Every organization needs to invest ample time and effort into capacity planning. It’ll help to build and optimize a data center for efficient storage and retrieval of information. Below, we’ve outlined five tips to ensure that your data center is operating to the best of its ability.
IT Functionality
When you are at the outset of the capacity planning process, you should take a look at your IT foundation today as well as what you have in store for the future. An organization’s IT department and its Data Centers are becoming more important to the bottom line as time progresses. It is imperative that you have the right foundation in place with room for future growth and flexibility. While you aren’t sure what the future will bring, you should be able to estimate capacity demand based on your organization’s history.
Select Your Racks Carefully
Before you pull the trigger on the purchase of a server rack, think about how it’ll be incorporated with your current equipment. Consult with your IT personnel on how to measure for server rack installation. Always opt for the rack solutions that maximize the most space and capacity. Also, keep airflow in mind. You should never risk the overheating of equipment just to save a couple hundred dollars. Consider a 42u server rack cabinet or using shelves and drawers that will help manage equipment cables while preserving space.
Security
Consider implementing remote enterprise server management safeguards into your current methods of authentication. Examples of such methods are TACACS+, LDAP and RADIUS. Of critical importance is empowering your IT administrators to make use of local solutions for authentication and convenient and safe access.
Power Use
Data Centers eat up a significant amount of power. Take a look at your power consumption today and try to estimate what you’ll need in the future. You might need extra servers or other hardware and you’ll need power management solutions to support this additional equipment. Think about future blade centers, amperage, high density strips, backup power sources for down time and other possibilities when capacity planning.
Keep Things Cool
Your servers and other equipment produces a massive amount of heat. Consider how much this could possibly increase in the future when capacity planning. Think about whether your organization will best benefit from liquid cooling or ambient air cooling. Many industry experts consider liquid cooling as being more efficient in terms of managing loads and maximizing space.