Long Distance Data Migration Across WAN for Data Center

February 15, 2012 By

Data Migration

Having an effective and efficient strategy for optimizing long distance data migration is essential for every data center. With the ever increasing demands for the IT needs of businesses it is also important for data centers to deliver data migration cost effectively especially when faced with the demands from remote office back up, outsourcing, data center movers and cloud computing.

The main issue concerning data centers for data migration across a WAN are:

  • Speed; the time taken for the data migration is important for the efficiency and the data center to offer the best service possible for the clients
  • Availability of data; some of the migration procedures can lead to down time which means the data is not available during the process, reducing the amount of data will speed up the process and keep down tine to a minimum
  • Bandwidth cost; the cost of the bandwidth can vary depending on how much data has to be sent and the distance to the new location, costs can increase sending large amounts of data over a long distance
  • Security; keeping the data secure during the migration is also an important part of the process

Importance of WAN optimization

WAN optimization is essential to speed up the migration process and also helps to reduce the amount of bandwidth needed for transfer. Optimizing the WAN in areas such as compression, encryption, deduplication and protocols can efficiently increase the performance to keep the migration consistent and secure. Also load balancing and quality of service (QoS) can be implemented to give priority to important applications with the available bandwidth to minimize the impact of the migration on the network traffic.

WAN optimization is:

  • More efficient; reducing the amount of data for transfer by using compression and deduplication makes the process faster
  • Safer; the migration can be performed without the need to physically move equipment from one location to the other
  • More cost effective; more data can be transferred over smaller network connections which reduces the network costs and improves the efficiency of network management and consumption
  • More secure; the encryption technology keeps the data secure during the transfer procedure to ensure only authorized users can access it
  • Less disruptive; the WAN migration can take place during slow periods for the network so that the bandwidth can be allocated to cause minimum disruption during the process and protocols can be optimized to reduce the impact on communication

WAN optimization can greatly reduce the costs of data migration as it eliminates the need for potentially expensive data center relocation because of insufficient network connectivity. It can also ensure a quicker and more efficient data migration process that will eliminate the risk of losing data compared to traditional back up methods as no equipment has to be physically moved. Data migration across WAN can save time and money and a better success rate in order to enable companies to return to productivity sooner.

For more quality articles visit DataCenterTalk.

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Data Cener Build Vs Lease

January 16, 2012 By

Thinking about datacenter for IT operations? Are you looking for a secure, documented, flexible and interoperable data center upon which a variety of information technology services can be performed? Is it smarter to lease or build commercial data center? What kind of facility do you need? How big it should be? What is the lifecycle of a data center? What about green?

These questions might have come in your mind several times when you started thinking to attain secure data center facility to carry on smooth IT operations. From last two decades, the advancement in information and computer technology and increase reliance and traffic in internet and social media have  had a significant impact on the data center world.

Recently, Telx has leased 32,000 square feet of in a new data center being built by Vantage Data Centers in Santa Clara, Calif. Many companies prefer to take lease of data center, rather than building their own facility. Here, I mentioning few factors that you should consider before leasing or building your own data center:

Building a data center:

Building a data center can be a daunting task for many. It is often leanthy process to get the approval to build a data center. Almost a decade ago, traditional data centers were built to the same basic specifications but now the things have changed. With rapidly changing technologies and IT requirements, data center should be green as well as compatible with business continuity plans of the company.

Building data center can be expensive:

In the current rescission prone economic situation, building a datacenter is big financial decision for enterprises. In reality, it may require millions of dollars investment and it can be serious career threatening move if you could not make profitable.  Liquid money is certainly a premium for many businesses today. Investing thousands of dollars per square foot in additional data center can make you in search of new job.

Leasing data center:

Data center leasing is a lot like renting an apartment; you pay monthly fee to use it but don’t own it. To examine the real costs of constructing versus leasing a data center, you have to take into account the life of the data center. Leases have several factors that make them good choices over building new data center — like the fact that up-front out-of-pocket expenses are generally lower. The Down payment is usually less. You also save maintenance cost.  The option of taking lease of data cent is quite suitable for smaller companies and startups which use the facility for single purpose like providing some web based service etc.

If you have enough cash and not thinking about outsourcing your IT service completely, you should definitely think of owning your data center. However, I will suggest you to get geographical backup by leasing smaller virtual based backup locality.

For more interesting news, opinions and insights about data center,  stay tune to datacentertalk.com!

 

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How clean do you want to be? Outsource or not to outsource Cleaning of a Data Center

December 6, 2011 By

 

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In order to maintain a good level of productivity and to ensure that the equipment can operate at maximum capacity, a clean working environment is important and especially in a data center. A clean working area also affects the productivity of your staff as they will be more motivated to work in clean working conditions. It also gives your potential clients and other visitors a good impression of the company as cleanliness and efficiency often go hand in hand. You need to ensure that your computer rooms, exterior hardware, tops of floor, underfloor plenum cleaning of data center are cleaned periodically.

Penny Saved is Penny Earned

Outsourcing the cleaning services of a data center can reduce costs in the long run and also increase the efficiency of the data center. Having a cleaning staff in-house will require investing in cleaning equipment and cleaning products on a daily basis as well as the necessary staff. Outsourcing the cleaning will eliminate the need for any extra investment as you only have to pay for the cleaning service, which includes the staff and all the equipment that is needed.

Cleanliness is a PROCESS, not a one-time task!

Go Tech!

Another important consideration in favor of outsourcing is that you can choose a specialized company with the necessary skills and experience to ensure that the job is done properly and efficiently and that the correct equipment will be used. A specialized cleaning company will have the knowledge as well as all the latest hi-tech equipment that is needed to keep the data center functioning to its maximum capacity that again minimizes maintenance costs for your company and can also help save resources on training the staff on how best to do the job as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

The specialized data center cleaning companies offer full insurance/liability protection for their clients. These companies train their cleaning technicians year round on the latest standards and cleaning techniques, and always use the right chemicals and latest approved critical environment protocols.

By outsourcing the cleaning of the data center to a professional service you can be sure that the data center will function more efficiently as the cleaning companies have a better understanding and insight into the cleaning and upkeep of the facility. It will also allow you and your team to concentrate on keeping the data center running smoothly without having to worry about the daily cleaning routine as this will be taken care of professionally and efficiently by the cleaning service. Using an outsourced cleaning service can reduce costs and improve operating efficiencies which will allow your company to save money, improve quality and free company resources for other activities.

What YOU can do

Choosing a specialized data center cleaning company is not enough, you need to insist that your staff  follows clean data center practices such as using tacky mats, no food/drink in facility, proper temperature/humidity, employees/vendors cleaning up after themselves thoroughly etc. to achieve a clean work environment.

 

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.

 

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What Skills Should You Look For When Appointing a Data Center Manager?

December 6, 2011 By

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Managing a data center can often be a demanding job as the manager has to have a good understanding of all of the aspects of the data center in order to keep it operating smoothly and also to foresee any potential problems that may occur in the various departments that may lead to down time or cause other problems.

Understand Data Center up and Running Efficiently

A data center manager not only needs to have a good understanding of general IT issues but he also needs to know and understand other issues that are important in keeping the data center up and running efficiently, like power and cooling, as knowledge of the entire data center facility is vital.

As well as having good general management skills the data center manager has to be aware of the various problems that the power and cooling systems may encounter. Keeping the power system up and running at the correct voltage is essential to keep the data center working efficiently and ensuring that the cooling system is working optimally at the correct temperature is also essential for keeping the hardware operating correctly. Having good knowledge of UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and cooling systems is a good skill to have as a data center manager to have and having knowledge of this can help to keep the data center profitable with little or no down time. It is also important for the data center manager to implement a good power management system to keep the data center working efficiently and to keep it profitable. Variations in voltage can have a negative effect on hardware so it is important to keep the power regulated in order to get the best hardware performance.

Additional Skills of Traditional IT and Operation Management

Data center management requires additional skills compared to traditional IT and operation management mainly because the data center manager has to ensure the data center provides an excellent service 24/7. Managing the people and the processes of the data center on a 24/7 basis is the responsibility of the data center manager to guarantee all aspects of the operation are running efficiently.

Good Project Management Skills

A data center manager should also possess good project management skills that will help them balance the demands of the job and enable them to prioritize the various projects bases on importance.

Well knowledgeable about Remote Management Processes

As more and more companies are turning to cloud computing for their data storage needs data center managers now also need to be knowledgeable in remote management processes as cloud computing is going to become ever more popular in the future.

Well knowladge about Traditional Power Grid and Solar Energy

Also for many data centers the challenge for them is also to become more Eco-friendly and greener and many data centers have already started using alternative power sources like solar energy to reduce emissions as well as the costs of running the data center. One of the main challenges for integrating a solar power system is to make it work seamlessly with the traditional power grid and use it in the right places in order to reduce the daily energy costs of the data center.

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.

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Data Center Cooling

November 22, 2011 By

Cooling the data center effectively and efficiently has always been a hot topic among data center owners. Excess heat can make your servers fail!

Power and Cooling Management System

In this new brutal economy,  many data center managers are adopting an integrated approach to cut cost through getting the right power and cooling. Attaining the right cooling management system is crucial as heat fluxes continue to rise. As the technology improves, more people adopt products and services that could help to enhance the cooling capability of a data center. So, if you are looking for the right solution for cooling-related energy cost, you need to calculate the cooling requirements of your present and future business need. With these numbers, IT dept. can avoid the cost overruns. In the next step, you need to estimate the overall Data center cooling cost and strategies.

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Green Revolution of cooling.

Here, I present few tips that may reduce the energy required for cooling:

  • Identify the highest temperature rack: You need to identify the server racks that need space conditioning to directly cooling.
  • Design of data center: The data center should look cool! The design of the data center is important. The proper design of layout, rack densities, and temperature control can save your time, energy and money.
  • Humidification systems: Air Conditioners consume a lot of power.
  • Air-side economizers: These economizers provides outside air to cool the building, rather than using refrigeration equipment to cool the return air.
  • Effective ways to block heat: You can try insulation, reflective barriers and shading. Trees, vines and shrubs can be used to shade can be planted around data center. However, be careful, these trees should not hinder the air flow.
  • Keep the air filters clean: Dirty filters force air to go around filtration sections and can hinder the cooling process. It will rewire more efforts to clean a dirty evaporator coil as compared to replace filters. So, it is advisable, if you routinely change filters based on the pressure drop across the filter, calendar scheduling, or visual inspection.
  • Don’t cool unused space: Sometimes data center owners install cooling equipments in each corner of the facility. The cooling equipment in unused space consume power that goes waste.
  • Set thermostat for cooling, if applicable for data center.
  • When you lowering the condenser water temperature, it will decrease the chiller energy and it can increase the cooling tower fan energy consumption.

 

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.

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Determining and Analyzing Data Center Issues

November 21, 2011 By

Running a data center is not easy. It is a lot more than putting some servers in a rack. There are many issues that are constantly bothering data center owners. Here, I am listing some of those issues:

Location, Location, Location:

Which location is the best for setting up Data center? Does your data center prepare for Mega-disasters? The tsunami, nuclear catastrophe, and myriad other disasters can ruin your facility and infrastructure. Recently, due to build from the shock absorbers materials with good planning helped the data center to survive from massive earthquake in Japan.

Power and Power Availability:

Electrical power is a major concern. To meet demand for computing and expectations for 24/7 power availability, data centers often faces the issue of energy consumption. The energy usage in data center is increasing and if loss of power or power fluctuation occurs, it could destroy huge amounts of valuable data. The main challenge for data center is to provide dense computing environments that could reduce cost and increase efficiency.  You can also think of installing alternative sources of energy, such as solar arrays, natural gas turbines, wind power, fuel cells, and hydro power. However, you need to consider whether such power sources will deliver a return on investment in the near future.

Cooling:

What can data center managers do to combat rising cost of cooling solution in data center?  Generally cooling infrastructure of data center has chillers, compressors and air handlers, air conditioners. However, water can also be used to help cool cabinet racks. You can consider of portable air-conditioning equipment on a daily, weekly, monthly, or long-term rental basis to satisfy cooling requirements of data center. Data centers have adopted a pattern of cold aisles for the electronic and blocking airflow.
In you data center if you have more room for air flow, less energy will be consumed in cooling.

Arranging backup power:  

What will you do, if power goes off in the data center? In business, “continuity” is the keyword. You need to ensure you are able to offer continuous power supply to the data center. For this purpose you have to do the right selection of and installation of backup generators.

Look cable management systems:

Now, I want to discuss about a spaghetti mess of cables. It is painful and time consuming, but you cannot escape from it. Should I install copper or fiber, or combination of both? The answer of this question lies in variety of factors. You need to consider the time of the data center operation. Copper wires are preferred over many fiber systems due to the cost of pathways and spaces. You need proper cabling inside the storage device rack, the server device rack and the physical network layer.  For the efficient cable management,   you have to make sure that cables are dressed and labeled properly.

Security:

What are the security arrangements in your data center? How safe is your data form physical and cyber threat? One security mistake can probably lead to misuse of data. For most of the data center owners, it is not feasible and affordable to get James-Bond style data center. However, data center owners have to protect physical and computing environment of the data center.  A durable, reliable, secure, power-efficient, self-sustaining data center can be made with the proper use of cutting –edge technology and design. The cyber security can be attained by adopting features like password protection, protocol security, firewalls, encryption service and virus protection.  To save the data center against physical threats and intrusions you need to pay attention on selecting right spot for the facility, use of bollards and surveillance. Trees, boulders and gulleys and use bomb-resistant laminated glasses can protect the infrastructure from physical threats.

Staff to run the facility:

How many employees would be required to run a data center? It depends on your business. What are you doing, whether housing or hosting? You need staff working for various departments like communications, systems, database, help desk, production.

 

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.

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Useful Software and Products to Manage Power Usage in Data Center

November 18, 2011 By

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Do you have any idea about the consumption of power usage in your data center? Most of the data center owners don’t track the energy usage by data center in a particular month and year.

Managing the power usage in a data center is crucial for keeping all the systems working efficiently.  Still data center operators are struggling to find useful software and products to manage power usage in data center. It is important to monitor the power usage effectively in order to maximize the energy efficiency of the data center to reduce the costs and get a maximum return on investment.

Power Consumption Time Monitoring

The real-time monitoring of the power use in the data center is the most efficient way to manage it and this is best done using special mission-critical software. To keep the data center operating correctly and delivering the best performance the management team requires the control and insight into the various electrical power, cooling, security, and physical IT infrastructure systems of the data center. By using the software the management team of the data center will be able to monitor the power usage in real-time in order to facilitate the smooth operation of the data center and keep all the systems operating with the correct power requirements.

Actual Power Consumption Tracking using Software

The software will enable you to see the actual power consumption around the clock and make it easier for you to reduce the operational costs by being able to shut down systems when they are not in use. It also enables you to adjust the power usage in accordance with the workload requirements to deliver the correct amount of power when needed and help to conserve the power when the demand is low. This enables you to reduce the operational costs over time and keep track of the energy use more efficiently and also to predict the future costs.

Data Center Management Software

Using data center management software is essential for maximizing the productivity of the data center on a daily basis and to address all the aspects of the data center infrastructure. It also helps with the planning, integration and implementation of the physical systems in the data center and can also be used for data gathering, monitoring and automation of the system. There are many companies which are offering Data center software. You can consider software from IBM, Power IQ, ACP, Intel, and HP.

Most of the data centers today need intelligent management software for the day to day management of the data center and energy management is the key to help the data center function efficiently and to help reduce unnecessary energy-related costs in order to maximize the profit.

Using integrated software applications is the ideal way to manage the power usage of the data center to ensure maximum performance in order to deliver the highest level of service.

 

You can also keep up to date with the latest software and technology by visiting Data Center Talk where we keep you informed on important changes as they occur.

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Taking Greener Approach to a Data Center

November 15, 2011 By

Believe it or not, ‘Going green’, ‘Save the planet’, ‘recycling’, ‘put lights on timers’, ‘don’t waste paper’ are the most discussed words  among users, policy makers, technology providers, owners and operators, and utility companies. today. Owners are in constant pressure to monitor and improve energy efficiency of their facilities to obtain the best value from a business perspective.

 

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Do you think; only having warm feeling about ‘going green’ is enough to build green data centers? I don’t agree with this statement.

I believe, going green makes sense when it saves capital investment and resources and millions of dollars on energy-efficient servers, computer-cooling technology and HVAC.

Impact of data centers on the environment:

A typical data center consists of IT infrastructure, power infrastructure, and cooling infrastructure. The owners need to understand the business, environmental factors related to data centers .They need to address the changes in IT strategies, such as virtualization, automation and consolidation to use IT resources effectively.

What is the efficiency of your data center?

To understand how efficient, you need to analyze your energy consumption and HVAC.

What can you to reduce Carbon foot prints?

To helpgo green, you need to understand, measure and monitor energy use.  Youshould conserve energy and money in such way that it could reduce energy consumption and doesn’t put burden on the operation cost.

-You can consider adopting green building construction initiative ( recycling building material, installing solar energy panels on data center roofs etc.). The data center owners with preexisting facility can remodel of the data center.

-      Decreasing the number of physical number of servers reduces the energy consumption and cooling cost. Try to consolidate many servers on one system. It will reduce your power cooling and management cost.

-      Anyone working is IT knows that Server virtualization can save both energy and money. But how much money you will be able to save depends on your planning and strategy for server virtualization and efficient utilization of fewer server.

-      The use of cloud computing to manage, host and scale web applications can reduce the number of hardware and cooling equipment.

-      You cannot ignore wireless, mobile and networking devices as these create e-waste and data centers need to address these devices in their green initiatives.

-      Cooling infrastructure is very important component of the date center. You need to check your Airflow chambers and remove the obstructions from  cables  and  other materials time to time. Check, is there any air-conditioning unit that is not working? Change the unit! I know it require capital investment but it will bring substantial energy savings.

Most of the big companies are into green data center design,  Cisco announced a  new green data center in Allen texas.

 

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Cisco offers new green data center with continuous power supply (UPS) room. Unlike conventional data center where hundreds of environmentally challenging batteries are used, the company has installed energy-efficient rotary flywheels.

The cooling in Data Center Hall in Cisco’s new green data center is done by an energy-efficient air-side economizer design, which reduces the need for mechanical chilling.

Green teamwork:

Green initiatives are picking up, but still a lot of individuals and corporations have showed a stubborn reluctance to adopt ways that could save data center power usage unless you are compelled to pay a high, direct price. It depends on you what you do you want to do with your data center? Whether you want to make green data center or not?

 

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.

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Data Center Maintenance: A Plan for Guaranteeing Smooth Functionality of Equipment

November 11, 2011 By

What will you do if your comprehensive data bank becomes non-responsive leading to loss of service, money and customer goodwill? Are you seeking ways to slash your energy cost with better data center utilization? The data center is valuable as long as it is functioning properly.  When it comes to improve performance and service of data center, the term ‘maintenance’ becomes quite important. Data Center maintenance is a critical factor that helps to keep the data center running smoothly and helps to prevent problems occurring that may lead to downtime and it also ensures that the data center runs at its optimal level of service.

Right Maintenance Service of Data Center

It is important to maintain the various areas of the data center from the cooling system to the power management and battery back up to keep the data center up and running at all times. Because a data center is run on a 24/7 basis, it is important to carry out routine maintenance and inspections in order to take preventive measures on time as this will enable you to see potential problems that may occur and enable you to take action immediately that will save you time and money in the future.

For all data centers the acceptable level of downtime is zero and keeping the data center up and running all of the time is an important issue. By having a good maintenance policy the data center can continue to deliver to its clients the best level of service.

It is critical for all data centers to be able to deliver their services to their clients and any outage or periods of downtime will have a negative effect on the reputation of the data center. Providing continuous service is crucial and having the right maintenance service is essential in order to ensure customer satisfaction all of the time.

Ensuring the reliable operation of the entire system is possibly the most important issue for the data center so it is therefore important to have periodic maintenance to guarantee that the infrastructure provides the right level of reliability and that the data center can deliver the level of service that is expected from the clients. you can consider onsite and remote maintenance options

Maintenance Management System

Implementing a maintenance management system is the best way to ensure that all the different areas of the data center will receive the right amount of attention when it comes to periodic inspections and maintenance. This will guarantee that all the aspects of the data center will be covered when it comes to maintenance. It is important to have the preventive maintenance scheduled as this will help to eliminate any downtime from occurring in the future and make it possible for the data center to provide the best possible service to its customers.

All the aspects of data center maintenance are important from the cleaning and maintenance of the air conditioning and cooling systems to the inspection of the cables, fire prevention equipment and power back up systems are all equally important to ensure a smooth 24/7 operation of the data center to be ready for any type of problems that may occur. Keeping the equipment maintained properly will make sure that it will run optimally and at the correct temperature to deliver a reliable service when needed.

Data center maintenance is a key factor in ensuring the reliable every day running of the data center to deliver the highest level of service to the clients.

 

To keep yourself updated on the latest happenings in the data center industry, please visit us at Data Center Talk.

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Dell to Launch New PowerEdge Servers

November 10, 2011 By

Dell is planning to launch its new generation PowerEdge servers early next year that will feature large memory footprints, improved I/O bandwidth and “Tier-Zero Storage” which uses flash memory in the server. They will use the Xeon E5 chips which will have eight cores and two or four socket systems. They will also provide 40 TB of DRAM and the same amount of flash storage that should be capable of any database or analytic workloads.

 

To keep yourself updated on the latest happenings in the data center industry, please visit us at Data Center Talk.

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