Cheat sheet

EXIN CDCP Cheat Sheet

Standards + Site

20%of exam

Uptime TiersTIA-942 RatedEN 50600ISO 22237Mission Critical

Power Infrastructure

20%of exam

UPS TopologyGeneratorsATS/STSRedundancyGrounding

Cooling Infrastructure

20%of exam

ASHRAE TC 9.9CRAC/CRAHHot/Cold AisleFree CoolingLiquid Cooling

Facilities + Security

25%of exam

Raised FloorFire SuppressionClean AgentsPhysical SecurityStructured Cabling

Operations + Efficiency

15%of exam

SOP/MOP/EOPCommissioningPUE/WUE/CUEMaintenanceBCDR

Quick Facts

Exam
CDCP
Credential
Data Centre Pro
Time
60 min
Pass
68% (27/40)
Questions
40 MCQ
Format
Closed book
Validity
3 years
Blueprint
85/15

Tier Availability

I=671 | II=741 | III=982 | IV=995

I: no redundancyII: N+1III: concurrentIV: fault tolerant

Tier III vs IV

Tier III

  • Concurrent maintain
  • N+1 minimum
  • Single fault survive

Tier IV

  • Fault tolerant
  • 2N active-active
  • Multiple faults

Maintain vs tolerate

Tier Picker

  1. 99.67% okTier I(No redundancy)
  2. Need N+1Tier II(Power+cooling red)
  3. Concurrent maintainTier III(2N or N+1)
  4. Fault tolerantTier IV(2N active-active)
  5. 99.995% SLATier IV(Highest)
  6. Cost constrainedTier I(Basic)

Uptime Tiers

Tier I
N: 99.671%
Tier II
N+1: 99.741%
Tier III
Concurrent: 99.982%
Tier IV
Fault tolerant: 99.995%
Concurrent
Maintain without shutdown
Fault Tolerant
Survives single failure

Standards + Rated

TIA-942
US telecom standard
EN 50600
European DC standard
ISO 22237
Intl DC standard
Rated-1
Basic; no redundancy
Rated-4
Highest; 2N active
Uptime Tier
Operational; not TIA

Redundancy Ladder

N | N+1 | 2N | 2(N+1)

N: noneN+1: one extra2N: full duplicate2(N+1): dual+extra

AC vs DC Power

AC

  • Standard delivery
  • Transformable
  • Generator native

DC

  • No conversion loss
  • Battery native
  • HVDC emerging

Utility vs battery

UPS Topology Picker

  1. Basic officeOffline(No conditioning)
  2. Small serverLine-interactive(AVR boost)
  3. Data centreDouble-conversion(Zero transfer)
  4. Cost sensitiveLine-interactive(Mid tier)
  5. Mission criticalDouble-conversion(Online VFI)
  6. Transfer <4msDouble-conversion(No break)

Power Distribution

UPS
Uninterruptible supply
PDU
Power distribution unit
ATS
Auto transfer switch
STS
Static transfer switch
Generator
Backup power source
SRG
Signal ref grounding
EPO
Emergency power off

ATS vs STS

ATS

  • Mechanical switch
  • Utility-gen transfer
  • Seconds

STS

  • Static electronic
  • Sub-cycle transfer
  • Millisecond

Mechanical vs static

Redundancy Schemes

N
No redundancy
N+1
One extra unit
2N
Full duplicate
2(N+1)
Dual system + extra
Concurrent
Maintain one path
Catch
N+1 common bus risk

CRAC vs CRAH

CRAC

  • Direct expansion
  • Refrigerant coil
  • Compressor

CRAH

  • Chilled water
  • Water coil
  • No compressor

DX vs water

Cooling Method Picker

  1. Low densityCRAC/CRAH(Perimeter)
  2. High densityIn-row(Close to rack)
  3. Rear doorRDHx(Passive)
  4. Mild climateAir-side(Free cooling)
  5. Extreme densityImmersion(Liquid)
  6. Chip directDirect-to-chip(Cold plate)

Cooling Systems

CRAC
Direct-expansion AC
CRAH
Chilled water coil
In-row
Rack-adjacent cooling
RDHx
Rear door heat exch
Hot Aisle
Exhaust containment
Cold Aisle
Intake containment
Economizer
Free cooling source

Cooling Methods

Air-side
Outside air economizer
Water-side
Cooling tower economizer
Adiabatic
Evaporative cooling
Immersion
Fluid submersion
Direct-to-chip
Cold plate liquid
ASHRAE A1
18-27 °C envelope

Fire Classes

A=solid | B=liquid | C=electrical | D=metal

A: paper/woodC: live electricalD: combustible metal

Raised Floor vs Slab

Raised Floor

  • Air + cable
  • Access below
  • Load limit

Slab

  • Overhead tray
  • No floor plenum
  • Higher load

Under vs over

Fire Protection

NFPA 75
IT equipment standard
VESDA
Early smoke detect
FM-200
HFC-227ea clean agent
Novec 1230
FK-5-1-12 agent
IG-541
Inergen; inert gas
Water Mist
Fine droplet suppress
Pre-action
Double-interlock sprinkler

FM-200 vs Novec 1230

FM-200

  • HFC-227ea
  • GWP high
  • Phase-out pressure

Novec 1230

  • FK-5-1-12
  • GWP low
  • Sustainable

HFC vs FK

Physical Security

Mantrap
Two-door interlock
Biometric
Fingerprint/iris scan
CCTV
Surveillance cameras
IDS
Intrusion detection sys
Perimeter
Outer fence layer
Access Card
Badge entry control
Layered
Perimeter to rack

Structured Cabling

MDA
Main dist area
HDA
Horizontal dist area
EDA
Equipment dist area
ZDA
Zone dist area
OM3/OM4
Laser-optimised fibre
OM5
Wideband multimode
Cat 6A
10GBase-T copper

Building + Auxiliary

Raised Floor
Air + cable distribution
Slab
Overhead cable tray
Load
Floor kN/m² rating
BMS
Building mgmt sys
EPMS
Env power monitoring
DCIM
DC infra management
EMF
Magnetic field shielding

DC Lifecycle

Design | Build | Operate | Decommission

Design: planBuild: constructOperate: runDecommission: retire

SOP vs MOP

SOP

  • Standard procedure
  • What to do
  • Routine task

MOP

  • Method of procedure
  • How to do
  • Step-by-step

What vs how

Operations Procedures

SOP
Standard op procedure
MOP
Method of procedure
EOP
Emergency op procedure
AOR
Auth ops report
SLA
Service level agmt
OLA
Operational level agmt
Cx Level
Commissioning 1-5

Efficiency Metrics

PUE=Total/IT | WUE=Water/IT | CUE=Carbon/IT

PUE: lower betterDCiE=1/PUEISO 30134

Efficiency + BCDR

PUE
Total/IT power
WUE
Water/IT energy
CUE
Carbon/IT energy
DCiE
1/PUE efficiency
RTO
Recovery time objective
RPO
Recovery point objective
ISO 30134
Resource efficiency KPIs

Common Traps

Tier vs Rated

Uptime = operational TIA-942 = facility

ATS vs STS

ATS mechanical STS static sub-cycle

CRAC vs CRAH

CRAC = DX compressor CRAH = chilled water

N+1 vs 2N

N+1 = one extra 2N = full duplicate

PUE direction

Lower is better 1.0 = ideal

Raised floor load

Check kN/m² Not just tile size

Last Minute

  1. 1.Tiers: I/II/III/IV avail
  2. 2.N+1 vs 2N redundancy
  3. 3.Double-conversion = online UPS
  4. 4.ASHRAE: 18-27 °C
  5. 5.PUE = Total/IT (lower)
  6. 6.VESDA + clean agent
  7. 7.MDA/HDA/EDA cabling
  8. 8.SOP/MOP/EOP procedure
  9. 9.Cx levels 1-5; IST pull-plug
  10. 10.3-year validity; recertify
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