Data Center Tier Classification
When organizations plan to move key Business applications and services to a Data Center, the key term that comes fore is the Tiering Standard. The Tiering of Data Center standards exists to evaluate the quality and reliability of a data centre’s server hosting ability.
Data Center Tiering was introduced by Uptime Institute where the Data Centers were classified into 4 Tiers – Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4. The classification is an indication of the level of design or construction to a datacenter’s overall availability and system redundancy. Tier 4 ranking is the highest benchmark for of reliability of a data center.
Below are the key ingredients of 4 tiers of data Center (Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4).
TIER 1 DATA CENTER –
- 99.671% Uptime
- no redundancy
- 28.8 hours of downtime per year.
TIER 2 DATA CENTER –
- 99.749% Uptime
- Partial (N+1) redundancy of components
- 22 hours of downtime per year
TIER 3 DATA CENTER –
- 99.982 % Uptime
- Fault-Tolerant (N+1) redundancy of components
- 1.6 hours of downtime per year
TIER 4 DATA CENTER –
- 99.995 % Uptime
- Fault-Tolerant (2N+1) redundancy of components
- 0.04 hours of downtime per year
Related- Data Center vs Cloud
Tier 1 vs Tier 2 vs Tier 3 vs Tier 4
Below table enumerates How the 4 Tier Standards of Data Centers differ from each other –
| PARAMETERS | TIER 1 | TIER 2 | TIER 3 | TIER 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target customer | Small Business | Small enterprise | Large enterprise | Very Large Org/MNC |
| Component level redundancy | N | Partial N + 1 | Fault Tolerant N + 1 | Fault Tolerant 2N + 1 |
| Distribution Paths | 1 | 1 | Fault Tolerant 2N + 1 | Fault Tolerant 2N + 1 |
| Availability | 99.671 % | 99.749 % | 99.982 % | 99.995 % |
| Downtime | 28.8 Hrs | 22 Hrs | 1.6 Hrs | 0.04 Hrs |
| Compartmentalization | No | No | No | Yes |
| Staffing | None | 1 Shift | 1 + Shift | 24 * 7 * 365 |
| Concurrently maintainable | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Continuous cooling | No | No | No | Yes |
| Months to Implement | 3 | 3-6 | 15-20 | 15-20 |
| Year 1st deployed | 1965 | 1970 | 1985 | 1995 |
Download the comparison table here.
Related- Data Center Interconnect
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am here to share my knowledge and experience in the field of networking with the goal being – “The more you share, the more you learn.”
I am a biotechnologist by qualification and a Network Enthusiast by interest. I developed interest in networking being in the company of a passionate Network Professional, my husband.
I am a strong believer of the fact that “learning is a constant process of discovering yourself.”
– Rashmi Bhardwaj (Author/Editor)
