Maintaining clean data centres is vital to their continued safe operation without encountering server issues, system crashes or system failures, or potential fire outbreaks. Here are some best practices used by professional data centre cleaning services.
SubFloor/Plenum Cleaning
When beginning to clean a data centre, staff must begin in the sub-floor plenum area by carefully unbolting and cleaning accessible floor panels using lint-free microfiber cloth or electrostatic discharge (ESD) wipes. They should take great care not to unbolt too many panels at once as this may lead to instability of floor boards as well as overheated equipment.
Cleaners must take their time as they vacuum all sub-floor areas and carefully wipe down cabling and hardware of data centre equipment, then replace floor panels in their proper places before wiping down using staticide chemical solution.
Floor Cleaning
Next, floors should be meticulously cleaned using an ESD vacuum with HEPA filters to extract even the tiniest bits of debris and dust from your data centre. A general rubdown using anti-static rags, PVA mop and non-conductive staticide cleaner will help ensure all dust, dirt, grime, contaminants are also eliminated – repeat this process as necessary and with great care so as to use as little liquid as possible which may seep through floorboards or damage expensive data centre maintenance equipment.
Surface Cleaning
Once floors are tidy, staff should focus on cleaning light fixtures, ledges, air conditioners, work and desk surfaces and other accessible areas such as light switches. Light fixtures should then be vacuumed along with air conditioner ducts before moving on to cleaning all other surfaces such as racks, storage cabinets, shelves monitors and racks using HEPA filters before using an anti-static cleaning solution for wiping down server cabinets and tape racks with anti-static cleaner.
Special care must be taken when handling all equipment and technology to avoid costly damages. When employing external cleaning services for this process, their staff must receive specific training for handling critical data centre equipment without harming it in any way.
Tape Library Cleaning
Staff should clean and vacuum all surfaces of the tape library, including individual tape slots. Cleaning teams should ideally collaborate with an on-duty member from ISD (Information System Development) or another relevant department to ensure all tapes are handled carefully during cleaning and returned back into their proper locations once cleaning has been completed.
Best Practices for Maintaining Cleanliness
Clean data centres also rely on several other factors and best practices designed to keep their facilities as sanitary as possible while guaranteeing their technology remains top notch – procedures and policies implemented can ensure it remains as hygienic as possible and remain protected for as long as possible against dirt, dust and contaminants – here are a few procedures and policies in place by data centres to maintain their facility’s cleanliness:
Food and beverages of any kind should never be permitted to enter rooms that house any critical equipment, and cleaning crews should take extra precautions not to use too much liquid cleaning solution or water near or on equipment, so as to reduce accidental and costly damages.
All cleaning tools and materials should be rinsed or emptied away from data centre cleaning services equipment before they are put back into storage. Vacuums in particular should be regularly maintained outside the building to help eliminate dust-borne particles that could otherwise wreak havoc on data centre equipment.
Cardboard, paper products and other office supplies should not be stored alongside critical data centre equipment. Doors between non-equipment rooms and equipment rooms should always be securely shut after use to avoid potential contamination issues.
Packing and unpacking tools or equipment in rooms containing computers or other crucial electronics should be strictly forbidden. Only authorized personnel should gain entry to rooms containing critical data centre equipment, and should also receive training on how to safely handle and use it without causing any harm or destruction.
Work should not take place near critical data centre equipment until its environmental effects have been fully assessed and approved by data centre superiors in order to avoid possible contamination of sensitive systems.