The UIS Hosting Service allows institutions to have their servers hosted in UIS-managed data centre facilities, either physically or virtually.
Here are a number of issues you should address in advance when considering colocation services:
Suitable equipment
Equipment that is designed to fit in 19" wide frame-based racks, and would expect to have:
- hot-swappable hard disk drives (HDDs)
- hot-swappable, redundant power supply units (PSUs)
When relocating equipment to site, unbox each item prior to transferring to the Data Hall. This can be done in Build Room 3, located on the first floor immediately to the left on exiting the lift.
Cabinet layout
WCDC's first floor data halls have two pods configured for hot-aisle containment. Other than when entering or exiting the hot aisles, the pod doors must remain shut.
See also:
Labelling standards
It is advisable to label devices front and back, for identification purposes, with the name of that device. All equipment must be inventoried and be appropriately asset tagged.
Decommissioning
Redundant equipment, and associated cabling, should be removed from racks as soon as possible; invariably at the same time as the equipment, to which it was attached, is removed.
WEEE
DCH can dispose of equipment on behalf of clients in accordance with University policy regarding electrical and electronic waste.
If wishing to take advantage of this service, please email us listing the items you wish to have disposed at: wcdc@uis.cam.ac.uk.
Please DO NOT simply leave items either in Build Room 3, or on the WEEE cage, without communicating requirements to Operations staff. Thank you.
Alternatively, clients may wish to avail themselves of the University's WARPit initiative, an online marketplace to help redistribute resources.