Data center fires are rare, but they can cause devastating impact on your organization if they occur. Earlier this week an electrical incident took place at Google’s data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, injuring three people. A large electrical explosion occurred as electricians were working on a substation near the data center. Google reportedly suffered an outage due to this accident. Therefore, necessary measures must be taken for data center protection.
How to protect data centers from fire incidents?
Four steps need to be followed for efficient fire protection of data centers. These are mitigation, detection, suppression, and recovery.
Mitigation: Do not store flammable materials like cardboard boxes and plastic packages in the data center. Regularly conduct infrared (IR) scan of the main electrical connection. IR thermal imaging will help detect loose connections before they turn dangerous, thereby eliminating one of the major causes of electrical fires.
Detection: By detecting smoke early, you can identify and respond to fire threats with portable extinguishers much before standard heads detect it. For this, you can use aspirating systems. These are smoke detectors that suck air samples through small pipes and distinguish between smoke and dust. They are the least expensive part of any fire control system.
Suppression: As data centers are packed with server racks, the fire suppression system used here must not destroy the equipment. There are different types of fire suppression systems. The first is the Fire Sprinkler Systems. This includes wet pipe, wet pipe antifreeze dry pipe, pre-action, deluge, electronic, water spray, foam water sprinkler, and water mist. Then there are Chemical Agent Systems that include wet chemical systems and dry chemical systems. Other types of fire suppression systems are gaseous agents, fully automatic vehicle fire suppression systems, fully automatic suppression systems, manual vehicle fire suppression systems, and external water spray systems. Data centers require a specific type of fire suppression. Hence, there are a couple of fire suppression systems that are ideal for data center protection. These include a dry pipe fire sprinkler system and a clean agent fire suppression system.
Recovery: Data center recovery time can prove to be costly. It takes several days for IT hardware to fully recover after hard shutdowns. Sometimes the equipment will need to be replaced.
Ensuring data center cooling
Issues with data center cooling systems can affect data center performance. Google was forced to power down some cloud services in London to prevent damage to equipment. Similarly, a cooling failure at Oracle’s London data center led the company to shut down noncritical hardware to prevent uncontrolled hardware failures. High temperatures and humidity levels can cause damage to IT equipment, resulting in failure.
No matter what cooling system you choose for your data center, you will need to maintain it and monitor it. Server room monitoring and maintenance can help the IT team determine whether the current cooling system is working properly. Cooling risks can be avoided by proper monitoring and maintenance. This also allows managers to see if they need to upgrade their cooling systems. IT departments should regularly troubleshoot to keep track of the temperature and humidity in data centers. The provider needs to keep investing in new cooling technologies to protect equipment and improve its performance.
Many systems and technologies are available that can help monitor and manage data center cooling and keep temperatures and humidity levels in the optimal range. Smart technology has become a popular option for newer data centers to monitor cooling. By using AI and machine learning technologies, operators can monitor facilities more efficiently and make adjustments in real-time for ensuring optimal temperatures and humidity levels.
The consequences of a data center fire can be devastating, not only for the businesses that operate them but also for the employees who work in them. In order to protect your data center and the valuable information it stores, you need to take steps to mitigate any potential damage. Have you implemented these safety measures for ensuring data center protection?
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