From the monthly archives:

December 2008

5 Tips to Organize your Server Room in 2009

by Jon Phillips on December 18, 2008

messyserverroom

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcos_Garza

If you are looking to get your server room organized in 2009, there are
a few key steps to keep in mind while you are going through the
process. Your server room houses valuable information for your business
and the safety and security of your equipment should be of top concern.
In addition, the equipment that you choose should be efficient and safe
for long term use.

1. Choose an Appropriately Sized Rack

As you are looking to organize your server room, the most logical
place to start is by choosing new server racks. Select server racks
with sufficient internal space to house all of your current equipment
and room to accommodate future expansion. Having extra space is a must
in your server room for expansion as well as unplanned additional
equipment purchases. Some obvious things to check as well include
determining that you have enough space to move the new servers in and
that you have the proper floor space to maneuver around the equipment
and that there is enough space in between the equipment to allow for
safety spacing. When you are installing the equipment, be sure to
install it according to the included instructions so that you do not
have any future problems.

2. Include your New Server Room in your Security Strategy

Security, especially with vital information, is always important
for a business to consider. As you are organizing your server room, be
sure that any changes or additions fit into your overall business
security plan. You may want to consider purchasing server racks that
have locking doors, minimizing personnel access to the room and using
monitor devices within the room for added protection. In addition,
newer technology allows you to monitor the environment of the server
room at all times. Temperature changes, water leaks, electrical circuit
issues and other issues can change unknowingly, causing potential
damage to your server room. With the addition of this technology, you
will be able to act quickly to resolve any issues in order to protect
your valuable equipment.

3. Customize your Server Rack Design

Once you have decided on a manufacturer for your server racks, most
will allow for customization. Consider the addition or modification of
the shelving, top or side panels, mounting rails and the feet to create
a server room that matches all of your business needs and the space
that you are utilizing as your server room.  One thing to consider is how you will be routing your cable within the racks.  Most manufacturers have several different configurations to choose from.

4. Evaluate your Power Technology

Power technology is constantly updated, providing you with various
options for your power strip. You have several choices to consider
including rack mount power strips, remote power products, Three-phase
power technology and standard power strips. Consider your space, the
number of outlets that you will need, each plug’s requirements
and any redundancy requirements when you are choosing the power
technology for your server room.

5. Ensure your Safety with a Cooling Strategy

The heat that each unit gives off varies, making the cooling needs
within your server room vary as well. Evaluate all of your requirements
and the available cooling strategies to ensure the overall safety of
the equipment, environment and company when making your selections.

Marcos Garza, owner of Global1Resources.com, is an expert on server rack cabinets. With years of industry experience, Marcos started his own website to offer high-quality, discounted server racks on a nationwide scale. They specialize in providing server rack enclosuresand dell server racks for small business, corporate or even personal server rack organization needs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcos_Garza

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What is RSS?

by Jon Phillips on December 8, 2008

RSS or Really Simple Syndication is a process
that allows individuals to subscribe to content distribution. This is
not like subscribing to an email newsletter. You “subscribe” to the feed and the content is downloaded to your reader and viewable when you choose to listen, watch
or read the content. The content you subscribe is not limited to text.
For example, if you have a podcast you like to listen to, an RSS
reader can capture the podcast and download it for quick listening when
you’re ready.

Who uses RSS feeds?

People who are junkies for news, content, and information.  I use Google reader for RSS. I currently subscribe to 52 different RSS feeds.  In those different feeds are blogs and news websites, all in one place.  I don’t have to browse to all the different websites to see if there’s any updates or new stories.  It’s all updated in Google reader.  And for podcasts, I use iTunes.  iTunes has the most comprehensive podcast directory integrated right into the iTunes music store.

In the business world, many websites have very specific RSS feeds. For example, if you are a business newspaper, you may have a feed specific to regional news, national or international news, sports, and financial news.  In this fashion, a blog can deliver their content to a very specific niche.

The growth of RSS is incredible. You might even liken the service
to something like a newspaper being delivered to your reader that only
feature topics you’re interested in.

This can be a great resource for business as well as an incredible
time saver as you can bypass multiple online searches for the same
information that can be direct delivered to your RSS reader.

The work of online business is already hard enough. That’s
why using an RSS reader is a component that can enable you to have more
available time to work on other marketing chores and business
development.

In an online world that recognizes the power in knowledge-based
content RSS has become a goldmine for those interested in passing the
wealth along to their customers.

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Securing Your Digital Life

by Jon Phillips on December 7, 2008

Photos, documents and written communication have all gone digital,
largely to everyone’s benefit. Digital documents are quicker to send
and need less storage space than physical files. But a paperless world
comes with its own problems.

When a system crashes or a computer breaks, important e-mails,
documents and photographs can be destroyed. According to the FBI, one
laptop is stolen every 53 seconds, leaving computer owners without
their family photographs or financial files. Thirty-one percent of PC
users have lost all of their files through no fault of their own. Every
15 seconds, another hard drive crashes. Yet, despite these looming
threats, an Interactive Data Corporation report shows that only 1.3
percent of consumers currently use some type of data backup.

With the increased use of laptops, more computer users are
beginning to realize they cannot afford to leave their personal and
professional digital files unprotected. With the advancement of the
online data-storage industry, data protection has become more affordable
and user-friendly.

There are several ways to approach backing up your data. You can buy an external or portable hard drive to make a copy of your data. (See my post “Protecting Your Memories”) Hard drives are so cheap these days, its certainly affordable. 

The other route you can go is to use an online solution.  Amazon has a service called Amazon S3. It costs about $.15 per GB and gets cheaper the more you use.  Mozy and Carbonite are good options.  A new service I just heard about recently is called BackBlaze.  Mozy, Carbonite, and Backblaze all cost around $5 a month.  The advantage of online storage is that your backup is offsite, which is very important because if your computer is stolen or house burns down, you still have a backup.

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