Advantages and disadvantages of online and offline data centers

Advantages and disadvantages of online and offline data centers

The data center is a huge system project. It should be planned and designed in detail before construction, as well as an overall understanding of the application of the data center, the overall running environment of the data center should also be taken into account. The study of various conditions and Influencing Factors of cabling methods not only facilitates the installation and maintenance of Integrated cabling systems, but also benefits the entire data center planning and subsequent O & M management.

On the cabling method of the data center cabling system, does anyone think that the issue of online/offline cabling is irrelevant? As a matter of fact, the problem hidden in online and offline cabling is not just about wiring, but will have a significant impact on the overall planning of the data center and other systems. It is necessary to discuss and analyze it. A Data Center project requires a lot of planning, such as power distribution, air conditioning, network, and wiring. If the cabling method of the cabling system is unreasonable in the initial stage, it will take several times later to adjust. The following mainly describes and analyzes the online and offline cabling in the data center project.

In the data center project, the mainstream cabling methods of the cabling system are generally divided into two categories: Online cabling and offline cabling. Cabling refers to cables laid on pre-installed bridges above cabinets and equipment. There are two main forms of cabling: Open ladder and open grid. The underlay refers to the laying of cables under the active floor, where cables are directly laid on the ground and bridges under the floor.

In a data center, improper cabling may affect many factors, such as refrigeration, maintainability, and aesthetics, it also affects the problem of Signal Crosstalk of data communication cables and the problem of affecting data communication by interference of other signal interference sources. In reality, it is worth noting that the reasonable design of cabling directly affects the convenience and efficiency of maintenance and management in the future. It will also bring a lot of difficulties for higher-level data centers to be transformed in the future.

From the data center Integrated Wiring System, there are usually anti-static boards that are usually laid offline, and if there is no anti-static board, it is laid online. The customer's requirements for data centers, such as costs, maintenance, and data center upgrades, must also be taken into account.

Online cabling has become popular in recent years, and is closely related to the continuous upgrading of data centers, the popularity of air supply and cooling methods, and users' emphasis on maintenance and management. Relatively speaking, underground cabling has fatal defects such as no mouse defense, heavy dust, difficult maintenance, and not conducive to fire fighting. In addition, currently, the construction height of data center projects in China is limited, and the height occupied by "offline cabling" is higher than that occupied by "online cabling", which also lacks flexibility in the layout and future changes of data centers.

In fact, in the technical specification documents of provincial node data centers and cabling engineering, there are clear instructions on the "Requirements for cabling engineering implementation": strong and weak current cables in the data centers should be clearly separated to avoid electromagnetic interference, generally, strong electricity is required to be laid out under the floor, weak current is laid online, strong electricity is trough, and weak current is lifted by metal ladder frame.

Of course, this does not mean that offline cabling is useless. In terms of simplicity and cost, offline cabling has some advantages, and the construction is exquisite or not, the offline cabling method does not affect the appearance of the data center, which reduces the requirements for cable management. When the cable density and capacity are large, the cabling will put a lot of pressure on the cable rack. For grid cable trays, the cabling system construction will be bundled, the cable management requirements are very good. The quality of construction will directly affect the appearance of the overall data center.

There are two practical cases for reference:

It is difficult to remove existing idle cables to clean up space when new cables, twisted wires, or new cables are added to the current cabling. In most cases, cables are kept in the same place to minimize the risk of downtime. After a long period of time, the strong and weak current cables will not have enough space to maintain the distance, which is prone to signal interference. At the same time, the constant accumulation of cables causes the airflow path to be blocked, which eventually leads to the formation of a "hot zone" in the data center. Underfloor cabling can also impede cold air transmission and increase energy consumption in the future. Because the cables are hidden under the floor, the appearance of the cables is not easy to detect, so that the management personnel can easily ignore the requirements for cable management under the floor.

On the contrary, ceiling cable trays are easy to maintain and manage in the data center and provide beautiful cables. If a grid cable tray is used, cable management will be good or bad, and users will not be able to accept the chaotic management of cables, this also promotes higher construction requirements for the cabling method. When the Weak Current goes online, it can eliminate the possibility of Interference due to insufficient distance between the strong and weak current cables. At the same time, the cables under the active floor occupy less space, and the air supply efficiency of precision air conditioners is improved to reduce energy consumption.

From the above case, it can be seen that a large number of weak current cables are easily blocked from the cold air transport under the elevated floor, resulting in a waste of energy, and the cable passing through the floor will cause the leakage of the cold air and mixed with the hot air. The online cabling method can save energy and improve the reliability by improving cable maintenance methods.

The Planning and Design of Data Center cabling is very important. The selection of cabling and cabling is only one step. After determining the cabling mode, you must consider issues such as stratified design and strong and weak current shielding. Generally, the upper, lower, and middle layers are the channels of strong electrical lines, copper lines, and optical cable lines. Considering the vulnerability of a large number of optical jumpers and the electromagnetic interference of strong electrical cables, a shielded line or a closed cable rack should be adopted. The ultimate goal is to make the cabling of the IDC beautiful and easy to maintain and manage.

To sum up, the data center is a huge system project, which requires detailed planning and design before construction, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the application of the data center, the overall running environment of the data center should also be taken into account. The study of various conditions and Influencing Factors of cabling methods not only facilitates the installation and maintenance of Integrated cabling systems, but also benefits the entire data center planning and subsequent O & M management. Based on the fact that a large number of data centers have been built in recent years, I prefer to use the online approach in data centers, it also believes that the cabling system in the entire data center is more dominant. I hope this article will analyze the online and offline information and inspire the majority of people in the industry who are interested in data centers.