Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
data warehousing and customer-response management solutions. Storing
this information and the log of transactional changes requires attention
to storage capacity requirements as well as network capacity and availabil-
ity for authentication, application access, and backup processes. Active
Web content, reporting services, XML Web services, and other forms of
interconnectivity rely heavily on access to information stored in database
solutions, and any plans to move or consolidate these types of file storage
systems must be carefully tested to avoid isolating data from its consum-
ing agents.
Log Files
Database transaction logs are not the only form of rapidly changing log
files that may be found in an enterprise environment. Many access con-
trol logs, including log-on attempts, file and service access, change con-
trol, and other forms of information tracking may be mandatory for an
organization, depending on legislative and mandated reporting require-
ments that apply. As an example, HIPA A's patient information access log-
ging extends the storage requirement for access log data to include almost
a decade of audit capability, affecting not only capacity and backup plan-
ning but also archival and long-term storage practices such as archival
media aging and environmental controls.
Organizations that track and mine customer and website navigation
data will find that storage capacity as well as log file access speed can
greatly affect customer satisfaction. The lead architect planning data center
consolidation projects that will affect such systems must balance logging
resolution against hardware, software, and networking capacity before
making changes or introducing new functionality into the network.
Virtual Servers
Server virtualization is rapidly changing data center organization, lead-
ing to tremendous gains in resource utilization ratios while significantly
reducing air conditioning and power consumption requirements. We will
examine the extension of data center operations to a virtualized state in
detail in Chapter 10. In the most simplified view, a virtualized server
represents an entire computer, including operating system, applications,
storage, and communications stack, all of these elements wrapped into a
