Top Data Center Management Issues

The backbone of every successful network is the data center. Without it, emails would not be delivered, data would not be stored, and hosting multiple sites would not be possible.

Spending on data center systems is anticipated to reach 212 billion US dollars in 2022, an increase of 11.1% from the year before. ~ Statista

Data centers often support thousands of small and large individual networks and can run several other business-critical applications. Many things however can go wrong within the data center, so you should know what exactly to look out for. Here are some significant data center issues and how to fix them.

What is a Data Center?

A data center is an industrial facility where people store, process, and transmit computer data.

A data center is typically a large complex of servers and associated devices, as well as the physical building or buildings that house them. Data centers are usually integrated with other services, such as telecommunications and cloud computing.

Unlike general-purpose facilities such as warehouses and office buildings, data centers are generally dedicated to one user. The major types of data centers are:

• Private enterprise data centers, which corporations or other private organizations own;
• Public enterprise data centers, which government agencies own;
• Community enterprise data centers (CEDCs), which groups of individuals own;
• Hybrid enterprise data centers (HEDCs), which combine private and public ownership.

Challenges of Data Center Management

The data center is one of the most critical components of an organization’s infrastructure. With the growing demand for cloud services and business agility, the data center has become one of the most complex systems in any enterprise.

The increasing complexity is a result of numerous factors, such as:

1. Maintaining Availability and Uptime

The primary focus of any IT organization is to ensure that its services are available at all times. This means they need to have a disaster recovery plan in place in case there is a failure within the system.

Technology Advancement

Managing data centers has become more complex due to technological advancements. Various new technologies have been introduced into the market that require efficient management for their practical use. State-of-the-art systems require proper maintenance and management to deliver the desired results. This can be difficult if the required expertise is unavailable within an organization.

2. Energy Efficiency

The cost of powering an entire building can be very high. Therefor it makes sense for an organization to invest in new technology and equipment that reduces power consumption while still performing at an acceptable level.

3. Government Restrictions

Data centers are becoming critical for businesses, but various regulations have restricted their operations in certain countries. For example, there are some countries where it is illegal to store data within their borders. This makes it difficult for businesses to operate within those countries because they have no real options other than moving their servers elsewhere or hiring local staff who can handle their cybersecurity.

4. Managing Power Utilization

Data centers require a lot of power to run their operations smoothly and efficiently. If not managed properly, this could lead to wasted energy consumption, increasing costs significantly over time. To avoid this, organizations should invest in energy-efficient equipment like rack-mounted UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) systems.

Monitoring software should also be installed that will alert companies when something goes wrong so they can react quickly and prevent any potential damage caused by power failure or overloads in the electrical grid.

5. Recovery From Disaster

Data centers have seen an increase in disasters caused by hurricanes and earthquakes as well as man-made disasters like power outages or fires. These events can destroy or even compromise equipment and systems that will take weeks, possibly months to repair or replace. This can leads to losses in productivity and revenue if critical servers or storage devices are affected.

Tips to Overcome Challenges in Data Center Management

Taking the time to ensure the building is safe, your personnel are knowledgeable about cyber security prevention, and you satisfy compliance standards goes a long way in protecting your assets from bad actors. ~Shayne Sherman, CEO of TechLoris.

Here are some tips to help you overcome common challenges in managing your data center:

1.  Audit Your Security Posture Regularly

The first step in overcoming data center management challenges is regularly auditing your security posture. This will give you an idea of where you stand and allow you to identify your vulnerabilities before they become threats. You can do this by using a third-party assessment service or hiring a qualified person to assess your current situation and have them provide recommendations.

2.  Use a DCIM System to Manage Uptime

A DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) helps you to identify issues before they become problems by providing visibility into the health of your equipment. This allows you to proactively address issues before they impact operations or cause downtime.

3.  Scheduled Equipment Upgrades

Scheduled upgrades ensure minimal downtime during planned upgrades while also ensuring that any unforeseen issues are resolved before significantly affecting operations.

4.  Implement Data Center Physical Security Measures

Using these measures will allow you to control who has access to your facility and what they can do once inside. They also help to limit unauthorized access by preventing cyber-criminals from entering through any possible open doors or windows.

5.  Use the Right Tools to Secure Your Data and Network

You must ensure that your network is secure when it comes to data security. This means using the right tools and resources to protect your network from cyber threats. For example, you can install a firewall to block attacks or malware from entering into your system.

Final Words

Data centers are far from being stationary. New challenges are emerging while old ones are still evolving due to technological innovation and changes to data center infrastructures. Spending on data center management solutions is increasing due to other difficulties in addition to managing power, data storage, and load balancing.

Protected Harbor offers the best-in-class data center management with a unique approach. You can expect expert support with 24/7 monitoring and advanced features to keep your critical IT systems running smoothly. Our data center management software enables us to deliver proactive monitoring, maintenance, and support for your mission-critical systems.

We focus on power reliability, Internet redundancy, and physical security to keep your data safe. Our staff is trained to manage your data center as if it were our own, providing reliable service and support.

Our data center management solutions are tailored to your business needs, providing a secure, compliant, reliable foundation for your infrastructure. Contact us today to resolve your data center issues and switch to an unmatched data service solution.

What Is a Managed Data Center Service?

When it comes to data center services, managed services are becoming more and more popular. Many people don’t understand what a managed data center service does or how it can help them. It’s understandable why some people might feel this way – after all, there are so many other managed data center service available that you may not at first see the point of this service.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of IT infrastructure, businesses are increasingly relying on colocation data centers for enhanced performance, security, and scalability. This blog explores the intricacies of managed data center services, shedding light on key aspects such as colocation data center, data center management, data center services, and data center solutions. Dive into the world of managed data centers to discover how businesses leverage these services to streamline operations, ensure data security, and achieve optimal performance for their digital ecosystems.

Managed Data Center Service Definition

A managed data center service is a service that provides you with a fully managed data center environment. When you sign up for this service, you do not need to worry about the data center itself – the service provider will take care of all aspects of the physical data center and many IT-related aspects of your business. It is designed to make your data center operations more accessible and effective.

Some companies also offer ongoing IT support as part of the package, so you can have everything you need under one roof. It is different from a colocation or managed hosting service in several ways: managed hosting and colocation both require you to have your data center and take care of the physical space, while with a managed data center service, the physical data center is managed by the service, with you being provided with a remote access connection.

Why Use a Managed Data Center Service?

There are many reasons why an IT company would recommend a data center service over other IT services. Here are just some of the main ones:

• A managed services provider can offer better uptime because they manage the physical data center, making it easier for them to keep everything running smoothly.
• Data security is often better as they’re more aware of and can react quickly to any potential security issues.
• It can reduce costs because they’re more efficient and often provide better value for money than other managed services.

These aspects make a data center service an excellent option for many businesses.

3 Things To Look For In A Managed Data Center Service

When comparing data center services, there are several factors you should look out for. Here are the key things you should consider:

1. Security and compliance – A managed service should have strong data security and compliance capabilities. You want to be sure that your data is safe and that it’s being handled in a way that meets your compliance needs.
2. Technical skills and Experience – You want to ensure the service has the technical skills to handle your data center effectively. A skilled data center team can keep things running smoothly and ensure your data remains secure and accessible.
3. Customer service – You also want to ensure the service has good customer service capabilities. You’ll deal with the team a lot, so it’s essential to have a good relationship with them and feel like they’re always responding well to your needs.

How To Find the Right Managed Service?

Finding the right service is essential, as it can make a big difference to your business. You can do a few things to find exemplary service: – Contact potential services and ask them about their offerings. Find out what they offer and what their rates are. You can ask for a referral from a friend or business. They might recommend an experienced service provider. Compare different managed service providers and their offerings. Also, look at the above criteria to find a service that’s the best fit for your company.

Final Words

Managed data center services can hugely benefit many businesses, especially those with complex IT needs or large amounts of data. This service can offer many advantages over other managed services, including better uptime, data security, and reduced costs. When comparing these services, look at the above criteria to find the best service for your company.

As data centers become more crucial and companies are expected to meet new business requirements, the need for modern data center solutions is increasing. Data centers, from application delivery to the cloud, have become integral to businesses and their operations. These solutions help companies protect, manage, and cost-effectively secure their data. To deliver these solutions and keep your company’s operations running smoothly, you need a professional team of Data Center Engineers. A Data Center Engineer has data and cloud solutions expertise and can help you achieve your goals.

Protected Harbor offers solutions to help you get your data center operations and security up and running. We are a company based in the United States, with data center experts on staff who have deep experience with many of the top data center operators in the world. We stay in close contact with our customers, working together to develop solutions that meet their unique requirements.

Contact us today to set up a free IT Audit and consultation with our data center engineer.

What is Scalable Infrastructure and Why is it Important?

While business owners and leaders often focus on the immediate aspects of their business, it is also essential to work on the company’s long-term viability. One of the most critical components of this is the scalable IT infrastructure.

Scalability is more than just moving to the cloud. It involves building an inherently stable system. Future development and expansion are made more straightforward to manage and safer for your business when scalability is incorporated as an essential component of your current infrastructure.

Effective IT operations and management depend on a stable IT infrastructure which is why companies should never undervalue its significance as this can lead to your business suffering if your data is ever exposed due to your system needing to be either fixed or maintained.

You can have an amazing product developed by a dedicated group of developers. However, if your technology isn’t up to the task, you will waste money on resources and fail to realize returns on marketing and development efforts.

Continue reading to find out what a solid IT infrastructure involves and why your company needs to prioritize it.

Scalable IT Infrastructure – An Overview

A scalable IT infrastructure is based on the idea that you can reduce the cost of operations by reducing your physical footprint when it’s not needed.

In the upcoming years, public cloud services are anticipated to represent a more significant portion of cloud infrastructure spending, reaching nearly 46% by 2024. ~Statista

You might have fewer servers, storage systems, or employees working within your data center. But, when you need more capacity, it’s easy to add back in these necessities and increase your use of the cloud.

Achieving this type of flexibility requires careful planning and management of your hardware, software, and applications so that they’re able to scale up or down without disrupting service delivery. A good example would be having multiple layers of redundancy built into your storage system so that if one component fails, another can take over seamlessly without any noticeable impact on users accessing their data.

Reasons for Having a Scalable Infrastructure

There are many reasons to have a scalable infrastructure, such as:

Growth

The most important reason is growth, which can happen in two different ways:

• Growth of your company or business
• Growth of your users or customer base

Growth is inevitable, and you need to be ready for it. You can’t just build an application and expect it to work forever without any changes.

Cyclical Demand

The second reason is cyclical demand. It means that there are times when more people use your application than others. An example of this could be heightened traffic during the holidays. To handle this situation, you will need a scalable infrastructure that can handle increased demand without sacrificing performance.

Why is IT Infrastructure Important for Businesses?

It’s no longer enough to have just a good product or service. The competition amongst businesses is fierce, and it’s not enough to be just good. You need to be great, which means having an infrastructure supporting your business.

Businesses need reliable IT infrastructure to operate efficiently and effectively.

The following are some of the reasons why having this IT infrastructure is crucial for businesses:

Productivity

The first reason you should invest in your infrastructure is that it will help to increase the productivity of your employees. The more efficient your employees are, the more work they can do in less time. This means that they will be able to get more done every day, which leads to an increase in revenue for your business.

Security

Another reason why infrastructure is critical is that it helps protect your data from cyber-attacks.

By 2025, experts predict that cybercrimes, such as phishing scams, spyware, ransomware, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on small and large businesses, will total $10.5 trillion yearly.

If you don’t have a sound security system, hackers can easily break into your network, steal customer information, or even eradicate data. This can lead to devastating consequences for your company, so you must have a robust security system.

Compliance

Businesses must ensure that they comply with industry regulations, standards, and legal requirements such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) and SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act). An efficient infrastructure will allow businesses to quickly meet compliance requirements without negatively impacting their operations or productivity.

Efficiency

A company’s employees will be more efficient if they have access to an adequate infrastructure. For example, if you have an employee who works from home and needs access to your company’s servers or databases, you must ensure they can access them both quickly and easily. An inadequate infrastructure would lead to slow access times and frustration on both ends of the spectrum. Having an adequate infrastructure in place will ensure that your employees can access all necessary data efficiently, leading to happier employees!

Benefits of IT Infrastructure

The major benefits of a scalable IT infrastructure are:

Greater Ease of IT Operations

IT infrastructure is the foundation upon which all other components and services are built. Without it, there would be no way to perform the tasks that support an organization’s mission. This includes introductory emails and office productivity applications to complex ERP systems and CRM solutions. Considering how much time and money is spent on IT infrastructure today, it becomes apparent that any operational efficiency improvement will significantly impact a company’s bottom line.

Reduced Overall Capital and Operating Expenses

Since no upfront costs are associated with hosting your IT infrastructure with Cloud providers, your overall operating expenses can be significantly reduced. Your IT budget will also become easier to manage because it will no longer include capital expenses such as hardware purchases or upgrades and maintenance contracts for servers, storage devices, network equipment, and more.

Flexible Pricing Model

Cloud providers offer more flexible pricing models than traditional enterprise software companies because they don’t have to build physical infrastructures like data centers or server farms. They just have to buy enough capacity from their suppliers (e.g., Amazon Web Services) to offer customers the best prices possible.

Final Words

Focusing on scalability means you will not have to worry about the server’s ability to handle your website traffic or the potential of technical debt eating away at your budget. Scalable IT infrastructures are a good choice for scaling businesses and startups, especially in the beginning phases of growth.

Protected Harbor’s solution is designed to be a scalable, reliable, and flexible IT infrastructure optimized to support various data-centric workloads like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Business Intelligence, High-Performance Computing, and other data-centric workloads. Doing so enables enterprises and service providers to transform their businesses, drive new revenues and provide better, more efficient customer service.

Protected Harbor is here to serve as your reliable partner. We help keep your business secure without slowing you down by providing top-notch IT infrastructures that work for you. With real-time monitoring and capacity planning, integrated security, and on-demand scaling, our IT infrastructure or Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) is designed for data-intensive workloads and business-critical applications.

Get a free IT Audit today and learn why your business needs a highly scalable infrastructure without losing out on reliability and security.

Core Components of Data Center Infrastructure and Facilities

The data center is a critical part of any IT infrastructure. Data center infrastructure services include computing, networking, and storage resources necessary to support an organization’s virtualized applications and services.

Regardless of your company’s size or scope of operations, dedicating resources to a data center is essential for maintaining a secure, reliable IT infrastructure that can support your business for years.

This blog post will discuss the core data center infrastructure components and facilities and critical considerations when planning your own data center.

What is Data Center Infrastructure?

Data center infrastructure refers to the essential physical or hardware-based resources and components that make up a data center, including all IT infrastructure applications, devices, and technologies. It is modeled and named in a design plan that contains a detailed description of all the infrastructural parts required to build a data center.

Components of Data Center Infrastructure

We’ve determined that facilities house the environmental architecture (power, cooling, etc.) and the data center’s IT infrastructure. However, this article will refer to the server, storage, and network hardware as the “core elements.”

1. Data Center Components of Server Infrastructure

Rack, blade, and tower servers that store data and applications are called server infrastructure. Servers can also be fully virtualized environments inside actual machines, but because they are not physical infrastructure, they aren’t part of the data center components discussed in this article.

2. Data Center Components of Storage Infrastructure

Network Attached Storage (NAS), Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Solid State Drive (SSD) flash arrays, tape storage, etc., are all examples of storage infrastructure. Some well-known storage device manufacturers are HPE, Dell EMC, NetApp, and IBM.

3. Data Center Components of Network Infrastructure

Hardware like routers, switches, security devices, and firewalls make up the network infrastructure. The connection and integration of the various data center hardware systems depend on these data center assets. Some major network infrastructure brands are Cisco, Brocade, Juniper, and F5 Networks.

Types of Data Center Facilities

Numerous types of data center facilities have grown and been categorized as a result of the development of data center infrastructure.

Enterprise Data Center Facilities- Facilities with a traditional organizational structure, known as enterprise data center facilities, are run and owned solely by one company. These are often on-site; an internal team is in charge of network monitoring, hardware upgrades, IT deployments, and maintenance.

Colocation Data Center– These offers shared data center space businesses can rent for their servers and other hardware needs. The advantage of colocation over internal data centers is that the colocation facility handles the building, power, HVAC, internet bandwidth, and physical security; you (the customer) are still responsible for providing and maintaining the equipment.

Managed Data Center – In a managed service data center arrangement, a business leases the building’s physical infrastructure, and a third-party managed service provider looks after the facility’s hardware and operations. 

Cloud Data Center- Data centers with a cloud-based architecture have grown in popularity recently. A cloud data center is an off-premises location that your business may access over the Internet, but you are not liable for the infrastructure’s upkeep.

What is Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)

Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM)refers to the set of tools, software, and processes used to manage the physical infrastructure of modern data centers. This includes everything from uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and fiber channel switches to storage systems and data center security.

DCIM tools provide real-time visibility into the performance and health of all these components, enabling administrators to quickly identify and resolve issues before they can impact services. With the rise of cloud services and high-speed networks, DCIM has become increasingly important to ensure data center resources’ reliability, availability, and scalability.

DCIM is a critical aspect of modern data center management, helping organizations to optimize their infrastructure and achieve better performance and efficiency. It is a platform that mixes IT and Data Center Ops and may be used to achieve the best possible performance from a data center. Data center operations managers may better manage the physical components of the data center by using DCIM’s discovery, monitoring, reporting, and visualization tools.

Third-Party Maintenance, Managed Service Providers, or DCIM software can all be used in part or in whole to maintain the infrastructure of a data center.

Types of Data Center Components

The main components of any data center can be divided into the following categories:

Facility- The term “facility” describes the area used to set up all IT equipment. Data centers are the most energy-intensive buildings because they provide constant access to vital information.

Core Components- These are all the hardware and programs needed to run IT operations, store data, and run applications. Additionally, it could include servers, storage devices, network infrastructure, and information security components.

Support Infrastructure- This consists of all the hardware that helps provide the maximum uptime sustainability.

Operational Staff- The labor needed to monitor operations and continuously repair IT and infrastructure equipment is known as operational staff.

Conclusion

Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination. It’s a fluid process, not a one-time project. You must have a partner who understands this and stays on top of the latest cloud, software, and hardware technology developments. Only then can you ensure you’re getting the best technology to meet your business goals.

Protected Harbor partners with businesses to help them future-proof their data centers and transform their IT infrastructure with the latest technologies. By partnering with us, your business will receive the highest level of support and increase its reliability and scalability.

Contact us today to learn how we can serve your data center needs.

What is a Data Center Architecture, and how to design one?

Traditional data centers consisted of multiple servers in racks and were difficult to manage. These centers required constant monitoring, patching, updating, and security verification. They also require heavy investments in power and cooling systems including data center optimization. Data center architects have turned to the cloud and virtualized environments to solve these issues.

However, these cloud solutions are not without their own risks. These challenges have led to a new approach to data center architecture. This article describes the benefits of a virtualized data center and how it differs from its traditional counterpart.

Types of Data Center Architecture

There are four primary types of data center architecture, each tailored to different needs: super spine mesh, mesh point of delivery (PoD), three-tier or multi-tier model, and meshwork.

1. Mesh Network System: The mesh network system facilitates data exchange among interconnected switches, forming a network fabric. It’s a cost-effective option with distributed designs, ideal for cloud services due to predictable capacity and reduced latency.
2. Three-Tier or Multi-Tier Model: This architecture features core, aggregation, and access layers, facilitating packet movement, integration of service modules, and connection to server resources. It’s widely used in enterprise data centers for its scalability and versatility.
3. Mesh Point of Delivery: The PoD design comprises leaf switches interconnected within PoDs, promoting modularity and scalability. It efficiently connects multiple PoDs and super-spine tiers, enhancing data flow for cloud applications.
4. Super Spine Mesh: Popular in hyperscale data centers, the super spine mesh includes an additional super spine layer to accommodate more spine switches. This enhances resilience and performance, making it suitable for handling massive data volumes.

Fundamentals of a Data Center Architecture

What is a data center architecture?

In simple terms, it describes how computer resources (CPUs, storage, networking, and software) are organized or arranged in a data center. As you may expect, there are almost infinite architectures. The only constraint is the number of resources a company can afford to include. Still, we usually don’t discuss data center network architecture in terms of their various permutations but rather in terms of their essential functionality.

A data center is a physical facility where data and computing equipment are stored, enabling central processing, storage, and exchange of data. Modern data center architecture involves planning how switches and servers will connect, typically during the planning and construction phases. This blueprint guides the design and construction of the building, specifying the placement of servers, storage, networking, racks, and resources. It outlines the data center networking architecture, detailing how these components will connect. Additionally, it encompasses the data center security architecture, ensuring secure operations and safeguarding data. Overall, it provides a comprehensive framework for efficient data center operations.

Today’s data centers are becoming much larger and more complex. Because of their size, the hardware requirements vary from workload to workload and even day to day. In addition, some workloads may require more memory capacity or faster processing speed than others so data center optimization becomes necessary.

In such cases, leveraging high-end devices will ensure that the TCO (total cost of ownership) is lower. But because the management and operations staff are so large, this strategy can be costly and ineffective. For this reason, it’s important to choose the right architecture for your organization.

While all data centers use virtualized servers, there are other important considerations for designing a data center. The building’s design must take into account the facilities and premises. The choice of technologies and interactions between the various hardware and software layers will ultimately affect the data center’s performance and efficiency.

For instance, a data center design may need sophisticated fire suppression systems and a control center where staff can monitor server performance and the physical plant. Additionally, a data center should be designed to provide the highest levels of security and privacy.

How to Design a Data Center Architecture

The question of how to design the architecture of data center has a number of answers. Before implementing any new data center technology, owners should first define the performance parameters and establish a financial model. The design of the architecture must satisfy the performance requirements of the business.

Several considerations are necessary before starting the data center construction. First, the data center premises and facility should be considered. Then, the design should be based on the technology selection.  There should be an emphasis on availability. This is often reflected by an operational or Service Level Agreement (SLA). And, of course, the design should be cost-effective.

Another important aspect of data center design is the size of the data center itself. While the number of servers and racks may not be significant, the infrastructure components will require a significant amount of space.

For example, the mechanical and electrical equipment required by a data center will require significant space. Additionally, many organizations will need office space, an equipment yard, and IT equipment staging areas. The design must address these needs before creating a space plan.

When selecting the technology for a data center, the architect should understand the tradeoffs between cost, reliability, and scalability. It should also be flexible enough to allow for the fast deployment and support of new services or applications. Flexibility can provide a competitive advantage in the long run, so careful planning is required. A flexible data center with an advanced architecture that allows for scalability is likely to be more successful.

Considering availability is also essential it should also be secure, which means that it should be able to withstand any attacks and not be vulnerable to malicious attacks.

By using the technologies like ACL (access control list) and IDS (intrusion detection system), the data center architecture should support the business’s mission and the business objectives. The right architecture will not only increase the company’s revenue but will also be more productive.

Data center tiers:

Data centers are rated by tier to indicate expected uptime and dependability:

Tier 1 data centers have a single power and cooling line, as well as few if any, redundancy and backup components. It has a 99.671 percent projected uptime (28.8 hours of downtime annually).

Tier 2 data centers have a single power and cooling channel, as well as some redundant and backup components. It has a 99.741 percent projected uptime (22 hours of downtime annually).

Tier 3 data centers include numerous power and cooling paths, as well as procedures in place to update and maintain them without bringing them offline. It has a 99.982 percent anticipated uptime (1.6 hours of downtime annually).

Tier 4 data centers are designed to be totally fault-tolerant, with redundancy in every component. It has a 99.995 percent predicted uptime (26.3 minutes of downtime annually).

Your service level agreement (SLAs) and other variables will determine which data center tier you require.

In a data center architecture, core infrastructure services should be the priority. The latter should include data storage and network services. Traditional data centers utilize physical components for these functions. In contrast, Platform as a Service (PaaS) does not require a physical component layer.

Nevertheless, both types of technologies need a strong core infrastructure. The latter is the primary concern of most organizations, as it provides the platform for the business. DCaaS and DCIM are also a popular choice among the organizations.

Data Center as a Service (DCaaS) is a hosting service providing physical data center infrastructure and facilities to clients. DCaaS allows clients remote access to the provider’s storage, server and networking resources through a Wide-Area Network (WAN).

The convergence of IT and building facilities functions inside an enterprise is known as data center infrastructure management (DCIM). A DCIM initiative aims to give managers a comprehensive perspective of a data center’s performance so that energy, equipment, and floor space are all used as efficiently as possible.

Data Center Requirements

To achieve operational efficiency, reliability, and scalability, a data center setup must meet stringent requirements. The following are critical considerations:

1. Reliability and Redundancy– Ensuring high performance and uninterrupted services necessitates robust data center redundancy. This includes having redundant power sources, networking infrastructure, and cooling systems. Data center redundancy is crucial to mitigate the risk of downtime and maintain continuous operations.

2. Scalability– With data volumes growing exponentially, data centers must be scalable to accommodate future growth without compromising performance. Scalable infrastructure allows for seamless expansion and adaptation to increasing demands, ensuring long-term operational effectiveness.

3. Security– Data center security is paramount due to the sensitive information stored within these facilities. To protect data integrity and privacy, stringent security measures such as access controls, continuous monitoring, and encryption are essential. Robust data center security protocols help safeguard against breaches and unauthorized access.

4. Efficiency– Optimizing data center efficiency is essential for reducing operational expenses and minimizing environmental impact. Efficient energy use in data centers lowers costs and promotes sustainability. Implementing energy-efficient technologies and practices enhances overall data center efficiency, contributing to a greener operation.

By focusing on data center security, efficiency, and redundancy, organizations can ensure their data centers are well-equipped to handle current and future demands while maintaining high performance and reliability.

Conclusion

Data centers have seen significant transformations in recent years. Data center infrastructure has transitioned from on-premises servers to virtualized infrastructure that supports workloads across pools of physical infrastructure and multi-cloud environments as enterprise IT demands to continue to migrate toward on-demand services.

Two key questions remain the same regardless of which current design strategy is chosen.

• How do you manage computation, storage, and networks that are differentiated and geographically dispersed?
• How do you go about doing it safely?

Because the expense of running your own data center is too expensive and you receive no assistance, add in the cost of your on-site IT personnel once more. DCaaS and DCIM have grown in popularity.

Most organizations will benefit from DCaaS and DCIM, but keep in mind that with DCaaS, you are responsible for providing your own hardware and stack maintenance. As a result, you may require additional assistance in maintaining those.

You get the team to manage your stacks for you with DCIM. The team is responsible for the system’s overall performance, uptime, and needs, as well as its safety and security. You will receive greater support and peace of mind if you partner with the proper solution providers who understand your business and requirements.

If you’re seeking to create your data center and want to maximize uptime and efficiency, The Protected Harbor data center is a secure, hardened DCIM that offers unmatched uptime and reliability for your applications and data. This facility can operate as the brain of your data center, offering unheard-of data center stability and durability.

In addition to preventing outages, it enables your growth while providing superior security against ransomware and other attacks. For more information on how we can help create your data center while staying protected, contact us today.

Tips to Manage Data Center build for Enterprise-Scale Software

We’re all trying to improve ourselves and our companies. Start-ups aim to become a Mid-Level Company and a Mid-Level Company to become a Major Company. They want to expand into a global company, and so on. It is important to evolve how we handle our current and new data centers as our businesses expand.

The pandemic slowed us down earlier but also created a huge demand for more remote servers and software to help better the situation. the companies have shifted their office work to the remote. This has become important due to the ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus and the spike in death tolls. According to Worldometer, the number of people infected with the Coronavirus has grown to more than 114 million, with more than 2.4 million deaths. This is the stat as of March 02, 2021. To cut the cost and to be able to grow without expanding their staff numbers, companies have huge pressure on how to cope up. This requires huge changes in data centers to make them efficient. Growing software demands even during pandemic demand us to be smart and create smart data centers. Here at Protected Harbor, we create data centers that can host multiple parts of single huge enterprise software with ease and almost no downtime.

Even maintenance of these data centers has minimum impact on this software because we make all the new changes in development and only shift anything to production once after deep testing. We perform this maintenance during the weekend preferably Sunday evening and that is usually done in just a few minutes.

We can categorize all these measures we take into these –

Analyze

First and foremost, perform a complete analysis of the budget, the requirement, and then what would be the most cost-efficient method to build the data center without compromising performance. Points to remember during the analysis. Disaster recovery means what downtime is expected and how it would affect the client experience. Depending on the business of the customers they can be categorized and assigned a data center customized and build just for them or for customers exactly like them along with them.

Plan

Once the analysis is done following the most appropriate approach for the customers, the next step is planning the layout and detailed configuration of the data center to be able to hold huge enterprise software. Planning includes size determination, the nomenclature of the servers, and Virtual machines inside it, disk and memory allocation, temperature to maintain, sensors to install, and settings.

Automation and AI

This is not a stage but a very important approach to maximize efficiency. Automation to perform tasks to avoid increasing staff to monitor various parts of the data center is critical for providing the best services to the customers without increasing overall cost. Artificial Intelligence on the other hand can be even more efficient as it can read the statistics and help configure the setting even better to match the needs. Hence, saving production cost of the data center while improving performance.

Climate Control using Sensors

Another important tip will be to control the temperature around and in the data center. The recommended temperature needs to be set at all times in the data center to avoid damages. If a single component gets damaged it can result in complete failure of the system and thus resulting in the customer not able to work. Reputation risk is huge in this case. This demands smart sensors be installed.

Go hybrid

The term “hybrid data center” refers to a data center with a combination of computing and storage environments. So the tip is to take advantage by combining on-premises data centers, private cloud, and/or public cloud platforms in a hybrid IT computing setting, enabling different businesses we run and our clients to adapt rapidly to evolving demands.

Maintain

This is the most important part of the process. Yes, the foundation of the center is important like analysis, planning, and following tips but managing the data center can result in it irreversible corruption, failures, and extended period of downtime. It is important to plan the maintenance process as well. Setting up calendar events for daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance of the data center is the key. Always keep an eye on the data and operations in both structures and places at all times.

Along with the stages and tips to managed an Enterprise software ready Datacenter, there are some other important tips to keep in mind for better results.

Use custom built in house software to manage rather than depending on licenses and vendors.

Licensing tools are mostly used by tech giants to collect data on device installation and use. They are one-time-only and do not allow for further refinement, with others only offering knowledge that is beneficial to the seller. They would not assist us in optimizing your licensing. To control data center licenses, you’ll need solutions that are tailored to and climate and challenge.

Partnering with Vendors

This is another great tip that can cut costs while providing possibilities to customize the tools based on our requirements. Following this multiple features can be integrated into a single appliance.

To summarize these are the steps to manage an enterprise-ready datacenter, research on the latest and greatest methods and efficient tools. Then consider ways to make the data center more energy and space-efficient, or how to make better use of current facilities. After that comes the detailed plan layout. Specific details about the location, allocation, and the complete blueprint of the data center need to be put together. Then execution and maintenance.

Data Center Infrastructure Management

Overview

Worldwide demand for new and more powerful IT-based applications, combined with the economic benefits of consolidation of physical assets, has led to an unprecedented expansion of data centers in both size and density. Limitations of space and power, along with the enormous complexity of managing a large data center, have given rise to a new category of tools with integrated processes – Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM).

Once properly deployed, a comprehensive DCIM solution provides data center operations managers with clear visibility of all data center assets along with their connectivity and relationships to support infrastructure – networks, copper and fiber cable plants, power chains and cooling systems. DCIM tools provide data center operations managers with the ability to identify, locate, visualize and manage all physical data center assets, simply provision new equipment and confidently plan capacity for future growth and/or consolidation.

These tools can also help control energy costs and increase operational efficiency. Gartner predicts that DCIM tools will soon become the mainstream in data centers, growing from 1% penetration in 2010 to 60% in 2014. This document will discuss some important data center infrastructure management issues.

We’ll also take a look at how a DCIM product can provide data center managers with the insight, information and tools they need to simplify and streamline operations, automate data center asset management, optimize the use of all resources – system, space, power, cooling and staff – reduce costs, project data center capacities to support future requirements and even extend data center life.

Why Data Center Infrastructure Management?

The trend for consolidation and construction of ever-larger data centers has been basically driven by economy-of-scale benefits. This trend has been accelerated and facilitated by technological advances such as Web-based applications, system virtualization, more powerful servers delivered in a smaller footprint and an overabundance of low-cost bandwidth. Not many years ago, most computer sites were sufficiently small so that the local, dedicated IT and facilities staff could reasonably manage most everything with manual processes and tools such as spreadsheets and Visio diagrams. It has now become painfully clear that IT and facilities professionals need better tools and processes to effectively manage the enormous inventory of physical assets and the complexity of the modern data center infrastructure. Experience shows that once a data center approaches 50-75 racks, management via spreadsheets and Visio becomes unwieldy and ineffective. The outward expansion and increasing rack density of modern data centers have created serious space and energy consumption concerns, prompting both corporate and government regulatory attention and action. DC has forecasted that data center power and cooling costs will rise from $25 billion in 2015 to almost $45 billion in 2025. Moreover, in a recent Data Center Dynamics research study, U.S. and European data center managers stated that their three largest concerns were increasing rack densities, proper cooling and power consumption. Seemingly overnight, the need for data center infrastructure and asset management tools has now become an overwhelming, high-priority challenge for IT and facilities management. At the highest level, the enterprise data center should be organized and operated to deliver quality service reliably, securely and economically to support the corporate mission. However, the natural evolution of roles and responsibilities among three principal groups within the data center – facilities, networking and systems – has in itself made this objective less achievable. Responsibilities have historically been distributed based on specific expertise relating to the physical layers of the infrastructure:

1. Facilities: Physical space, power and cooling
2. Networking: Fiber optic and copper cable plants, LANs, SANs and WANs
3. Systems: Mainframes, servers, virtual servers and storage

Clearly, one major challenge is bridging the responsibilities and activities among various data center functions to minimize the delays, waste and potential operational confusion that can easily arise due to each group’s well-defined, specific roles.

What Is Data Center Infrastructure Management?

Basic Data Center Infrastructure Management components and functions include:

• A Single Repository: One accurate, authoritative database to house all data from across all data centers and sites of all physical assets, including data center layout, with detailed data for IT, power and HVAC equipment and end-to-end network and power cable connections.
• Asset Discovery and Asset Tracking: Tools to capture assets, their details, relationships and interdependencies.
• Visualization: Graphical visualization, tracking and management of all data center assets and their related physical and logical attributes – servers, structured cable plants, networks, power infrastructure and cooling equipment.
• Provisioning New Equipment: Automated tools to support the prompt and reliable deployment of new systems and all their related physical and logical resources.
• Real-Time Data Collection: Integration with real-time monitoring systems to collect actual power usage/environmental data to optimize capacity management, allowing review of real-time data vs. assumptions around nameplate data.
• Process-Driven Structure: Change management workflow procedures to ensure complete and accurate adds, changes and moves
• Capacity Planning: Capacity planning tools to determine requirements for the future floor and rack space, power, cooling expansion, what-if analysis and modeling.
• Reporting: Simplified reporting to set operational goals, measure performance and drive improvement.
• A Holistic Approach: Bridge across organizational domains – facilities, networking and systems, filling all functional gaps; used by all data center domains and groups regardless of hierarchy, including managers, system administrators and technicians.

A comprehensive Data Center Infrastructure Management solution will directly address the major issues of asset management, system provisioning, space and resource utilization and future capacity planning. Most importantly, it will provide an effective bridge to support the operational responsibilities and dependencies between facilities and IT personnel to eliminate the potential silos.

Once again your Data Center Infrastructure Management will prove invaluable by collecting, mining and analyzing actual historic operational data. Data Center Infrastructure Management reports, what-if analysis and modeling will help identify opportunities for operational improvement and cost reduction so you can confidently plan and execute data center changes.

5 Ways to Increase your Data Center Uptime

A data center will not survive unless it can deliver an uptime of 99.9999%. Most of the customers are choosing the data center option to avoid any unexpected outage for them. Even a few seconds of downtime can have a huge impact on some customers. To avoid such types of issues there are several effective ways to increase data center uptime.

• Eliminate single points of failure

Always use HA for Hardware (Routers, Switches, Servers, power, DNS, and ISP) and also setup HA for applications. If any one of the hardware devices or application fails, we can easily move to a second server or hardware so we can avoid any unexpected downtime.

• Monitoring

The effective monitoring system will provide the status of each system and if anything goes wrong, we can easily failover to the second pair and then we can investigate faulty devices. This way datacenter Admin will be able to find any issues before the end-user report.

• Updating and maintenance

Keep all systems up to date and keep maintenance for all your device to avoid any security breach in the operating system. Also, keep your applications up to date. Planned maintenance is better than any unexpected downtime. Also, test all applications in a test lab to avoid any application-related issues before implementing them in the production environment.

• Ensure Automatic Failover

Automatic failover will always help any human errors like if we miss any notification in the monitoring system and that caused one of our application crash. Then if we have automatic failover, it will automatically move to available servers. Therefore, end-user will not notice any downtime for their end.

• Provide Excellent Support

Always we need to take care of our customers well. We need to be available 24/7 to help customers. We need to provide solutions faster and quick way so customers will not lose their valuable time spending with IT-related stuff.