Building and utilizing an IT data center lab

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a lab to provide students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience constructing and managing a data center. The primary use is by IT majors in a capstone project course who are divided into teams and responsible for different technologies and applications which have to be integrated and ultimately work together. The current state of the lab is described in detail along with an explanation of how it was built over the past two years, including lessons learned. Examples of projects are described. Plans for growth of the lab are described along with realized benefits in the areas of teaching, research and service.