10 methods on how to know if a data center is secure

A data center is a very important place for your online business. If this service fails you, the losses can be enormous, including the possibility of bankrupting your business. That’s why whether a data center is worth trusting you need to check carefully, so that you can be sure that your data is in good hands and you won’t have any trouble accessing it, nor will there be any data leakage. So how do you recognize a good data center? Find out in the following few paragraphs, which will give you the basic information about data centers that you need to analyze in order to choose the best one for you and your company. There are many smaller and larger data center operators on the market, and you need to take the time to pick out among them the ones worthy of your trust and entrusting them with your data and that you should use their services.

Tier certification and more

When choosing your data center, you should pay a lot of attention to what certifications it has. The basic ISO certifications that data centers should have are, in terms of business continuity management, ISO 22301, and in terms of cloud computing, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27017. However, the most important is Tier certification, specifically Tier I, Tier II, Tier III or Tier IV certifications. If a data center has one of these then you are guaranteed that there will be no service interruptions while maintenance and service work is being performed. In order to receive such a certificate, a data center must have all systems redundant. This means that whenever one of the systems is disconnected (during a failure, maintenance or software change) then its function will be taken over by another similar system. Tier certification is awarded by an independent institution – the U.S. Uptime Institute – which ensures its high credibility.

Reliability levels of subsequent Tier certifications:

• Tier I – 99.671% reliability;
• Tier II – 99.741% reliability;
• Tier III – 99.982% reliability;
• Tier IV – 99.995% reliability;

1. Links used by the Data Center

Check whether the Data center in question has links from several different providers. This way, the continuity of access to any services will not be jeopardized in the event of a failure at any of these providers. Good data centers have links provided by several companies, and the switching between them occurs automatically, remaining invisible to those using the Data center.

2. Good location

“Adequate location” means placement near where your business is headquartered and from where you will primarily connect to the data center. The greater the distance, the greater the latency will be, which can be significant for some services, and the greater the likelihood of failures along the way. The Internet, of course, is a network that can handle idle nodes, but this can always introduce some trouble or slowdowns. Ideally, a data center should not be located further than 30 kilometers from your location.

3. Building construction and safety

What kind of building a data center is housed in can and often does have a major impact on its performance. Buildings designed from the beginning for such use are best for this purpose, but well adapted older buildings can also provide a high level of security. A building’s security includes its structure, as well as its fire protection and firefighting systems, air-conditioning and humidity assurance systems, direct protection, i.e. no third-party access, and internal zoning for restricted access. All these elements affect the security of the data collected in a given Data Center.

4. Surveillance 24/7

Constant supervision of the data center is absolutely necessary, and should involve both the technical side of maintaining the cooling systems or building security, as well as the constant vigilance of those responsible for the computer hardware and its software. The speed of response to any equipment malfunction should be as high as possible, so that the problem can be resolved before it escalates into any major failure.

5. Data center duplication

The location of a data center is one of its most important features affecting the security of its operation, but even the best center can stop working under adverse conditions. Weather conditions, terrorist attacks or service errors always remain a potential possibility of putting the entire facility out of service. The highest security will therefore be provided by data centers having a second location at some distance from the primary or first site. Such a doubling system will provide much greater assurance of business continuity, regardless of even major power failures, floods, hurricanes and similar threats. Taking over the work of a second facility or restoring lost data from such an alternate location is an invaluable capability that gives you confidence that your data is safe.

6. Independent power supply

The way in which a data center is powered is crucial to the continuity of its operation. The electrical connection should be duplicated so as to minimize the possibility of a power outage. Of course, there should also be the possibility of emergency power – short term with batteries or longer term with diesel generators. Power failures occur with varying frequency at different locations, but nowhere can they be avoided completely, so the data processing site must be very well prepared for them.

7. Support and customer service

Customer support and customer service are among the things by which you quickly get an idea of how good the company you use is. So check out the average time it takes for a trouble ticket to be accepted and how quickly work begins on resolving the problem. Professional data centers also offer, usually free of charge, consultations to allow new customers how best to choose the services they will need for their type of business. This is a very big help to help you get off to a smooth start in your online business.

8. Testimonials from other customers

Checking customer reviews of a company should be one of the basic things you do when you want to start working with a new (to you) entity. This applies to all business sectors, not just data centers. From customer reviews you will learn a lot about a company’s performance, its attitude towards customers, and its strengths and possibly weaknesses. So use an online search engine and read reviews of a particular data center. On forums you are sure to find a fair number of posts about working with such companies. A good indicator of the quality of services is also the list of these clients itself, if there are large and recognizable brands on it, then surely the services are at a high level.

9. Services offered

Check carefully what services the data center offers and whether all the options you need for your business are available, plus others you may need in the future. Always think and plan ahead assuming what you may need at the next stage of your business development.

10. Price of services

Price is also an important component of evaluating a data center; of course, everyone would like to pay as little as possible, but you have to pay for good quality, which is why you should look especially hard and critically at suspiciously attractive offers.

If you are going to join online business companies – get to know trusted companies with the best service offerings

Anyone who plans to launch an online business should choose offerings only from experienced as well as respected service providers. This applies to all types of such services, it can be Internet access itself as well as other common or specialized services: cloud access, VPS servers, website hosting or SSL certificates and many other similar things that you will need sooner or later as your business grows.

So, from the very beginning, use the services offered by qualified and significant service providers. Such are undoubtedly companies such as those providing high-speed symmetrical access to the Internet, for example, ITH, as well as those offering extremely stable and secure website hosting and a range of equally suitable cloud services, KRU. If you properly start your Internet business with the ideal cooperation with reputable partners providing you with the highest level of services available, your business is sure to grow rapidly and become a great success.

The stability and security of even the smallest service you order is colossal to the safety and efficiency of your entire online business. So don’t take a risk by using service providers without great credibility, who will not ensure that your services are operating at the level your business deserves