CDCS Capacity Planning & Lifecycle Management Flashcards

What is a DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) system primarily used for?

Answer: Providing real-time visibility and management of power, cooling, space, and assets across data center infrastructure

DCIM software integrates data from power, cooling, and IT systems to provide real-time visibility into capacity, energy usage, and asset lifecycle across the entire data center.

In data center capacity planning, what is 'white space' capacity?

Answer: Available raised floor or cage space that can accommodate additional IT equipment

White space refers to the physical floor area within a data center that is available—not yet occupied by IT cabinets or equipment—and represents deployable capacity for new hardware.

What is the recommended maximum power density per cabinet that most data centers are designed to support without special cooling?

Answer: 5–10 kW per cabinet

Traditional data center designs support approximately 5–10 kW per cabinet using standard raised-floor air cooling; higher densities typically require supplemental or liquid cooling solutions.

Which process involves auditing all hardware assets in a data center to reconcile physical inventory with CMDB or DCIM records?

Answer: Physical asset audit / walkdown

A physical asset audit (walkdown) involves physically verifying every installed device against system records to identify discrepancies, orphaned equipment, and unlabeled assets.

What does 'right-sizing' mean in the context of data center server provisioning?

Answer: Matching server compute resources to actual workload requirements to avoid over-provisioning

Right-sizing aligns the allocated CPU, memory, and storage resources to the actual demand of each workload, preventing wasted capacity and unnecessary power draw from over-provisioned hardware.

What is the primary goal of a data center consolidation project?

Answer: Reducing the number of facilities, servers, and infrastructure footprint to lower cost and complexity

Data center consolidation reduces the number of physical facilities and underutilized servers through virtualization, migration, and decommissioning, lowering CapEx, OpEx, and energy consumption.