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Preparing For Data Center Emergencies

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One of the most important aspects of any data center is its reliability. In order to keep everything running smoothly, it’s imperative that maintenance teams and operations managers prepare for potential emergencies, both taking steps to prevent them and making plans for when they occur. Here are a few tips to help you prepare for unexpected problems.

Use the Best

There are many reasons that a data center might run into trouble. Some of the highest risk failure and fault scenarios include generator failure, loss of UPS (uninterrupted power supply) backups, or the shutdown of major pieces of equipment such as chillers. One important step that facilities can take right from the start is to ensure that they use only the highest quality, most reliable equipment, in order to reduce the chances of such problems occurring in the first place.

Make Solid Plans

Another major precaution that should be taken is the development of emergency operating procedures (EOPs). These are step-by-step guidelines that can help employees on the scene isolate and resolve the problem both rapidly and safely. If necessary, these should also include escalation procedures that ensure workers with the right skill sets can be brought in when necessary.

Train Workers

Once EOPs are in place, it’s important to ensure that employees are properly trained on them. This includes not only new employees, but veterans who need their skills refreshed. Emergency procedures should be regularly reviewed, and drills should be conducted when possible. For maximum efficacy, drills should be as realistic and detailed as possible.

Monitor Carefully

It’s also important for data centers to be able to quickly detect when incidents occur. Unlike in other industries, an emergency situation might not be immediately obvious; a solid monitoring system must be in place to help determine when problems are occurring and how to resolve them quickly. In a related vein, plans should be in place so that key stakeholders, management personnel, and potentially affected parties are notified at the correct time that something has gone wrong.

Learn From Mistakes

Finally, each facility should ensure that they have procedures in place for reporting incidents and analyzing what went wrong. Without a full understanding of the root cause, complicating factors, and eventual solutions, it’s impossible to prevent a specific incident from occurring again. A failure analysis should be performed after an emergency in order to prevent future interruptions.

Data center managers, operators, and technicians should be well prepared for a wide range of emergencies—after all, careful preparation can both prevent problems and mitigate damage. With careful planning, there’s not need to panic if things go wrong.

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