Aug
2
2010
Almost everyone in the IT world running Microsoft software should review kb #MS10-046 and take action. One of the biggest vulnerabilities in recent years and a patch was just released “out of band”. Meaning MS did not want to wait.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20012386-245.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=InSecurityComplex
is a good article on the vulnerability.
Aug
1
2010
So you have a data center. Is it really a data center? LAN Closet? Telco Closet?
How do you keep it cool? There are many ways to keeping these areas cool. And unfortunately some work, and many do not, and not everyone knows how. Most professional engineers (PE) can keep a small IT space cool. But throw in a cabinet with unique cooling requirements, shape the room a little weird, or just plain have significant cooling requirements, it all goes out the window. You need a PE with data center experience. You need a GC with data center experience. You need a mechanical firm with data center experience. In other words, data centers are not run of the mill stuff. So unless you are not interested in 24/7, you need specialized partners who know how to work in a LIVE data center. Because once it is built, there will be changes, and most people can not shutdown a data center. I know we can not. And if it’s not done right the first time. Then you get to do it all over again.
Over the next few months, I’ll post on a project where we did all of the following. With no downtime! Lots of planning and coordination. It was a bunch of all nighters and lots of weekend work. But the payoff was worth it. We have awesome data center and it’s exactly what we wanted from day one. Just took us longer to get it. Almost two years. Most was done in the 1st year, but end to end it was two years. The key was no downtime. downtime=bad=resume generating event! DOOH!
In a nutshell we….
- Moved into a newly acquired and renovated building. Part of the renovation was the built out of a new data center. Noticed numerous hot spots within the data center at approximately 1/3 of the room’s load. Not a good first sign.
- After going live, we analyzed the data center and figured out we had issues with the cooling system.
- We hired another PE, not the one who did the original design, and we identified the issues.
- The computer room air handlers (CRAH’s) were undersized and in the wrong spot. Air was not moving where we needed it. The hot air was mixing with the cool air.
- The PE’s report was excellent and we formulated a new plan.
- Built a new mechanical room next to the data center.
- Built a new chilled water supply and return to the mechanical room. Tied it into the existing riser.
- Installed two new CRAH’s.
- Installed new supply ducting.
- Created a common header for the chillers.
- Added a new pump to the chillers supplying the cold water.
- Now the cold air and hot air were moving as expected. Hot spots are gone.
- Tied everything into the existing fire control system. Tested it.
- Installed a new building management system just for the critical IT systems.
I am tired just typing it. But it was worth it.
Jul
29
2010
I had a chance to view the Microsoft Azure platform last night. It was presented by the DC DotNet Users Group in Washington DC. I am quite familiar with both Google and Amazon cloud’s and the advantages, and disadvantages with them. For my enterprise, they are not very helpful as we are a 100% Microsoft shop and run tons of apps, both off the shelf, and custom .asp/.net. So most clouds are difficult for us for the following reasons.
- Can not install .exe or .msi apps and run out of the box. Most clouds require some proprietary process for getting apps created and uploaded to the cloud. Kinda like creating an image for a desktop/laptop. There is a process to follow and you have rules to follow or you end up with a messed up image.
- Because of the proprietary nature, it requires changes in internal processes, additional training, and plain just changing the way you do stuff. It also requires you to conform to the cloud and you possibly loose flexibility.
- Linux – Open source based. We are a Microsoft shop, so the application-development team would have to switch or create and maintain two code bases. Neither is attractive for us.
Now comes Azure from Microsoft. It has been out since January and building some steam. Here are the pros!
- Its all Microsoft Stuff. Yeah.
- No need to procure Microsoft licenses. Its all built into the costs.
- Developers will like it. Create apps for in-house or the cloud. If you do it right, you can deploy either.
- Typical cloud. Spin up virtual servers pretty quickly. Networking, firewalls, load balancing, etc all built in.
- Geo-location. You can scale to multiple data centers pretty easily. Just costs more.
- TCO is ok. Scalability is key. Just depends on your requirements. No CAPEX. All Expense!
Now the cons.
- While its all Microsoft software. Its not the same. There are lots of limitations. You can not tweak most of the stuff you want to tweak.
- No installing .exe or .msi’s like you do on a standalone boxes or VM’s.
- No access to IIS configs. No access to registry. No access to boot drives.
- Azure VM boxes are throw away’s. You need to store code and temp stuff on some type of storage. So if you do certain things now, you have to learn the cloud way. This is likely to be painful the first few deployments, upgrades, mistakes, etc. I have it down now, but now I need to learn the cloud way. Its new and you will need to learn it.
- Costs. Can get expensive. You pay for everything. Development, staging, production environments all cost $$ as they need to be running. So if you run a typical three tier environment, it all adds up, and that erodes the cloud TCO compared to running in-house.
It would be tough for us to use Azure at this time. We use a lot of off the shelf applications and tools. No way to install into the cloud. Applications want to install and modify the local drives, copy files, change the registry, and all that is not cloud compatible. I am sure if we could redo some apps, start all over with the latest development tools and develop for the cloud, then that may be an option, but it would require a wholesale redo of an application. Given available resources, its not likely, nor is it cost effective.
Why? Because we do data center stuff pretty good and we concentrate on availability. The big advantage is DR/BCP. The cloud could certainly could help us there. But our largest web apps are not suitable for the cloud, because they are built on a third party applications, so its not really an option. There are some suggestions for putting Exchange and IM in the cloud and somehow reducing CAPEX costs. Not really! We do it pretty good and we also integrate Exchange and IM with voicemail, Blackberry’s, and mobile devices. Shortly we will step it up and integrate with our Cisco phone and Tandberg video platforms. So outsourcing Exchange and IM to the cloud, would be painful given our integration points, and certainly make it more complex and expensive.
My $.02 on the Azure cloud. But it will change and improve over time. I will certainly keep an eye on it. Ts-Admin.
Jul
16
2010
So you got your CX4 cabled, power attached, and ready to start up. Go ahead and flip on each SPS. Let it start and give it plenty of time. Be sure each SP’s light is steady green and there are there are no amber or red lights blinking.
Now find the “Navisphere Storage System Initialization Utility” CD. Initializing allow you to access the array from the networking using a web browser. It may be on the server support CD or may be the CD that says “install me first”. Follow the instructions that say install products on server.
- Connect each SP to a very basic network switch. Nothing special, just a 10/100/ switch, and connect your laptop to it. Give your laptop an IP address. Anyone will do. The array and laptop need to be on the same physical subnet.
- Start the Initialization Utility: Start, Programs, EMC, Navisphere, Navaisphere Storage System Initialization.
- The utility will automatically search for uninitialized storage systems. They are identified by serial number. Check the back of your CX4 and verify. Especially if you did not do #1 and have it connected to your network.
- Select the serial number from the Uninitialized Systems list. Provide the information the utility requests. It is all IP address stuff. Use the IP addresses that you want to use once you have it connected to your network.
- It likely will want to reboot the array. Let it.
- Connect the array and your laptop to your network. Update the IP on your laptop if necessary. Pull up a browser and browse to the IP address of SPA. You should get Navisphere login. Go a head and browse to SPB. You should get a Navisphere login.
- Register your array!
BAM! Your ready for the next steps. Which is to update the array with any patches and/or enable additional software. More on both in a later post.
Jul
12
2010
Please feel free to spread the word on posts that may be helpful to anyone. Or may just be useful or knowledgeable for someone! Thx, Ts-Admin.