Effective Commissioning for Data Centers

Commissioning is a critical element for data centers, demonstrating the facility performs as designed. It sets a solid performance baseline, ensures systems act predictably under stress, and reduces risk during operation through a comprehensive and rigorous testing regime that includes key failure and maintenance scenarios to ensure systems operate as expected.

An effective commissioning process includes:

• Early review of design documents to check specifications and drawings detailed enough for installers and commissioners to properly commission equipment and systems
• Developing a quality assurance process to make sure all equipment and systems are commissioned
• Creating and reviewing commissioning procedures and test report templates to ensure that specified- and industry-practice techniques and test equipment are used, expected test results are known prior to testing, and required tests are carried out
• Confirmation that commissioning is conducted in accordance with the agreed procedures through witnessing of testing by experienced and qualified personnel
• Review of test reports to verify expected results have been met
• Development and execution of functional performance to validate that systems function as required under various loading profiles, failure conditions, or input from other systems
• Development and execution of integrated systems tests to validate that the entire building operates as a holistic system and that key data hall environmental and power conditions remain stable under failure or maintenance scenarios

Upgrading existing facilities

The main challenge in brownfield sites is ensuring new systems integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructure without causing interruption or failures to existing operational systems.

Key challenges include:

• Coordinating between site operations, construction, and commissioning teams to ensure smooth integration and minimize disruption
• Aligning software and firmware across old and new systems
• Creating fault scenarios to test responses in live environments without causing outages to operational systems

The stages of commissioning

Commissioning is a multistage journey:

0. Design peer review—identifies single points of failure and ensure designs meet project requirements
1. Factory testing—ensures equipment is tested before shipment
2. Quality assurance inspections—confirms quality and readiness of installation
3. Start-up testing—verifies systems operate independently
4. Functional performance testing—tests subsystems independently
5. Integrated systems testing—assesses end to end system performance
6. System handover—provides training and documentation for operations teams

Timing matters

Commissioning agents should be involved from the start of a data center project. This enables issues to be captured progressively, ensuring the facility is delivered on time and operational.

Late involvement often means:

• Critical design flaws being missed, causing stress and last-minute fixes
• Compressed timeframes that lead to rushed processes, increase risk of failure, and potential health and safety concerns
• Delays in operational readiness and design compromises

The future of commissioning in data centers

Liquid cooling challenges

Liquid cooling technology (LCT) is shaking things up, as most common designs allow only partial commissioning. You can commission secondary pipework and test coolant distribution units (CDU), but simulating the impact of each rack’s installation is very difficult.

Compare this to traditional mechanical cooling. Commissioning was a one-off activity until major repair or modification. With direct-to-chip (D2C) cooling, equipment may need to be recommissioned for every new piece of hardware, although this depends on the design and amount of redundancy implemented on day one.

Liquid cooling systems require purging and careful monitoring of coolant concentration, flow rates, and temperatures. While purging can be localized, this can present issues for systems that are online.

Different manufacturers also have varying flow rates and pressure requirements, adding complexity.

Another challenge is testing for water-cooled solutions. This calls for specialized load banks that are only now becoming available. The commissioning industry is essentially starting from ground zero here, meaning future commissioning requires careful planning and meticulous recordkeeping to ensure consistency in system performance.

Digital record keeping

Recordkeeping is evolving fast and digital recordkeeping will play an even bigger role as digital twins—virtual models replicating real facilities—become more prominent. These will make future design changes and expansions much easier to plan and execute.

An ongoing process

Commissioning is a strategic, ongoing process that plays a vital role in keeping data centers reliable and resilient. As technology evolves, we need to stay curious, precise, and adaptable—always ready for the next challenge.