1

The Chinese University
of Hong Kong (CUHK)
 Established in 1963
 Shatin Campus:
 1.37 km2
 150+ buildings
 20,000+ students (UG & PG)
 Adding 3,000+ UG students starting 2012
 6,000+ staff
 8 Faculties + Graduate School
 9 Colleges
 200+ departments/units
 100,000+ alumni
2

Challenges
 Highly decentralized
 Not enough sharing of resources so higher cost
 One central data center but a lot of server rooms and
small data centers around campus
 No DR site for data center
 Out of data center space
 2012: More buildings, more colleges and more students
and staff
 Support teaching, learning, research and
administration
3

Internal Services Provider
 Subscription model
 Users pay rental charge to enjoy the services
 Users do not need to buy hardware and relevant
software
 Optional to users
 Need to compete with others
 Have to be competitive
 Have to be market/user oriented
 Have to make continuous improvement
4

Service Catalog
 VM/PM + SAN + Backup
 With or without virtual Firewall
 Server Racks
 IP Phone + Data Ports
 Support departmental WiFi access points
 Physical Security
 Central Door Access / Carpark / CCTV / Burglar Alarms
5

Key Characteristics
 For sharing among multiple users
 Less wastage
 Charge by “usage”
 Can support users’ dynamic resource demand
 Less customization
6

Design & Support
 Standardization
 Scalability
 Keep things simple
 Automation
 Work Order Tracking
 Inventory / Accounting / Charging
 Need to keep a balance between support of dynamic
demand and simplicity
 Go for simple charging model
7

Data Center in Pi Chiu Building
 24 x 7 operations
 30+ years old
 <400m2
 Non-standard raised floor
 24” x 24”
 10” deep
 UPS: 300KVA + 400KVA
 Gen Set: 300KVA + 800KVA
 CRAC unit: 6 (+ 1 by end of 2011)
 FM200
 Housing ~1,000 physical servers -> running out of space
 Data Center Management Improvement over the last few years
 Stricter Physical Security
 Keep track of all machines installed inside
 All cabinets locked
 No more new data cabling underneath raised floor to improve airflow
8

Twin Site
 New Data Center of < 800 m2
 To be ready in early 2013
 800KVA capacity
 Will use the latest standards (Tier 3 as target)
 Will be more advanced than Pi Chiu
 Active-active, mutual backup
 Will be manned
 Need to think about how to distribute manpower among the 2 data
centers
 HKIX will have a POP there
 Will support departmental server rack requirements
9

Greener Data Center
 More efficient power & cooling
 Equipment placement
 Airflow issue
 Cold Aisle / Hot Aisle
 Careful location selection for CRAC units and outlets
for cold air
 Airflow underneath raised floor should not be blocked
 No data cables underneath
 Data cables will be laid over cable trays above racks
10

Cabling and Networking for
Data Centers
 Too many data cables underneath raised floor blocking airflow
in Pi Chiu
 Have to change this
 Unified fabric to support main communications needs within
data centers: Ethernet (for data) and Fiber Channel (for storage)
 Top of Rack: Unified networking equipment, Cat5e within rack
 End of Row / Data Center Core: To support 10G links to
individual racks, MMF across racks
 Only MMF are to be laid above the racks
 Gradual migration for Pi Chiu
11

VM + SAN + Backup
 Server Consolidation by virtualization
 Look for scalability and easy expansion
 Fast deployment of new VM
 High availability requirements
 VMware site license
 Storage Integration
 Consolidation of SAN networks
 Start using FCoE
 Central management
 Centralized Backup
 Offsite Backup
 Development VM platform to replace
development servers in workshops 12

New Infrastructure Service
Ideas
 Central equipment/servers which can scale up to support many users
around campus
 For consolidation and cost savings, to use existing structured cabling
system
 Everything over the same structured cabling system with star topology
 Cat-5e for horizontal and vertical
 SMF for inter-building (and vertical if necessary)
 MMF (high-end 50μm) for inside data centers
 Everything over IP / Ethernet
 Have to enhance redundancy all around the network infrastructure
including power redundancy
 New service under consideration: Digital Signage
13

Other Issues to Keep in Mind
 IPv6
 DNSSEC
 Multicast
 IAM
14

Our Advantages
 HKIX
 Options of Fixed Network Operators
 One of the two HARNET backbone
hubs
15

Considerations of Public Cloud
 Will use public cloud service if/when necessary
 Feel more comfortable if the service is being provided
by servers/storage situated in HK
 For better connectivity, the public cloud network to be
chosen has to be connected to HKIX, if not using
dedicated connection (extra cost involved)
16

Thank you!
17