Datacenter stability is one of the main factors contributing to agility and efficiency in the company’s operations. Faced with a market as challenging and constantly changing as the current one, maintaining competitiveness has been increasingly tricky, leading managers to evaluate new strategic solutions, starting with the IT sector.
This means, firstly, changing the attitude about reactive measures and starting to act in a preventive sense. With stability in data center operations, managers spend less time “putting out fires” and begin to dedicate themselves more to improvement implementation projects, such as new tools and resources or optimizing existing ones.
Best practices range from simple incident monitoring to more complex tasks like mapping network connections and removing underutilized servers.
But not only that. You must act like a true general to ensure the data center never fails. That doesn’t mean it’s difficult, but you must adopt specific strategies to make it work. The main ones we list are below. Ready to get started? So follow along!
Maintain Redundant Power Grids
A well-equipped data center consumes a lot of energy. Each server can present different consumption patterns at some point, depending on its use, which can lead to an overload of the electrical network and the tripping of circuit breakers, paralyzing the entire company.
To prevent this from happening, install one or more supplementary power grids to power the data center. It can act together with the main one, sharing the load and increasing the energy potential of the infrastructure.
Also, have a third solution for power failure cases. A generator that runs on diesel oil must support the operation of servers and other computer equipment for a sufficient period until the supply is restored.
Maintain Redundant Internet Networks
And it’s more than the power the data center needs for high availability. Even if the company maintains some servers isolated from the worldwide network, it will require a connection to the outside world, mainly to streamline the processes of various departments. This makes the internet fundamental in the process. But what about when it falls?
Many companies base their business on the internet, making it indispensable. The problem is that controlling this resource, like energy, always needs strategies to succeed. The way is to hire another internet provider (telecom), but this time, from a different company. If one has problems, you can rely on the other.
Monitor Data Center Health
Many IT managers need a more regular strategic routine of monitoring the activities recorded on the servers, which can keep the data center’s stability in check. The task can be tricky without the right tools and resources, so start adopting them.
IT infrastructure monitoring tools will provide insight into server capacity usage, network bottlenecks, unauthorized access attempts, and much more. With a device of this level, it will be easier to implement an efficient, standardized monitoring routine.
Adopt Strong Security Policies
Unauthorized access by people to company information is among the factors that can compromise the proper functioning of the data center. In addition to hackers, someone with malicious intent within the company can invade the system and cause significant inconvenience, such as stealing sensitive data, changing and deleting business information, etc.
This requires a holistic view when defining security strategies. The main ones should be:
- Use encryption of passwords and company data to make them unreadable if corrupted;
- Install corporate antivirus and configure the firewall to reinforce security against external intrusions;
- Make everyone responsible for the secrecy and due care with their passwords to access the systems;
- Require managers and employees to create strong passwords and make periodic changes.
Have A Disaster Recovery Plan
In the face of human failures, system intrusions, accidents, and natural disasters, a recovery plan is more than essential and mandatory. Can you imagine losing all the information and systems in your data center and not having a copy of them? That would mean starting the business from scratch. So, don’t leave your company vulnerable to these risks.
Previously, having a disaster recovery plan was too expensive, as it was necessary to duplicate the infrastructure and place it in a second data center. However, thanks to advances in technology and software manufacturers, nowadays, what we call DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) already exists. A cloud data and systems recovery service at an infinitely lower price.
Once deployed, it can be programmed to regularly and automatically back up your entire data center, storing the copy in a different data center and replicating it to backup servers. All with a lot of security in the process, and especially with a start time of minutes in case your primary data center suffers a failure.
Achieve Stability With A Cloud Data Center
Many companies are migrating their IT infrastructures to the cloud to add competitive strength to the business. After all, the advantages provided are many. See the main ones below:
- Auxiliary servers prevent the system from going offline in the face of a problem or during maintenance and updates to the central server;
- Implementation of improvements, such as new features, tools, and functionalities, are carried out without having to paralyze the system;
- Provides scalability to meet seasonal demands (expansion and retraction), paying only for the spaces and resources you use;
- reduces the need for investments in acquisitions, maintenance, and updates of software and hardware;
- adds mobility to the company’s operational and managerial activities;
- neutralizes the risks of data loss due to local accidents;
- Reduces costs with infrastructure and physical spaces.
Even if you have a complete and highly qualified IT team, it is essential to have the support of a company specialized in the data center to put these tips into practice. The result will be an exchange of knowledge and experience and a robust and efficient IT infrastructure. Do this and achieve the data center stability you’ve been dreaming of.
ALSO READ: Cybersecurity: After The Attack, The Complex Reconstruction
