In our previous article, Before, During and After Go-Live: Commissioning, Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) and Data Centre Audits Explained, we looked at three important checkpoints in the data centre lifecycle:
Before go-live: Commissioning
During go-live: Site Acceptance Testing (SAT)
After go-live: Data centre audits
Each has a different job to do.
In this edition, we're taking a closer look at the first stage: commissioning.
Before testing how an entire data centre performs under real operating conditions, you need to know that the individual systems supporting it have been installed, configured and started correctly.
Because in a critical environment, installed doesn't necessarily mean ready.
What Does Data Centre Commissioning Actually Mean?
Commissioning is the structured process of verifying and documenting that equipment and systems have been installed and configured correctly and perform in accordance with project requirements.
Industry guidance from ASHRAE describes escribes commissioning as a quality-focused process for verifying that a facility and its systems meet the Owner's Project Requirements.
In a data centre or critical environment, commissioning may cover:
- UPS and battery systems
- Power distribution
- Cooling and HVAC
- Racks and supporting infrastructure
- Monitoring and control systems
- Electrical and mechanical services
- Structured cabling
The scope varies from project to project, but the question is the same:
Has what was designed and specified actually been installed, configured and prepared correctly?
Why Commissioning Matters So Much in a Data Centre
Critical environments leave little room for error. A commercial building can sometimes tolerate a fault without immediately affecting the organisation operating inside it.
Uptime Institute's 2024 Global Data Center Survey found that on-site power distribution was the primary cause of 54% of respondents' most recent impactful data centre outages — ahead of cooling, IT systems and network failures.
And power resilience isn't simply about whether electricity is available. It's about what happens when something goes wrong.
Does the UPS respond correctly? Do batteries perform as expected? Does the load transfer? Are the right alarms generated? Does monitoring report the correct condition?
Commissioning starts answering those questions before the environment moves into integrated Site Acceptance Testing.
Installed Doesn't Automatically Mean Commissioned
A UPS can be installed and connected. A cooling unit can be powered. A monitoring platform can be online.
That doesn't mean they're ready for production.
For a UPS installation, for example, commissioning may verify:
- Equipment and specifications
- Physical installation and connections
- Battery configuration
- Bypass and protection settings
- Operating parameters
- Alarms and monitoring
- Start-up procedures
- Documentation and labelling
It's about looking beyond physical installation to confirm that the equipment has been correctly configured and can perform its intended role.
Finding a configuration problem during commissioning is a defect to fix. Finding it during an outage is an incident.
The Cost of Finding Problems Too Late
Before go-live, engineers generally have greater freedom to isolate equipment, correct cabling, adjust controls and repeat testing.
Once production workloads are running, even a relatively simple fix can involve:
- Change windows
- Business-critical applications
- Customer impacts
- Additional approvals
- After-hours works
- Operational and safety risks
The earlier a problem is identified, the easier it usually is to resolve.
That's why commissioning isn't simply a handover exercise. It's an opportunity to find problems while they're still relatively easy to fix.
Commissioning Is Becoming More Important, Not Less
Modern data centres are becoming more complex.
Higher rack densities, greater power requirements, advanced cooling technologies and increasingly interconnected monitoring and control systems create more dependencies across the environment.
At the same time, pressure to deliver infrastructure faster can squeeze commissioning activities toward the end of a project.
But speed shouldn't come at the expense of assurance.
A faster go-live isn't much of a win if you're carrying an unidentified infrastructure problem into production.
What Should a Good Commissioning Process Look Like?
The detail will vary by project, but good commissioning should be structured, tested and documented, not simply a visual inspection followed by start-up.
1. Verify what has actually been installed
Check equipment against approved specifications, project documentation and manufacturer requirements.
This confirms that models, ratings, capacities, configurations and components reflect what was actually designed and purchased.
2. Inspect the physical installation
Confirm equipment has been installed correctly before functional testing begins.
Depending on the system, this may include electrical and mechanical connections, cabling, access and clearances, labelling, battery arrangements and airflow requirements.
3. Verify configuration
Critical infrastructure is increasingly driven by software, controls and communications.
The hardware can be right while the settings are wrong.
UPS parameters, alarms, thresholds, communications, control sequences and monitoring integrations all need to match the intended operating environment.
4. Start and functionally test equipment
Equipment and subsystems should then be started and tested to confirm correct operation.
This is the point where:
"It's installed" becomes "we've verified that it works."
5. Record defects and rectify them
Issues should be documented, assigned and rectified, with evidence that corrective actions have been completed.
A commissioning defect list isn't a sign of failure.
Finding issues before production is exactly what commissioning is there to do.
6. Document the final condition
Commissioning should also leave the owner with useful records, including relevant test results, configurations, equipment details and defect close-out information.
These records provide an important reference for future maintenance, upgrades and troubleshooting.
Commissioning Also Establishes a Baseline
Commissioning doesn't just tell you that infrastructure worked at handover. It establishes what normal looked like when it was new.
Operating parameters, settings, alarm conditions and equipment information can later be compared against the live environment when investigating:
- Capacity or cooling issues
- UPS or battery deterioration
- Alarm changes
- Equipment upgrades or replacement
- Unexpected operating behaviour
That baseline can make future troubleshooting significantly easier.
Where Does Commissioning Stop and SAT Begin?
This distinction is important.
Commissioning asks: Is each system installed, configured and functioning correctly?
Site Acceptance Testing asks: What happens when those systems need to work together under realistic operating and failure conditions?
For example, commissioning may verify that a UPS starts correctly, its batteries are configured and its alarms function.
SAT may test what happens across the wider environment when utility power is lost and multiple systems need to respond in the correct sequence.
Think of commissioning as making sure every member of the orchestra can play their instrument.
SAT is where you find out whether they can play together.
We'll explore that in the next article in this series.
When Should You Consider Commissioning?
Commissioning isn't only for new data centres.
It should also be considered when introducing or significantly changing critical infrastructure, including:
- UPS installations, replacements or upgrades
- New battery systems
- Cooling installations or upgrades
- Racks and power distribution
- Data centre expansions
- New comms rooms
- Infrastructure relocations
- Major electrical or mechanical upgrades
If the business is going to rely on it, there's value in verifying it before production does.
Don't Let Go-Live Become the Test
The worst time to discover a problem with critical infrastructure is when you're relying on it to protect the business.
Commissioning provides evidence that equipment hasn't simply been delivered, connected and powered on, it has been systematically checked and prepared for the next stage.
Because for critical infrastructure, "it should work" isn't enough.
How Treske Can Help
Treske supports organisations with the commissioning of critical data centre infrastructure across new installations, upgrades and expansion projects.
Our team works across critical power, UPS, cooling, racks and supporting infrastructure, helping verify equipment installation, configuration and operation before environments progress to final acceptance and go-live.
We work alongside project managers, IT teams, facility managers, contractors and equipment vendors to identify issues early and help ensure infrastructure is ready for what's next.
Planning a new installation or infrastructure upgrade? Speak with Treske about commissioning your critical infrastructure before go-live.
Next in the series: During Go-Live – Why Site Acceptance Testing Is Where Your Data Centre Proves Itself.