A.7.11
Supporting utilities
Physical controlsCheckpoints 6Evidence 6Cases 6
Control objective
Supporting utilities are the infrastructure services that information processing facilities depend on for normal operation, such as electricity, telecommunications, heating and cooling, air conditioning, water supply, gas, and drainage. This control requires information processing facilities to be protected from disruptions caused by failures of these utilities. Typical preventive and detective measures are adequate capacity and regular inspection and testing, plus redundancy and continuous monitoring with alarms where the required availability justifies them. The purpose is to keep operations continuous by preventing a single utility failure, such as a power outage, cooling failure, or line disruption, from turning into a service interruption or equipment damage.
Key checkpoints
- Are the supporting utilities the facility depends on (power, telecommunications, air conditioning, water and drainage) identified, and is each utility's capacity sized to cover current load and future expansion?
- To guard against power failures such as outages, are power-continuity measures matched to the required availability (such as UPS, standby generators, or dual feeds) in place, and where they are used, are uninterrupted transfer and battery or fuel runtime verified?
- Are the states of supporting utilities such as server-room temperature and humidity, power quality, water leakage, and fuel level monitored in line with the required availability, with alerts delivered to responsible staff when thresholds are exceeded?
- Are periodic preventive maintenance and tests for supporting utilities (generator load tests, UPS battery checks) performed as planned and recorded?
- Are contracts (SLAs) with utility providers, an emergency contact scheme, and alternate supply or recovery procedures in place?
- Are the locations and accessibility of emergency power cutoff switches and valves ensured, and do relevant staff know the cutoff and recovery procedures?
Implementation guidance
- Design feeds, UPS, and generation for required availability. An ATS switches sources but does not itself guarantee uninterrupted power; verify that UPS runtime covers generator start/transfer delays at the required load, and test batteries, fuel, and the complete power path.
- Define the allowable temperature and humidity range for the server room and, where the required availability calls for it, make precision cooling units redundant so that if one fails the standby unit takes over automatically and an alert is raised.
- Monitor power quality, temperature and humidity, water leakage, fuel level, and battery state in real time, and notify responsible staff over multiple channels (SMS, email, operations center) when thresholds are exceeded.
- Perform preventive maintenance such as generator load tests, UPS battery performance checks, and air-conditioning filter replacement on a regular schedule, and record and retain inspection results and actions taken.
- Where the required availability calls for it, physically separate and duplicate telecommunications lines and power paths to remove single points of failure (SPOF), using different providers or routes where possible.
- Mark the locations of emergency power cutoff devices and water valves, confirm interlock with fire suppression, and document utility providers' emergency contacts and recovery SLAs, then train relevant staff.
Evidence
- List of supporting utilities and capacity sizing or load calculation documents
- UPS and standby generator specifications, and automatic transfer and load test records
- Temperature/humidity, power, and leakage monitoring dashboards, and alert and response history
- Periodic preventive maintenance plans, inspection checklists, and result reports
- Utility supply contracts or SLAs, emergency contact lists, and recovery procedures
- Battery and fuel level inspection records and replacement history
Nonconformity examples
- A UPS is installed, but its battery runtime or transfer operation has never been tested, so uninterrupted transfer fails during an actual outage.
- Although the required availability calls for redundant cooling, the server-room precision cooling unit is a single unit with no standby, and its failure alert is not delivered to responsible staff.
- The standby generator's fuel level is not managed, so its runtime is insufficient during a prolonged outage.
- A temperature or humidity threshold alert is raised, but no responsible person or procedure is defined, so it is left unaddressed.
- A preventive maintenance plan for supporting utilities exists, but actual execution and result records are missing.
- Power or telecommunications is provisioned over a single path, leaving a single point of failure, yet no redundancy review has been done.