Data Center Life Cycle Management: Virtualization & Security

Introduction

In essence, a data center can be described as a computer system's "most important and vulnerable component." In simple terms, a data center is a physical area that houses and contains computer networks and critical data systems. These can also include, among other things, backup power supplies, air conditioning, and security applications, as well as large amounts of valuable data.

A more comprehensive definition is as follows: "A data center (sometimes spelled datacenter) is a centralized repository, either physical or virtual, for the storage, management, and dissemination of data and information organized around a particular body of knowledge or pertaining to a particular business."

An obvious example of a data center is a bank where a mainframe contains customer accounts, information, and other related data. A more complex example is the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), a public data center that is the largest source of weather information in existence.

In discussing the life cycle of a data center, one must take into account not only the present issues surrounding the data center life cycle, but also the challenges that face data center management now and in the future. These challenges include virtualization, cloud computing, and the difficulty of achieving scalability in an IT and business environment increasingly characterized by accelerating data volumes and heightened customer demands for access and personalization.

The nature of modern communications and commerce has therefore necessitated concomitant advances in the design and management of modern data centers. This paper provides an overview of the life cycle of a data center, exploring issues and possibilities that could lead to improved management of these centers. The IT and business context is an all-important component of this discussion, which encompasses virtualization, scalability, backup, and security, among other topics.

In recent years there has been a resurgence in the use of data centers throughout the world. The central reason for this resurgence can be ascribed to the rapid growth of data centers and new demands on their capabilities. A number of business and technological factors have also been instrumental in this increased interest. Among these factors are the following: post-recession budget constraints are finally easing, and clustering technology, high-density servers, and virtualization have led to a tenfold increase in power requirements.

Overview of the Modern Data Center

Furthermore, as one commentator notes, "Companies are starting to run IT like a business, and businesses are more IT dependent than ever before because of the transactional, web-based, 24x7, global economy." This view encompasses the fact that many companies with large client and customer bases have begun to realize the possibilities for cost savings that well-run and virtualized data centers can offer. Management is also becoming a more critical factor, as growing government demands on data centers now encompass compliance, archiving, data management, and security.

With this increase in the use and importance of data centers has come an increase in the number of problems and issues that must be addressed. This in turn influences the management and operation of these centers and is particularly relevant to the discussion of the data center life cycle. Practical issues such as heat dissipation have become a growing concern for managers, as has the ubiquitous problem of security. Security will be explored in greater detail in later sections of this paper.

There are a number of other issues particularly pertinent to the management and life cycle of a modern data center. While increased access to better and faster bandwidth has been a positive factor in the development of data communications, it also adds another layer of complexity to managing and developing data centers. This increase in complexity has repercussions for the meaning of the data center life cycle, as well as for its efficient and effective management.

Another factor impacting the contemporary view of the data center is that usable, surplus data center space is now all but gone. This places the onus of modern data center management on the redevelopment and streamlining of available space to meet new demands. The environmental impact of data centers and the rise of green computing are also factors that must be taken into consideration.

While the concept of the data center and its management has already been briefly introduced, it is useful at this point to provide a clear description of what is commonly meant by the terms "data center life cycle" and "data center management," as well as the link between management and the life cycle.

In an article entitled "Life Cycle Management in the Data Center" (2010), the author demystifies the concept of life cycle management. This study is useful for understanding the significance of the data center life cycle and how that understanding can be used to improve quality and efficiency. Life cycle management is summarized as follows:

...the sequence of events in the life of a product, facility, etc. In terms of data centers, life cycle management most commonly is used for the facilities themselves, for the different applications which run on machines, and for the data stored. Basically, life cycle management of an activity encompasses it from start to end. In the case of facilities, this means the phases of design, construction, deployment, and relocation. (Stoyanova, 2008)

In other words, the life cycle of a data center includes design and construction, deployment, and eventual relocation driven by factors such as size and capacity. This cycle also typically includes strategic analysis and planning, design, building and commissioning of the center, and critical analysis and evaluation.

Life Cycle Phases and Definitions

What is clear from the literature is that, given changing and variable demands on the modern data center, life cycle management solutions become essential because they ease the difficulty of dealing with large amounts of information by contributing to the automation of the process (Stoyanova, 2008). As Stoyanova (2008) states, "Without a reliable life cycle management solution, which ideally manages the life cycle of the data center as a whole, or at least its separate components including applications, your life as a data center manager will be much harder."

Many studies emphasize certain cardinal phases of the life cycle: analysis and planning, design, build and commission, relocation, and periodic data center evaluation. The emphasis on adaptation is a consideration that runs through both the life cycle and the management of the data center.

Analysis of current and possible future needs of a data center is therefore vital. Analysis and planning refers to "an analysis of an organization's current and future data center needs, including an accurate inventory of the computing and network infrastructure, application mapping, and a roadmap of projected future" requirements. In this phase, information obtained from planning and analysis is compared to the present physical infrastructure and other variables—such as IT and client needs, budget constraints, and other potentially limiting factors. A clear vision of objectives for the present and future of the center should be established at this stage.

Design and building are obvious and crucial aspects that depend on the initial analysis and planning phase. One must always account for the fact that data centers will often need to expand. This can be accommodated through a modular design and building approach, meaning that additions for future growth can be constructed as required.

Relocation is an important part of the life cycle and involves considerations such as the migration of data, which must also take into account customer and client needs within the managerial function. A data center must also undergo periodic evaluations throughout its life cycle. This is necessary to incorporate updates reflecting data growth and also serves as "an early warning for future changes to the data center that will be required."

Increased demand from the public and private sectors and from the growth of business and communications initiatives has placed a great deal of emphasis on the effective and efficient management of the contemporary data center. This refers to the exponential growth in the requirements of new IT infrastructures needed to drive mission-critical operations. As a number of studies note, there are a wide array of reasons for the contemporary importance of the data center.

A central reason is that recent business trends such as globalization, governance issues, and heightened security concerns, along with rapid technology changes, are placing increasing demands on IT infrastructures, accompanied by a concomitant increase in IT expenditure (MacKinnon, 2008). As a result, there is a growing need for new and more scalable data centers that are also more cost-effective. These demands are straining the present design and structure of data centers as well as the managerial expertise required to run them. Consequently:

IT and facilities personnel must work in tandem with the business stakeholders they support to ensure the complex tasks of data center planning, design, relocation, and construction have the flexibility to reflect companies' ongoing and future needs while remaining cost-effective. (MacKinnon, 2008)

Conclusion

The life cycle of a data center in the context of modern computing and an increasingly virtual business world has become extremely complex and subject to a wide array of variables. On the one hand, the information revolution has added greater access and richness to data collection and storage; on the other hand, it has also added greater layers of complexity to the data life cycle and management process.