CIST 2463 - Data Center II

Prerequisite: CIST 2461,
Corequisite: CIST 1401
This course provides an in‑depth exploration of day‑to‑day data center operations, focusing on the safe, efficient, and reliable management of enterprise‑class and hyperscale data center environments. Students gain practical experience with operational workflows, lifecycle management, and industry‑standard procedures used to maintain continuous uptime. Topics include daily facility inspections, asset lifecycle management, deployment and decommissioning procedures, change control documentation, and best practices for installing and removing hardware in active production environments. Students learn preventive and predictive maintenance strategies for electrical, mechanical, and environmental systems, including power distribution, cooling equipment, sensors, and monitoring platforms. Operational security practices are emphasized, including physical access control, visitor management, key management, audit compliance, and adherence to regulatory and organizational security frameworks. Students also explore environmental and sustainability considerations, such as energy efficiency, capacity planning, thermal optimization, and the use of DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) tools. Troubleshooting modules cover incident response, fault isolation, diagnostics using monitoring tools, ticketing systems, and escalation workflows. Hands‑on labs guide students through real operational tasks such as racking and unracking equipment, documenting changes, monitoring environmental conditions, responding to alerts, and performing routine maintenance in live or simulated environments. This course prepares students for technician, operations, and infrastructure support roles within modern data centers and aligns with industry practices used by colocation, enterprise, and cloud service providers. Contact hours: Class - 2, Lab - 4. Credit hours: 4 (F, Sp)