Data Center Assessment
Data Center Assessment is needed to make sure there is no business impact due to any unforeseen problems encountered in the future. A data center would have to follow the best practices in the industry for it to be deemed an active data center. A data center is not only efficient but also secure enough to take care of the organization of a business.
Criteria for General Assessment
Data Center assessment caters to four major areas: Facilities, Technology, Procedure and Staff. It broadly covers all aspects of the data center model. The following section highlights topics covered under each area.
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Criteria |
Topics |
| Facilities |
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| Technology |
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| Procedure |
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| Staff |
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Approach for Data Center Assessment
Data Center assessment covers study of all areas related to Data Center and its business model. Hence it is evident to break down the study into smaller domains and prepare assessment questionnaires for each domain/area.
Sample Questionnaire for Servers and Storage Assessment:
- Total number of Servers HP/IBM/Dell etc residing at this data center
- Total Number of services run from data center
- Operating Systems and Applications running on the Mainframes residing at this data center.
- Total Number of Full Time Engineers (FTE) that supports the administration, maintenance, and failover/recovery of all mainframes residing at this data center:
- Total disk space used for all storages residing at this data center (TB)
- Total disk space available for all storages residing at this data center (TB)
- Total floor space for all mainframes residing at this data center (Sq-ft)
- Total tape storage capacity used for storage services residing at this data center (TB)
- Total tape storage capacity available for mainframe services residing at this data center (TB)
- Total floor space used for all tape storage libraries at this data center (Sq-ft)
- Any current plans or schedules to upgrade or retire the mainframe(s) residing at this data center.
- Data Backup is taken offsite or onsite only.
- Does a Disaster Recovery Data Center exist?
- What is the Business Continuity Plan Policy?
A more detailed questionnaire is required to get more information and specific information from a client.
Audits for Data Center Assessment:
It is advised and required to perform internal and external periodic audits for the data center. Some industry standards and certifications can be achieved by having a data center designed and operating as per guidelines. These certifications help show the data center’s commitment toward business. Data Center Star Audit-eco (eco-DCSA) and the LEED Gold are examples of such star ratings for data centers.
Conclusion
Assessment plans for data centers shall adhere to guidelines to ensure the superior resiliency, performance, and agility that enterprise networks now require. A data center Assessment can help to,
• Identify data center improvements that can help cost-effectively increase the data center’s efficiency, scalability, and agility.
• Increase resource availability, deployment of applications are faster and enhance the return on network investment
• Create a next-generation data center enhancement plan that can help evolve your data center to meet your long-term goals.
You can also keep up to date with current trends and technology by visiting Data Center Talk where we keep you informed on important changes as they occur.