There should also be a number of sensors in place that can detect when anyone, authorized or unauthorized, accesses the data center.  The following 5 tips show how Ravica can offer effective solutions for that final line of defense.

• Install the Right SensorProbe. For optimum security monitoring, choose a SecurityProbe model.  The SecurityProbe has the same easy-to-use web interface as the BitSight with a Linux operating system that offers 128 MB of Flash and 64 MB of SDRAM.  With 8 ports for sensors and connections for 4 external cameras on each SecurityProbe, you can monitor all of your security conditions from a single interface.
• Monitor All Potential Entry Points. In order for a security breach to occur, an unauthorized person must be able to physically gain access to the data center and do so unnoticed.  Make sure that doesn’t happen by installing a security sensor on every door, window, or emergency exit that could provide access to the data center.  The security sensor has a magnetic open/close switch that will trigger an automatic alert when any entry point is accessed.
• Install Motion Detectors. As another line of defense, install a motion detector at key locations that will alert security personnel that a potential security issue is occurring.  The Ravica motion sensor has a RJ45 jack to plug directly into a port on the SecurityProbe.
• Integrate High Quality Security Cameras. Install a variety of security cameras including fixed and Pan/Tilt cameras that can proactively capture crucial images as the events occur.  With the Ravica web-interface, you can set up notifications that will automatically trigger a time-stamped, picture log when an event occurs with the security sensor, motion detector or any other sensor.  The pictures are captured in a standard JPEG format at up to 640 x 480 pixels, so you get a clear image of the event.
• Send a LOUD and Clear Message Regarding Security. Not only can notifications be set up to send email, voice, or text alerts to security personnel when a potential security breach is occurring; you can also include a siren/strobe light that can be triggered automatically by an alarm status on any other sensor.  The siren/strobe can also be triggered manually from the web-interface, deterring nefarious activity and giving a call-to-action signal to other personnel in the vicinity of the breach.

Whether your data center is large or small, Ravica can be part of the solution to help you protect your physical and intellectual assets from theft or sabotage.

Typical applications for our camera solutions include:

• hallway or cashier surveillance
• rooftop monitoring
• heightened data center security

Below is a screenshot from our web site that was given to us by a customer. What is nice about our solution is that most of the shelf cameras will work with our hardware. Even pan, tilt and zoom hardware can be plugged in. Basically, any camera that supports the industry standard Pelco-D bus.

The maximum rate is 30 fps at 320×240 pixels with “fast network” selected. Thus, the frame rate depends on the number of enabled camera channels, image size (320×240 or 640×480 pixels), and network speed option selected – slow or fast. We can also attach microphones so that you can listen in…

- Mike

Joe, the Admin for an ISP,  had purchased multiple water sensors and temperature sensors for his six data rooms. Around 3:20am on a Sunday he got an alert from his SensorProbe. Apparently, the temp in one of the server rooms was rising. Since he was on call, he decided to get into his truck and see what was going on. On his way to the building, he received another page. The water sensor had triggered. He was now very concerned.

Once he reached the data center, it was obvious to him what had happened. One of the valves of the heating system started to reached its limit. This quickly caused the temp of the pipes to rise, which is what triggered the temperature sensor.

The relief vales reached their breaking point and started to spray water all over the first data room. He was quick to let me know that he shut down the water and saved the other data rooms from being soaked, since they were in line and showed signs of having the same behavior.

That means the investment in the temperature monitoring probes saved them thousands of dollars. If that isn’t the best reason to buy then I don’t know one that is!

- Jimmy D

The company is a small hosting service provider with approximately 100 clients. What made this company different was that their clients would come on site quite often. Each client would has a key card; this identifies who is coming in and out of the server room. The problem is that the cards were being handed off to other employees. Since the company promised the utmost in security, this started to become a concern.

The goal of my client was to provide a video record of each entry.  To accomplish this, I suggested that we add security sensors to each door. This would tell us when each and every person went through the door. Next, we added multiple security cameras, to record who was in the server room. The dry contact sensors would also give us a good idea of when the person left. The next hurdle was the lights, since they are off most of the time.

We used the Sensor Controlled Relay to turn the lights on and off  in the room. This gave the security cameras more then enough light for recording. This was implemented via the alert from the trigger of the security sensor.

The Sensor Controlled Relay is easily controlled by any of Ravica’s extensive selection of sensors. The relay can provide automatic responses to sensor alerts. This made it easy to configure a scenario where the security sensor on the door was tripped and the lights were turned on.

In the end, the process worked perfectly. When a customer entered the server room, not only was their entry logged via the keypad, but they were also getting video record of that visit. We are currently working on providing a common interface between all of the data sources.

- JimmyD

• “On Monday June 29, Rackspace Hosting (RAX) experienced a power outage at its Dallas data center that left several areas of the facility without power for about 45 minutes, knocking many popular customer web sites offline.
• “Early Thursday Equinix Inc. (EQIX) data centers in Sydney, Australia and Paris each experienced power failures. While the power outages were brief – Equinix said the Sydney event lasted 12 minutes while power was restored in Paris in just one minute – many key customer sites took considerably longer to recover their systems. The Sydney event led to disruptions for VoIP service in parts of Australia, while the Paris outage caused downtime for the popular video site DailyMotion and the French portal for hosting firm ClaraNet.
• “Google App Engine, the company’s cloud computing platform, had lengthy performance problems on Thursday, experiencing high latency and data loss.
• “A fire at Fisher Plaza in Seattle late Thursday night left many of the building’s data centers without power. The fire in an basement-level electrical room triggered sprinklers and caused extensive damage to generators and electrical equipment. The damage left tenants with backup plans offline for hours, and those without backup sites down until temporary generators restored power early Saturday morning. The biggest impact was at payment gateway Authorize.net, which was offline for more than 12 hours, leaving its merchant customers unable to process credit card sales. Other sites experiencing lengthy downtime included AdHost, GeoCaching and Microsoft’s Bing Travel.
• “Early Sunday, July 5, a fire at 151 Front Street, the major carrier hotel in Toronto, knocked out power on several floors of the facility used by Peer 1 networks. Power was restored in about 3 hours, after a damaged UPS unit was bypassed.”

The author, Rich Miller then goes on to point out some tough questions and the lessons learned from these outages.

Although it is surprising that data centers of this size can experience an outage like this, what is even more surprising is that it all happened in a week’s span. I wonder, is the National Security Agency going to look into this?

The equipment used to monitor this size data center is monumental, but even the smallest IT department can obtain economically priced sensor equipment, like the Bitsight8, combined with Intelligent Sensors, like the AC Voltage Detector and the Digital Voltometer.

“The agency got a taste of the potential for trouble January 24, 2000, when an information overload, rather than a power shortage, caused the NSA’s first-ever network crash, taking the agency 3 1/2 days to resume operations. The new data center in Utah will require at least 65 megawatts of power” - Salt Lake Tribune

Another cool data center design is the one that Google is planning to build. The entire center will be built on a floating barge, and will use the waves of the ocean to help power the facility. It will also use ocean water to cool the equipment.

Last, but not least, is the underground data center in Sweden. This has to be the coolest data center ever! It is located underground, can withstand a hydrogen attack, has a waterfall and a greenhouse. It can generate its own power, and is equipped with triple redundancy Internet backbone access.

I wonder, what type of environmental monitoring sensors do they have? What type of redundancy and fail-safes? Designing a data center like these is a monumental task. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Data Center Design.

- Jimmy D

I have a suggestion. For $125.00 we can add a strobe light and audible alarm device to your BitSight or SecurityProbe.

If you leave it in the data room, no one will see or possible hear it. If you put it in the hallway like we did, it will catch everyone’s attention when something goes on.

If something goes wrong in our data room. Everyone will know!

- Mike

Of course the first order of business is to set standards and procedures that make those in charge of data center security aware of exactly what is acceptable clearance and what is not. However, as is true for almost any kind gateway, mote, or minefield, people will find their way around. So there must be systems in place that keep us alerted to situations that are potentially hazardous.

The Ravica SecurityProbe can increase the level of data center security by providing insight in the following three areas.

Keep an eye on your data center
As the saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” We need to be able to see with our own eyes that everything is truly alright before we can really breath easy. Nothing beats being there, but if you can’t be there, then a video camera presence is the next best thing. With the pan-tilt dome camera, your SecurityProbe can watch up to four separate locations. It can even be programmed to move to a specific location when an event is triggered from any type of sensor. It will also take a series of snapshots and include them with email alerts when triggered by any sensor.

Batten down the hatches
It seems obvious, but the most important places to monitor in secure areas is the entrances and exits. That means, tighten up the doors and windows. Ravica security sensors are contact sensors that are perfect for letting you know when a door or window has been opened. The idea is relatively simple. There are two contact plates. When they are separated, like when the door edge moves away from the frame as it is opened, the sensor switches to an alarm status.

What’s in motion?
A great fail safe, in addition to watching the doors and windows with sensors and cameras, is monitoring for motion. Motion sensors can also sense for unauthorized access, or can simply be the trigger for telling a camera to pay attention to a certain zone. Make sure that the right amount of movement sets off the sensor in a sensitive area and it can mean the difference between knowing during or after a security breach has occurred.

Whether you are guarding Fort Knox or your small corporate data center, putting a SecurityProbe and the appropriate sensors in place can go a long way towards keeping unauthorized personnel away from your sensitive equipment and information.

~ Jon Mills
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