6 Common Data Center Problems and Issues

Park Place Hardware Maintenance


迈克·詹宁斯,产品管理总监的大头照
Michael Jennings April 25, 2022

管理数据中心基础设施可能是一项全天候的工作. 您的利益相关者期望100%的正常运行时间,无论是否合理. Between backups, security, resource utilization, and replacements, 你觉得自己更像消防员而不是系统管理员. 制定一个计划可以减轻你的责任压力.

Identifying and applying data center challenges and solutions in cloud computing and on-prem operations is key to your IT success. 通过考虑以下六个常见的数据中心问题, you prepare yourself to recognize and address these issues before they impact your operations. 我们将首先关注数据中心面临的六大挑战,即:

  1. Data Center Design
  2. Power Supply Failure
  3. Environmental Issues
  4. Networking and Cabling
  5. Security
  6. Management

1. 数据中心设计问题-基础设施和容量规划

Some of the top data center challenges revolve around physical space within a data center. Whether it’s too little space, too much space, or excessive heat due to hardware proximity, poor planning for your data center physical infrastructure can have significant and lasting effects. See the failures of IT infrastructure capacity planning 下面,并探讨如何预防它们!

Insufficient Space for Expansion

足够空间的重要性怎么强调都不为过.

  • Is there room for expansion?
  • 规划条例允许你的中心扩张吗?
  • 环境是否允许数据中心向外扩展?

糟糕的数据中心设计可能会限制数据中心未来的发展. Having to engage in a data center relocation due to unforeseen growth can have a major impact on business continuity and expenses.

illustration of common data center problems

Too Much Space After Equipment Refresh

When consolidating old and new servers, planners need to be aware that while new servers are smaller and have a smaller physical footprint, 较新的十大赌博正规老平台器需要更多的功率,因为它们的能耗更高. There are differences in the demands of virtual servers vs. physical servers 这也会影响到你们工厂的需求.

At the same time, this significantly increases the amount of cooling systems that are required for the equipment refresh. This represents a significant challenge for the thermal footprint of the data center.

数据中心热管理的挑战

Advanced thermal controls must perform a delicate balancing act to achieve proper airflow and temperature by utilizing the available cooling options such as airflow-based, water-based, and refrigerant-based systems.

Locating a data center in a location that has free cooling from cold air and/or cold water, 因此,通常在遥远的北方或遥远的南方, 是否有助于减少数据中心热管理的挑战. Check out what 谷歌在芬兰一家废弃的造纸厂就做到了 利用波罗的海的水来冷却其数据中心.

2. 电源和/或不间断电源(UPS)故障

Power failures and the failure of supposedly uninterruptible power supplies is one of the most common causes of unplanned outages. These failures typically result simply from bad planning and a lack of investment in the necessary UPS equipment.

3. Data Center Environmental Issues

Data centers and their associated servers have power requirements for both operation and thermal management. 这些电力需求转化为能源需求. 数据中心是能源的巨大用户,那么我们从哪里获得这些能源供应呢?

一种选择是将数据中心建在经济实惠的能源附近. From an environmental point-of-view, renewable energy is the obvious long-term candidate. For example, a data center located near a river with significant hydropower production might be preferred to a data center located near a nuclear power station, even if, in the short-term, 核能可能比水力发电便宜. 数据中心的规划应该考虑长期的环境影响.

According to Forbes, globally, data centers now account for 1% of electricity demands and contribute 0.3% of CO2 emissions. Energy efficiency, however, is key. Data center designers need to consider overall energy consumption as well as energy efficiency. There is no sense in designing for low-cost energy only to learn that the energy consumption is minimal or, conversely, that energy is not being used efficiently. Studies show that data center capacity is typically underutilized, yet idle servers still consume energy. 任何来自低成本能源的收益都必须得到有效和高效的利用.

4. 数据中心网络和布线的挑战

数据中心网络存在两个潜在的挑战. 首先是带宽:一个连接可以传输多少数据? Higher bandwidth means better network speed.

The other side of the coin is latency: the measurement of how long it takes for data to travel to its destination. Latency is the delay of the data, 在宏观层面上,哪个是数据必须传输距离的函数.

data center problems with cabling

不管连接的速度如何,数据都必须传输一段距离. 在不同地点之间传输数据需要时间. Networking in a data center relies on speed: fiber optic cables and data traveling a short distance to avoid data center latency issues. Cables between your server, storage, 而且网络设备很快就会变得难以控制, 因此,事先制定一个计划可以防止未来的挑战.

除了距离,网络复杂性也很重要. Network equipment is never 100% efficient as they are constantly prioritizing how packets should be routed. 最短的路线可能并不总是可用的. 数据可能需要通过更多的连接,这增加了延迟. In many cases, network bandwidth monitoring software 能帮你观察你的网络状况并做出相应的反应吗.

5. Data Center Security Issues

有几个常见的数据中心安全挑战, 从物理安全到访问相关问题, such as Denial of Service (DoS). In addition, there are data-related issues, 比如机密信息被盗, data being altered, or the pure loss of data. IBM’s recent study of data breaches 超过一半(52%)的数据泄露是由恶意攻击造成的, with the breakdown of root causes being:

  1. Compromised Credentials
  2. Phishing
  3. Cloud Misconfiguration
  4. Vulnerability in Third-party Software
  5. Physical Security Compromise

These threats, however, are no longer the costliest malicious data breaches, as of 2021. Business Email Compromise now tops the list, from an average cost point-of-view, 紧随其后的是网络钓鱼和恶意内幕.

6. Data Center Management Issues

数据中心的管理具有挑战性. The highest priority is identifying and eliminating risk from the operation of the data center, with the goal of achieving high reliability of critical systems and providing high availability to customers. A key technique to address data center management issues is to take a calculated approach to 数据中心基础设施管理(DCIM).

解决常见数据中心挑战的技术人员

DCIM通常监视、测量、管理和控制数据中心的:

  • 设备,如十大赌博正规老平台器、存储和网络
  • 电力分配和冷却系统等基础设施

The goal of DCIM is to allow a holistic view of a data center’s performance in terms of floor space, equipment, and power/energy, 以及分析与这些标准相关的数据. DCIM应该允许设施确定它们的运行效率.

Real-time Network Monitoring and Reporting

DCIM的一个重要方面是正确地监视和测量网络运行. As stated previously, there are numerous challenges to be addressed in data center networking and cabling, from the bandwidth between critical systems to the latency involved in the networking. Thus, DCIM requires a real-time view of the network to ensure that proper reporting and analysis can be done to identify and fix any potential bottlenecks.

Operation-side monitoring and client-side monitoring can be a different challenge altogether. 您可能会遇到并非源自数据中心内部的客户端问题, 但是DCIM工具不一定能帮助您确定真正的故障在哪里. Clients can leverage network monitoring software 以便更全面地了解他们的整个网络.

Optimizing Performance

高效的数据中心管理意味着优化性能. For data centers, this means doing more with less, while at the same time ensuring availability, Uptime, and reliability. 优化的一个关键组成部分是电力使用. 数据中心在其总功率需求方面的效率如何?

性能还与计算使用有关:有效地管理工作负载, and cooling efficiency. 优化良好的数据中心通常更可靠, 为客户提供额外的性能提升.

Reducing CAPEX and OPEX

Organizations that are operating their own data centers are making capital expenditure investments with associated upfront costs as well as recurring upgrade costs. A typical CapEx approach is focusing resources on non-core business of the organization. Third party IT hardware maintenance can effectively delay the need for equipment refreshes while saving 30-40% compared to OEM support contracts.

The alternatives are co-located and Cloud-based data centers with controllable operating expenses (OpEx). OpEx allows greater flexibility. Remote hands in data centers can also be used to reduce the cost of colocation ops while maintaining a reasonable level of control over your network.

在面向资本支出和面向运营支出的方法中, organizations need to optimize their usage of resources so that they are only paying for what they really need.

与合适的合作伙伴一起克服持续存在的数据中心挑战

Comprehensive data center and networking optimization can be difficult to achieve using several different vendors. Park Place Technologies提供硬件维护, infrastructure managed services, network monitoring and management, and data center hardware sales from a single source!

Contact us today to learn how you can get seamless support and tackle common data center problems with a trusted partner.

迈克·詹宁斯,产品管理总监的大头照

About the Author

Michael Jennings,高级产品经理,负责产品管理
Mike's primary role is to maintain and execute the product support roadmap and roll-out strategy for Complex-Enterprise Server third-party Hardware and Software maintenance for Park Place Technologies.