INSPIRING BUSINESS INNOVATION
Data Center Policies
Version 1.2
Policy Number:
Data Center Policies
Document Control
Information
Title Classification Version Status
Data Center Policies Confidential 1.2 validated
Revision History
Version Author(s) Issue Date Changes
0.1 AbdulMohsin – ICT, IAU 4 Dec 2016 Draft
1.0 Muneeb Ahmad – ICT, IAU 21 Sep 2017 Updated 1.1 AbdulMohsin – ICT, IAU 26 Sep 2017 Updated 1.2 Muneeb Ahmad – ICT, IAU 27 Sep 2017 Updated
Review, Verification and Approval
Name Title Date
Faisal Lafi Al-Mahasheer Infrastructure Manager Lamia Abdullah Aljafari Quality Director
Gamil Radman Operation Director
Dr. Saad Al-Amri Dean of ICT
Distribution List
Copy # Recipients Location
Data Center Policies
Contents
1. Introduction ... 4
2. Overview ... 4
3. Policy Statement ... 4
3.1 General Data Center Access Policies ... 4
3.2 Data Center Equipment Policies ... 5
3.3 Data Center Infrastructure Management Policies ... 6
4. Policy Violation ... 7
5. Conclusion ... 7
6. Appendix ... 7
Data Center Policies
1. Introduction
The ICT Data Center is vitally important to the ongoing information technology operations of Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University. Therefore, to maintain and manage the security, availabilities, complexity and reliability of the systems that are in ICT Data Center, policies have been developed. The policies must be followed, understood and agreed by all individuals accessing the ICT Data Center.
2. Overview
The ICT Data Center is a restricted area and it is very sensitive place as its holds the University of Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal IT resources and data.
Consequently, access to the ICT Data Center is controlled and monitored to protect the systems from unauthorized change or use, accidental or malicious damage and theft. Only authorized individuals will be granted when a reasonable need is demonstrated to access the ICT Data Center.
The Data Center Access Policies section states the criteria for granting access to specific individuals. Failure to follow these policies may result in the exclusion of individuals from the ICT Data Center and it will be reported to the management to take the appropriate action. Any questions regarding policies should be
addressed to the ICT Infrastructure team.
3. Policy Statement
3.1 General Data Center Access Policies
The following policies apply to all individuals requiring access to the ICT Data Center:
1. All individuals who access the ICT Data Center must have a proper authorization based on their roles.
2. All individuals must sign in and out the log access sheet which is located at the Staging Area as they enter and exit ICT Data Center.
3. All access to the ICT Data Center will be monitored and verified 24/7.
4. Authorized individual shall only access equipment for which they are responsible.
5. All Network and Infrastructure engineers must be aware of their equipment placement with physical connections.
6. All individuals must enter and leave through the ICT Data Center’s Staging Area only.
7. Visitors to the ICT Data Center must adhere to the visitor guidelines.
8. Food and drink are not allowed within the ICT Data Center.
9. No hazardous materials are allowed within the ICT Data Center.
10. No cleaning supplies or any other liquid are allowed within the ICT Data Center.
11. No cutting of any material (pipes, floor tiles, etc..) shall be performed inside the ICT Data Center.
Data Center Policies
12. All packing material must be removed from equipment in the designated staging area before moved into the ICT Data Center area.
13. All problems should be address to the Facility Engineer or to the Infrastructure team supervisor.
14. All individuals should keep the ICT Data Center area clean after performing any task.
15. The ICT Data Center and Staging area are not places to store equipment or any other stuff. Therefore, the individuals should not keep any stuff behind after performing any task there.
16. Data Center Emergency exit door is only for emergency situations.
The door should be closed all the time.
17. The Data Center Emergency exit door path should be free of obstacles whether from inside the ICT Data Center or outside.
18. Individuals must keep the Containment doors closed as well as the rack doors when leaving the ICT Data Center.
19. Taking photos or videos of the ICT Data Center is prohibited.
20. In the event of an emergency please contact the Facility Engineer or the Infrastructure team supervisor immediately.
21. Disclosure of any sensitive information related to the data center to non-authorize party is prohibited.
3.2 Data Center Equipment Policies
Physical changes for any device inside Data center must be regulated by policies to make sure that device installation and removal
processes including attached cables are done in consistent way.
Data Center Racks currently serving three units, Networking,
Infrastructure and Elearning. so, any required physical change must be negotiated and agreed between the affected units.
Prior to any physical change performed by task owner, a confirmed approval from Data Center Network engineer and/or Infrastructure admin must be attained based on the serving functional Zone of the device
.
The following policies apply to all equipment housed in the Data Center:
1. The Equipment Installation/Removal Form must be completed for all equipment installations, removals, and changes in the ICT Data Center. Facility Engineer will deny entry to authorized employee or vendors who intend to install or change equipment without a properly completed form.
2. All new equipment must be rack mountable unless prior arrangements have been made to allow a non-rack-mountable piece of equipment into the room.
3. All equipment should contain dual power supplies (redundant), unless an exception is made by the Facility Engineer.
4. No stand-alone or rack mount UPS units will be allowed.
Data Center Policies
5. Approval from the Facility Engineer is essential for equipment that requires special power socket such as Industrial outlets.
6. When ordering devices for data center, the engineer must
consider the physical and environmental specification of the facility like power cables, power supplies, rack mounted, cooling air flow
…etc.
7. Data sheets should be kept for all equipment installed in the ICT Data Center.
8. Using uncertified power cables is prohibited. Only factory certified power cables that come with the equipment is allowed.
9. All data cables should exit from the top of racks into the cable tray.
Laying out data cable under the raised floor is prohibited.
10. Service providers and contractors are not allowed to connect their laptops to any switch directly via Data Cable (UTP) inside the ICT Data Center. However, an exception can be made by the
Operations Manager.
11. Data and power cables must be labeled per IAU cable standard.
12. Data cables should be laid out before installing the new equipment by the network unit as per DCIM policies
13. All Equipment must be labeled as per IAU equipment standard.
14. All equipment installations or removal must be scheduled in advance. Unscheduled visits to install/remove equipment or perform other tasks are not allowed.
15. Devices must be installed in correct cabinet zone according to its functional need.
16. Unused data and power cables should be removed when not needed.
3.3 Data Center Infrastructure Management Policies
To minimize disruptions and maintain Data Center information consistency. Infrastructure Management (DCIM) data must be up to date, the following policies apply the ICT Data Center.
1. Responsible engineer(s) for the task must update the DCIM with the physical changes done before leaving the physical facility otherwise he will be denied any further facility access until he submitted the previous updates.
2. The network engineer is responsible for adding the new data cables connections in the DCIM before laying out any cables and installing new equipment.
3. The responsible engineer should add the equipment in the DCIM before the equipment installation.
4. The facility engineer must check the matching between DCIM and physical layout including cables and labels after each task and on regular basis.
5. Infrastructure, Network and E-Learning units have at least one member that can updates DCIM.
Data Center Policies
6. Vendors, Contractors, Visitors and non-authorized employees are prohibited from accessing the information on DCIM.
4. Policy Violation
Anyone who violate this policy will be subject to any or all the following actions:
• Suspension.
• The referral of the case to the University Legal Department along with supporting evidence for an appropriate action.
• The case may be forwarded to the Communication & Information Technology Commission (CITC), Saudi Arabia who may initiate criminal investigation per the e-crimes regulations.
5. Conclusion
By enforcing these policies, we aim to achieve the following outcomes:
• Responsibility of all employees to use university resources and services appropriately and in compliance with all IAU rules and regulations
• Better informed university community regarding acceptable and unacceptable use of university resources.
• Responsible IAU community regarding the value and use of university resources.
• Anyone who abuses the privilege of the university resources, either directly by promoting inappropriate activities and by misusing or indirectly by inadvertently allowing unauthorized user to access for personal and professional purposes will be subject to sanctions or legal action.
6. Appendix
The following terms are used in this document.
Access - Connection of University, personal or third party owned devices to ICT Infrastructure facilities via a direct or indirect connection method.
ICT - Information and Communication Technology IAU - Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply
DCIM - Data center infrastructure management
