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Paula Alves
March 28, 2012
For the U.S. Department of Defense and civilian agencies that rely on their IT infrastructure to protect national security and sensitive scientific data, application servers that are down can mean the loss of life or the loss of critical research. Time is of the essence when these disasters strike. Agency managers and division chiefs must quickly access, troubleshoot, diagnosis and repair the affected data center equipment.
Raritan’s Remote Management and Control Solutions provide an expanded level of secure remote access and centralized management for Government agencies and lights out data centers, even from an iPad® or iPhone®. These solutions provide FIPS-encrypted, secure BIOS-level interaction with the infrastructure and support the capability to power cycle, reboot, reinstall software, reimage servers and change BIOS options.
Dorothy Ochs
March 25, 2012
Get the latest trends in DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management), rack thermal management and best practices for data center design, build and operations.
Organization growth, data center consolidation and the need to provide more IT-based services place increasing demands on IT staff and data center resources such as electrical power, cooling capacity and space for IT equipment. To relieve these pressures data centers must become more efficient—extremely efficient. This event will present a series of real-world, end-user case studies so you will learn not only what efficiencies are possible but also how to make them a reality in your own data center.
This event will also include a tour of the IO Data Center - which is the largest commercially available data center in the United States to achieve Tier III Design Certification from the Uptime Institute.
You’ll see firsthand that not all data centers are created equal®.
Richard Dominach
March 16, 2012
Recent articles in InfoWorld, “Microsoft urges firms to focus on severe RDP flaw,” and PCWorld, “Microsoft issues Urgent Patch for ‘Wormable’ RDP Vulnerability,”(1) illustrate the potential dangers of software-based remote access tools. The vulnerability, cited as “dangerous,” “very serious” and “critical” applies to the Remote Desktop Protocol, widely used throughout the IT industry for remote access. Other software-based systems include VNC, pcAnywhere, and many others.
Software-based remote access is widespread. The InfoWorld article mentions that “There could be as many as 250 million systems with an open RDP port” and “An estimated 140,000 computers running pcAnywhere could be directly contacted from the Internet.” In my previous blog focused on the dangers of poorly configured remote access systems, I cite another article that estimates 83 million open VNC ports.
Users of remote access software should closely follow best security practices as recommended by the applicable vendor and their security organization, as well as immediately apply security patches as they are available. Users should not be complacent about the use of these tools, and should carefully and thoughtfully consider the benefits and risks, applying the proper safeguards to harden and monitor their environments.
Users should also consider the benefits of hardware based remote access, such as KVM-over-IP switches, which provide “out-of-band” access that does not rely on “software” running on the remote server. Out-of-band access can be more secure, provide access even when the server’s OS or network is not working, and provide a wider range of use cases including BIOS-level access and remote booting. A higher level of manageability can be achieved through centralized permissions, authentication, and logging. And as the KVM switch does not rely on software running on the remote servers, there is never a need to patch hundreds or thousands of servers.
With 24x7 reliability required for today’s IT infrastructure, remote access is an absolute necessity. These recent articles illustrate the dangers of software-based approaches and the need to seriously examine your remote access users to implement a secure, productive, and manageable remote access solution.
(1) https://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/251760/microsoft_issues_urgent_patch_for_wormable_rdp_vulnerability.html
Paula Alves
March 14, 2012
Live programming requires access to playlists and content, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no exception, regardless of where the information is physically located. For easier information management, servers have in the past been placed in studios, control rooms, and editing suites. However, space is often limited and the heat and noise generated are often bothersome.
If the video servers, corporate servers, database servers, animation servers, rendering servers, and playback servers become unavailable, quick troubleshooting and rebooting are essential to restoring operations, ensuring programming, and retaining consumers. Centralizing these assets and equipping the engineering staff with remote management tools can help solve these challenges.
Raritan’s Remote Broadcast Server Management and Control Solution centralizes management and provides out-of-band, remote access of critical IT resources from anywhere. Combined with tight security, power, and environmental control, the Solution provides IT and engineering with the tools necessary to troubleshoot issues, restore operations and ensure broadcast availability …anytime and anywhere.
For more information on how Remote Broadcast Server Management and Control Solution can help your business, contact your authorized Raritan representative or see our website at: https://www.raritan.com/resources/application-briefs/application-brief-broadcast-server-management.pdf.
For more information visit our Broadcast Solutions page here.
March 12, 2012
You may be wondering if a DCIM solution is right for you. According to Analyst, Rakesh Kumar at Gartner, there are six events that should trigger your decision to invest in a DCIM solution. The six are:
1. Specific power, cooling and floor space capacity issues
2. Data center consolidation projects
3. Building new data centers
4. Data center financial and cost reviews
5. Technical and architectural changes
6. Environment and sustainability focus
So the answer to the question, “To DCIM or not to DCIM” should definitely be: Yes, DCIM!
Raritan offers a comprehensive, yet easy to implement, cost effective DCIM solution designed to help you effectively manage the space, power and cooling within your datacenter.
Check us out at: https://www.raritan.com/products/data-center-infrastructure-management/