Certified Data Centre Specialist

CDCS - Short Description

CDCS is the advance level for Data Centre Professionals and this 3-day course will further increase attendees to a level being a compatible sparring partner with suppliers and they will be able to verify offers provided by vendors for correctness, effectiveness and efficiency.

Intended Audience

The primary audience for this course is an IT, Facilities or Data Centre Operations professional working in and around the data centre (representing both end-customers and/or service provider/facilitators) and having responsibility to achieve and improve hi-availability and manage ability of the Data Centre, such as: Data centre managers, Operations / Floor / Facility managers, data centre engineers, network/system engineers/data centre sales/consultants.

Prerequisites 

Participants must hold a valid CDCP® certificate in order to be able to register for the CDCS® class. 

Course Benefits

After completion of the course the participant will be able to:

- Understand the design life cycle of data centres and the stages involved

- Discuss the data centre requirements in great level of detail with vendors, suppliers and contractors to ensure that these requirements are met

- Validate design plans, quotes and oers proposed by vendors/contractors

- Understand redundancy levels for both the data centre design/setup and maintenance

- Understand the various building considerations such as bullet proofng, mitigation of seismic activity, fire ratings and thermal stability

- Understand how to install a raised floor that meets requirements, avoiding misalignment, level differences and leakage

- Understand how to read a Single Line Electrical Diagram to identify and avoid the most common design issues

- Choose the correct UPS and parallel configuration, learn and avoid classic parallel installation mistakes

- Understand how to calculate battery banks, validate offered configurations to ensure they meet requirements

- Understand what distance to keep to avoid EMF issues for human safety and equipment disturbances

- Understand the fundamental cooling setup, CFM, Delta-T and other important factors

- Understand contamination factors and limitations

- Understand full details of fire suppression options, how to calculate gas content and verify installations

- Understand how to measure data centre energy efficiency and how to improve it

Delivery Plaform

Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT).

Course Syllabus

Data Centre Design/Life Cycle Overview

- Overview of the phases of a data centre life cycle

- Planning, re-alignment and continuous improvement

Standards and Rating Level Definitions

- Rating level history

- Difference between Uptime and TIA-942

- Rating level definitions

- Redundancy options (N+1), 2N, 2(N+1)

- Concurrent Maintainability/Compartmentalisation

- Example configurations

- Substation and feed requirements

- Maintenance options

- Operational processes guidelines/standards

- Skill development

Building Considerations

- Building location considerations

- Floor and hanging loads requirements

- Fire rating for walls and glass

- Blast protection

- Bullet proofing

- Forced entry protection

Advanced Raised Floor & Suspended Ceiling

- Raised floor installation guidelines

- Techniques to install a proper and leveled raised access floor

- Common mistakes

- Choosing the right tiles and their locations

- Seismic-mitigating floor constructions

- Choosing the correct suspended ceiling

Advanced Power

1. Power infrastructure layout;

- Formulas which you should know for the data centre

- Single Line Electrical diagrams; how to read to ensure key components are present for protection

- Over current protection devices (MCB/MCCB/VCB/ACB/Fuses) definitions and what to use where

- Earth Leakage devices (RCB/RCD/ELCB/GFCI/ALCI/RCBO), definitions and what to use where

- Sizing of protective components

- Lightning strikes and surge protection devices (TVSS/SPD), how they operate, where to use and how to install

- Power cabling and cable run considerations

- PDU/DB setup and minimum requirements

2. Generators;

- Generator types: Standy/Prime/Continuous

- Component make up and functions

- Fuel storage and calculation

- Paralleling of gen-sets

- Generator room/area requirements

3. UPS Systems;

- Required specifications for UPS systems

- How to read data sheets and select the correct UPS

- Requirements for parallel configurations and avoid pitfalls such as single point of failures

- How parallel installation should be done, classic mistakes made by installers and how to avoid these

4. Harmonic Filters;

- Active/Passive filters and their application

5. Battery Banks;

- Battery bank terminology

- Designing battery banks, how to calculate, and double check the battery bank to be installed

- Battery charging pitfalls and ensuring the right charger is being installed and used

- Using parallel battery banks; how to properly install them, limitations and risks when using batteries in parallel

- How to test batteries correctly and make decisions on cell/block or string replacement

- Battery casing choices; ABS, V0, V1, V2

- Alternative energy storage; flywheel, re-usable cell, compressed air UPS, etc.

Advanced Electro Magnetic Fields

- Sources of EMF

- Difference between single, three phase and bus-bar EMF

- Options available to measure EMF and how to interpret the results from single-axes and composite measurements

- Guidance on safe distance for equipment and humans

- Calculation of EMF attenuation factor for shielding material permeability and saturation factors

Advanced Cooling

- Important definitions; dry-bulb, wet-bulb, dew-point, RH, sensible and latent heat

- Psychometric chart and ASHRAE recommendations

- Environmental class definitions and thermal specifications

- Temperature/humidity measurements guideline

- Heat dissipation methods

- Altitude impact on temperature intake to ICT equipment

- Floor plan setup for effective cooling

- Differences in tile surface and supporting structure and the air-flow performance impact

- Rack door construction and the flow performance impact

- Equipment Delta-T and its impact

- Optimising airflow

- Thermal units conversions

- Calculations for air volume displacement (CFM/CMH)

- Cooling capacity calculations

- Air-conditioning selection

- De- / humidifying options

- Air conditioning efficiency

- SHR impact on cost saving

- Efficiency indicator

- New cooling principle and techniques (Submerged, VSD/VRF/ECF/water- and air side economisers)

- Redundancy guidelines for air-conditioners avoiding classic misconceptions and mistakes for meeting ANSI/TIA-942 compliant designs

- Installation requirements

- Connections to fire panel and EPO

- Commissioning of air conditioners

- Set points and calibration

- CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)

Advanced Fire Protection

- The fire triangle and elements to stop a fire

- Detection systems in detail (VESDA, VIEW, smoke sensors)

- Considerations for installation of sensors

- Proper testing of smoke sensors

- Water based systems i.e. deluge, wet-pipe, dry-pipe, pre-action and why most of them don't work and how to detect this

- Details on Inert and Halocarbon systems and how to select the correct system for your data centre

- How to calculate the gas content ensuring the appropriate level is installed to suppress the fire including safety considerations

- Other requirements for gas systems such as release times, hold times, pipe install requirements and other important factors

- Requirements for the fire detection panel

- Installation verification, methods, what to check and how

- New advanced fire suppression technologies

Design and Install Scalable Networking Cabling System

- ANSI/TIA942 cabling structure topology

- ToR, EoR Design

- Intelligent patching systems

- Installation best practice such as routing, bending radius, separation from power, containment fill ratio, fiber link loss calculator, bonding and grounding requirement

- Standard for telecommunications labeling and administration

Environmental Specifications and Contamination Control

- Acoustic noise effects, regulations, specifications and limits

- Data centre contaminations and classifications

- Measurements, standards and limits

- Preventive measures and avoidance

Data Centre Effciency

- Business drivers to go Green

- High-availability or Green?

- Green guidelines and standards

- How to measure it and what are acceptable numbers compared to the general industry

- PUE classes defined by Green Grid and issues with PUE

- Techniques for saving energy in all parts of the data centre i.e. application/system level, cooling, power distribution

EXAM: Certified Data Centre Specialist

Exam

Attendees will take a one and a half hour Certified Data Centre Specialist exam. The exam is 60 questions, closed book and multiple choice based. The passing mark is 45 out of 60. Attendees passing the exam will be awarded the internationally accredited and recognized 'Certified Data Centre Specialist' certificate (CDCS). More: link.

S4E sells the VILT course with Exam-ANYWHERE (on-line). The price includes the exam costs. S4E will order the exam from EXIN and share information needed. Student is able to take the exam from anywhere. Exam must be completed within 7 days from last day of training. 

The CDCS certificate is valid for 3 years, after which recertification is required. Please see the EPI Recertification Programme for available options.

Accreditation

CDCS is world-wide accredited by EXIN.

Price

1950 EUR (the price includes the exam costs).

About the VILT courses

1. Delivered live by an EPI instructor.

2. The VILT delivery platform provides for full interactivity with:

- Audio/Video

- PowerPoint

- Chats

3. VILT course duration (days) is the same as the ILT course. i.e. CDCP_VILT is a 2-day course.

4. A VILT course is sold inclusive of the exam and e-Courseware.

5. The training start/end time are:

- Europe, Middle-East, Africa | 09:30 – 17:30 Central European Time

6. Exam must be completed within 7 days from last day of training

VILT Registration Process

1. Customer registers and make payment to S4E.

2. S4E registers their students directly into the VILT session and sends in the e-Courseware order form.

3. EPI confirm the class and sends VILT link and e-book to student.

4. Student will receive an invitation to attend the training.

5. Class registration will close 3-working days before the start date.

Exam Options and Delivery

S4E sells the VILT course with Exam-ANYWHERE (on-line). The price includes the exam costs.

S4E will order the exam from EXIN and share information needed. Student is able to take the exam from anywhere. Exam must be completed within 7 days from last day of training. Complete procedure is in Exin website. 

Customer FAQs

Will I be able to learn in a VILT environment?

- Yes! The VILT platform is a tried and tested medium of delivery over the years by many large and small organization.

- EPI is using the Cisco WebEx Training Center which is extensively used all over the world.

- The instructor will conduct a VILT orientation in the first 10 minutes of the class on how to use the VILT interface.

What are the requirements for a student to attend the VILT classes?

1. Windows (Intel Core2 Duo or AMD, 2GB RAM) MAC & Linux

2. Headset with microphone

3. Broadband internet connection

4. More information on WebEx website:

https://support.webex.com/MyAccountWeb/systemRequirement.do?root=Tools&parent=System

How do I join the training?

1. After you’ve registered with S4E, you will receive an email confirmation with the subject:

“You are registered for the training session: <Course Title>”

2. On the confirmation email, you will have all the training details and a link to join the session. The link looks like the below sample:

To join the training session

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1. Go to

https://epi.webex.com/epi/k2/j.php?MTID=tff587a518ee179101725ad8ea70d961c

2. Enter your name and email address (or registration ID).

3. Enter the session password: This session does not require a password

4. Click "Join Now".

5. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

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3. You will need to click on this link to gain access to the session on each training day.

4. Please save this email and follow the step to login at the scheduled training date and time.

Do I need to install any software?

Yes. The Cisco WebEx application will automatically download when student clicks the hyperlink to join a class the first time. It is highly recommended that student do this at least 30 minutes in advance on first day of training to avoid missing the first part of the training.