Data Center Definition and Solutions

Data Center topics covering definition, objectives, systems and solutions.

By Michael Bullock
Fri, August 14, 2009

What is a data center?

Known as the server farm or the computer room, the data center is where the majority of an enterprise servers and storage are located, operated and managed. There are four primary components to a data center:

White space: This typically refers to the usable raised floor environment measured in square feet (anywhere from a few hundred to a hundred thousand square feet). For data centers that dont use a raised floor environment, the term "white space" may still be used to show usable square footage.

Support infrastructure: This refers to the additional space and equipment required to support data center operations — including power transformers, your uninterruptible power source (UPS), generators, computer room air conditioners (CRACs), remote transmission units (RTUs), chillers, air distribution systems, etc. In a high-density, Tier 3 class data center (i.e. a concurrently maintainable facility), this support infrastructure can consume 4-6 times more space than the white space and must be accounted for in data center planning.

IT equipment: This includes the racks, cabling, servers, storage, management systems and network gear required to deliver computing services to the organization.

Operations: The operations staff assures that the systems (both IT and infrastructure) are properly operated, maintained, upgraded and repaired when necessary. In most companies, there is a division of responsibility between the Technical Operations group in IT and the staff responsible for the facilities support systems.

How are data centers managed?

Operating a data center at peak efficiency and reliability requires the combined efforts of facilities and IT.

IT systems: Servers, storage and network devices must be properly maintained and upgraded. This includes things like operating systems, security patches, applications and system resources (memory, storage and CPU).

Facilities infrastructure: All the supporting systems in a data center face heavy loads and must be properly maintained to continue operating satisfactorily. These systems include cooling, humidification, air handling, power distribution, backup power generation and much more.

Monitoring: When a device, connection or application fails, it can take down mission critical operations. Sometimes, one system's failure will cascade to applications on other systems that rely on the data or services from the failed unit. For example, multiple systems, such as inventory control, credit card processing, accounting and much more will be involved in a complex process such as eCommerce checkout. A failure in one will compromise all the others. Additionally, modern applications typically have a high degree of device and connection interdependence. Ensuring maximum uptime requires 24/7 monitoring of the applications, systems and key connections involved in all of an enterprises various workflows.

Building Management System: For larger data centers, the building management system (BMS) will allow for constant and centralized monitoring of the facility, including temperature, humidity, power and cooling.

The management of IT and data center facilities are often outsourced to third party companies that specialize in the monitoring, maintenance and remediation of systems and facilities on a shared services basis.

1 2 3 4 5 6 next page »

You are here: Technology Topics » Data Center » Tutorial

Most Recent Data Center Stories

White Papers »

Delivering a Greener Data Center

This paper covers power utilization, intelligent power management and industry best practices for energy efficiency. Extreme Networks® takes a lifecycle approach to power efficiency, management and recycling, offering savings to our customers and promoting a greener world.

Enterprise Strategy Group: The Case for a New Data-centric DLP White Paper

With increasing data growth, comes increased need for data security. The existing DLP model, with a focus on compliance/enforcement is not sufficient as the data discovery and classification capabilities are not granular enough. Read this paper to find how you can efficiently and accurately manage your risk by rapidly inventorying and classifying your data and then developing remediation workflows that support business needs.

Data Loss by the Numbers

This paper breaks down attack sources into four categories: external, malicious insiders, accidental insiders, and unknown.

Data Loss Prevention Solution for Managing E-Discovery

The rapid growth of data and technology is creating challenges for organizations as this digital data is considered to be business communications and must be preserved according the same industry-specific regulations governing the retention and discovery of emails and more traditional forms of electronic communications. This paper examines the role that Data Loss Prevention ("DLP") technology can play in helping organizations address the challenges of locating information in response to electronic discovery.

Best Practices in Data Protection - Executive Summary

This research, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, focuses on issues relating to the use of data protection solutions such as endpoint encryption and data loss prevention within the workplace.

Business Centric DLP

This report, by Jon Oltsik from Enterprise Strategy Group, examines the need for a new business-centric approach to DLP in order to align business and security requirements.

Webcasts »

Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware

Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn about VMware customer, Navicure, and their experiences testing and evaluating the recovery manager, their progress in implementing it in their environment and their advice other customers considering using vCenter.

Virtualizing Microsoft and Oracle on VMware vSphere: Benefits and Best Practices

Virtualizing business-critical applications is an essential step in your journey to the cloud. Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange and SharePoint, and Oracle applications, are often the backbone of business IT. The benefits of virtualizing these applications extend far beyond mere consolidation. Understanding how VMware improves quality of service and agility while reducing costs will help you make the case for taking virtualization to the next level in your company.

Architecting a Modern Approach to Data Management

Applications are changing - they're increasingly web-oriented, global in nature and run from multiple device types. Additionally, the volume of data is growing exponentially every year. How do you ensure your applications have fast, accurate, up-to-date information in this new world? Modern applications are data-intensive; delivering data the old way using monolithic databases isn't working. What's needed is a modern approach to data. One that scales-out as needed and delivers predictable high performance, but without sacrificing data consistency or integrity.

Solving the Data Challenge for Real-Time Awareness and Risk Assessment: Webcast

Real-time, global data updates have become a critical business requirement for financial-services firms. Overnight or hourly batch jobs can cause erroneous results and missed opportunities. New regulatory requirements dictate real-time reporting of liquidity; traders want access to real-time market and risk positions; and the time windows for relevancy of cross-selling and marketing opportunities are getting shorter. To deal with these issues and new requirements, firms need to be able to react quickly to changes in data. Quick reactions require near-instant access to data, risk analysis and deeper computational analysis for effective decision making. View this webcast to learn how to achieve real-time awareness by managing ever-increasing data volumes and transaction rates.

Introduction to Virtualization

This video webcast is designed to help those with little to no virtualization experience understand why virtualization and VMware are so important to driving down both capital and operational costs. The session will start with the introduction of the key concepts and technologies of virtualization, introduce the vSphere Hypervisor, and build up to an overview of VMware vSphere® 5, the world's most robust and complete virtualization platform. This session will also discuss new solutions such as the vSphere Storage Appliance and VMware GO that are making it easier than ever before to get started with virtualization.

How Klout Combines Big Data with Microsoft Business Intelligence to Measure Influence

Big Data-it has the potential of transforming a business. In the case of Klout, a social networking analytics site, big data is the heart of the business. Klout processes and analyzes billions of user data signals every day-from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and more. How do they do it? Gain valuable insights from David Mariani, vice president of engineering for Klout.

Newsletter Sign-Up »

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter