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5种简单的方法可以有效保护您的数据中心免受气候变化的影响
5 easy ways to protect your data center from the effects of climate change
前 言
根据世界气象组织研究表明，近年来极端天气的数量不断增加，如果没有气候变化的影响，6月底美国和加拿大部分地区创纪录的热浪几乎是不可能发生的。由温室气体排放引起的气候变化使得热浪发生的可能性至少增加了150倍。
暴雨引发的毁灭性洪水在西欧已造成上百人伤亡。斯堪的纳维亚半岛的部分地区正在忍受持续的热浪，来自西伯利亚的烟羽（smoke plumes）已经影响了阿拉斯加国际日期变更线区域的空气质量。北美西部前所未有的高温引发了毁灭性的野火。我们的工作和生活会受到突发环境变化的影响，让我们造作准备，未雨绸缪！
您的数据中心是否受到这些元素的保护?
Is your data center protected from the elements?
随着气候变化的不同影响促使企业重新思考其整体弹性战略，数据中心所有者和运营商将需要了解气候风险及其对数据中心重要基础设施的影响。
As the varied impacts of climate change drive organizations to rethink their overall resiliency strategies, data center owners and operators will need to understand climate risks and their ramifications on this vital infrastructure.
2020年3月，美国主要的货运公司西部快车公司(Western Express)从一场龙卷风中吸取了惨痛的教训，该公司位于纳什维尔的总部被摧毁，几乎所有关键的IT基础设施都在这里。
In March of 2020, Western Express, a major national U.S. trucking outfit, learned this lesson the hard way when a tornado wiped out the company’s headquarters in Nashville—home to nearly all its critical IT infrastructure.
根据联合国2020年的一份报告，在过去20年里，极端天气事件的数量惊人地增加，主要是受全球气温上升和其他气候变化的驱动。
There’s been a staggering rise in the number of extreme weather events over the past 20 years, driven largely by rising global temperatures and other climatic changes, according to a 2020 United Nations report.
更具体地说，自2000年以来，与气候有关的灾害增加了83%，重大洪水增加了一倍多，强烈风暴的次数增加了40%。
More specifically, climate-related disasters have jumped 83%, major floods have more than doubled, and the number of severe storms has risen 40% since 2000.
随着不稳定的天气越来越频繁和持续时间更长的中断，数据中心业主和运营商必须为不可避免的停电做好准备，以提供100%可靠的零停机服务。
With unstable weather comes more frequent and longer-lasting power outages, making it imperative for data center owners and operators to prepare for the inevitable in order to provide 100% reliable service with zero downtime.
这就是为什么设计有弹性的基础设施，加固现有的数据中心以抵御灾难，以及为与天气有关的灾难制定计划是至关重要的。现在是实施战略为未来的混乱做好准备的最佳时机。
That’s why designing resilient infrastructure, hardening existing data centers to withstand catastrophes, and planning for weather-related disasters are paramount. There’s never been a better time to implement strategies to prepare for future disruptions.
以下是运营商应对气候变化影响的五个简单方法，可以减轻恶劣天气事件的影响，甚至省钱:
Here are five easy ways operators can prepare for the impact of climate change, mitigate the effects of severe weather events and even save money:
列出潜在风险的清单
Make an inventory of potential risks
了解您的气候风险，确定设施的优势和劣势，是准备数据中心应对极端天气事件影响的第一步。
Understanding your climate risks and identifying a facility’s strengths and vulnerabilities is the first step in prepping a data center against the impacts of extreme weather events.
美国最近发生的极端天气相关事件，如2021年2月德克萨斯州的冬季风暴导致电网用电紧张，以及2018年的Camp fire——加州历史上最致命、最具破坏性的野火——突显了风险预防的必要性。
Recent extreme weather-related events in the U.S., like the February 2021 winter storm in Texas that strained electrical grids and 2018’s Camp Fire—the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history—have highlighted the need for risk prevention.
可靠的选址和灵活数据中心设计是非常棒的，但在未来的几十年里，它们可能还不够。想想建在以前每500年才被洪水淹没一次的土地上的数据中心吧。2%的洪水风险根本算不上什么威胁。但气候变化的影响意味着现在洪水可能每100年发生一次。
Solid site selection and dynamic data center design are all well and good, but they may not prove enough in the decades ahead. Think about data centers built on plots of land that previously flooded just once every 500 years. That .2% risk of flooding wasn’t much of a threat at all. But the effects of climate change mean that flooding might now happen once every 100 years.
趋势很明显:极端天气将持续下去。洪水已经淹没了存放发电机的地下室，由于野火风险，由变电站供电的数据中心已经关闭了好多天，冷却系统也因极端高温而不堪重负。
The trend is clear: extreme weather is here to stay. Floods have reached basements where generators are housed, electricity substations that power data centers have been turned off for days at a time due to wildfire risk, and cooling systems have been overwhelmed by extreme heat.
Uptime建议将风险和机遇分为三类:
The Uptime Institute suggests categorizing risks and opportunities in three buckets:
站点级别风险
Site-level risks
极端天气事件或条件持续变化对当地站点的风险。
Risks to the local site from an extreme weather event or a sustained change in conditions.
区域风险
Regional risks
与现场没有直接关联的本地风险，包括用品，公用设施，员工和有效进出（例如当前疫情时期，数据中心可能进出受阻）。
Risks to the local region that are not directly site-related,including supplies, utilities, staff and access.
行业颠覆和变革
Sector disruption and change
气候变化的一些影响将是次要的——影响治理、成本、技术和选址偏好。
Some of the effects of climate change will be secondary — affecting governance, costs, technology and site preferences.
从一开始就识别和量化风险，将使您更好地了解您数据中心的弱点所在，以及您今后如何减轻它们。
Identifying and quantifying the risks from the beginning will give you a better picture of where your vulnerabilities lie and how you can mitigate them going forward.
加强数据中心抵御极端天气的能力
Harden the data center against extreme weather
现在您已经了解了其中的风险，那么是时候采取行动了。
Now that you understand the risks, it’s time to take action.
保护数据中心不受强烈风暴的影响并不仅仅是建造钢筋混凝土墙或将服务器机柜固定在地面上。现在，加固数据中心意味着要实施能够释放能量和容量的解决方案，这些解决方案可用于提高数据中心的弹性。
Protecting a data center from severe storms isn’t just about erecting reinforced concrete walls or bolting server cabinets into the ground. Nowadays, hardening your data center means implementing solutions that free up energy and capacity that can be used to improve data center resiliency.
增加智能开关柜是确保数据中心正常运行的一种方法，它可以在检测到故障或断电时自动将电源从主电源转移到备用电源。此外，提高数据中心内部的基准温度(被称为设定值)可以节省资金和能源使用。
Adding intelligent switchgear that automatically transfers a power supply from its primary source to a backup source when it senses a failure or outage is one way to ensure uptime. In additon, raising the baseline temperature inside the data center—known as a set point—can save money and energy use.
在评估如何保护数据中心时，有很多微小但有影响的变化可供所有者和运营商参考。以下是一些需要考虑的具体气候风险的例子:
There’s no shortage of small but impactful changes owners and operators can look at when evaluating how to protect a data center. Here are a few examples to consider for specific climate risks:
热浪
Heatwaves
因为服务器容易过热，请考虑实现锂离子电池。它们更小，更轻，可以在高温下工作。
Because servers are prone to overheating, consider implementing lithium-ion batteries. They’re smaller, lighter and can operate at high temperatures.
野火
Wildfires
设施经理(FM)应该考虑威胁，如风吹的余烬可以被收集到附近的燃料箱里，评估余烬的传播距离，燃烧持续时间和余烬的强度，用额外的过滤系统来处理多余的灰烬和烟雾。
Facility managers (FM) should consider threats like wind-blown embers that can collect near fuel tanks and evaluate the travel distance, burning duration, and intensity of embers, as well as additional filtration systems to handle excess ash and smoke.
洪水
Floods
增加平台或架空地板可能意味着脆弱的数据中心和弹性数据中心之间的区别。抽水系统和防洪屏障是降低风险的廉价方法。
Adding platforms or raised flooring can mean the difference between a vulnerable data center and a resilient one. Pumping systems and flood barriers are inexpensive ways to mitigate risk.
与IT管理部门合作
Partner with IT management
确保关键基础设施的安全需要设施经理（FM）和IT经理之间保持伙伴关系——这种伙伴关系要在任何紧急情况发生之前形成。
Securing critical infrastructure requires a partnership between FM and IT—one that’s formed well ahead of any emergencies.
应急操作程序演练应定期进行，并尽可能提前进行。很少有运营商做数据中心整体故障的演练，而极端事件可能会让许多包括双活工作负载在内的弹性策略首次应用在整体数据中心故障的演练上。
Emergency operating procedure drills should be practiced routinely and as far in advance as possible. Few operators have ever drilled for a complete data center failure, and extreme events may put many resiliency strategies involving active-active workloads to the test at scale for the first time.
考虑定期进行数据中心的“黑启动”，即在完全或部分电力关闭，并在不依赖外部电力的情况下，恢复发电站或电网的部分运行，以确保可以手动恢复服务。
Consider conducting regular data center “black starts,” the process of restoring an electric power station or a part of an electric grid to operation without relying on external electric power during a total or partial shutdown, to ensure services can be restored manually.
投资于产生更少热量和使用更少能量进行计算的IT设备。IT部门还可以关闭不重要的应用程序，为重要服务提供更多的容量和续航时间。
Invest in IT gear that produces less heat and uses less power to compute. IT can also shut down nonessential applications, giving essential services more capacity and battery time.
虚拟化数据中心设施中的物理服务器和设备的过程不仅持续在优化IT基础设施和资源利用率，还通过减少冷却基础设施的使用而降低运营成本。
The process of virtualizing physical servers and equipment in a data center facility not only optimizes IT infrastructure and resource utilization but also reduces operational costs by eliminating excess cooling infrastructure.
可持续性和弹性的综合考量
Link sustainability and resiliency
即使数据中心不直接受到恶劣天气的影响，每个设施还是需要依赖水来对服务器进行冷却。安装更高效的冷水机组，最大化提升冷却系统效率和处理温度的能力，或采用一些新的方法，如浸没式冷却，可以帮助节约用水并减少环境对每个人的影响。
Even if a data center isn’t in the direct line of fire for severe weather, every facility relies on water to cool down servers. Installing more efficient chillers, maximizing temperatures for evaporative cooling systems, or more novel approaches like immersion cooling, can help conserve water and reduce the environmental impact for everyone.
尽管环境、社会和治理(Environmental, Social and Governance, ESG)策略和目标可能不会直接影响数据中心的灵活性，但它们确实会对成本限制和运营产生间接影响。确保关于电力使用、碳减排和水使用的ESG目标对您的数据中心灵活性是有益的补充(而不是限制)。
Although Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) tactics and goals may not directly impact data center resiliency, they do have an indirect effect on cost restrictions and operations. Ensure ESG goals regarding power use, carbon reduction and water use are complementary to (and not competing with) your resiliency efforts.
投资远程监控和管理
Invest in remote monitoring and management
由于新冠肺炎疫情对远程工作的影响，以及网络安全的加强，那些用于数据中心监控和管理的设施投资已经领先于用于环境监测方面的设施投资。
Facilities that invested in data center monitoring and management because of the pandemic’s impact on remote work and increased cybersecurity may be ahead of the game when it comes to environmental monitoring.
极端天气的影响可能导致停工。设施经理（FM）可以运用监视工具(包括网络和IP)的正确组合，以帮助维护数据中心的基本状态，并对威胁服务器环境的问题提供即时告警。
The effects of extreme weather can lead to downtime. FM can provide the right combination of monitoring tools—both network and IP—to help maintain the prime condition of a data center and provide immediate alerts to issues that threaten server environments.
远程环境监控和管理可以保护服务器机房和基础设施免受极端温度、功率波动和湿度变化的影响。实施无线传感器可以提供设施健康状况的整体视图，以及向非现场工作人员发出效率故障告警流程。
Remote environmental monitoring and management protect server rooms and facilities from extremes in server temperature, power fluctuations and humidity changes. Implementing wireless sensors can provide a holistic view of the health of the facility, as well as processes to alert off-site staff to efficiency failures.
深 知 社
翻译：
林宇
DKV（DeepKnowledge Volunteer）计划创始成员
校对：
Plato Deng
深知社数据中心高级研究员 /DKV计划创始成员
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