Controlled Environment

i need to find an image of a data center for an ad. i thought this was the same as a server room. Apparently there are subtle differences. can anyone tell me what they are?

A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It is also a more globalized definition used when describing a company’s overall functions. (ie, tv station).
A server room is the centralized location for all IT related equipment that is part of a data center facility.

(use links below for visual reference)

Organizations increasingly depend on their IT infrastructure to support mission-critical activities. IT personnel are held accountable for managing this infrastructure and data center performance measurement is a vital tool in maintaining high performance and delivery. From assessing and ensuring the availability of critical facilities, monitoring geographically dispersed environments, and improving the overall organizational bottom line, IT personnel require tools that allow them to measure performance and proactively identify and mitigate potential issues. Several industry-related publications and groups have noted the importance of data center metrics, and have named the need to measure data center performance as a key issue for 2006 and 2007. (1)

Recommended Data Center Performance Measurements and Solutions

Issue #1: Ability to Track and Assess Equipment Availability

For most organizations, the cost of server or network downtime is significant and internal customers expect network and system availability of “Five Nines” or 99.999% (2). On a daily basis, IT managers need to be able to assess availability/reliability of equipment and all external components that support operations, so that they can reduce downtime, identify and mitigate issues, and provide a secure environment for an organization’s mission-critical equipment. IT professionals also need an effective way to review historical trends to identify equipment or systems that need to be redesigned or replaced.

Meeting the Challenge: environmental monitoring solutions provide real-time feedback about critical systems with continuous, proactive monitoring of all pertinent factors including temperature, amperage draw, humidity, dew point, and physical security. These solutions allow administrators to set thresholds for environmental conditions and send alerts securely via e-mail, text message, or SNMP if said thresholds are exceeded. In addition, environmental monitoring systems provide valuable historical reports, alert information, and logs that allow administrators to identify trends and adapt practices accordingly. This data can help with statistical analysis, modeling, and forecasting.

Centralized Environmental Monitoring Solution

Issue #2: Ability to Assess Availability/Reliability of Critical Facilities

When assigning critical resources, IT professionals need to determine the highest-priority sites and facilities. Several organizations have proposed systems to help administrators classify and rate their facilities. For example, the Uptime Institute applies a four-tier classification system based on factors such as fault tolerance, useable capacity, sustainability, and concurrent maintainability (3). As another approach, the Syska Hennessy Group provides a seven-level criticality classification system that aims to help data center managers evaluate facilities that are vital to the mission of their organizations and provides a framework to help assess potential data center vulnerabilities (4). After determining critical sites, administrators need to be able to implement appropriate management and control systems.

Meeting the Challenge: Enterprise management solutions, such as KVM over IP or service processor aggregation appliances, provide administrators with 24/7 access to servers, serial devices, remote power, and other equipment both locally and remotely. These solutions provide BIOS-level access to mission-critical equipment, reducing system and network downtime by enabling immediate access to failed resources and centralizing data center management. These solutions also provide visibility to daily operations and occurrences through comprehensive audit logging and reporting tools. Enterprise-level management tools provide redundant architecture, including primary failover access at both the hardware and software levels.

Issue #3: Ability to Measure Energy Consumption in the Data Center

Across almost every industry, rising data center power consumption and heat are major issues, particularly as organizations are incorporating blade servers and high-density server racks into their IT infrastructures. Many organizations are studying how power consumption can be reduced in the data center. For example, the EPA is studying ways to make computer servers and data centers more energy efficient, and is considering a possible Energy Star designation for servers and other data center equipment. (5) The Green Grid, a newly formed non-profit consortium of information technology companies, is proposing the use of Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Datacenter Efficiency (DCE) metrics, which would enable IT personnel to estimate the energy efficiency of data centers, compare results against other data centers, and determine if energy efficiency improvements need to be made. As defined by the Green Grid, Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)= Total Facility Power/ IT Equipment Power; Datacenter Efficiency (DCE)= IT Equipment Power/ Total Facility Power. (6)

Meeting the Challenge: Utilizing PUE and DCE information, IT personnel can begin to evaluate their own energy efficiency. Using these metrics, as well as application-specific data, data center managers should start to consider ways of reducing data center power consumption. Standalone data centers can also use the EPA Energy Star building performance rating tool, Portfolio Manager, to rate a facility’s energy performance in comparison to similar facilities (at the whole-building level). Some answers include transitioning to 208V or three-phase power provisioning. Higher voltage power reduces amperage requirements, allows equipment to operate more efficiently, and can reduce the amount of hardware required. IT personnel should conduct a thorough audit of equipment, determine if any servers can be consolidated or discarded, and clean up any clutter under the data center floor, such as cabling, that might be impeding air flow. The use of blanking panels and cable management accessories in the rack can also assist in these efforts.

How Can The Latest Technologies Help You Improve data center Performance?

The team at 42U specializes in needs assessment, solution design, and implementation support to ensure that IT professionals maximize their use of current technologies to improve overall business performance. 42U provides complete remote management solutions, including KVM over IP, intelligent power, environmental monitoring, rack cooling, and rackmount solutions. A 42U sales engineer can help you improve your data center performance by helping you select solutions that are most appropriate for your organization’s particular needs and environment.

References:

(1) Stansberry, Matt, “Top Ten Data Center Stories of 2006.”

http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid80_gci1232599,00.html; MacKinnon, Chris, “How Is Your Data Center Performing? A Metric To The Madness.”http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/p2826/09p26/09p26.asp&guid=&searchtype=&WordList=&bJumpTo=True; and “Optimizing Datacenter Performance and Building ROI: The TeamQuest Approach”, IDC/TeamQuest, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.teamquest.com/pdfs/whitepaper/idc-roi.pdf

(2) Brill, Kenneth; Pitt, Turner; and Seader, John. “Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance,” Uptime Institute, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.upsite.com/file_downloads/PDF/Tier_Classification.pdf

(3) Brill, Kenneth; Pitt, Turner; and Seader, John. “Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance,” Uptime Institute, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.upsite.com/file_downloads/PDF/Tier_Classification.pdf

(4) Burkhardt, Jerry and Dennis, Richard. “Assessing criticality levels in the data center”, Data Center Management Advisory Newsletter, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid80_gci1218937,00.html

(5) “Enterprise Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Initiatives” http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_servers_datacenters

(6) “Green Grid Metrics: Describing Datacenter Power Efficiency”, http://www.42U.com/quicklink.aspx?url=http://www.thegreengrid.org/downloads/Green_Grid_Metrics_WP.pdf

Lauren Nowenstein
http://www.articlesbase.com/hardware-articles/applying-data-center-performance-measurement-to-mitigate-challenges-132924.html

yahoo is planning to build a data center in my area, i am wondering what their requirements are. bachelors, certificates etc.

1. Graduation degree with an IT related major
2. Certifications in Security and Database Management

In terms of database related certifications, go for Oracle as many corporate companies heavily rely on Oracle. A networking certification might help increase your chances of employment too.

P.S. Along with the above, they might ask for work experience too.

Best of luck!

Too Big for a Small Business

As businesses began to increase their focus on having reliable and available data centers, data centers began to grow in size and complexity. No longer a single room housing a comparatively simple computer system, businesses now required very large Internet data centers. These large data centers are expensive to run, expensive to maintain, and expensive to staff.

These huge data facilities were out of the reach of many small businesses. These smaller organizations also needed the high speed Internet connectivity and high availability of data, but they did not have the resources to build such physically large and expense data centers. Even the equipment required for such an endeavor was often out of the financial reach of a small business.

The Advent of Data Center Outsourcing

Private data centers became the go-to solution for small to medium business information technology needs. Data center outsourcing grew in popularity, largely because it was a practical and financially more viable solution to the problems created by huge, on-site data centers.

Not only are outsourced data centers more affordable, they also lift much of the heavy responsibility from the business. Disaster recovery, adhering to industry standards, ensuring a secure and hospitable environment for information storage and management, and many other practical concerns can make in-house data centers a logistical nightmare. When organizations place their trust in an off-site data center, they do not need to shoulder this burden alone.

What to Look For in Outsourcing Data Storage

When you outsource your data center responsibilities, you want to be selective in your choice of a data storage partner. Every moment that you network is not up and running, your business is being affected. A high availability data center will place a great deal of emphasis on the following:

- Skilled IT Professionals: A data center is only as good as its staff. Security and networking teams need to be well-trained, skilled, and experienced. Network technicians need to be trained to the highest industry standards.

- Proper Environment: The environment of a data center is of the utmost importance. There must be an uninterruptible power supply or backup generator, a highly sensitive HVAC system to filter air, a fire suppression system, and proper installation of equipment.

- High Level of Security: Your data needs to be protected, and the first level of defense is the physical security of the building. There should be controlled access, video surveillance, and extensive employee background checks.

- Top of the Line Equipment: Network infrastructure is one of the most important aspects of data center planning. When selecting a data center, make sure equipment selection and infrastructure set-up receive the emphasis they deserve.

- Strict Adherence to Standards: Industry standards are around for a reason. They help make sure data centers provide high quality service, maximum availability, and top-shelf security measures.

The Advantage of Outsourcing

In house data centers simply cannot offer the same kind of reliability and economic viability as off-site data centers. An organization must allow its focus to remain on the health of its business operations, rather than getting bogged down in the details of managing data. Outsourcing your data center allows you to keep your focus where it should be: on your own organization.

The complicated and expensive nature of today’s data center needs make it impractical for a company to expend huge amounts of resources on an in-house data center. It just doesn’t make good financial sense. Instead, outsourcing your data center allows you to put those resources back into your company, further strengthening your organization.

A. Nutt
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/data-center-build-and-manage-it-in-house-vs-outsourcing-594994.html

I need some data center cabinets for some new offices coming up. I’ve noticed a ton of different brands and is there a big difference from brand to brand?

This is a hard question to answer. I understand you problem with the many different brands and with pricing being all over the place.

First you should make sure that whatever manufacture you consider I would pick an American made enclosure. I’ve seen some over seas stuff with cheap paint that chips easy and because we use standard not metric sometimes the mounting holes are not allined right.

Second I would double check what the freight cost would be. I think because it’s a large piece of equipment people just assum that’s why the freight is so much but companies add on hundreds of dollars to the sale with out you knowing.

Here’s where I get mine from

http://www.discount-low-voltage.com/daseen.html

They have a wide selection of different sizes and pricing and they have given me true freight cost in my previously purchased cabinets.

A data center is packed to the gills with computers and communications equipment; and with so much equipment around, it needs not just to be state-of-the-art, but also equipped to handle any sort of situation.

Here is a checklist of what a datacenter must have, to be known as a quality data center:

It must be supplied with adequate power 24/7/365 to ensure that there is absolutely no downtime. To achieve this, the data center must be fed with two utility power lines and backed up by a generator that turns on seamlessly when power trips – a generator that runs for a long period of time just in case restoration of the main power takes time.

The data center must be in a building that is located in a disaster-free area.

There must be enough and more building security provided in a quality data center. A datacenter stores valuable data and it needs to protect it using the latest security hardware devices that are up-to-date with the latest security technology. And the security systems (including physical security) need to be working round the clock even when there is no one in the building. Also, take a look at the fire-fighting measures the data center is equipped with.

The environment in the datacenter must be constant and in control at all times.

Like power, the bandwidth also must be fed through two lines just in case anything goes wrong with one.

There has to be 24/7 technical and managerial support available on the premises 365 days in a year. If there are any issues, the response time must be lightning quick.

It will help if the datacenter has some kind of reputation going for it. If a datacenter’s client list features some big names, then that will get your confidence going.

The data center must have experience in implementing large projects that need critical technical skill sets.

The agreement, which you will sign up with a datacenter, must spell out penalties to be borne by the data center in case there is a glitch from their side.

The employees at the datacenter must be experienced.

These are the broad areas you must delve into while choosing a datacenter. Conduct due diligence while choosing your data center and you will find that the going will be practically and “virtually” smooth for your application.

If you do your research well and choose a good company, you can expect relatively smooth sailing!

Adrian Adams
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-hosting-articles/10-things-to-look-for-when-choosing-a-data-center-125780.html