From 2016 to 2018, Uptime Institute reviewed publicly reported data to track the number of data center outages reported in the media. And just as enterprise computing environments have become increasingly complex, the Uptime Institute findings reveal that the industry now records significant outages almost daily.
The three leading causes—network, IT systems and power failures—all point to a number of familiar, underlying issues, including:
Incorrectly configured routers and software-defined networks
Poorly managed upgrades with insufficient testing at the software level
Incorrect configuration of traffic during maintenance
UPS failures and failures to transfer to secondary systems
Lightning strikes, leading to surges and lost power
Operator errors, turning off or misconfiguring power
The list goes on, but these are a few of the challenges data center engineers and IT teams have been consistently struggling with. So, what can you do to mitigate these problems and prevent outages?
Consider the following:
Before you plan your upgrade, review your applications. There are a number of new networking technologies that can help support the increasing demand for bandwidth.
Assess your physical network, your structure cabling, cable management practices and physical security as part of this process.
Understand the advances in equipment support that can help address your concerns
Combines cabinet-level power management, environmental monitoring and electronic access control
Switching capabilities enable you to remotely turn on, off and recycle power at each outlet and minimizes disruptions by enabling the remote recycling of hung up servers
Secure Array® IP consolidation technology allows you to link up to 32 PDUs under a single IP address using standard Ethernet cables. Adding a second IP address provides failover capability, which allows functioning PDUs to continue communicating if a PDU in the array loses connectivity
Collects and organizes information provided by the eConnect PDUs, logs data, analyzes information and monitors threshold violations, alerting managers and technicians trouble before it causes downtime
Provides remote access to power controls that match eConnect PDU switching and cycling capabilities and cabinet lock
Scales to meet enterprise needs, allowing you to securely keep tabs on all your data centers and labs by monitoring PDUs, CRACs, UPS, RPPs, meters, branch circuits, racks, environment sensors and IT devices—all from a single web browser
Patented advanced cable management system for fiber optic and copper cable that provides unlimited adjustment anywhere within the cable manager
Utilizes an intuitive, extrusion-based, integral track system and modular, highly configurable accessories that minimize operator error
Well-suited for Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications where higher wattages require adequately spaced, smaller cable bundles to avoid excess heat accumulation
In most cases, data center outages can be prevented. Taking a few extra steps early in your planning process can help mitigate the risk of an outage in the long run, and will help you to manage your data center with confidence. To learn more about the data center solutions listed above, visit our Data Center Solutions webpage.
Posted by Brittany Mangan, Digital Content Specialist at 3/22/2019
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