Chapter 01: Data Center Concepts

Question 1

What are the four simplified stages of designing a new mission-critical data center or upgrading an existing one?

Answer 1

1. Risk Analysis
2. Problem Definition
3. Solution Development
4. Implementation

Question 2

_______ is defined as the relative importance of a function or process as measured by the consequences of its failure or inability to function.

Answer 2

Criticality

Question 3

True or False: All risks cannot be eliminated; the most significant threats and impacts can be mitigated through choices made during the design and planning phase.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Define Availability.

Answer 4

Availability is the probability that a component or system is in a condition to perform its intended functions.

Question 5

What is the mathematical equation for availability?

Answer 5

Availability = Uptime / (Uptime + Scheduled Downtime + Unscheduled Downtime)

Question 6

List 3 examples of unscheduled downtime events.

Answer 6

1. Repairs due to failure.
2. Maintenance delay
3. Facility-related failures/outage

Question 7

List the three factors that are used to determine Availability Class and the function and features of data center services.

Answer 7

1. Operational Requirement
2. Operational availability
3. Impact of downtime

Question 8

What must first be defined, in order to determine the Availability Class associated with the mission-critical data center services.

Answer 8

The data center’s intended operational requirement.

Question 9

In this operational level, functions are available for less than 24 hours a day and less than 7 days a week. In addition, there are more than 400 hours of available for planned maintenance shutdown.

Answer 9

Operational level 0

Question 10

Which operational level functions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, with zero scheduled maintenance downtime available?

Answer 10

Operational level 4

Question 11

When is a data center considered “available?”

Answer 11

When the ITE is operational and able to perform its function.

Question 12

Define operational availability.

Answer 12

Operational availability refers only to scheduled uptime, the time during which IT functions are expected to run.

Question 13

What 5 classifications are used to describe the impact of downtime?

Answer 13

1. Isolated
2. Minor
3. Major
4. Severe
5. Catastrophic

Question 14

What type of downtime is local in scope, affects a single site, and causes minor disruption to organizational functions?

Answer 14

Minor

Question 15

__________ increases reliability by providing redundancy for critical high-risk, low-reliability components within systems.

Answer 15

Component redundancy

Question 16

What is the role of system redundancy?

Answer 16

System redundancy further increases reliability by providing redundancy at the system level.

Question 17

Higher quality components with lower failure rates will result in systems that are __________ reliable.

Answer 17

More

Question 18

True or False: MTBF is a major factor in the determination of system reliability.

Answer 18

True

Question 19

What is the objective of Availability Class 1?

Answer 19

The objective is to support the basic environment and energy requirements of IT functions.

Question 20

__________ refers to reducing the risk of downtime by protecting against external events such as physical forces, security breaches, and natural disasters.

Answer 20

Survivability

Question 21

During Availability Class 2, what is the system redundancy?

Answer 21

None

Question 22

What is the targeted availability for Class 3?

Answer 22

99.99%

Question 23

What is the objective for Class 4 Availability?

Answer 23

To eliminate downtime through the application of all tactics to provide continuous operation, regardless of planned or unplanned activity.

Question 24

True or False: The data center should be classified only as a facility or building. It should not be looked upon as a collection of services that support the critical business process.

Answer 24

False

Question 25

Describe the managed service outsource model.

Answer 25

A managed service is used when a business has an existing data center with sufficient redundancy, capacity, and security to meet the business needs, but does not want to maintain the staff required to operate the data center. The business will contract an external vendor to operate the facility and possibly the hardware. The facility and hardware are owned and controlled by the business.

Question 26

What is the value of managed services?

Answer 26

Manage services can allow businesses to reduce or eliminate staff resources that are required to support the data center infrastructure.

Question 27

True or False: Cloud Services model differ from the SaaS or PaaS because it is not defined as an outsourcing model.

Answer 27

True

Question 28

What model consists of the business owning and managing the applications and OS/middleware, while the external vendor owns and manages the data center facility and hardware?

Answer 28

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Question 29

What model is described below? The business leases the computer room capacity from an external data center vendor, while the external vendor provides physical security, floor space, power, cooling, and the ability to connect to one or more network service providers. The business owns and manages all IT hardware, applications and OS/middleware.

Answer 29

Colocation Services

Question 30

True or False: The amount of control that the business has over the infrastructure, applications and data is increased as the model moves from the internal IT model to the SaaS model.

Answer 30

False

Question 31

What redundancy level consists of a public cloud service vendor that provides virtual redundancy within a single physical data center?

Answer 31

Virtual redundancy level

Question 32

What do public cloud service vendors provide

Answer 32

All the data center service layers for the applications they support for the customer.