POWER 101 · LESSON 01
What Is a PDU in a Data Center?
Power Distribution Unit · How power reaches equipment inside a server rack.
Read the beginner guide →DATACENTERTWIN LEARN · INTERACTIVE ENGINEERING LAB
Learn Data Center Engineering
by Building and Breaking One
Use the real DataCenterTwin workstation to design, simulate, diagnose and prove an improvement. Ten focused labs. One open-ended 1 MW challenge.
Understand → Build → Run → Break → Observe → Diagnose → Fix → Prove
No account. Runs in your browser. Progress stays on your device.
START HERE · BASICS
Beginner journey
Follow the facility power story through Power 101, Network 101, and Cooling 101 to see how equipment is powered, connected, and kept within operating conditions. Published lessons open as guides; upcoming lessons have no dead links.
CHAPTER 01 · FACILITY POWER
POWER 101
Can the server remain powered?
POWER 101 · LESSON 02
What Is a Server Rack?
How data center equipment is organized.
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POWER 101 · LESSON 03
What Is a Server?
The computing machine inside the rack.
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POWER 101 · LESSON 04
What Is a UPS in a Data Center?
Keeping protected loads supplied through power interruptions.
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POWER 101 · LESSON 05
What Is a Backup Generator in a Data Center?
Alternative power for longer utility outages.
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POWER 101 · LESSON 06
Utility Power & Switchgear in a Data Center
Where facility power enters, is protected, and distributed.
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POWER 101 · LESSON 07
A/B Power & Redundancy in a Data Center
How independent power paths keep services running through failures.
Read the beginner guide →CHAPTER 02 · CONNECTIVITY · COMPLETE
NETWORK 101
Can the server communicate?
NETWORK 101 COMPLETE · ALL 5 LESSONS PUBLISHED
NETWORK 101 · LESSON 01
What Is a Network Switch in a Data Center?
Network Switch · What connects servers to each other and the wider network.
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NETWORK 101 · LESSON 02
How Servers Connect: NICs, Ethernet & Fiber in a Data Center
How servers physically connect to the network.
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NETWORK 101 · LESSON 03
What Is Top-of-Rack Networking in a Data Center?
How a rack connects into the wider network.
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NETWORK 101 · LESSON 04
What Is Spine-Leaf Architecture in a Data Center?
How rack networks connect into a scalable fabric.
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NETWORK 101 · LESSON 05
Network Redundancy in a Data Center
How alternate network paths survive failures and keep services reachable.
Read the beginner guide →CHAPTER 03 · THERMAL BASICS
COOLING 101
How do cooling paths survive failures and expose hidden shared dependencies?
COOLING 101 COMPLETE · ALL 8 LESSONS PUBLISHED
COOLING 101 · LESSON 01
Why Do Data Centers Need Cooling?
How data-center cooling moves heat away from IT equipment.
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COOLING 101 · LESSON 02
Hot Aisle vs Cold Aisle in a Data Center
How rack orientation controls airflow and reduces unwanted mixing.
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COOLING 101 · LESSON 03
CRAC vs CRAH in a Data Center
How cooling units remove heat from return air.
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COOLING 101 · LESSON 04
Airflow Management & Containment in a Data Center
How supply and return air stay separated.
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COOLING 101 · LESSON 05
Cooling Capacity & Failure in a Data Center
How IT heat load, surviving capacity, and local delivery shape resilience.
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COOLING 101 · LESSON 06
Liquid Cooling Basics in a Data Center
How liquid removes heat close to high-power chips.
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COOLING 101 · LESSON 07
CDU & the Liquid Cooling Loop in a Data Center
How rack coolant connects to facility heat removal.
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COOLING 101 · LESSON 08
Cooling Redundancy & Hidden Dependencies in a Data Center
How surviving paths, capacity, and shared dependencies shape cooling resilience.
Read the beginner guide →Foundations
0 / 4 completed locallyNOT STARTED · 15–25 min
Build Your First Data Center
Build a powered, cooled four-rack facility from an empty room.
What you will learn
- Build the utility → UPS → PDU → rack hierarchy.
- Distinguish installed equipment demand from capacity ratings.
- Assign cooling and resolve design errors.
NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
A/B Power Redundancy
Keep the original rack online when UPS-A fails. Build two independent paths with adequate headroom.
What you will learn
- Distinguish dual cords from independent supply.
- Trace both upstream paths.
- Size the surviving path for transferred demand.
Suggested prerequisites: Build Your First Data Center. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
Find the Hidden Single Point of Failure
Identify the shared upstream component, then repair the false redundancy.
What you will learn
- Find a dependency hidden behind A/B labels.
- Use topology evidence to diagnose a single point of failure.
- Prove independence after the repair.
Suggested prerequisites: A/B Power Redundancy. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
UPS Battery & Generator Failover
Bridge a utility outage with battery energy, transfer to the generator within 25 seconds, and retain at least 20% SOC.
What you will learn
- Separate temporary battery support from sustainable supply.
- Relate transfer delay to battery autonomy.
- Observe generator load acceptance.
Suggested prerequisites: Find the Hidden Single Point of Failure. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗Engineering Labs
0 / 6 completed locallyNOT STARTED · 15–30 min
Air Cooling & Hot/Cold Aisles
Repair insufficient airflow and reduce the worst inlet temperature without reducing the original IT load.
What you will learn
- Relate supply airflow to rack inlet temperature.
- Explore containment and recirculation.
- Separate cooling capacity from delivered airflow.
Suggested prerequisites: Find the Hidden Single Point of Failure. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
AI Rack & Liquid Cooling
Deploy at least 120 kW of AI equipment in rack-1 and supply an effective hybrid liquid/air cooling path.
What you will learn
- Build a CDU/pump/branch cooling path.
- Relate flow and temperature rise to transported heat.
- Retain air cooling for residual heat.
Suggested prerequisites: Find the Hidden Single Point of Failure. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
AI Workload Ramp
Run the AI rack from 30% to 100% workload and maintain the required thermal and service limits.
What you will learn
- Observe dynamic power/thermal coupling.
- Separate commanded workload from delivered service.
- Tune capacity and controls for full workload.
Suggested prerequisites: AI Rack & Liquid Cooling. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
CDU Failure Diagnosis
Observe CDU-A loss, identify the initiating fault, then restore heat rejection and prove recovery from 90 s onward.
What you will learn
- Distinguish circulation from heat removal.
- Trace cause, temperature response and protection.
- Prove recovery using service and temperature evidence.
Suggested prerequisites: AI Rack & Liquid Cooling. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
N-1 Resilience
Make the critical rack survive each required UPS/PDU loss using sustainable supply, and establish the matching Design Intent.
What you will learn
- Define the boundary of an N-1 claim.
- Distinguish battery ride-through from sustainable redundancy.
- Connect requirements to current evidence.
Suggested prerequisites: Find the Hidden Single Point of Failure; Air Cooling & Hot/Cold Aisles. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗NOT STARTED · 15–30 min
Digital Commissioning & Red Team
Observe the initial distribution weakness, author a meaningful commissioning test, repair the design, and rerun the required Red Team family.
What you will learn
- Write acceptance criteria before testing.
- Inspect failure evidence and repair a specific weakness.
- Re-run commissioning and adversarial tests on the same revision.
Suggested prerequisites: N-1 Resilience; UPS Battery & Generator Failover. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗Capstone
0 / 1 completed locallyNOT STARTED · 90–180 min
Design a 1 MW AI Data Center
Start empty. Deliver at least 1 MW installed and served IT capacity at full workload. Choose your own air or hybrid architecture and prove the defined requirements.
What you will learn
- Develop an architecture against explicit acceptance requirements.
- Prove full-load service, thermal limits and sustainable electrical N-1.
- Present commissioning and adversarial evidence with model limitations.
Suggested prerequisites: N-1 Resilience; Digital Commissioning & Red Team; AI Workload Ramp. Use Skip prerequisites to enter directly.
Enter directly ↗Progress and lab models stay in this browser. Clearing browser storage removes them. Historical completion does not certify a later edited design. No account, grading service or GPU required.