Thanks to the introduction of new technologies, like virtualization and cloud computing, today’s data centers may transform into a very different environment. Data centers are at the heart of everything that we do, and they are designed to ensure that all of our information is securely processed and stored. The global data center space will continue to grow according to forecasts from the International Data Corporation, making it more critical than ever to ensure they are safe and optimized. Here are five crucial elements of a secure and optimized data center.
Environmental Controls
Data centers are complex facilities with thousands of electrical and optical connections housed in an extremely dense space. As a result, it is easy for equipment to overheat, which can have severe consequences for the overall efficiency of the center. A standardized and predictable environment is essential for any data center. Along with keeping things cool and maintaining the humidity levels, but, according to the experts at TechRepublic, you also have to factor in air flow, fire suppression, and power distribution.
Security
An essential foundation of a reliable data center is the physical security of the area. To run a safe and optimized data center, you have to keep your systems under lock and key and only provide access to authorized personnel. This also means you can only permit the necessary access to servers, applications, and data over the network. The most valuable assets, other than your employees, reside within your data center.
Accountability
While most system administrators are professional and trustworthy, it doesn’t change the fact that you need to have accountability within your data center so you can track the specific interactions that your employees have with it. Data centers should be set up so that they log entry details via badge access. It should be designed so that visitors have to sign in and out and remain under direct supervision at all times. You can find other services detailed here for how to best set up your data center.
Policies
Every single process that is involved with the data center needs to have a policy in place to keep the environment managed and maintained. You need to set up procedures for system usage and access, data retention, installing new systems, removing old equipment, and checking for obsolete services and devices. You should also consider policy or what to do with the old equipment, for instance, donating or recycling the hardware and wiping hard drives.
Monitoring
Monitoring the systems in your data center for health and uptime will bring you tremendous proactive value; however, that’s just the beginning of what you need to do. You should also monitor how much bandwidth is being used, as well as storage, energy, physical rack space, and everything else that is considered a commodity that is provided by your data center.
Whether your data center is running Windows, Linux, or another operating system, remembering these five essential concepts will help you to keep it safe and optimized. Spending time and energy working with each essential will ensure the wheels of your organization continue to run smoothly.