Tips For Protecting The Roomless Data Center

Carmi Levy

9/9/2009

Although only IT shops with sufficient budget and maturity can justify or afford the raised-floor, controlled-access, environmentally controlled facility most associated with the term “data center,” those companies stashing their servers and switches in broom closets and under the receptionist’s desk may want to think twice. Data centers take on many forms, and ignoring the need to secure your equipment in some way can eventually become a costly mistake.

“In a technology-enabled business environment, sloppy or inadequate physical protection of the data environment is equivalent to leaving your office door unlocked at night,” says Lynda Stadtmueller, senior research analyst on Frost & Sullivan’s business and communications services research team. “Your company’s most valuable intellectual property—from customer and supplier lists to financial data to product and manufacturing information—is stored and managed in electronic form. To fail to limit access to the machines that house your data is to risk loss or compromise of all that data.”

Understand The Impact

Stadtmueller says companies weighing the risks of a wide open status quo must do so in business terms.

“The risks of sloppy physical security are as great as losing crucial business records, running afoul of regulations, and driving away customers and suppliers,” she says. “The rewards of doing it right are that you can continue to run your business efficiently.”

Mark Kadrich shares the sentiment. Kadrich, CEO of The Security Consortium (www.thesecurityconsortium.net) and author of “End Point Security,” says physical security is an absolute cornerstone of business security.

“The option of ‘anything goes’ is a non-starter unless the servers contain useless data that have no real impact on your business,” Kadrich says. “In an open configuration, the security issues are impossible to overcome. Any security professional will tell you that if he can get his hands on the system, then all secrets that the system holds are his.”

Putting servers into a controlled environment where IT can control physical access to them is a critical first step to ensuring functionality and security, Kadrich says.

“You are thus able to control the configuration of these systems and to ensure that digital security controls, such as firewalls, antivirus, and intrusion detection software, are installed and functional,” he says. “Furthermore, if the company has regulatory requirements—and most do these days—this approach is a must-have.”

Sharing Power With The Coffee Maker

Some risks of installing servers and related network infrastructure in a non-secure environment are inadvertent. Carl Cottuli, vice president of product development and services for Wright Line (www.wrightline.com), says the outcome can be devastating.

“A piece of critical IT equipment in an open environment may lose power because someone plugged in the office Christmas lights onto the same outlet as the server,” Cottuli says. “Or an uninformed employee turns up the heat in winter or adds a space heater that is in proximity to the IT equipment. This causes the IT equipment to overheat and permanently damages it, making recovery time much longer than using a separate plug for the space heater.”

With the Uptime Institute reporting human error as the leading cause of data downtime, Cottuli says putting as much distance as possible between employees and equipment is an effective place to start. When a dedicated space just isn’t possible, secure closets and racks, plugged into unique power and network connections, can keep critical equipment away from prying hands. More advanced units incorporate sound control and cooling into the chassis to limit the impact on surrounding employees.

Avoid Going It Alone

Frost & Sullivan’s Stadtmueller says in many cases, organizations play fast and loose with centralized network infrastructure because they lack either the budget or the expertise, as the in-house IT expert is rarely also a security guru. In most cases, she recommends looking elsewhere for answers.

“The answer is not to compromise on security,” she says. “Instead, the solution in this case is to outsource the infrastructure altogether to a third-party provider. While this is a trend that’s been gaining popularity across all market segments, it’s an option especially well-suited to SMBs.”

She outlines the outsourcing value proposition as follows:

• Lower cost. Outsourcing something as small as a four-server data environment can cost 50% less than an onsite buildout because equipment and supporting infrastructure costs are leveraged across the service provider’s client base.

• Operating vs. capital budget. It’s often easier to get approval for and to manage monthly operating costs than to commit to a capital investment.

• Scalability. Shared environments can be expanded more flexibly and cost effectively as business-driven data requirements evolve.

• Better facility. Few SMEs could afford to build a facility to the Tier 3 or Tier 4 security, access, backup, and failover specifications typically found in shared data centers.

Frank Shannon, vice president of client services with UbiStor (www.ubistor.com), agrees the answer often lies in outsourced solutions, where virtualization is extending the cost benefits for SMEs. But he warns against selecting providers whose facilities fall below acceptable standards for technology, security, and business continuity.

“Trying to reduce costs further by transitioning important business systems to a lesser environment brings with it a whole set of new potential problems and risks nowhere near commensurate with the cost savings,” Shannon says.
Article by Carmi Levy for

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Tips For Protecting The Roomless Data Center

Carmi Levy

9/9/2009

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Tips For Protecting The Roomless Data Center

Carmi Levy

9/9/2009

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