How To Prevent Data Center Failures?

Nowadays, companies rely quite a lot on data centers to keep their operations running seamlessly. Facilities like banking systems, online stores, communication, healthcare services, etc., are now depending on data centers for various reasons. These data centers help them manage, store, and even process important information smoothly.

The very short downtime results in serious issues. It was in October 2021 when Facebook along with all its subsidiaries came under the serious effect of outage for some time. This issue affected billions of users. This incident can tell you how damaging a data center failure can be. So, you have to know why continuous availability of data and uninterrupted is so important and how you can prevent data center failures.

Understanding Data Center Failure

Power Outages: 

A power outage is one of the most common reasons behind failures in data center management. When a company faces a sudden loss of power, all its servers are shut down and resulting in disruption of operations. This may happen due to reasons like internal faults or utility issues. Even if the company has good backup systems, still power outages can cause some damage. It is thus necessary for all companies to manage their data and operations with care

Software/Hardware Failures: 

If a company faces data center failure, all its storage devices, servers, and even other vital equipment may malfunction or break down. 

Network Issues: 

If the internal network or internet connection fails, it may disconnect all the important systems of the company from its important services and users. Also, failures in networks may result from issues like cyber attacks, equipment faults, and errors in configurations, etc. 

Human Error: 

Some of the employees of a company can make some mistakes. For example deleting files accidentally, misconfiguring vital systems, starting an incorrect update, and more. All these unwanted yet common mistakes of employees can cause some issues in datacenter management.

Disaster of Nature: 

Incidents like floods, storms, fires or earthquake can cause heavy damage to the company’s infrastructure. Also, these can easily disrupt important services. In those situations, even if the company has off-site backups, recovering from a major disaster will require lots of time as well as resources. 

Frequency & Common Causes 

Nowadays, data center outages have become very common. Some other causes behind data center failures can be minor network slowdowns, overheating, etc

The Business Impact of Data Center Failures

1. Financial Losses

• Downtime Cost Per Minute/ Hour: When a data center goes down, every minute becomes very important. According to studies, Companies may face a great amount of financial lose due to several reasons. Such as disruptions in operations, lost revenue, and the requirement for costly recovery efforts. 
• Revenue Loss : When services are offline, your customers won’t be able to buy your products, access your data, or even use your services. Usually, all e-commerce websites, online banking systems, etc., are quite vulnerable. For instance, during a holiday shopping period, if downtime occurs for some time, this may result in a great loss in sales, and eventually revenue loss. So, businesses that depend a lot on digital platforms will be affected seriously.  
  

2. Reputation Damage 

Severe data center failure may stop the function of the entire system of a company. This may result in other issues like:

• Loss of Customer Trust: Customers dislike it if online services are not active round the clock. So, if a data center failure occurs, it will damage the reputation of a company. Customers will share their negative comments online, which will cause more damage. 
• Negative Press and Social Media Backlash: When customers become frustrated with the service of a company and its data center failure, then they will share some negative comments. All those negative reviews, news headlines and disturbing posts will harm the brand image of a company greatly  
  

3. Operational Disruption 

Data center failures can also disrupt all the internal operations of a company. All those issues may happen due to reasons like: 

• Halted Workflows:  All important daily tasks of a company come to a halt when the system goes down. So, employees won’t be able to perform any important tasks. Such as sending emails, accessing files, processing orders, etc. This can slow down the progress of the company as well as lower employee morale. Those outages result in time loss as well as halted workflows. 
• Productivity issues across departments:  When data center failure takes place, it usually stops all the systems of a company. Thus, all departments have to stop their tasks suddenly
  

4. Data Loss and Security Risks 

• Compromised data integrity: Some failures in data centers can lead to the loss of important data. If backup systems cannot work timely, the company may lose important data regarding many vital tasks. Such as customer details, transaction details, project files, and more. 
• Increased vulnerability to cyberattacks: In some situations, data center failure may be vulnerable to dangerous cyber attacks. It is thus possible for the hackers to steal data.
  

5. Regulatory & Legal Consequences 

• Fines for non-compliance: All companies must follow some important data protection rules. Such as HIPAA, GDPR, etc. So, if a failure in data center may lead to a breach in data, they may face heavy fines. 
• Breach of SLAs and customer contracts: Due to downtime if contracts are broken, clients may demand refunds or even start to take legal action. The ultimate result will be the loss of reputation.

How To Prevent Data Center Failures?

1. Redundancy and Backup Systems

Redundancy is having some extra systems in place that can take over the task if something fails. For example:

● Power 

Backup generators and uninterrupted power supplies make sure that all servers stay on whenever the power fails. All those systems can offer immediate power, helping employees to continue their tasks.

● Network & Storage Redundancy 

Companies usually have backup internet connections, storage devices, and routers that ensure that only one failure will not affect the entire system.

2. Planning For Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity 

Disasters can’t be avoided or predicted. Thus, companies need a proper disaster recovery and business continuity plan. Such as:

● DR Sites and Fallover Systems 

A disaster recovery site is a backup location. It has systems that can take over if necessary. If the main data of the company goes offline, the fallover system will then switch over the operations to the DR site. Ant this will be possible with almost zero downtime. Thus, all systems will keep running smoothly even in emergencies. 

● Regular Testing and Drills 

Companies have to test all their plans tested. When you run regular drills, your staff will know how to reveal weak spots in the process. So, your working procedure will become more effective.

3. Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance

It is important to monitor tools carefully. This will catch and solve small issues before they become really serious.

● Predictive Analysis and Real-Time Alerts

Today, you will see many monitoring tools that can easily analyze patterns. Those can also warn about unusual behavior, if any. Such as a sudden spike in traffic or server overheating, etc. 

● Regular Hardware/Software Updates 

Sometimes, software crashes can happen due to outdated equipment. So, you must keep all the parts of your system updated to enjoy flawless performance and enough security. ​

4. Staff Training and Protocols

Technology alone cannot do all the tasks. Human error can also lead to situations like data center failures. So, you will need some employees who are well-trained.

● Minimizing human error 

You must train your employees on how to update, operate, and maintain all the systems of the data canter properly. This will lead to less chance of mistakes. 

● Clear escalation and response procedures 

Train your employees in a way that they will know what to do when something goes wrong. Also, create some responses that will help them to resolve issues faster. ​

5. Cloud and Hybrid Solutions

Data centers are more flexible and reliable with proper cloud and hybrid systems.

● Leveraging cloud redundancy 

Cloud providers sometimes have built-in redundancy. Also, they have data mirrored across multiple locations. Thus, if one server fails, your data will still remain safe. 

● Geo-distributed infrastructure 

Companies can protect themselves from localized disasters by hosting systems in different regions. ​

The Role of Managed Services and Third Part Experts Like Silent Infotech

Managed services and third-party experts like Silent Infotech can help a lot in optimizing business operations. They can offer better resilencey by ensuring that the entire infrastructure of your company is handled by experienced professionals. With Silent Infotech, you will get to enjoy several interesting benefits. Such as proactive monitoring, scalability, cost-efficiency, etc. 

So, to ensure the smooth operation you must take care of the data center management of your business. Also, you need to take important steps to properly manage data center failures without affecting the operations of your company. Hence, to enjoy the best possible outcomes, you can trust Silent Infotech.

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