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Bring yourself up to speed with our introductory content.
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Bring yourself up to speed with our introductory content.
What to expect from application performance monitoring tools
Performance monitoring tools preemptively thwart run-the-business application problems, but only when you have the right APM tool for the job. Continue Reading
Find the right data center support for any IT organization
Most of the IT budget goes to maintaining the data center hardware and software. Consider outsourcing for better support. Continue Reading
Nano server innovation extends beyond the data center
What's the difference between a nano server and a PC? Timing. Continue Reading
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What is the result of a CPU bottleneck on the I/O process?
What's the impact on I/O when you run in a CPU-constrained mainframe environment? Continue Reading
Words to go: Data center design standards bodies
Need a handy reference sheet of the various data center standards organizations? Keep this list by your desk as a reference. Continue Reading
moves, adds and changes (MAC)
Moves, adds and changes (MAC) keep computing equipment in line with user needs and up-to-date, with disciplined process management.Continue Reading
Identify risky data center providers before it's too late
These tips from a data center design expert will keep you from partnering with an inadequate cloud hosting or colocation provider.Continue Reading
Take data center efficiency to the max on three-phase power
Three-phase circuits provide considerably more power efficiency to data center equipment, but phase balancing can trip up deployments.Continue Reading
Master Linux service management on System V and systemd
Managing services on Linux is an essential task for administrators. Learn to work with either System V or systemd.Continue Reading
baffle (data center hot aisle containment)
Baffle paneling covers unwanted space between racks, under the raised floor and above dropped ceilings in the data center, reducing energy consumption and power use.Continue Reading
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Pair up NFV and SDN with physical networking for standardization
For an adaptable, modern network, combine SDN and NFV to tackle traditional flaws. Together, they fully integrate network components.Continue Reading
Must-know x86 processor features of 2015
Processor design philosophies are changing, and new instruction sets are adding speed and security so long as the software on top knows to take advantage.Continue Reading
hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) clean agent
Data centers and telecom rooms use hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) clean agent systems for fire protection to avoid damaging electrical and electronic equipment.Continue Reading
Eight data center technologies to test in the new year
As the hype from 2014 dissipates, the new year rings in hot new technologies. IoE, hybrid clouds and other tech innovations make the data center run more efficiently.Continue Reading
This data center cost calculator keeps you on budget
Calculating every data center expense can be challenging, but with the right spreadsheet -- and formulas -- you will accurately assess the total cost.Continue Reading
Vulnerability scanner tools in the data center
If you're wondering whether to use a software- or hardware-based network vulnerability scanner, take a look at your budget and network deployment.Continue Reading
Yet another Setup Tool (YaST)
YaST handles much of the administration load, offers a simple graphical interface and sets up setting system parameters easily.Continue Reading
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Following specific standards, EDI is a way for businesses to securely transfer important data, such as invoices and purchase orders, via the Internet.Continue Reading
Top technological trends hitting the data center soon
Gartner experts predict this list of hot technological trends for 2015 and beyond will get data center managers into strategic planning huddles.Continue Reading
Server form factors: A guide to rackmount, blade servers and more
Which type of server is right for you? The data center's budget, technology and reliability will steer you toward rackmount or blade servers.Continue Reading
Liquid immersion cooling relief for ultra-dense data centers
Direct liquid immersion cools servers and paves the way for the next generation of ultra-dense systems. It's not air, and it's not water -- the future is oil.Continue Reading
Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE)
Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) is a metric used to determine the energy efficiency of a data center. The metric, which is expressed as a percentage, is calculated by dividing IT equipment power by total facility power.Continue Reading
What's the best data center network topology?
You need to know these most common data center network topologies, and check out a host of alternative topologies waiting in the wings.Continue Reading
load bank
A load bank is a device that generates a prescribed amount of electricity draw to test the reliability of electrical switching, generator output, uninterruptable power supply (UPS) systems and cooling in a data center.Continue Reading
IBM System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP)
The IBM System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP) is a specialty engine that provides a performance environment for Web-based apps and service-oriented architecture-based technologies, e.g. XML and Java.Continue Reading
wetware
Wetware refers to programmers, developers, systems administrators, cloud and IT architects and other employees that directly affect how servers, applications, networks and the rest of an IT system functions.Continue Reading
Facebook servers and cold storage in action
Facebook opened up its hyperscale data center in North Carolina for a look at its Open Compute Project servers, cold storage facility and floral conservation area.Continue Reading
A mainframe refresher quiz
Make sure you know what is significant about the mainframe. Take this quiz to find out what you should brush up on.Continue Reading
IBM Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL)
The Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) is a specialty engine processor on IBM System z mainframe servers that is dedicated to Linux workloads. Operational efforts, software costs, energy use and hardware footprint are reduced when Linux is deployed...Continue Reading
IBM System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP)
IBM's System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) is a specialty offload engine that helps improve computing performance for a subset of mainframe workloads.Continue Reading
A flexible data center layout made for the new standard
Data centers aren't the center of the IT universe anymore. With plenty of resources for hosting dynamic workloads -- cloud, colocation, as a service, or data center -- the on-premises facility layout must become equally flexible.Continue Reading
How to stop an SSH server from kicking you off the connection
SSH connection inconveniences can make remote server management a pain. Here's what do when your SSH server frequently disconnects.Continue Reading
access layer
The access layer is where host computers and end users connect to the network.Continue Reading
Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL)
The Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) is a grade assigned to an IT product or system after completing a Common Criteria security evaluation.Continue Reading
A few ways to configure Linux firewalld
The method for configuring Linux servers' firewalls changed with RHEL 7 and other new distributions. Learn how to set up firewalld, and what to avoid.Continue Reading
Why Facebook and the NSA love graph databases
Graph databases play six degrees of separation to find real connections. See how IT teams can use the database approach for businesses.Continue Reading
Net-SNMP (Net Simple Network Management Protocol)
Net-SNMP is a set of tools and libraries for implementing the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) on enterprise networks.Continue Reading
What's the best Linux OS for your enterprise data center?
With several updates to supported Linux OSes, how do you know which to run in your data center? This guide will help you make an informed decision.Continue Reading
Get comfortable with an adiabatic cooling system in the data center
Is your data center in a hot climate? Rather than fight the environment with CRACs, take advantage of it with an adiabatic cooling system.Continue Reading
How to choose a micro data center in rugged locations
Rather than a big container setup, the micro data center fits a whole compute system onto 23U, with fire and climate protection built in.Continue Reading
Colocated data centers uncut: Avoid these costly errors
Is a colocated data center in your future? When a rip-and-replace is out of the question, prepare for colocation, but plan accordingly.Continue Reading
building management system
Building management system (BMS) is a computer system that tracks power used by IT equipment and air conditioning systems in the data center.Continue Reading
New administrators' primer: Linux vi commands
New Linux administrators will need to master a core cadre of vi (or vim) text editor commands. Start with the basics, then explore other vi commands.Continue Reading
How silicon photonics is helping to reshape servers and racks
Optical interconnects turn server designs inside out. The use of silicon photonics will send optical signals on a long-distance journey without loss.Continue Reading
Linux stream
A Linux stream is information traveling in a Linux shell from one process to another via a pipe, or from one file to another via a redirect.Continue Reading
Unix command line quiz
Do you know how to move a file or get a list of current users from your Unix servers? Take our Unix quiz on essential commands for system admins.Continue Reading
Management and Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval
The Management and Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval from the Uptime Institute is a certification of the critical facilities and management operations procedures of a data center.Continue Reading
Basic Linux commands for new Linux server administrators
To manage Linux servers, administrators need a set of basic commands to view and start processes, as well as utilities that make life a little easier.Continue Reading
Getting Windows admins started with Linux server distros
Windows administrators often find themselves with a few Linux servers to manage. Learning the basics of Linux distributions will make it easier.Continue Reading
How outdated practices harm data center grounding systems
Isolated grounds are a solution lacking a problem. In fact, isolated grounds create problems for data center cabinet power and add expense all around.Continue Reading
Creating a reliable and fast SAN network design with iSCSI
There are three tenets of designing an iSCSI network correctly. Proper iSCSI deployment yields affordable and reliable network access for the SAN.Continue Reading
power distribution unit (PDU)
A power distribution unit is a device for controlling electrical power in a data center. Floor and rack-mounted PDUs can provide data for power usage effectiveness (PUE) calculations.Continue Reading
Building blocks of converged infrastructures
The unifying theme of unified computing is vendor lock-in: one vendor for all or most components. But what are those pieces and what are your options?Continue Reading
Linux kernel panic
Linux kernel panic occurs when the operating system discovers a potentially fatal error that affects the Linux kernel.Continue Reading
Data center network design moves from tree to leaf
Leaf-spine designs are pushing out the hierarchical tree data center networking model, thanks to the popularity of Ethernet fabric networks.Continue Reading
Reintroducing the RISC processor for data center servers
Will energy and processing efficiencies in RISC processors be enough to oust x86 chips from servers, or will RISC stay stuck in a niche?Continue Reading
Modern processor design means integration, efficiency
The quest for improved integration, energy efficiency and performance is taking processor designs in new directions.Continue Reading
Open Compute Project
The Open Compute Project is an initiative started by Facebook to share efficient server and data center designs with the general IT industry.Continue Reading
Kyoto cooling (Kyoto wheel)
KyotoCooling is an energy-efficient free cooling system for data centers. Kyoto cooling uses outside air to remove the heat created by computing equipment instead of using mechanical refrigeration.Continue Reading
Linux swappiness
Linux swappiness is the rate at which a Linux platform's kernel moves pages into and out of active memory.Continue Reading
carbon usage effectiveness (CUE)
Carbon usage effectiveness (CUE) is a metric developed by The Green Grid to help organizations measure the amount of carbon used -- or carbon footprint -- in the daily operations of their data centers.Continue Reading
multi-core processor
A multi-core processor is an integrated circuit (IC) to which two or more processors have been attached for enhanced performance, reduced power consumption, and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks.Continue Reading
WUE (water usage effectiveness)
WUE (water usage effectiveness) is a metric developed by The Green Grid nonprofit consortium to help data centers measure how much water a facility uses for cooling and other building needs.Continue Reading
Open Rack
The Open Rack specification is an open standard for server racks designed to integrate with other parts of Facebook's Open Compute Project (OCP).Continue Reading
Open Vault
Open Vault is an open-source storage specification created by Facebook and the Open Compute Project (OCP).Continue Reading
Bloom Energy Server (Bloom box)
A Bloom Box, officially known as an Bloom Energy Server, is a modular stack of solid oxide fuel cells that can produce electricity.Continue Reading
Quiz: New methods for cooling data centers
Think you know everything about cooling data centers? Test your knowledge by taking this quiz on modern cooling techniques.Continue Reading
kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a free, open source virtualization architecture for Linux distributions.Continue Reading
Quiz: The ins and outs of data center colocation services
Data center colocation services allow businesses to expand computing power without a new building. This quiz will test your colocation knowledge.Continue Reading
How much do you know about 'big data' infrastructure?
Take this quiz to see if your data center's 'big data' infrastructure will hold up.Continue Reading
computer room air handler (CRAH)
A computer room air handler (CRAH) is a device used frequently in data centers to deal with the heat produced by equipment.Continue Reading
out-of-order execution (OoOE)
Out-of-order execution (OoOE) is an approach to processing that allows instructions for high-performance microprocessors to begin execution as soon as their operands are ready.Continue Reading
Open Blueprint
Open Blueprint is IBM's strategic view of the network computing services and the relationship between these services.Continue Reading
Basic Assembler Language (BAL)
BAL (Basic Assembler Language) is a version of IBM's assembler language (sometimes called assembly language) for its System/360 and System/370 mainframe operating system.Continue Reading
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation (WEEE)
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation (WEEE) is a directive in the European Union that designates safe and responsible collection, recycling and recovery procedures for all types of electronic waste. Continue Reading
mechanical refrigeration
Mechanical refrigeration, often referred to simply as refrigeration, is a process by which heat is removed from a location using a man-made heat-exchange system.Continue Reading
Hot spot/cold spot
A hot spot/cold spot is an undesirable tightly-focused local temperature variation which often occurs when data center equipment is improperly cooled.Continue Reading
data center resiliency
Data center resiliency is the ability of a server, network, storage system, or an entire data center, to continue operating even when there has been an equipment failure, power outage or other disruption.Continue Reading
data center evaporative cooling (swamp cooling)
Evaporative cooling, also known as swamp cooling, is a strategy for cooling air that takes advantage of the drop in temperature that occurs when water that's exposed to moving air begins to change to gas. You've probably experienced the effects of ...Continue Reading
ARM server
An advanced RISC machine (ARM) server is an enterprise-class computer server that employs a large array of ARM processors rather than a complement of x86-class processors.Continue Reading
open data center
An open data center is an IT facility that employs a clearly defined and standardized set of hardware and software products designed to make the data center interoperable with other IT facilities.Continue Reading
rsync
Rsync is a free software utility for Unix- and Linux-like systems that copies files and directories from one host to another. Rsync is available on most Linux distributions by default.Continue Reading
cow power (biogas)
Cow power is a term for the conversion of manure to usable energy. The energy produced can supplement the electric power offered by a utility or power a facility, such as a factory or a data center.Continue Reading
Data center design and infrastructure classroom 101 quiz
This brief quiz on data center design and infrastructure tests your knowledge of server virtualization technology, virtualization deployment and hardware considerations for a virtual environment.Continue Reading
Virtualization and management classroom 201 quiz
This brief quiz on server virtualization tests your knowledge of virtualization platforms, management tools and virtualized infrastructure performance.Continue Reading
Mainframe utilities and terminology guide
This guide and glossary details the IBM mainframe utilities and other mainframe technologies to further best practices in mainframe management.Continue Reading
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an ecology-oriented building certification program run under the auspices of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)... (Continued)Continue Reading
COTS, MOTS, GOTS, and NOTS
COTS, MOTS, GOTS, and NOTS are abbreviations that describe pre-packaged software or hardware purchase alternatives.Continue Reading
Energy Star
Energy Star is a government-backed labeling program that helps people and organizations save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by identifying factories, office equipment, home appliances and electronics that have superior energy efficiency. ...Continue Reading
Quiz: Data center energy efficiency trends
Take this quiz on data center energy efficiency, and find out how much you know about cutting costs and saving power at your company.Continue Reading
Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM)
Yellowdog Update, Modified (YUM) is a program that manages installation, updates and removal for Red Hat package manager (RPM) systems. YUM allows the user to update groups of machines without having to update each RPM separately.Continue Reading
Fedora
Fedora is a popular open source Linux-based operating system.Continue Reading
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that derives its energy from combustible substances such as hydrogen, methane, propane, methanol, diesel fuel or even gasoline... (Continued)Continue Reading
Categories of twisted pair cabling systems
ANSI/EIA (American National Standards Institute/Electronic Industries Association) Standard 568 is one of several standards that specify "categories" (the singular is commonly referred to as "CAT") of twisted pair cabling systems, such as wires, ...Continue Reading
hot/cold aisle
Hot aisle/cold aisle is a layout design for server racks and other computing equipment in a data center. The goal of a hot aisle/cold aisle configuration is to conserve energy and lower cooling costs by managing air flow.Continue Reading
Ubuntu
Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) is an open source Debian-based Linux distribution. Sponsored by Canonical Ltd., Ubuntu is considered a good distribution for beginners. The operating system is intended primarily for personal computers (PCs) but can ...Continue Reading
power usage effectiveness (PUE)
Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a metric used to determine the energy efficiency of a data center. PUE is determined by dividing the amount of power entering a data center by the power used to run the computer infrastructure within it. (Continued...Continue Reading
GNU Linux
The GNU Linux project was created for the development of a Unix-like operating system that comes with source code that can be copied, modified, and redistributed... (Continued)Continue Reading
gzip (GNU zip)
Gzip (GNU zip) is a free and open source algorithm for file compression. The software is overseen by the GNU project.... (Continued)Continue Reading
Heartbeat
Heartbeat is a program that runs specialized scripts automatically whenever a system is initialized or rebooted. Originally designed for two-node Linux-based clusters, Heartbeat is extensible to larger configurations... (Continued)Continue Reading