Blogmarketingtool.com | Data Center Tiers Definition and Its Levels – Do you know what is data center tiers? When buying a hosting service it is usually mentioned data center with Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4, so which one is the best?
If you know the choice of tier on the server is very important, because it has to do with the security of the website data that you store on the hosting server.
If you’ve been dealing with data, you shouldn’t mess around, especially if the data you store is important.
There are even some companies that have their own data center to ensure the security of their customer data such as Banks, Insurance, Marketplace and others.
Now, instead of getting confused, let’s just discuss the explanation of the data center tier in the article below, watch until the end!
Data Center Tiers Definition
Tier is the level of technology and security of the data center, the higher the tier number, the better the data center.
It’s like this tier is like a hotel, the better and more complete the facilities you have, the better the stars.
Of course, the higher the tier, the higher the price.
This tier classification began to emerge in the 1990s from the data center industry terminology in the global standard for validation for third parties that provide data center infrastructure.
This tier is a benchmark for comparing the quality performance of the data center infrastructure with other data centers.
Uptime Institute is the founder and originator and is a reference for data center certification.
Data center tier levels
The data center tier is divided into four levels, including maintenance, power, cooling and fault capabilities.
Each level is progressive, meaning the higher levels have features that the lower levels have.
The following is an explanation of the 4 tier data centers:
1. Tier 1 – Basic Capacity
Tier 1 is a standard data center with distribution channels non-redundant.
This means that the tier one data center is only served by 1 distribution channel and 1 uplink per server.
Tier 1 data centers are mostly owned by companies that have their own data center.
The uptime rate in a year is limited to 99.671%, or about 28.8 hours in a year.
Requirements for a tier 1 data center include:
- Genset to anticipate power outages
- UPS Device
- Special cooling equipment such as raised floor
The availability of generator sets, UPS and raised floor is optional, but it is better if they are there for backup.
2. Tier 2 – Redundant Capacity
Tier 2 data centers are basically similar to tier 1, the difference is that all of them already have redundant (reserve resources).
A tier two data center must have a UPS, backup generator and a raised floor for cooling.
Tier 2 server uptime is limited to 99.741%, or about 22 hours in a year.
Some of the requirements for tier 2 include:
- Electric generator
- Cooling with raised floor
- UPS
- Energy storage
- Heat rejection equipment,
- Fuel tank
- Fuel cell
- Pump
If a disturbance occurs, tier 2 must be shutdown until the process is complete.
3. Tier 3 – Concurrently Maintainable
Tier 3 has a requirement that all data centers must have more than one power source and network so that there is no shutdown.
The server uptime rate is also limited to a maximum of 99.982%, or about 1.5 hours in one year.
In terms of server uptime between tier 2 and three, the difference is quite far.
For tier 3 and above, during maintenance or component replacement, there is no need to shutdown.
4. Tier 4 – Fault Tolerant
Tier 4 data center is the highest tier level with a server uptime of at least 30 minutes per year or a server uptime of 99.995%.
The requirements are not much different from tier 3, but in terms of cooling, the UPS and backup generators have a special line for removing hot air.
The security level is higher because it is monitored 24 hours so it is safe from technical and non-technical disturbances.
If we talk about costs, to build a data center with tier 4 has the biggest cost and takes longer time.
For this reason, many companies prefer to hire a hosting provider that has a data center with a good tier.
Indeed, there are several companies that build data centers with high tier levels, but usually companies that have sensitive data.
For the personal, the best option is to hire a hosting service rather than confused about server management.
Read more:
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