WDTalk

I read a post from an OP this morning in a hosting forum in response to a thread querying if anyone had experience with a specific data center in Florida. The entire post focused on a scheduled tour of that data center’s facility – that never happened. Apparently, one of their VPs agreed to give a tour of their center to a media consultant, then canceled. Then their public relations firm took over and scheduled, then canceled every other avenue for any kind of interview (telephone or email). Did this data center have something to hide?

They were given his list of questions so they could pre-screen them. Plus, all of the questions were general in nature.  His post raised red flags on a number of issues. He smelled smoke and surmized, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. ”

How many data centers have online tours available on their website? And when you call to ask about their infrastructure, are they tight-lipped?

When you’re researching data centers, prepare a long list of questions … because it’s your business at risk. Use due diligence. I’ve read hundreds of threads from OPs who opted for the lowest price, then got burned. Over half of them didn’t have disaster recovery or business continuity plans.

What happens when you outgrow – your existing data center, and what factors may force you to consider upgrading? A couple of major considerations are power and HVAC. Perhaps you’ve merged and consolidated services, but your existing infrastructure won’t support both company’s data requirements. Maybe it’s as simple as just outgrowing your existing space. Have your costs spiraled out of control?

Moving is not a easy as simply – disconnecting and reconnecting at a new location. If you have branch locations, the move must be coordinated via multiple vendors. Can this happen overnight? Absolutely not. Preparation must begin months in advance, and countless scenarios must be considered.

Will you be moving into a data center that has – experienced IT professionals on staff that will assist with your move? Will the new data center meet your current and future requirements? Do you need to move all of your equipment, or would an upgrade path be more cost-efficient?

What if you have point-to-point T-1s to – each of your branches and you’re backhauling Internet access to them from your current datacenter? Do you keep the PTP’s in place and run a fat pipe from the new center to your Headquarters? Does the new data center offer BGP bandwidth? What about cross-connects? Will your cost of power increase or decrease? What about security? Sufficient HVAC for continued growth? Is the new data center scalable?

I propose lots of questions, and – these were just the tip of the iceberg. Do phased migrations make sense? They’ll most certainly increase the cost of the move. A hard cutover is almost always a better solution, but it requires experienced project management, planning and testing.

Query for referrals

Call them. Ask how they feel about the service – billing, sales support, uptime versus downtime, response time to issues and general competency of their support staff. Then do some research on the Internet about the company itself.

Security

Do they have physical security? Security cameras? Hand scanners? Card based access? Do they log visits? Do they keep updated access lists? Do they require advance notice to enter restricted space?

Backbone

Do they offer BGP bandwidth? Do they offer cross-connects? Do they offer low cost Cogent bandwidth, and does that failover? Do they monitor their bandwidth with certified technicians? Do they offer insight into their infrastructure – switching and network equipment? What is their history of up uptime and downtime?

Infrastructure Redundancy

Do they have redundant UPS / Electric Grids / Diesel Fuel Generators / Cooling Systems? Do they routinely test their generators? Do they operate more than one datacenter? If so, are they all fiber connected? Is there redundancy across multiple datacenters?

Quality of the data center itself

What equipment do they use – cabinets, racks, cooling systems, fire suppression systems, (smoke fire moisture) alarms? Is their data center organized – are their cable runs clean?