Building a large enterprise data center is a mammoth task with myriad details. In an encyclopedic work, Cloud Data Centers and Cost Modeling: A Complete Guide To Planning, Designing and Building a Cloud Data Center, (Morgan Kaufmann ISBN 978-0128014134), authors Caesar Wu and Rajkumar Buyya have written an extremely detailed and comprehensive guide on how to effectively build a cloud data center.

The books nearly 800 pages cover all core aspects of data center design and planning. Key areas include space calculations, virtualization, power management, heating and cooling, and much more. The authors focus on not just the materials and infrastructure of a data center, but the many costs also.

The cost aspect plays a prominent part in the book, as many people have a somewhat naïve notion that the cloud is free. While there may be many free cloud services, once one gets into the enterprise realm of cloud computing, it is anything but free. The authors show how to make educated decisions when building out a cloud data center.

The authors take the pragmatic approach that just as a large building requires significant engineering, design, requirements and more; so too does a large enterprise data center. With that, the authors leave have detailed every aspect of data center design.

The authors make extensive use of various formulas to ensure that the design meets the expected result. This includes a significant amount of pages dedicated to cost models to ensure that the design does not break the bank. By using the many analytical tools suggested in the book, the data center designer will have a highly effective cost framework for strategic decision making.

For those looking for a reference to guide them through every aspect of a cloud data center design, Cloud Data Centers and Cost Modeling is without a doubt the best reference available.