Before Choosing a Colocation Facility
In the jet age communication and data access are two most important factors for business operations. Email, messaging websites and servers have to be up 24x7 and they should be protected for business communication to function. Specially Data Centers which have servers with mission critical information. Most important are company databases and servers, which should be kept up at any cost. Important factors in a colocation facility are:
Redundant Systems
Systems used in colocation servers hould be redundant and at every point of working they should have proper capacity. Many people get confused with multiple units considering them as redundancy. Ideal configuration for systems used in colocation facilities should be n+1, which means that if there are two units they should run at 50% capacity, and in any case if one fails other will handle the load. Same if there are three units working capacity should be 66%.
Best Connectivity
Major points which decides the Internet Connectivity of a colocation services are as follows:
- Total Bandwidth available for usage
- Accessible Internet backbones
- Uptime guarantee
- Packet loss, jitter and Latency
Carrier-neutral access and Tier -1 carriers, tier-2 carriers all get access to internet using Colocation data centers. Carrier-neutral can be used by any service from any carrier but customers are requested to configure their own routing. Also customers are should maintain their own connections to Internet backbones. Tier-1 is used by Internet giants like AT&T for direct access. Tier-2 is used for routing traffic amongst the multiple Tier-1 providers. In these kind of tiers speed and reliability depends on how effectively traffic is routed. Tier-2 is preferred by most of the clients since routing is configured by the Colocation facility. Also it is more reliable because of the presence of backbones, these backbones network performance and uptime.
Control on Climate
Design of the Colocation Services India itself affects the performance of the systems used in the colocation facility. Air flow between rack rows should be controlled by the server rooms. Hot air generated due to the heat produced by the servers should be blown in one direction and cool air to keep the servers cool should exit from another direction. Only dedicated hot and cols air flow can save the servers from overheating and finally burning down. Cold sir and humidity is controlled by correctly sized and redundant climate control units. As we all know climate requirements for the server are strict and they only work properly when they are installed under suitable working environment. Servers need 50% humidity and 70 degrees of temperature. Both CRAC units and chillers for the server rooms should be included in a Colocation facility. Cooling capacity is calculated by total tonnage by the square footage.
Power Required
Power to the colocation is like oxygen to the humans, if it fails to perform then you are in deep trouble. UPS and generators should be used for backup and they are necessary to keep the network online. UPS are used when power is shifted from regular to the generators. Generators should be there 24X7 for immediate backup power. Power system of a colocation facility should be properly working and should have following features for perfection:
- Redundant and multiple UPS because of the reason UPS fails very oftenly.
- Generator which can handle at least 1.5 time the total building load
Equal Distribution of Traffic
Both hardware and logic of distribution has an important effect on connectivity. The way traffic is divided plays an important role in the performance of routing. If your distribution covers three below given points than it is perfect:
- In order to continually adjusting routes to find the most effective one Performance based distribution is should be used. Performance based concentrates on performance rather then price.
- Switches and routers should be redundant and be working on full working for the customers.
- Distributions should be done between more than 4-5 clients.
Enjoying Virtualization
For most of the people server virtualization sounds something complex, but if you will go through it you will find it much more easier. Virtualization is considered as one of the mainstream technology and it is the popular solution for data center management for every type of company. Understanding the basics server virtualization allows you to run multiple guest operating systems which can be either same or different on a host operating system on a physical server. Operating systems are divided in order to reside each application on its own virtual machines or virtual server on the hardware platform. Benefits associated with virtualization are endless and it is specially very much good for small business. Most important benefit is lowering the cost for the owner and it also includes many smaller benefits like:
- Improve physical space in Data center and also reduce server sprawl.
- Hardware maintenance cost is reduced since number of physical servers are also reduced.
- Speed up the network thus making provision for new services.
- Performance and resource utilization is improved.
- Applications are quickly developed and organized and downtime is avoided due to maintenance windows.
- Flawlessly mange and scale the infrastructure based on various industrial demands.
There are many software which helps in organizing server virtualization. Some of the most famous and most conveniently applied virtualization servers are:
Windows Virtual Server
Windows virtual server is loved by those who only want to have Microsoft type of environment, using Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating systems. There are two versions provided by Microsoft for its Windows Virtual Server 2005 Standard and Enterprise Edition. Enterprise Edition supports can host a server with as much as 32 processors. Standard on the other hand support server with only 4 processors. The enterprise edition can be downloaded free of charge.
XenSource
It is launched almost three years ago. XenSource is based on a open source project sponsored by Linux and known as Xen. It is a good option for those who like open source products then proprietary ones. XenSource proved itself in cost effectiveness but it still has to prove itself in quality service.
VMWare
It is the leading software of the virtualization process. Launched in 1998 it was VMWare which bought virtualization to the mainstream through X86 computing platform. There are option for everyone from small to big business and at the wide range of price points. Features of VMWare are never ending and it benefit’s the host for every server environment.
