Rackwise Manages all Aspects of Your Data Center

December 15, 2011 By

Rackwise is a multi- layered software product that provides a series of solutions for managing multiple dimensions of a company’s IT infrastructure and data center(s). Using Rackwise allows companies to optimize their use of components such as power, cooling, space, servers, networks, cables, etc. Improved management of these resources delivers an improved Return on Investment from one of the most critical and most expensive corporate expenditures – your IT Infrastructure.

Rackwise delivers four solution areas -

  • Data Center Essentials
  • Data Center Optimization
  • Data Center Intelligence
  • Data Center Business

Website: http://www.rackwise.com/

Address:
Rackwise
101 California St. Suite 2450
San Francisco, CA 94111

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Filed Under: Data Center Audit, Data Center Consulting, Data Center Cooling, Data Center Project Management, Data Center Software, Engineering Services Tagged With: , , , , ,

Symantec’s Data Center Optimizing Software

December 15, 2011 By

Symantec offers a data center optimizing software that caters to high demand needs of the data center. It offers features like

  • Storage Solutions
  • All Features of Virtualization
  • Disaster Recovery
  • A Solution to Data Growth

It also offers data protection services and storage assessment services.

 

Website: Symantec

Address:

Symantec
350 Ellis Street
Mountain View, CA 94043

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What is MPLS and its Challenges

November 20, 2011 By

From some years customers are changing their legacy FR , ATM , X.25 , LL with Ethernet MPLS Point to Point and multipurpose circuits and MPLS IP VPN . Companies preference of WAN is decided by many factors like Applications , the number of sites , the amount of control on routing decisions , Capacity and one of most important factor is $$$ . Stats  from Telephotography Global Enterprise Networks Research Service propose that one of the main factor influencing an organization’s international network choice may simply be availability.

Biggest challenge to Deploying Right Strategies

One of the biggest challenges are deploying the right strategies and expertise to build , maintain and run an MPLS network . Ethernet VPN Circuits are cost effective than MPLS IP VPN circuits for capacity requirements above 100 Mbps. There is always a need for quick proactive and reactive approach whenever there is a problem in the MPLS network .

It is a good time to know how MPLS works and the troubleshooting . Its all mechanics and not magic , so we need to be good at logic and understanding . Lets help you out over here.

Mpls Ways of Working

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) mechanism is used in communication networks which deploys short labels instead of longest prefix match for switching network traffic, thus reducing switching delays. MPLS can be considered as layer 2.5 protocol of the standard OSI network model i.e., it operates below the IP layer and on top of the link layer. MPLS enables the transfer IP data over the non IP MPLS networks. Routers at the edges of the MPLS core are called Label Edge Router (LER) and the routers inside the MPLS network are called Label Switch Router (LSR). LERs are, ingress/egress (ingress refers to entrance into Label Switch Path (LSP) and egress refers to exit from the LSP) routers, responsible for attaching the labels to the packets entering the MPLS network and remove the label from the exiting packets. LSRs are the routers which do the traffic forwarding on the basis of label instead of logical 32 bit address.

MPLS, FR , ATM , X.25 , LL with Ethernet MPLS Point, multipurpose circuits, MPLS IP VPN, Data Center Auditing, data center, data center power, data center software, Data Center, power calculation, cooling system, fewer generator, Green Data Center, datacenter, data center services, data center management, about data centers, internet data centers, datacenter services, datacenter solutions Business continuity

In the following example R1 is ingress, R3 and R4 are egress LERs and R2 is LSR. In MPLS every router will share with its neighbor the label which has to be attached for a particular IP prefix. Following are the tables of the four routers shown in the figure. Routers R3 and R4 tell R2 that it has to attach a label of 27 for the traffic destined to reach 10.1.1 network and 33 for the traffic destined to reach 10.3.3 network. The “Interface” entry of the label in the forwarding tables shows the interface on which router will transmit the data. Likewise R2 also tells R1 to either append the label of 8 for 10.1.1 network bound traffic or the label of 9 for 10.3.3 network bound traffic. We notice that there is additional entry of “Remote Label” in the forwarding table of R2. Out of the two remote labels (27 & 33) one will be appended to the outgoing traffic depending upon the destination. Like wise R2 also advertises to R1 the labels (“Remote Label” entry in forwarding table of R1) which it should append to outgoing traffic depending upon the destination.

On R2

Label

Prefix

Interface

Remote Label

8

10.1.1

1

27

9

10.3.3

0

33

On R1

Prefix

Interface

Remote Label

10.1.1

0

8

10.3.3

0

9

On R3

Label

Prefix

Interface

27

10.1.1

0

On R4

Label

Prefix

Interface

33

10.3.3

0

 

So next time you face some issues in the forwarding be sure to check labels running in your Network .

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 Auditing

November 19, 2011 By

A facility where computers and components connected to the computers are physically placed is called a data center. A data center consists of a power supply backup, connections for data communications, climate controls and security equipment. A Data center is required for a business which relies upon a network of computers and applications (web based). Therefore many companies construct data centers within their building. However, some companies who work on composite business jobs and are heavily reliant on technology choose to contract out their internet related communications to a service provider. The service provider also provides them with a data center.

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This has many benefits:

•           Superior value with controlled hosting opportunities
•           Enhanced utilization of time and assets
•           Business stability and fast reaction in catastrophe revival conditions
•           Extra value added features

The Following Steps should be Carried out when Setting up a Data Center:Data Center Auditing, data center, data center power, data center software, Data Center, power calculation, cooling system, fewer generator, Green Data Center, datacenter, data center services, data center management, about data centers, internet data centers, datacenter services, datacenter solutions Business continuity

Procurement of a Data Center

After making the decision to contract out the requirements for a data center and hosting, search for a vendor with experience and a good reputation. There are many factors to consider when searching for a vendor for your data center. The most important factor is the data center. Carefully evaluate the data center and whether it is according to the requirements and needs of your organization and whether it has the further capacity to upgrade in the future. See the guidelines below to help you understand your requirements for a data center:

  1. First of all recognize your requirements. Many people do not consider this logically and search for data centers contractors or service providers without knowing their actual needs. Your search should be according to your requirements. For example if your company has an online business in which numerous daily transactions take place, then you will require a data center with the capacity to handle these transactions accordingly. Therefore keep in mind the requirements of the company while meeting the service provider.
  2. Secondly, thoroughly inspect the data centers for the facilities available and note the shortcomings as per your requirements. Good data centers have some necessary physical qualities and characteristics. Generally data centers consist of a large or small building with rows of servers in cabinets, communication cables and data storage devices or equipment.  The facility for backup power is very important and cannot be ignored in the selection of data centers. At least one backup power facility in the form of UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) or a diesel generator should be available. The electrical system should be in good condition with duplication to prevent any kind of failure. The internal climate of the data centers is very crucial. The data centers should have the facility of an air conditioning system to control the temperature and humidity within the specified limits. The temperature limit is 20 to 25 degrees Celsius and the humidity limit is 40 % to 50%.
  3. Physical security is another important factor to look for. Data Centers should be safe and sound in all aspects. Physical access to the data centers accessories should be limited to the authorized staff. Moreover the data centers should have the facility of security cameras with a CCTV control room. Security guards should be deployed for 24 hours a day to secure the area.
  4. The last factor is the service quality of the data centers provider or vendor. We have discussed the most important ones like backup power supply, environment control, and security but the most important of all is the overall package and the hosting solutions offered by the service provider. Meet with many vendors to choose the best services which also have extra value added services.

Outsourced Data Center Problems

Once your company has outsourced the data center, you will have to face the difficulties of protecting data and data auditing. Actually data is the most precious and valuable asset of a company. Especially when this data is online, data loss by any means is always possible. This data loss can occur due to the following reasons:

1. Human error

2. Dishonesty

3. Cyber attack

4. Deception

This data loss can be prevented through data center auditing. Data Center auditing is a very good defensive strategy for preventing data loss. Organizations mostly depend on their data for business, therefore data loss means business loss. Below are some ways to prevent data loss though data center auditing:

  1. The risk of online data loss can be reduced considerably through proactive protection. Proper and extensive documentation of business by organizations can greatly reduce their loss.
  2. An internal auditor can be deployed to audit the data to ensure accountability, and the security of the data will not be compromised.
  3. The process of audit also lessens risk. It also provides transparent access to any transactional or structural changes. By auditing the recovery of data loss is easy, fast and economical.
  4. This also provides the administrator with the facility of watching and monitoring online data activities, although data loss can be prevented through data center auditing.
  5. The data auditing process also discourages thieves, limits misuse and prevent employees from even thinking of wrongdoing.

Below are some effective key points to Data Center Auditing:

  1. Always plan according to future requirements of the business.
  2. Work out an agile system that can immediately adjust to business alteration without difficulty.
  3. Ensure that the data center auditing System is not connected with other IT systems.
  4. The responsibility of auditing should be assigned to a person who is impartial and has no connection with other employees.
  5. Take your time to classify and record all electronic data files, both from in-house and outside, together with instant messages and email, lists of customers, financial records and bank records, files related to the web and designing, directories, legal records, personnel records, video, audio and other media.
  6. While conducting a thorough study of the data center, always define the importance, role, and sensitivity of each file.
  7. The online data should be accessible for read only purposes. This will diminish the chances of alteration of the data. The data center auditing System should also have the facility to easily examine and find the data, generate reports, evaluate trends and find out the paths of transactions.
  8. The average evaluation of file usage will be done by the administrators once the system has been online for some time. This will ultimately help to stop inadvertent use and disclosure.

 

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 Virtualization

November 19, 2011 By

A data center is a centralized storage area for physical or virtual data. The main use of data centers is storage and they should remain online constantly to accommodate the needs of users. A data center can be classified into 4 tiers and each one has its own significant requirements. Since IT companies are growing dynamically, they need their own virtualized data centers. What is virtualization and what is the need for virtualizing a data center?

Data Center Virtualizatin Technology

Virtualization is a technology which drives the application and servers to work in an uncommitted manner, interacting with the user’s needs to do the job in hand. It can bring a flexible data center, consolidation and standardization to a company. The key objective for an organization to run successfully is for the business to run trouble-free round the clock. For that, you need to have multiple data centers set up, each provided with the virtual applications and data. Not all data needs to be virtual, only the data which is critical for the organization. What are the benefits to be obtained by virtualizing a data center? It saves you cost for infrastructure and a simplified management process. Virtualization is done for each server so that if you need a server to stop acting or functioning, you can simply take it out and it doesn’t affect the other functioning servers. The maintenance and management of a virtualized data center is very significant for an organization.

Data Center Virtualization, Data Center Virtualization Solution

Data center security Overview, Security and Virtualization in the Data Center

Data Center Virtualization Scenarios

There are two virtualization scenarios which need to be followed in managing the physical and virtual infrastructure. They are:

  • Server Consolidation
  • Business Continuity

Server Consolidation reduces the costs of hardware components, space, power and management. Business Continuity makes the servers available to run 24/7 and maximizes the system run time.

You can centralize the management for better security reasons rather than giving security to each and every server. To make things simple, data centers need to be given virtualization. You can define the security policies based on the people who are requesting access and what is allowed to access the applications. Virtualization also provides security to stop hackers from accessing the applications. The essential factors that you need to maintain data centers are humidity, air pressure and temperature which are to be maintained according to the product specifications. The data center rooms must be monitored by someone, so that any decrease or changes in those factors can be returned to normal or else it could cause great damage. Routing a data center is also essential in order to avoid incorrect neighbor peering. The data center routing design is shown in the second diagram. To prevent incorrect routing, several measures need to be taken. These measures are Route peer authentication, Route filtering and Log neighbor changes.

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Security service traffic flow, Security and Virtualization in the Data Center

The virtualization can be done both in storage and block storage.  Storage virtualization preserves different physical storages as a single virtual storage, whereas the Block storage virtualization blocks or forms a gateway for the network attached storage systems in order to protect the storage information. Certain organizations use redundancy sites so that they can resolve user’s requests at any time, but they fail when their organization grows and is in need of a secondary site. If people want to access your network from all over the world, at any time and from any location, then the sites might go down which automatically leads you to a low performance stage. This is where virtualization comes into action. The virtualization is integrated with access technologies like SSN and VPN so that the users will be directed to the best site. This gives them full access control over the applications and networks without any interruption. Virtualizing data centers thus satisfies a need in your company’s growth.

IT Resources Consideration

When the Virtualization of IT resources are considered, one has to take into consideration the overall critical stages of the network topology. What’s your existing atmosphere? Do you have numerous data centers? Do you have provision for various ISP links from other providers? Are there programs that are needed for virtualizing? What kind of devices are they coming from to get to the applications? Is there a need to accelerate and secure the sessions across that variety of application scenarios? What are the goals, SLAs and objectives for the business? All these criteria have to be considered before setting up the virtualization. Making it possible for one to virtualize the data centers will really take your company standards to a different level. If an IT company has reduced the number of servers working without making any proper adjustments to the cooling devices then the effectiveness of data centers will go down resulting in a company failing.

Spreading the load, that is, splitting the servers as a rack lessens the consumption of power and no new power or cooling systems will be needed. Spreading the load has disadvantages too, such as an increase in cabling costs. Higher density racks will require a lot of cables and you need to check whether the floor can withstand these weights. Perhaps a supplement to the number of cooling systems will be necessary for these devices so that they are maintained to the temperature specified in the product. The cooling systems can be air conditioners or fans which yield the necessary cooling conditions.

Virtualizatin Effects on Data Center

Virtualization may decrease the overall power consumption for the organization if it is maintained properly. As the virtualization effect in data centers is unique, care should be taken with the power supplies and cooling systems to the components. Virtualizing data centers also gives you the benefit of booting a virtual machine from a powered off state. Thus by virtualizing a data center it can support more applications and maintain higher standards. A few years ago, companies had virtualization in their infrastructure rather than in data centers, but now data centers have been virtualized for better organization with a fewer number of servers and thus reducing the cost of expenses in all ways. Virtualizing data centers is neither complicated nor costly, and it reduces both your expenses and the space taken up by servers.

 

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 Centre Efficiency

November 19, 2011 By

Let us find out what a data center is and how it functions. As the word data center tells you it is the centralized storage area of either the physical or a fundamental storage of data, management and information for a particular business.

Logical Reason to use a Data Center

The main logical reason data centers are widely used by many organizations is because they need the servers to run twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and throughout the year without any interruption. The data centers can be made as public or as private as needed depending on the organization. A data center can also be called a server room. A data center is set up in 4 tiers and each tier has its own requirements. A Tier1 data center is easy to set up and small organizations tend to stick with Tier1. Companies, especially IT companies, grow and they need a source backup for users to be online constantly, conducting business to improve their company standards. That’s how data centers came into play.

Requirements to Setup a Data Center

Now, let us see what the requirements are to set up data centers. Firstly we need a good infrastructure to support the data centers. For business continuity, the information systems are really essential and they need to be secured well. The information servers are arranged in racks on a raised floor. Stringer less raised floors have a collection of pedestals that configures the necessary height for the routing cables. A stringed raised floor has a vertical arrangement of steel pedestals so that the overall height can be adjusted with the help of a nut at the pedestal head. A data center will occupy the amount of space necessary for your organization, perhaps a room or a floor depending on the amount of data to be preserved.

Vital Factors of a Data Center

Infrastructure, cooling, power backup and security are the vital factors for a good data center. Data Centers have to work constantly, so the heat produced by data centers is high and it can cause serious damage. In order to avoid crashes or damage, the system needs to be cooled with equipment such as air conditioners, fans, or even exhaust fans. There should be enough space between the racks and the cabling wires so that there is correct air flow into these systems. It should be monitored by someone so that any change in temperature can be adjusted to the product’s recommended temperature. High security is needed inside and outside the data center, including a fire alarm.

The power for these data centers is provided by the regional electricity system, and if it fails the backup power generator kick starts thus providing continuity of business for the organization.

Data Center efficiency can be found out by calculating how much energy is being saved in a data center. The power usage or the energy efficiency tells about data center efficiency. The formula to find out energy efficiency is:

PUE = Total facility power/IT equipment power

where “PUE” is “Power Usage Effectiveness”.

Data Center Energy Consumption

Data Centers have thousands of servers with information stored and they are ready to transmit it when the user needs it, so everyone asks questions about the energy usage by the data centers or data center energy consumption. Data Center energy consumption has driven many IT organizations to find better computing capability. The size of the data center along with the energy consumed in a year will determine the data center efficiency of that organization. Energy use can be categorized into demand and supply. “Demand” generally includes the servers, processors and storage whereas “supply” includes UPS, distribution of power, cooling and lighting. Power management software should be considered for energy saving.

Efficient Power Distribution of Data Center

You can use higher AC voltages for power distribution in order to reduce the energy consumed. Data Center energy consumption should be minimal, so that the company’s growth and Data center efficiency are of a high standard. Modular data centers are being used to meet data center efficiency and energy saving. These can be transported from one place to another. Best practices in the design of data centers can achieve less energy consumption and energy can be saved by shutting down servers which are not in use. It has been estimated that the power consumed by a server for a year is $250. If there are idle servers which are consuming power then it is a loss for the organization, so data center efficiency drops to below average. It is better to shut down the idle servers and give the power to the ones which are functioning. Data Center energy consumption can also be reduced by maintaining the air flow and the pressure inside the system.

  1. Many data centers fall short in maintaining the air flow and the pressure to the servers which obviously makes for a drop in efficiency. The following guidelines will let you to know more about data center efficiency.
  2. A physical examination of the server room can help you to detect any obstruction in the pathways of the airflow. If there’s any obstruction, then it has to be cleared to achieve effective data center efficiency.
  3.  Place the rack of servers on a raised floor with thin fabric rings around cables where they connect to the servers, so that there won’t be any openings for the cool air to escape and it will be tightly packed.
  4. Unnecessary spaces in front of the server racks can lead to a drop in efficiency. The air pressure has to be maintained throughout in such a way that the systems are properly cooled.

Data Center Energy Consumption Reduction

Data Center energy consumption can be reduced by a certain amount if these precautions are maintained. The most important thing is to have the best server you can afford for an efficient data center. The processor companies like Intel and AMD have improved their processors for better energy efficiency. Monitoring is one of the key factors for better energy efficiency in a company with high standards.

Wireless sensors are used in order to maintain the correct temperature so that there won’t be any damage to the system and data center energy consumption will be less than expected. Setting up a data center is not an easy task until you have the perfect plan or the experience which can bring you data center efficiency as well as less data center energy consumption. The techniques described here should give you a better idea of data center energy consumption and data center efficiency.

 

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

data center, data center power, data center software, Data Center, power calculation, cooling system, fewer generator, Green Data Center, datacenter, data center services, data center management, about data centers, internet data centers, datacenter services, datacenter solutions Business continuity

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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