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We are setting up a small Datacenter, about 300 amps power and max 50 racks,

I have studied networking mostly Microsoft and Windows based systems , but I do not understand the IP addressing, DNS management and configuration works in a Datacenter, and unfortunately I have to setup everything by myself but,we will have some staff to do some job.

My questions

Datacenter IP Addressing

Suppose we have got a block of 200 IP addresses from our ISP,

  1. How can I manage these block of IP addresses, is there any software out there to simplify this I heard that using DHCP server in a datacenter is not recommended, otherwise what would you say about MS DHCL serverconsidering we need to have backup server(s) in case of failure

  2. How can I assign a block of IPs to a specific rack, I know with different software and management its different but Im asking how it is done normally

  3. IP addresses are exposed to the whole network, what if a customer tries to use an IP address and is not assigned to their server or rack , how can I prevent this or how can I track the IP usage

DNS Management

Im goin to setup at least two servers for our DNS servers, I know nothing about Datacenter DNS system, but I have configured DNS server in normal networks and also for webservers, Now I wanna know.

  1. What exactly needs to be done for a DNS in a datacenter that is not done for normal networks.

  2. How can I configure PTR records

  3. why cant I configure PTR records on my webserver side DNS server and it should be done on datacenter DNS server , I mean what is the difference in DC DNS servers that allow us to to so , I know the question is very silly and simple but Im confused

Is there any software outthere to allow doing the whole thing, I mean automatically add records to the DNS and also managin IP addresses !?

Thanks in advance

Zapto
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user65248
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    300A over 50 racks is 6A a rack. That's awfully low. More to the point, a Datacenter is just a physical place to put hardware. It has little or nothing to do with how things are connected and networked. Any meaningful answer to your questions will need more info about how these systems are to be used (private network, Internet connected, etc.), and how they are to be connected together (swtiches, routers, etc). – Jeff Leyser Jan 02 '11 at 04:43
  • Thanks Jeff, I know its not enough, we are planning to get more power in the future but def we can not get 50 racks in a short time, everything is Internet connected, we are getting everthing connected through the router and switches – user65248 Jan 02 '11 at 06:01
  • It really is. 20A per rack is more like it. SOme people start being smart now with space. Like me... I get 8 opterons, 256gb memory into 2 rack units - in 4 sdiscrete computers. Plan for loads like that. At least on 25% of your racks. – TomTom Jan 02 '11 at 07:20
  • In addition -. please explain what you plan to do. Hosting / ISP scenario (third party servers) or own use? DHCP for example.... it makes zero sense in an ISP scenario from a management point ot view, but it may work in a data center in another scneario (well, lat least with ipv6 - ipv4 dhcp on servers is always problematic in a catastrophic scenario). – TomTom Jan 02 '11 at 10:23
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    I would say that 20A per rack is a little low. If you are using a bunch of 1U servers you'll probably need 3 20A power circuits per rack. If you have blade servers or high end storage (EMC, IBM XIV, etc.) then you'll be looking at 60A of 208v power per rack (if not more). – mrdenny Jan 02 '11 at 11:28
  • My concern is not power at the moment coz if we need more power we can get it easily, as teh datacenter is located in an industrial location. the datacenter will be mostly to host hosting companies servers, for website hosting and vpn services – user65248 Jan 02 '11 at 13:33
  • Define companies servers. is that client servers, or your own company? You basically answered without giving information. – TomTom Jan 03 '11 at 11:00
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    Wait, you think adding more power to racks is easy? It most certainly is *not* easy. You need to understand, once those servers go in to the rack it's going to be nearly impossible to change *anything*. – blueben Jan 03 '11 at 11:10
  • Come on guys , my question was something else :)) @ TomTom : yes clients, @ Blueben : AS I said its not my concern at the moment , however each rack client sign the contract with a fixed amount of power , I meant adding more power to the datacenter and start providing more power by request. – user65248 Jan 03 '11 at 11:16
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    I think the point people are getting at here is that you sound like you are in way over your head. – blueben Jan 03 '11 at 11:24
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    You're putting a lot of focus on things that are less important, and less focus on things that are absolutely critical. The fact that you aren't worried about your power situation is, frankly, frightening. 6 amps per rack means you should only maintain 4 amps average usage to leave room for peak spikes. 4 amps isn't enough to power a decent quarter rack, let alone a whole one. – blueben Jan 03 '11 at 11:31
  • I agree with u blueben, but if u were in my situation u'd say what Im saying now , in 5 days out net connection will be made and I am the only one at the datacenter that should configure everything, and I have no experience about DC environment , Im a bit stressed out – user65248 Jan 03 '11 at 11:38
  • Where are you planning to set this up? Just out of interest? – Tom O'Connor Jan 03 '11 at 11:40
  • London, Greenwich ! – user65248 Jan 03 '11 at 11:44
  • I really feel for you. All I can say is, do whatever it takes to get expert help. – blueben Jan 03 '11 at 11:52
  • @user65248 Ah. I know the area. Power's not gonna be cheap. – Tom O'Connor Jan 03 '11 at 12:21
  • I know everything about configuring on the server side, but not routers and switches thats what scares me,the IPs their management and DNS for DCs environment ! – user65248 Jan 03 '11 at 12:58
  • @user65248, has anything happened on this so far? – tombull89 Feb 17 '11 at 12:21
  • Okay guys, I was expecting something more useful and a professional behaviour from the ppl here, I got my answeres in other forums, everything I asked could be worked out in a day, but the reason I came here was asking from ppl who have got enough experience in DC environment, in fact I just wanted to know the way a datacenter network is designed, which the answer would fit in 200 characters. Anyway thanks for your time, I'll let u know how it goes coz some ppl was interested if we can make it or not. – user65248 Jan 04 '11 at 19:18
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    Tell us what the answers from the other forums were. That's what this space, under the question, marked "Answers" is for. – mfinni Jan 04 '11 at 19:54
  • Also - if you're going to be snarky about the lack of "professional" behavior, I'm going to ding you on your spelling and grammar. Your posts are full of mis-spellings and what appear to be abbreviations based on texting. This is public site - future employers might do some research on your online presence and find these posts. You're not doing yourself any favors this way. – mfinni Jan 04 '11 at 20:56
  • Dont go too fast my friend, I didnt offend anyone, think before coming here and type up everything come to ur head. I have been managin such a FaQ website for more than 6 years, so I know what a professional behaviour means, Im not here to argue with u I needed help but instead got blamed. – user65248 Jan 05 '11 at 03:40
  • btw, I think you didnt get the situation, I AM the employer so u be careful coz you might be one of the ppl who will send their CV to my company then it would be me who does some research on your online presence and find these posts !!!!!! – user65248 Jan 05 '11 at 04:06
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    you are the employer? Don't you have a boss? I would hate for them to come on and see u talkin like dis cos that wouldn't give them a very good impression of you. People have been hired on their SF/SO/SU rep, it does matter. – tombull89 Jan 05 '11 at 12:22

2 Answers2

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It's not the answer you're looking for per-se but I'd reccomened getting a contracter in or hiring someone who knows what they are doing rather than asking on a FaQ site.

Also, are you sure you can make it? What's to separate you from the hundreds and thousands of hosting companies?

tombull89
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    +1. This really sounds like someone without a clue being taesked with a complicated task - and thus getting totally lost. Get someone in who knows what to do. – TomTom Jan 03 '11 at 12:15
  • Okay let me explain it :) my main job is Web Applications programmer, but I studied Network and Systems Engineering, I know a lot about Systemes engineering specially about Microsoft systems , Im very good at managing and securing web servers, but the problem is that at a DC everything is about routers and switches which I have no experience working with, yes I think we can make it , coz our prices will be much less than the other DCs and as I said its a small dc for the start. we have got two pre orders so far, by end of this month everything should be done. – user65248 Jan 03 '11 at 12:55
  • Besides , we have invested a lot so far, the internet link itself was a lot , Dell agreed to give us leasing services, we've got Microsoft volume licensing services, the place , facilities .... – user65248 Jan 03 '11 at 13:01
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    You bought a car and have no driver's license. This is going to be **sweet.** – mfinni Jan 03 '11 at 13:42
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The answers to your questions are very very complex depending on how and what you want to do, so I second the previous comments about getting professional help to sort all of this out. You don't want to do this wrong, because if you do you risk crashing the entire company, trust of your customers, allow your customers data to be stolen or worse scenarios.

Invest the money in a consultant or two to help you out, you will earn that money back tenfolds by avoiding the mistakes you will unavoidably do without them. I don't mean any disrespect but this is the harsh truth!

To comment specifically on a few points; yes there are quite a few softwares out there to help out with adress management and lots of other datacenter tasks.

One IP address management is, for example, IPplan found at: http://iptrack.sourceforge.net/

Regarding IP segmentation you have to build a structure where you can limit customers from stealing IP addresses randomly, exactly how you do this depends on the type of network design you will end up chosing, what brand of hardware and software you end up using, etc. but basically you will have to create a network structure that blocks people from using IP addresses they're not supposed to use.

Regarding DNS; there is no such thing as "webserver side DNS" or "datacenter DNS". You usually only want to separate the nameservers into authorative nameservers and recursive/caching nameserver.

The authorative nameservers is where you place you and/or customers domains that you'll be responsible for (or delegate management through, depending on how you chose to build the DNS solution), and the recursive/caching ones are the ones you configure on your servers for adress lookups. Its usually good practice to separate these two roles.

Not exactly an answer in itself, but atleast some pointers.

Good luck!

Mattias Ahnberg
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