CADE vs PuE / DCiE

CADE (Corporate Average Data center Efficiency) is a metric used to rate the overall energy efficiency of an organization's data centers. CADE was introduced in a joint report from the Uptime Institute and McKinsey that proposed the metric as a single key performance indicator that could be used to compare the energy consumption of one data center against another. CADE combines measurements of the energy efficiency and utilization of IT equipment and facilities into a single percentage. A higher CADE indicates a more energy efficient data center.

The formula for CADE is:

CADE = Facility Efficiency (FE) x Asset Efficiency (AE)

• Facility Efficiency (FE) is equal to (Facility Energy Efficiency) x (Facility Utilization)
• Asset Efficiency (AE) is equal to (IT Energy Efficiency) x (IT utilization)
  

CADE can be used to:

• Monitor data center performance.
• Measure how one organization's data centers compare to a competitor's IT operations.
• Gauge the return on investment (ROI) on a green computing initiative.
  

Critics of CADE point out that the metric doesn't accurately reflect utilitisation gains made by removing downed servers or address the utilitisation or energy efficiency of outsourced servers at hosting providers. If widely adopted by operators and external regulators, however, CADE could serve a similar purpose in the IT operations of the world's corporations as the mandatory CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards do in the automobile industry.

Backup Tapes: Just Where Are We Heading?

We have all heard about the impending demise of the backup tape for storing your business critical data. But, we still see the backup tape media industry forging ahead as the most cost effective and efficient way to back up data.

So, where are we at with tapes. Well, the main two types in use are the LTO Ultrium, currently at revision IV able to store 800MB native or up to 1.6TB compressed. We have its contender the DLT at revision S4 that also is able to store 800MB/1.6TB. what will be next?

Why are we still using tapes? Simply that it is the most reliable and cheapest form of storage. It also does not have the overhead of disk based storage that requires power, cooling and data centre space. Until the further development of solid state storage that will be more cost effective both in onsite or offsite storage costs then, tapes will remain dominant for many, many more years to come. That will keep the employess of tape media producers reassurred I am sure, particularly in these times of global financial uncertainty.

Let me know what you think and reply back to this post. I would be very interested in your opinion on this widely debated topic.

Data Centre Crash at Primus, Melbourne

February 2nd, 2009, Melbourne.

Primus’s Melbourne internet hub lost power for several hours with the diesal backup generator failing. Primus is investigating a major power outage at it’s Melbourne data centre in Australia, affecting several internet service providers and thousands of customers. The King St facility, located in Melbourne’s CBD, had diesel power back up which failed to keep the centre running said reports. Submissions to the Whirlpool web forum and others said the battery back up had also failed.

Power was restored to the data centre at 18:00 Sunday, local time. The outage was caused by a cable being cut. According to PIPE Networks CEO, Bevan Slattery, writing on the whirlpool forum: “Details are still being determined, however, there appears to have been a loss of mains power, combined with a failure of backup diesel generation, and therefore the depletion of the UPS batteries.”

ISP providers Westnet, iiNet, Netspace, Internode, and TPG customers were among those affected.

Fannie Mae Virus Scare

I came across this interesting news and I think there is a warning here, particularly in these times of global financial uncertainty, job losses, and personal financial hardship.

The message is quite clear in respect to being more vigilant with physical data centre and application data security to ensure the business is not exposed to disgruntled persons that find themselves on the wrong end of staff reductions.

Make sure that your security processes and procedures are clearly defined and administered diligently. Ensure that staff exit procedures are thorough and that system checks are performed to address any abnormalities.

It was reported that a computer engineer for Fannie Mae's Urbana data centre in Maryland, USA was fired and allegedly on the same day of his release he loaded a Unix script on the main administrative server. The script was programmed to remain dormant for three months, when it would greet administrators with a login message that read "Server Graveyard". The rogue programme would then systematically replace all data with zeros on every production, administrative, and backup server in the company, designed to destroy millions of dollars worth of information.

By fortune, a Fannie Mae engineer stumbled across the script and it was reported before the script could take affect.

Rajendrasinh Babubahai Makwana, 35, of Virginia, was a contract employee at Fannie Mae's Urbana, Maryland data center for about three years and had unfettered root access to the entire company's system. He was arrested on January 7, 2009 and released on $100,000 bond. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and has pleased not guilty.