity level in the server room should be from 40 to 60%, with us it is supported by steam humidification modules in the cabinet air conditioners of the hall, which I wrote about a little higher.
We asked the guys which of our projects are located on these servers, and found out that there is almost everything in this data center. We could look at the Mail.Ru Search cells, they need to be said, they are no different from all the others :)
Safety and emergency situations
In all corridors and aisles of the data center are located video surveillance systems. Each corridor is viewed from two sides, the cameras are under the ceiling of the containment. You can get to the cameras only from a ladder, but this is almost unreal, because what is happening in the rooms is observed from the security post, and the recording is kept constantly. To my question: “Is it possible to deceive the system?” - the guys jokingly replied that you can only bypass it with the help of “stealth” technology.
Take a photograph at the exit
In addition, I was interested in the question of electricity: what happens when a failure occurs.
First, this situation is not dangerous, because the data center has a second, independent power beam. But if you still consider the situation when there is no voltage on any power supply line from the city, then the diesel generator sets start, and the uninterruptible power supplies take over the load during the generator start (not more than 20 seconds). The battery life on the fuel available in the DGU is 6-8 hours at full load. But despite this, the data center has contracts with a number of companies supplying diesel fuel, which, in accordance with the terms of the contract, must deliver fuel within 2-4 hours. And this should be enough with a margin.
Other rooms
When we left the brightly lit room of the server room and finally took off the blue boot covers, we were invited to look in on a visit to the duty shift. The data center officer accompanying us took us inside. Our attention was attracted by huge monitoring screens, followed by several people at once. I, honestly, presented, as if I got to the base of the secret service. If you look closely, then on the screens you can see (in addition to the location of the cells) video conferencing between the sites and information on open and ServiceDesk tickets.
It was as difficult for us to get out as it was to get inside. The guards looked at our faces with suspicion, but did not find the slightest danger, so we went to the office with a light soul and a full memory card in the camera.
More materials here .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/205914/
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