Hosting your e-commerce website or business application with a hosting provider offers many benefits, including dedicated support, reliable uptime, and reduced expenses.
However, not all hosting options are the same. Hosting infrastructure affects application performance and website loading, so your hosting experience may vary depending on the type of data center.
To get the most out of your spend, you should choose a hosting plan with a data center that meets all your needs and requirements.
Read on to learn what a data center is, how it works, and which type you need.
data center 101
A data center is a facility that hosts computer systems and their related components and stores, processes, manages, and distributes large amounts of data. A typical data center consists of multiple networked computers, storage, computing infrastructure, and cooling systems.
Traditionally, physical data centers have been a critical part of business infrastructure for large enterprises that rely on heavy computing, large-scale data storage, and similar technology requirements. However, this required significant capital investment.
Now, third-party data center providers are making it easier for anyone who needs a data center without the high list price of an on-premises data center. For example, instead of investing in a complete computing system, you can purchase a specific number of resources for the period of time you need them.
Data center benefits
Modern data centers provide businesses with the following benefits:
- robust security: Data centers typically have enterprise-grade security systems. Ensure critical business and customer information is protected from malicious agents.
- Resource optimization: Data centers delegate many of their IT-related workloads, such as computational work and data storage, to hosting providers. This saves you time and energy to innovate and grow your business.
- cloud products: Data centers also help businesses provide cloud-oriented solutions. For example, cloud computing allows companies to offer their SaaS-based solutions in the form of web apps and mobile apps. Similarly, the Internet of Things (IoT) also relies on data centers.
What are the required components of a data center?
What does it take to build a data center? This is important information to consider when choosing a data center for your unique requirements.
First, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each data center has its own architecture depending on its use case. For example, an offline data center for medical data storage may have different requirements than an online data center that processes e-commerce transactions.
Still, data center specifications can typically be divided into four categories:
physical location
A data center must have enough floor space to accommodate servers, power supplies, backups, and other equipment and infrastructure. Data center facilities also typically require security access controls to restrict access to personnel.
In addition to that, the geographical location of the data center is also important. At a minimum, you should consider the following:
- security situation: You want your data center to be in a secure location, as a physical data breach can lead to a loss of customer trust. To ensure that, look for a data center in a secure location.
- Data related laws: When handling personal data, you must comply with data protection laws, such as: GDPR restricting data transfer outside of certain areas. Make sure your data center is conveniently located for such compliance.
- network infrastructure: Data speeds and latency vary depending on the distance between your data center and your target users. Ensure the geographic location of your data center is close to your target users for a better user experience.
data center staff
Data center staff includes employees who monitor, maintain, and manage data center infrastructure 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This typically includes security personnel, IT professionals, support agents, power engineers, and other related staff.
However, if you are looking for PCI Compliant Data CenterYou should also ensure that your data center has compliance experts on staff.
core hardware
Core hardware refers to the servers, computers, and equipment required for IT operations and data storage. This includes network equipment, processors, storage devices, and multiple security features, including enterprise-grade firewalls.
These resources form the core of the data center, and without them, the data center would be incomplete.
Support infrastructure
The supporting infrastructure sets conditions that ensure core components are always working and maximize uptime.
Support infrastructure includes:
- Backup generator (in case of power outage).
- UPS system.
- electric switch.
- Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
- exhaust system.
- Air conditioner in computer room.
- Biometrics and surveillance systems.
Data center design standards
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) Established TIA-942 standard for data centers Covers important aspects such as architecture, safety, physical security, redundancy, and environment design.
TIA-942 shares four assessment levels for data centers based on the data center’s infrastructure:
Tier 1 data center: basic site infrastructure
Tier 1 data centers provide a basic level of support for IT systems, typically in office environments. These come with uninterruptible power supplies, dedicated physical areas for IT systems, cooling equipment, and backup generators for potential power outages and spikes.
Tier 2 Data Center: Redundant Component Site Infrastructure
Tier 2 data centers come with additional cooling components such as chillers, cooling units, and exhaust pumps. They typically offer better maintenance and protection against interruptions than Tier 1 data centers, and you can replace components without shutting down the system.
Still, unexpected failures can affect your system. Up to 22 hours of downtime may occur.
Tier 3 Data Center: Concurrently Maintainable Site Infrastructure
Tier 3 data centers provide high data redundancy levels and allow equipment maintenance or replacement without shutting down the system. It is equipped with redundant support systems such as power supplies and cooling units, ensuring extremely low annual downtime of less than 1.6 hours.
Tier 4 data center: Fault-tolerant site infrastructure
Tier 4 data centers have physically isolated systems that prevent disruption from planned and unplanned events. They are fault tolerant and fully redundant, guaranteeing only 26 minutes of downtime per year.
for example, Data center required and Almost 100% uptime Data centers with less than 15 minutes of annual downtime are considered Tier 4 data centers.
Data center type
Depending on the size and management of the data center, there are several types of data centers, including managed data centers, enterprise data centers, hyperscale data centers, colocation data centers, cloud-based data centers, and edge data centers.
managed data center
A managed data center is a facility owned by a third-party company or company that leases its services to other users or companies. These types of data centers often offer large storage spaces and superior computing services.
Managed data centers are ideal for businesses looking to outsource their data storage and computing needs. It helps companies optimize their business overhead by choosing affordable data center services without owning the infrastructure.
enterprise data center
An enterprise data center is a dedicated data center owned by a company itself to support its storage and computing needs. This setup is often expensive, so only companies with unique data and network needs choose enterprise data centers.
Most corporate data centers are on-site, often on the same premises as your organization.
However, off-site corporate data centers are not out of the question. Offsite data centers allow businesses to have data centers with better security, connectivity, and power infrastructure.
A good use case for off-site enterprise data centers is to provide backup if the primary data center is taken offline due to a natural disaster.
hyperscale data center
Hyperscale data centers are the largest data centers with extensive infrastructure support. These data centers support large IT projects such as social media platforms and search engines.
Companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft operate large hyperscale data centers specifically for big data storage and cloud computing.
Unlike traditional data centers that support dozens of servers, hyperscale data centers can support thousands of individual servers. For example, a typical hyperscale data center can have approximately 5,000 servers in less than 10,000 square feet.
Colocation data center
Colocation data centers or multi-tenant data centers serve companies that want to host servers off-site or at a location remote from their business offices. Colocation data centers are typically owned by service providers that provide power, security, cooling, and networking components.
Colocation data centers are ideal for:
- resource saving: Instead of devoting valuable business resources to building a data center, rent space on a colocation data center to run your servers.
- IT outsourcing needs: Take advantage of the IT team provided by your colocation data center service provider, freeing up business resources for other functions.
- Easier scalability: Lease as much space as you need to instantly support rapid expansion or contraction of your business while minimizing operational losses.
cloud-based data center
Cloud data centers are distributed data centers operated by third-party service providers. These data centers allow you to rent both space and infrastructure as needed through cloud services. Virtual data centers can typically be provisioned within a few hours.
cloud data center It is cost-effective because it reduces hardware investment, IT staff, and maintenance costs. It also allows businesses to scale up or down in record time, share resources, and enjoy optimal uptime, bandwidth, and redundancy.
edge data center
Edge data centers are typically smaller than other types of data centers and help businesses facilitate data transfer with minimal delay. These are typically located close to the end user.
Edge data centers are used to process data in real-time for IoT, automation, and emergency applications, taking into account the requirements of low-latency communication.
Finally: A Beginner’s Guide to Data Center Types
As we rely more on technology, data centers will continue to be a critical part of modern infrastructure, driving innovation, driving the digital economy, and shaping the future of the world.
If you’re looking for a service provider that covers all the basics and more, consider Nexcess. With Nexus hosting plans, WordPress website hosting support, WooCommerce storeTier 4 data centers offer even more services, such as:
Additionally, if you want a solution that meets your company’s needs, you can choose Nexcess Enterprise Hosting.
Check out our plans to get started with Nexcess today.
This blog was first published in October 2018. It has since been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
