What a modern data center looks like from the inside

Miran entered the commercial data center market in 2010. During this time, we have built two data centers and began to provide a wide range of services for the rental and placement of server equipment. But this year is special, as we have completed the construction of the new and the largest line in the Miran-2 data center.

What does the server room of a data center usually look like in the mind of the layman? We have all seen a lot of beautiful pictures from photo stocks, but more often than not, reality looks completely different: the server room, being a technical room, does not amaze the imagination with its appearance. Just rows of racks or cabinets from which numerous cables are drawn.

The hosting and rack rental market is now growing, with the rental capacity market projected to double by 2024 compared to the end of 2019. So now data centers are growing like mushrooms after rain. How is ours different? The fact that we began to plan its construction long before the pandemic and a sharp jump in demand, and began active design in the summer of 2020.


The DC we are talking about is a large-scale expansion of our Miran-2 data center in St. Petersburg. A new line was built in the same building as the previous one, but it has its own communications and, in fact, is isolated from the old data center of the company. Physically new stands are located at 7A Evpatoria lane.

Let’s briefly list the main things that have been done since December 2020 – it was then that the construction of the third stage began – and until the beginning of April, that is, by the time the new data center was launched:

  • three server rooms – a total of 300 racks;
  • installed 34 server racks for new clients;
  • racks with functional combination locks, the possibility of setting an individual combination and additional access with a service key;
  • started developing a system for automated access to equipment for tenants;
  • end-to-end color marking on the main beams of power distribution;
  • double redundancy of power supply;
  • own backup generators were installed;
  • busbars instead of cable lines;
  • separate communication center for providers;
  • customers can connect to Teliasonera and Orange providers;
  • negotiations are underway on the possibility of connecting customers to AT&T;
  • unified fire extinguishing system for server and technological premises based on freon;
  • an aspiration system for early fire detection was installed.

And now we will tell you a little more about the most interesting.

Combination locks and automated access

Our new line is focused on medium and large businesses, in fact, like the entire Miran. No, we willingly sell VPS to individuals, but the main goal of the company is to attract large business clients to our capacities. For some we offer ready-made server solutions for rent, but, among other things, we are waiting for companies with their own equipment, to which we can offer our racks and small individual rooms.

It is precisely such customers – who need reliable racks – that should pay attention to our new DC.

One of the most common problems with leasing server racks is getting physical access to equipment at an arbitrary point in time. And getting access quickly and without delay.

It is for such a case that we provide access to the data center 24/7/365. We also started developing a system of automated access to the server room for the client’s specialists.

Both of these solutions will minimize the human factor in gaining physical access to your own equipment. At the same time, all the servers of other tenants are in complete safety: the racks are closed with combination locks and it will not be possible to “accidentally” stick into someone else’s server. Well, if someone starts to break someone else’s stand, we will immediately see it on the CCTV cameras :).

Actually, this system removes one of the most inconvenient questions that arise when renting a rack in a data center: how to get to your own hardware? Refurbishment of equipment is usually carried out at night, sometimes urgent work is necessary. So the opportunity for an engineer to get to his own server park without coordinating his visit with a bunch of people in advance is a great bonus.

Power supply color-coded system

In the list above, we mentioned that in the new data center we deployed a system of end-to-end color coding of the power system along the “beams”: each of them corresponds to its own branch of power supply.

Each line has its own system of uninterruptible power supplies, diesel generator sets, automatic input system – they are completely independent from each other and both are brought into each server rack.

In fact, we have built two independent electrical systems at once in one DC. And even if the incredible happens, and, suppose, the main power supply of the “black” beam fails, the equipment will switch to “red” without the slightest downtime.


On the left you can see the “black” and “red” cabinets

It is also important that the “black” – “red” energy beam marking system is end-to-end. That is, we painted not just the cabinet doors, but made the marking end-to-end up to the points of connection to the city’s electrical system and backup generators. This greatly simplifies operation and shortens the time it takes to resolve an incident, if any.

It is also worth noting that we did not use cables for power supply – this is not the most reliable and durable method. Instead, bus ducts are stretched throughout the data center – rigid power transmission systems that are often used in manufacturing and industry.

In the image above, you can see the data center’s “red” beam busbar. No, this is not a support beam under the ceiling or even a cable box – this is a replacement for those very kilometers of power cables that are relatively freely available.

No concrete strobes. Raised floor is our choice

Very often, data centers are located in somehow suitable premises. Previously, these were generally basements or other bunkers of the Soviet era, where fire extinguishing (if you were lucky) was brought in and hundreds of kilometers of cables, which were intercepted in huge “spits”.

To avoid such a mess in 2021, we built all new server rooms with raised floors. It is under them that the main communications are laid and a system of through ventilation of the racks plus – fire extinguishing is implemented.

In total, the raised floors took more than a meter of the height of the room, so that, if necessary, you could climb under them.


Yes, you can really get under them without any problems, even for a person with a camera 🙂

Freon based fire extinguishing system

We love and value our customers, therefore the fire extinguishing system we have assembled uses freon as an active element. Why is this so important?

Many extinguishing systems are based on carbon dioxide or other toxic and corrosive elements. The low chemical activity of freon means that if the system is triggered, even a false one, the server equipment of the clients will not be damaged or the power supply will not be cut off.


The premises of the fire station during the construction period

That is why a freon fire extinguishing system was chosen. It is less aggressive and relatively safer for equipment. Plus, the planned maintenance of the cylinders is carried out by the system supplier: the containers with freon are removed and removed from the DC, which eliminates another window for problems due to the human factor.

Total

In less than five months, we have expanded the second data center with new server rooms that are independent of the main infrastructure, which are not only pleasant to look at, but also convenient to use.

All our solutions, even in terms of color coding, are requirements for the modern level of quality of service, and not just a desire to “make beautiful”. We built it with the thought that in our data center, serious emergencies simply cannot occur: there are no huge braids of power cables, no confusion, no problems with ventilation or a fire extinguishing system. All this was ruled out at the stage of the project, according to which we built a new stage of Miran-2.

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