Alleviate Your IT Headaches

The June 4 issue of PROCESSOR magazine (Volume 32, Issue 12) takes a look at how consumer devices and tools are causing problems for IT. From technological solutions to corporate policies, the series of articles offers advice on managing and securing social networks, personal wireless access points, USB devices and other employee-owned devices. Check it out:

Social Networking Nuisances – by Holly Dolezalek - Social networking sites pose both technical threats and behavioral threats, but blocking social networking isn’t always the answer because many employees use these resources for business reasons.

When Wireless Goes Rogue – by Christian Perry - Personal wireless access points not only put employees at risk during company time but also can compromise company data, particularly when there is a bridged connection to the company network.

Headaches From USB Devices – by Bruce Gain - USB devices can potentially serve as a conduit for malware to infect the enterprise’s network or as a source for data leaks beyond the firewall. While it may seem appropriate to prohibit their use completely, taking such an absolute approach is impractical.

Troubles With Employee-Owned Devices – by Elizabeth Millard - Smartphones, cell phones, notebooks, and other devices change so often that they can create major challenges for IT departments. Make security the top issue when dealing with devices and creating policies about usage.

Design & Construction Network Networking Event, June 29 @ 6pm

PTS is sponsoring the upcoming Design & Construction Network Networking Event near Philadelphia, PA. The event will bring together many members of the local design and construction community.

RSVP online at http://dcnpa3.eventbrite.com/.

Additional Details:

When -
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET)

Where -
Fox & Hound Pub & Grille
160 N. Gulph Road
King Of Prussia, PA 19406

Who can attend? - Anyone that is a member of the Design and Construction Network on LinkedIn. If you know someone else that might want to join us at the Happy Hour please just send them this link (http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/926787) and have them click "Join Group." Once they are a member they need to RSVP using the link above.

How much does it cost? - FREE! (Cash bar)

More than 100 people attended the last two DCN Philadelphia events and this next one is shaping up to be an even bigger success. Again, you can RSVP online at http://dcnpa3.eventbrite.com/. We hope to see you there.

PTS Education & White Papers

Looking to continue its tradition of providing content-rich educational materials for data center managers through its website, PTS has significantly upgraded its white paper section. As we continue to add our own industry-specific content through white paper development, presentations at numerous industry events, discussion threads on the PTS blog and through the LinkedIn Computer Room Design group, we strive to stay up-to-date on the latest facility- and IT-related trends.

To that end we have revamped our media library (registration required). Now you can find relevant educational papers by facility, IT or specific topics including: Consolidation, Cooling, Financial, General, Management, Network, Power, Safety, Security, Servers, Storage, and Virtualization. Interesting white papers to add to your reading list include:

Proper Sizing of IT Power & Cooling (by Green Grid). Between 2000 and 2006, energy requirements for data centers doubled, and they are on track to double again by 2011. In the same time period, typical per-rack heat densities went from 1 kW to 7 kW, and they are estimated to exceed 20 kW per rack by 2010. This places tremendous importance on a data center facility planner's ability to properly budget for future power and cooling infrastructure requirements. Today's energy costs and efficiency demands necessitate a more accurate method of determining those requirements. This white paper has been developed to introduce the reader to the many new and highly accurate software tools available for estimating power and cooling capacity requirements. Click here for the full white paper.

Server Consolidation and Containment With Virtual Infrastructure (by VMware). To meet the constant demand to deploy, maintain and grow a broad array of services and applications, , IT organizations must continually add new servers. However, as a consequence of purchasing more and more servers, organizations face a growing server sprawl presenting challenges that include: rising costs, poor return on investment, decreasing manageability, and reduced efficiency. Click here for the full white paper.

Increasing Data Center Efficiency with Server Power Measurements (by Intel). Intel IT defined methods for analyzing computing energy efficiency within our design computing environment, using measurements of actual server power consumption and utilization. We used these methods to identify trends and opportunities for improving data center efficiency, and to implement a pilot project that increased data center computing capacity. Click here for the full white paper.

Optimizing Power Distribution for High-Density Computing (by Eaton). Fueled by the rapid rise of technologies such as virtualization and blade servers, computing densities in today's data centers are climbing dramatically. As a result, server enclosures are requiring more power than ever before. The result of this is a new and demanding set of power distribution challenges. To meet the power requirements of their increasingly dense server racks, organizations are looking for power circuits and power distribution units (PDUs) that have adequate power capacity and make optimal use of panelboards, but don't drive such high densities that they are prohibitively expensive to cool. Click here for the full white paper.

Is Your IT Infrastructure Ready for Tomorrow? Preparing for a 10GbE Future (by David Reine, The Clipper Group). An IT infrastructure will be the key to the success of the enterprise data center in the years to come. Because of the poor utilization of existing single-core microprocessor servers, the IT staff of the typical data center has embarked on a journey of consolidation and virtualization to reduce server sprawl, simplify data center complexity, and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the IT infrastructure. Click here for the full white paper.

Achieving a Dim Data Center

In my post, “Dark Data Centers: Dream or Reality?”, I discussed how dim data centers remain a sought-after solution for IT professionals and users, and an attainable design goal for most companies.

One of our readers requested examples of solutions which can help to achieve a dim data center. As such, here are some key things to consider:

1. Move supporting infrastructure (power and cooling) out of the computer room space. Doing so reduces the likelihood that people will need to have access to the most critical space and can accomplish their tasks (replace batteries on UPS, perform thermographic scanning, replace AC filters, etc.) outside of the critical environment.

2. Utilize appropriate remote IP and serial access tools to control servers and network devices, including virtual disk interface technologies such that media can be installed remotely.

3. Install remote monitoring hardware and software to provide remote ‘snapshots’ as well as trending of the power and environmental performance of the space.

Data Center Videos

Looking for online video of data center tours, product demos, tradeshow highlights, and more? Tech analyst Rich Miller of Data Center Knowledge has done a great job gathering some of the best data center videos on the web into one place: the Data Center Videos YouTube Channel.

There are nearly 60 videos uploaded to date, plus more to come. To give you a quick intro to the type of content you’ll see, here’s an embed of the most viewed data center video:

Get the Most Out of Your IT Assets

In “Extend the Life of Your IT Assets: Strategies to Keep Assets Running Strong”, Elizabeth Millard takes a look at techniques for extending the life of your critical IT assets while ensuring the highest level of system availability.

Key points include:

• Focus on power and cooling efforts, because improper cooling can decrease the life of IT assets.
• Look at SLAs to determine whether they’re meeting the needs of the data center.
• Build in extra time for monitoring and planning to make lifecycle management a greater part of data center operations.

The article includes my thoughts on the topic, as well as insights from Kris Domich, principal consultant at Dimension Data, and Michael Sigourney, senior product specialist at AVTECH. Check it out in the latest issue of PROCESSOR magazine.

Presentation on: “Creating & Implementing a Proactive Data Center Management Plan”

PTS will be presenting at the next 7x24 Exchange DelVal meeting @ Citizens Bank Park on 5/11, the only stadium in Philly that breeds champions. There are only 90 seats for this event so if you’re interested you should sign up quickly.

http://7x24exchangedelval.org /index.php?option=com_7x24&task=listEvents&Itemid=51

PTS Presentation Synopsis:
“Creating & Implementing a Proactive Data Center Management Plan”
If you asked six data center managers to define “infrastructure management”, you are likely to get six different answers. It is similar to the ancient story of the six blind men and the elephant. When each of the men approached the elephant, they came to the conclusion that the elephant was like a wall, a spear, a snake, a tree, a fan and a rope. Who was right and who was wrong? Just as in the case of the six data center managers, each blind man was right from his own perspective, but in the end all were wrong. Just as an elephant is more than the sum of its parts, a true solution for data center managers is more than the sum of the various tool sets that fall under the area of infrastructure management. This presentation will discuss the various tool sets that make up infrastructure management and what organizations should think about in regards to Data Center Management to address the needs of all the stakeholders.

If you can't make the event but are interested in the presentation let us know?

REMINDER: ‘Devils in the Details’ Event on March 30th

This is a quick reminder that our educational event, “The Devils in the Details - Enhanced SAN & Switching Solutions for Next Generation Data Centers,” will be held on March 30, 2010. This event was previously postponed from 2/10 due to the snow storm.

For those who registered, we hope you’ll join us for an informative discussion and learn about:

• PTS Data Center Solutions' strategic data center design approach combining both IT and support infrastructure expertise to design, manage and operate a superior data center.
• Dell EqualLogicTM PS Series SANs designed to cost-effectively integrate advanced data and disaster protection features directly with VMware virtual infrastructure to help provide seamless data protection and disaster recovery management.
• Enterasys S-Series® enterprise switching and routing solutions specifically designed for high speed core and SAN deployments.

Here is the full agenda:

4:45 - 5:00 PM: Arrivals and Introductions.

5:00 - 5:25 PM: Data Center Management, Synergies between Facility & IT Infrastructure Needed to Improve Data Center Availability and Management, Presented by Peter Sacco, President, PTS Data Center Solutions.

5:25 - 6:00 PM: Dell EqualLogic PS Series SANs, Improved SAN Design to Cost Effectively Integrate with VMwaresolutions, Presented by Keith Londres, Dell Enterprise Solution Executive and Jim Power, Solution Specialist - New Jersey, Dell, Inc.

6:00 - 6:30 PM: Enterasys S-Series, Enterprise Switching and Routing Solutions for High Speed Core and SAN Deployments, Presented by Jace Siciliano, Senior Account Executive, Enterasys Secure Networks.

6:30 - 6:45 PM: Questions/Answers Session.

6:45 - 7:00 PM: Head to the Rink, Private Box.

7:00 - 10:00 PM: Dinner, Drinks, Enjoy the Game!

For more info, please visit http://www.ptsdcs.com/eventDellEnterasysDevils.asp.

Cut Your Data Center Cooling Costs

Modern data centers face a number of cooling system challenges due to the requirements of today's IT systems, combined with the way those IT systems are deployed. In the latest issue of PROCESSOR magazine, Elizabeth Millard examines strategies for keeping power and cooling operations streamlined during the summer months when outside temperatures rise.

The article includes my thoughts on the topic, as well as insights from John Busch, chairman and CTO at Schooner Information Technology; Michael Sigourney, senior product specialist at AVTECH; and Kris Domich, principal consultant at Dimension Data.

Key points include:

• Look at upgrading processing and storage capability for greater efficiency.
• Establish a strong preventive maintenance strategy before the summer months hit.
• Keep accurate records to understand utilization and cost changes over different years.

PTS' expertise is a valuable asset in this area as companies are often unable to predict if their data center cooling system will supply a future load, even when the characteristics of the load are known in advance. If your company is looking to establish a cooling system for your data center that will withstand system failures and load increases, contact PTS as the next step in your process.

Considerations for Storage Consolidation

The growth of company files, e-mail, databases, and application data drives a constant need for more storage. But with many networks architected with storage directly attached to servers, growth means burdensome storage management and decreased asset utilization. Storage resources remain trapped behind individual servers, impeding data availability.

There are three storage consolidation architectures in common use today:

• direct-attached storage (DAS),
• network-attached storage (NAS), and
• the storage area network (SAN).

DAS structures are traditional in which storage is tied directly to a server and only accessible at that server. In NAS, the hard drive that stores the data has its own network address. Files can be stored and retrieved rapidly because they do not compete with other computers for processor resources. The SAN is the most sophisticated architecture, and usually employs Fibre Channel technology, although iSCSI-based technology SANs are becoming more popular due to their cost effectiveness. SANs are noted for high throughput and their ability to provide centralized storage for numerous subscribers over a large geographic area. SANs support data sharing and data migration among servers.

So how do you choose between NAS, RAID and SAN architectures for Storage Consolidation? Once a particular approach has been decided, how do you decide which vendor solutions to consider? There are a number of factors involved in making a qualified decision including near and long term requirements, type of environment, data structures, budget, to name a few. PTS approaches Storage Consolidation by leveraging our proven consulting approach:

• to gather information on client needs,
• survey the current storage approach, and
• assess future requirements against their needs and the current approach.

Critical areas for review and analysis include:

• Ease of current data storage management
• Time spent modifying disk space size at the server level
• Storage capacity requirements to meet long term needs
• Recoverability expectations in terms of Recovery Time Objectives and Recovery Point Objectives
• Needed structuring of near- and off-line storage for survivability and ease of access to data
• Security needed to maintain data storage integrity
• Evolving storage complexity if current architecture is maintained
• New applications considered for deployment
• Requirement to provide Windows clustering
• Interest in considering Thin Provisioning
• Storage spending as a percentage of total IT budget

PTS reviews all of the items above, and more --- we then design the best storage architecture for both near and long term requirements and are able to source, install and manage leading edge storage solutions from companies such as Dell and Hitachi.

Ultimately, Storage Consolidation positively impacts costs associated with managing your IT network in terms of redundancy, disaster recovery, and network management. It also allows for a more secure network, free from wasted assets tied to particular servers or data center components. Finally, the tasks of provisioning, monitoring, reporting, and delivering the right storage services levels can be time consuming and complex and Storage Consolidation will enhance your ability to manage your organization's data storage.