One of the very important decisions to make when building a datacenter is that the datacenter building is specially design and built to the purpose. Of course that is not always possible. Sometimes the building is rented and often it is not built on purpose to accommodate datacenter. In other cases the building was designed and build long time ago and not all current standards and good practices are accommodated. Sometimes implementing all special requirements is not possible or is not economically justified.

In this article we would like to share our vision of how to select the right location of a datacenter and how to design and construct the building. The considerations given below are valid also when, due to whatever reason, a decision to rent, instead of build is taken. Although we don’t recommend it, sometimes renting a premises is the only option.

Datacenter location

Let's start with selecting datacenter location. The careful selection of a datacenter site location is one of the most important decisions made at the early stage of Data center planning. Please bear in mind that often requirements are contradictive and fulfilling all of them is either impossible or may compromise performance. It is important to point that once selected, the location will stay forever. If all aspects and risks are not properly assessed that may have a long term effect on the datacenter operation. Often wrong locations may show no problems for decades until disaster strikes.  Let’s have a look on the following example:

At 5:37 am on 10th of December 2016 a cargo train with propane-butan and propilen tanks, travelling from the town of Burgas to the town of Russe in Bulgaria derailed when entering railway station Hitrino.  A leakage occurred from two of the wagons, which caused a fire. The fire and shock wave, generated during the ignition of the flammable gases, destroyed about 50 surrounding buildings and some people were buried and others suffered severe burns. An evacuation of all inhabitants of the village was done and 150 fire fighters managed to extinguish the fire by noon the same day.