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Data center metrics and standards guide
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Article
Making sense of data center metrics
One of the most common questions people ask about performance dashboards is, "How do we define effective data center metrics?" The answer is important because the metrics govern how employees do their jobs. Read Now
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Article
How to stick with metrics for SLAs
Service-level agreements provide users with guarantees of application availability. Data center managers often must write accurate and strict SLAs. Read Now
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Article
Better data center performance reviews
These new IT metrics should fill the gaps in your data center performance tracking, leading to improved operations. Read Now
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Article
Uptime creates assessment for efficiency
Uptime Institute Inc. is commonly associated with reliability, but the organization introduces a data center metric related to IT efficiency. Read Now
Editor's note
By clearly defining metrics, a business can increase its productivity; if metrics are unorganized or poorly defined, a company can begin to slide toward chaos.
Employees can become frustrated because their tasks and goals are not clearly defined for them, which hurt their job satisfaction and affect how a data center is run.
Because the data center is the hub for the entire business, making sure to clearly define data center metrics must be a priority for every manager. Whether the goal is to make your data center green, more resilient or higher density, metrics and standards shape the action plan and provide insights into improvements. This guide will set you on the right path.
1Data center standards bodies
Data center standards cover diverse areas from uptime and reliability to energy efficiency and power consumption levels. Choose the standards to follow that make sense for your IT requirements, business goals and current data center operations, as well as any regulations with which the company must comply.
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Data center standards
With a slew of standards updates and regulation changes, all your free time could be spent pouring over documentation. In an attempt to shorten the curve and provide information on impact, we offer you this quick primer. Read Now
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Appraising your data center design
Learn the right and wrong ways to approach data center design, to end up with a facility that meets your needs at the outset and over time. Read Now
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TIA-942: Cookie cutter or cost cutter?
The TIA-942 standard, titled Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers, covers everything from site selection to rack mounting methods. Read Now
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Article
Fire safety standards NFPA 75,76 change for data centers
To reduce data center energy consumption and fight hot spots, many facilities use aisle containment. That requires a new look at fire suppression. Read Now
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Should you follow Open-IX certification standards?
The Open-IX standard relies on self-declared certification and annual renewal. OIX-2 for data centers covers physical and operational requirements. Read Now
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Uptime Institute warns against tier standard misuse
Data center executives and Uptime Institute directors say the IT community is misappropriating Uptime's tier classification system for data center performance. Read Now
2Energy consumption tracking
It's no small feat to make the data center green, as this is often the largest consumer of energy in the company. It also must adhere to high uptime requirements, which means things like diesel backup generators and redundant power. But there are ways to lower data center energy consumption and reduce waste.
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Using Uptime specs to assess power and cooling
A gradual approach to better data center power and cooling utilization can reduce energy demand based on educated decisions from metric tracking. Read Now
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Article
Let the temperature increase
The ASHRAE recommendations for server inlet air temperature have increased, up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit in some cases, but many data centers still operate much colder. Do you need to? Read Now
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Article
Water concerns rising in data center field
Data centers must support IT demand in arid climates, locations with insecure water and in industries that demand ecofriendly operations. Some industry members want to change how data centers consume water. Read Now
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Data center goes green for energy savings
IT doesn't do "green." Hardware refresh cycles are constantly shrinking, sending tons of server flotsam into the waste stream. Equipment is packed so densely that companies are requiring hundreds of watts per square foot in their facilities. Read Now
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Video
How Facebook does PUE
Facebook's data centers target low power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratios, and the Web-scale IT company keeps a close eye on its data center metrics. Watch Now
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Article
Should data center designers and operators use CEEDA?
CEEDA is an energy-efficiency certification that some data center companies are using in their facility plans. Read Now