Q:
Checklist for managing risk of Data Center power shutdown
Data Center power management, Data center maintenance, Data center operations, Risk management, Risk assessment We are planning to have a shutdown of power at data center to upgrade electrical power feeder. In doing so, we need to know the checklist to ensure risks associated during the initiative are minimized and controlled. We have hundreds of servers located at the data center that store appls and databases.
ASKED:
Feb 17 2009 3:12 AM GMT
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A:
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You need to have an inventory of hardware so that when you restart your data centre, if you run into any problems, you can quickly get replacement parts (hard drives, power supplies, etc.). Make sure you have quick access to your off-site data backups incase some of the data or disk drives have issues.
Hopefully, ;you can shut down all of your hardware, but if you can't, you will need to get power backup - such as a gas/deisel generator to keep those machines running, and enough fuel to last the duration of the shutdown.
Don't forget about cooling issues (air conditioning, etc.) - this also needs to be reviewed - you don't want to start up the data centre in a 'hostile' environment.
Make certain your network communications are working (lans, wans, phones, faxes, etc.).
Have a backup plan :
- what will you do if the upgraded power feed doesn't come up! Be prepared. Can you roll back to the previous setup?
- what if the network or a portion is not responding?
- try and test seqments (a set of servers or network branches), rather that starting everything up a once (if problems occur, they are easier to locate, rather than trying to figure out what part of the whole is acting up)
One of the best techniques for developing 'checklists' is to brainstorm and identify items. Include people who are familiar with the environment (data centre personnel, electricians, etc.) and quite often, people who are not directly involved may provide additional insight.
Good Luck
