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Cyquator
Technologies's CTO feels that his data center is successful
mostly because of the trust it has built among its clients.
And the trust is mostly based on the BC solutions and
strategies that the company has put in place. by Soutiman
Das Gupta
Enterprises
often rely on the services of an external IDC (Internet
Data Center) for a number of needs. IDCs provide services
like Web hosting, co-location, mail, messaging, database,
enterprise applications, security, storage, and network
monitoring and management. Most enterprises are glad
to outsource these services because it saves them the
pains of procuring hardware and software, employing
specialized IT personnel, and maintaining a 24x7 infrastructure
to support these services.
The IDC at Cyquator Technologies, located at the International
Infotech Park, in Vashi (Navi Mumbai) has been in operation
since January 2001. The CTO, Jitendra Israni, feels
that one of the important reasons that the company has
been able to attract a sizeable clientele is that the
clients feel that they can trust Cyquator with its data.
"And the trust that we have built is mostly because
of the business continuity solutions that we have implemented
at our facility to benefit our clients," said Jitendra.
The company guarantees 99.9 percent network uptime to
its clients. Cyquator Technologies has clients like
IOL, zeenext.com, HP, and IDBI Principal.
Areas of concern
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Storage solution
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Connectivity links
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Data security
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Power and climate conditioning
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Physical security
Storage
In most enterprises, a large amount of critical data
collects daily which needs to be archived and saved.
This requires the company to invest in, and maintain
a robust storage infrastructure. The company feels that
the cost of storage has come down but when deployed
as a disaster recovery solution, availability and reliability
becomes crucial. And this is perhaps the main reason
why organizations are willing to outsource its storage
requirements to service providers under strict SLAs.
Cyquator Technologies' data center uses storage solutions
from Veritas and Network Appliance (NetApp). The data
center uses multiple OSs like Unix, Novell, and Linux.
And the storage network has a media manager SUN Enterprise
Server and Quantam ATL as backup media.
Veritas' NetBackup Datacenter provides platform-independent
data protection for its multiple OS environment. It
offers a central control console to manage continuity
of the aspects of backup and recovery. It has a four-tier
architecture and database-aware agents which help simplify
operations. It also offers server-free backup by which
data moves directly from disk to tape and reduces the
use of server-based resources. The software allows the
use of a robotic device for the DLT media. This has
resulted in increased capacity, reliability, and redundancy.
A NetApp F760 box has a raw storage capacity of 3 TB
and can take upto 20 snapshots of the file system and
stores only the changes to the file system. It has a
built-in RAID which protects against data loss from
disk failure or reduced downtime. Clustered fail-over,
redundant components, and hot-spares aim to increase
reliability.
Both these storage solutions offer high levels of continuity.
The data center has SLA guarantee from its storage systems
integrator for 99.9 per cent uptime. The initial investment
for the storage infrastructure was around Rs 1 Crore.
Connectivity links
The data center is connected to the Internet gateway
with multiple and redundant E1 lines. It also connects
leading NSPs like UUNET, PSINET, and AT&T using
an IPLC. Satellite bandwidth from international private
satellite gateways is used as backup.
Data security
The storage infrastructure sits behind managed firewalls.
This offers protection from any unauthorized access
or intrusions. Within the boxes, there are features
which provide isolation between different customers
who use the infrastructure. The data center also has
an online IDS (Intrusion Detection System) which monitors
around the clock to prevent unauthorized access.
Power and climate conditioning
Redundancy for power and climate conditioning is planned
with an n+1 scheme. This means that one more than the
necessary amount required for operation, has been installed.
The main power is supplied from two different grids.
The UPSs have redundant batteries as well.
For climate conditioning the area is divided into various
zones. Every zone has the required number of conditioning
units plus an extra.
Physical security
Authorized personnel on a need-to-access basis can only
access the network gear. Critical areas where the servers
that run databases, billing software, and service desk
software are kept have biometric security devices. Closed
circuit cameras monitor most areas of the facility.
Future
The data center has plans to replicate its critical
applications at
a different failover site. The action plan and strategy
for this is already in place. Two more data centers
are planned in different cities, and the three will
be connected
in a mesh. In a couple of years a SAN will be built
to supplement
the current storage infrastructure.
Soutiman Das Gupta can be reached
at
soutimand@networkmagazineindia.com
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