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Terminal Servers: Uses, Benefits, and Examples

by | Jan 5, 2024 | Consolidation, Data Center Management, Data Center Resilience, Failover Connectivity, Increase Productivity, Minimize Impact of Disruptions, NetDevOps, NetDevOps Transformation, Network Automation, Out of Band Management, Remote Network Management, Security Service Edge (SSE), Vendor Neutral Platform, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP), Zero Trust Security

NSCStack
Terminal servers are network management devices providing remote access to and control over remote infrastructure. They typically connect to infrastructure devices via serial ports (hence their alternate names, serial consoles, console servers, serial console routers, or serial switches). IT teams use terminal servers to consolidate remote device management and create an out-of-band (OOB) control plane for remote network infrastructure. Terminal servers offer several benefits over other remote management solutions, such as better performance, resilience, and security. This guide answers all your questions about terminal servers, discussing their uses and benefits before describing what to look for in the best terminal server solution.

Table of Contents
    1. What is a terminal server?
    2. What are the uses for terminal servers?
    3. What are the benefits of terminal servers?
    4. Examples of terminal servers
    5. What to look for in the best terminal server
    6. Why choose Nodegrid terminal servers?

What is a terminal server?

A terminal server is a networking device used to manage other equipment. It directly connects to servers, switches, routers, and other equipment using management ports, which are typically (but not always) serial ports. Network administrators remotely access the terminal server and use it to manage all connected devices in the data center rack or branch where it’s installed.

What are the uses for terminal servers?

Network teams use terminal servers for two primary functions: remote infrastructure management consolidation and out-of-band management.

  1. Terminal servers unify management for all connected devices, so administrators don’t need to log in to each separate solution individually. Terminal servers save significant time and effort, which reduces the risk of fatigue and human error that could take down the network.
  2. Terminal servers provide remote out-of-band (OOB) management, creating a separate, isolated network dedicated to infrastructure management and troubleshooting. OOB allows administrators to troubleshoot and recover remote infrastructure during equipment failures, network outages, and ransomware attacks.

Learn more about using OOB terminal servers to recover from ransomware attacks by reading How to Build an Isolated Recovery Environment (IRE).

What are the benefits of terminal servers?

There are other ways to gain remote OOB management access to remote infrastructure, such as using Intel NUC jump boxes. Despite this, terminal servers are the better option for OOB management because they offer benefits including:

The benefits of terminal servers

Centralized management

Remote recovery

Even with a jump box, administrators typically must access the CLI of each infrastructure solution individually. Each jump box is also separately managed and accessed. A terminal server provides a single management platform to access and control all connected devices. That management platform works across all terminal servers from the same vendor, allowing teams to monitor and manage infrastructure across all remote sites from a single portal. 

When a jump box crashes or loses network access, there’s usually no way to recover it remotely, necessitating costly and time-consuming truck rolls before diagnostics can even begin. Terminal servers use OOB connection options like 5G/4G LTE to ensure continuous access to remote infrastructure even during major network outages. Out-of-band management gives remote teams a lifeline to troubleshoot, rebuild, and recover infrastructure fast.

Improved performance

Stronger security

Network and infrastructure management workflows can use a lot of bandwidth, especially when organizations use automation tools and orchestration platforms, potentially impacting end-user performance. Terminal servers create a dedicated OOB control plane where teams can execute as many resource-intensive automation workflows as needed without taking bandwidth away from production applications and users. 

Jump boxes often lack the security features and oversight of other enterprise network resources, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by malicious actors. Terminal servers are secured by onboard hardware Roots of Trust (e.g., TPM), receive patches from the vendor like other enterprise-grade solutions, and can be onboarded with cybersecurity monitoring tools and Zero Trust security policies to defend the management network. 

Examples of terminal servers

Examples of popular terminal server solutions include the Opengear CM8100, the Avocent ACS8000, and the Nodegrid Serial Console Plus. The Opengear and Avocent solutions are second-generation, or Gen 2, terminal servers, which means they provide some automation support but suffer from vendor lock-in. The Nodegrid solution is the only Gen 3 terminal server, offering unlimited integration support for 3rd-party automation, security, SD-WAN, and more.

What to look for in the best terminal server

Terminal servers have evolved, so there is a wide range of options with varying capabilities and features. Some key characteristics of the best terminal server include:

  • 5G/4G LTE and Wi-Fi options for out-of-band access and network failover
  • Support for legacy devices without costly adapters or complicated configuration tweaks
  • Advanced authentication support, including two-factor authentication (2FA) and SAML 2.0
  • Robust onboard hardware security features like a self-encrypted SSD and UEFI Secure Boot
  • An open, Linux-based OS that supports Guest OS and Docker containers for third-party software
  • Support for zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), custom scripts, and third-party automation tools
  • A vendor-neutral, centralized management and orchestration platform for all connected solutions

These characteristics give organizations greater resilience, enabling them to continue operating and providing services in a degraded fashion while recovering from outages and ransomware. In addition, vendor-neutral support for legacy devices and third-party automation enables companies to scale their operations efficiently without costly upgrades.

Why choose Nodegrid terminal servers?

Only one terminal server provides all the features listed above on a completely vendor-neutral platform – the Nodegrid solution from ZPE Systems.

The Nodegrid S Series terminal server uses auto-sensing ports to discover legacy and mixed-vendor infrastructure solutions and bring them under one unified management umbrella.

The Nodegrid Serial Console Plus (NSCP) is the first terminal server to offer 96 management ports on a 1U rack-mounted device (Patent No. 9,905,980).

ZPE also offers integrated branch/edge services routers with terminal server functionality, so you can consolidate your infrastructure while extending your capabilities.

All Nodegrid devices offer a variety of OOB and failover options to ensure maximum speed and reliability. They’re protected by comprehensive onboard security features like TPM 2.0, self-encrypted disk (SED), BIOS protection, Signed OS, and geofencing to keep malicious actors off the management network. They also run the open, Linux-based Nodegrid OS, supporting Guest OS and Docker containers so you can host third-party applications for automation, security, AIOps, and more. Nodegrid extends automation, security, and control to all the legacy and mixed-vendor devices on your network and unifies them with a centralized, vendor-neutral management platform for ultimate scalability, resilience, and efficiency.

Want to learn more about Nodegrid terminal servers?

ZPE Systems offers terminal server solutions for data center, branch, and edge deployments. Schedule a free demo to see Nodegrid terminal servers in action.

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What is a Hyperscale Data Center?

by | Dec 13, 2023 | Consolidation, Data Center Management, Edge Computing, EdgeOps, Improve Network Security, Increase Productivity, NetDevOps, NetDevOps Transformation, Network Automation, Network Edge Orchestration, Security Service Edge (SSE), Vendor Neutral Platform, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

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As today’s enterprises race toward digital transformation with cloud-based applications, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and artificial intelligence (AI), data center architectures are evolving. Organizations rely less on traditional server-based infrastructures, preferring the scalability, speed, and cost-efficiency of cloud and hybrid-cloud architectures using major platforms such as AWS and Google. These digital services are supported by an underlying infrastructure comprising thousands of servers, GPUs, and networking devices in what’s known as a hyperscale data center.

The size and complexity of hyperscale data centers present unique management, scaling, and resilience challenges that providers must overcome to ensure an optimal customer experience. This blog explains what a hyperscale data center is and compares it to a normal data center deployment before discussing the unique challenges involved in managing and supporting a hyperscale deployment.

What is a hyperscale data center?

As the name suggests, a hyperscale data center operates at a much larger scale than traditional enterprise data centers. A typical data center houses infrastructure for dozens of customers, each containing tens of servers and devices. A hyperscale data center deployment supports at least 5,000 servers dedicated to a single platform, such as AWS. These thousands of individual machines and services must seamlessly interoperate and rapidly scale on demand to provide a unified and streamlined user experience.

The biggest hyperscale data center challenges

Operating data center deployments on such a massive scale is challenging for several key reasons.

 
 

Hyperscale Data Center Challenges

Complexity

Hyperscale data center infrastructure is extensive and complex, with thousands of individual devices, applications, and services to manage. This infrastructure is distributed across multiple facilities in different geographic locations for redundancy, load balancing, and performance reasons. Efficiently managing these resources is impossible without a unified platform, but different vendor solutions and legacy systems may not interoperate, creating a fragmented control plane.

Scaling

Cloud and SaaS customers expect instant, streamlined scaling of their services, and demand can fluctuate wildly depending on the time of year, economic conditions, and other external factors. Many hyperscale providers use serverless, immutable infrastructure that’s elastic and easy to scale, but these systems still rely on a hardware backbone with physical limitations. Adding more compute resources also requires additional management and networking hardware, which increases the cost of scaling hyperscale infrastructure.

Resilience

Customers rely on hyperscale service providers for their critical business operations, so they expect reliability and continuous uptime. Failing to maintain service level agreements (SLAs) with uptime requirements can negatively impact a provider’s reputation. When equipment failures and network outages occur - as they always do, eventually - hyperscale data center recovery is difficult and expensive.

Overcoming hyperscale data center challenges requires unified, scalable, and resilient infrastructure management solutions, like the Nodegrid platform from ZPE Systems.

How Nodegrid simplifies hyperscale data center management

The Nodegrid family of vendor-neutral serial console servers and network edge routers streamlines hyperscale data center deployments. Nodegrid helps hyperscale providers overcome their biggest challenges with:

  • A unified, integrated management platform that centralizes control over multi-vendor, distributed hyperscale infrastructures.
  • Innovative, vendor-neutral serial console servers and network edge routers that extend the unified, automated control plane to legacy, mixed-vendor infrastructure.
  • The open, Linux-based Nodegrid OS which hosts or integrates your choice of third-party software to consolidate functions in a single box.
  • Fast, reliable out-of-band (OOB) management and 5G/4G cellular failover to facilitate easy remote recovery for improved resilience.

The Nodegrid platform gives hyperscale providers single-pane-of-glass control over multi-vendor, legacy, and distributed data center infrastructure for greater efficiency. With a device like the Nodegrid Serial Console Plus (NSCP), you can manage up to 96 devices with a single piece of 1RU rack-mounted hardware, significantly reducing scaling costs. Plus, the vendor-neutral Nodegrid OS can directly host other vendors’ software for monitoring, security, automation, and more, reducing the number of hardware solutions deployed in the data center.

Nodegrid’s out-of-band (OOB) management creates an isolated control plane that doesn’t rely on production network resources, giving teams a lifeline to recover remote infrastructure during outages, equipment failures, and ransomware attacks. The addition of 5G/4G LTE cellular failover allows hyperscale providers to keep vital services running during recovery operations so they can maintain customer SLAs.

Want to learn more about Nodegrid hyperscale data center solutions from ZPE Systems?

Nodegrid’s vendor-neutral hardware and software help hyperscale cloud providers streamline their operations with unified management, enhanced scalability, and resilient out-of-band management. Request a free Nodegrid demo to see our hyperscale data center solutions in action.

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Healthcare Network Design

by | Nov 20, 2023 | Consolidation, Edge Computing, EdgeOps, Improve Network Security, Increase Productivity, NetDevOps, NetDevOps Transformation, Network Automation, Network Edge Orchestration, Security Service Edge (SSE), Vendor Neutral Platform, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

Edge Computing in Healthcare
In a healthcare organization, IT’s goal is to ensure network and system stability to improve both patient outcomes and ROI. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides many recommendations for how to achieve these goals, and they place a heavy focus on resilience engineering (RE). Resilience engineering enables a healthcare organization to resist and recover from unexpected events, such as surges in demand, ransomware attacks, and network failures. Resilient architectures allow the organization to continue operating and serving patients during major disruptions and to recover critical systems rapidly.

This guide to healthcare network design describes the core technologies comprising a resilient network architecture before discussing how to take resilience engineering to the next level with automation, edge computing, and isolated recovery environments.

Table of Contents
  1. Core healthcare network resilience technologies
  2. Extending automated control over healthcare networks
  3. Improving performance and security with edge computing
  4. Increasing resilience with isolated recovery environments
  5. Resilient healthcare network design with Nodegrid

Core healthcare network resilience technologies

A resilient healthcare network design includes resilience systems that perform critical functions while the primary systems are down. The core technologies and capabilities required for resilience systems include:

  • Full-stack networking – Routing, switching, Wi-Fi, voice over IP (VoIP), virtualization, and the network overlay used in software-defined networking (SDN) and software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN)
  • Full compute capabilities – The virtual machines (VMs), containers, and/or bare metal servers needed to run applications and deliver services
  • Storage – Enough to recover systems and applications as well as deliver content while primary systems are down

These are the main technologies that allow healthcare IT teams to reduce disruptions and streamline recovery. Once organizations achieve this base level of resilience, they can evolve by adding more automation, edge computing, and isolated recovery infrastructure.

Extending automated control over healthcare networks

Automation is one of the best tools healthcare teams have to reduce human error, improve efficiency, and ensure network resilience. However, automation can be hard to learn, and scripts take a long time to write, so having systems are easily deployable with low technical debt is critical. Tools like ZTP (zero-touch provisioning), and the integration of technology like Infrastructure as Code (IaC), accelerate recovery by automating device provisioning. Healthcare organizations can use automation technologies such as AIOps with resilience systems technologies like out-of-band (OOB) management to monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot critical infrastructure.

Using automation to observe and control healthcare networks helps prevent failures from occuring, but when trouble does actually happen, resilience systems ensure infrastructure and services are quickly returned to health or rerouted when needed.

Improving performance and security with edge computing

The healthcare industry is one of the biggest adopters of IoT (Internet of Things) technology. Remote, networked medical devices like pacemakers, insulin pumps, and heart rate monitors collect a large volume of valuable data that healthcare teams use to improve patient care. Transmitting that data to a software application in a data center or cloud adds latency and increases the chances of interception by malicious actors. Edge computing for healthcare eliminates these problems by relocating applications closer to the source of medical data, at the edges of the healthcare network. Edge computing significantly reduces latency and security risks, creating a more resilient healthcare network design.

Note that teams also need a way to remotely manage and service edge computing technologies. Find out more in our blog Edge Management & Orchestration.

Increasing resilience with isolated recovery environments

Ransomware is one of the biggest threats to network resilience, with attacks occurring so frequently that it’s no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ a healthcare organization will be hit.

Recovering from ransomware is especially difficult because of how easily malicious code can spread from the production network into backup data and systems. The best way to protect your resilience systems and speed up ransomware recovery is with an isolated recovery environment (IRE) that’s fully separated from the production infrastructure.

 

A diagram showing the components of an isolated recovery environment.

An IRE ensures that IT teams have a dedicated environment in which to rebuild and restore critical services during a ransomware attack, as well as during other disruptions or disasters. An IRE does not replace a traditional backup solution, but it does provide a safe environment that’s inaccessible to attackers, allowing response teams to conduct remediation efforts without being detected or interrupted by adversaries. Isolating your recovery architecture improves healthcare network resilience by reducing the time it takes to restore critical systems and preventing reinfection.

To learn more about how to recover from ransomware using an isolated recovery environment, download our whitepaper, 3 Steps to Ransomware Recovery.

Resilient healthcare network design with Nodegrid

A resilient healthcare network design is resistant to failures thanks to resilience systems that perform critical functions while the primary systems are down. Healthcare organizations can further improve resilience by implementing additional automation, edge computing, and isolated recovery environments (IREs).

Nodegrid healthcare network solutions from ZPE Systems simplify healthcare resilience engineering by consolidating the technologies and services needed to deploy and evolve your resilience systems. Nodegrid’s serial console servers and integrated branch/edge routers deliver full-stack networking, combining cellular, Wi-Fi, fiber, and copper into software-driven networking that also includes compute capabilities, storage, vendor-neutral application & automation hosting, and cellular failover required for basic resilience. Nodegrid also uses out-of-band (OOB) management to create an isolated management and recovery environment without the cost and hassle of deploying an entire redundant infrastructure.

Ready to see how Nodegrid can improve your network’s resilience?

Nodegrid streamlines resilient healthcare network design with consolidated, vendor-neutral solutions. Request a free demo to see Nodegrid in action.

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Best DevOps Tools

by | Nov 15, 2023 | Consolidation, DevOps, Increase Productivity, NetDevOps, NetDevOps Transformation, Network Automation, Network Edge Orchestration, Vendor Neutral Platform, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

A glowing interface of DevOps tools and concepts hover above a laptop.
DevOps is all about streamlining software development and delivery through automation and collaboration. Many workflows are involved in a DevOps software development lifecycle, but they can be broadly broken down into the following categories: development, resource provisioning and management, integration, testing, deployment, and monitoring. The best DevOps tools streamline and automate these key aspects of the DevOps lifecycle. This blog discusses what role these tools play and highlights the most popular offerings in each category.

The best DevOps tools

Categorizing the Best DevOps Tools

Version Control Tools

Track and manage all the changes made to a code base.

IaC Build Tools

Provision infrastructure automatically with software code.

Configuration Management Tools

Prevent unauthorized changes from compromising security.

CI/CD Tools

Automatically build, test, integrate, and deploy software.

Testing Tools

Automatically test and validate software to streamline delivery.

Container Tools

Create, deploy, and manage containerized resources for microservice applications.

Monitoring & Incident Response Tools

Detect and resolve issues while finding opportunities to optimize.

DevOps version control

In a DevOps environment, a whole team of developers may work on the same code base simultaneously for maximum efficiency. DevOps version control tools like GitHub allow you to track and manage all the changes made to a code base, providing visibility into who’s making what changes at what time. Version control prevents devs from overwriting each other’s work or making unauthorized changes. For example, a developer may come up with a way to improve the performance of a feature by changing the existing code, but doing so inadvertently creates a vulnerability in the software or interferes with other application functions. DevOps version control prevents unauthorized code changes from integrating with the rest of source code and tracks who’s responsible for making the request, improving the stability and security of the software.

  •  Best DevOps version control tool: Github

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) streamlines the Operations side of a DevOps environment by abstracting server, VM, and container configurations as software code. IaC build tools like HashiCorp Terraform allow Ops teams to write infrastructure configurations as declarative or imperative code, which is used to provision resources automatically. With IaC, teams can deploy infrastructure at the velocity required by DevOps development cycles. A screenshot of a Terraform configuration for AWS infrastructure.

An example Terraform configuration for IaC.

Configuration management

Configuration management involves monitoring infrastructure and network devices to make sure no unauthorized changes are made while systems are in production. Unmonitored changes could introduce security vulnerabilities that the organization is unaware of, especially in a fast-paced DevOps environment. In addition, as systems are patched and updated over time, configuration drift becomes a concern, leading to additional quality and security issues. DevOps configuration management tools like RedHat Ansible automatically monitor configurations and roll back unauthorized modifications. Some IaC build tools, like Terraform, also include configuration management.

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) is a software development methodology that goes hand-in-hand with DevOps. In CI/CD, software code is continuously updated and integrated with the main code base, allowing a continuous delivery of new features and improvements. CI/CD tools like Jenkins automate every step of the CI/CD process, including software building, testing, integrating, and deployment. This allows DevOps organizations to continuously innovate and optimize their products to stay competitive in the market.

Software testing

Not all DevOps teams utilize CI/CD, and even those that do may have additional software testing needs that aren’t addressed by their CI/CD platform. In DevOps, app development is broken up into short sprints so manageable chunks of code can be tested and integrated as quickly as possible. Manual testing is slow and tedious, introducing delays that prevent teams from achieving the rapid delivery schedules required by DevOps organizations. DevOps software testing tools like Selenium automatically validate software to streamline the process and allow testing to occur early and often in the development cycle. That means high-quality apps and features get out to customers sooner, improving the ROI of software projects.

  •  Best software testing tool: Selenium

Container management

In DevOps, containers are lightweight, virtualized resources used in the development of microservice applications. Microservice applications are extremely agile, breaking up software into individual services that can be developed, deployed, managed, and destroyed without affecting other parts of the app. Docker is the de facto standard for basic container creation and management. Kubernetes takes things a step further by automating the orchestration of large-scale container deployments to enable an extremely efficient and streamlined infrastructure.

Monitoring & incident management

Continuous improvement is a core tenet of the DevOps methodology. Software and infrastructure must be monitored so potential issues can be resolved before they affect software performance or availability. Additionally, monitoring data should be analyzed for opportunities to improve the quality, speed, and usability of applications and systems. DevOps monitoring and incident response tools like Cisco’s AppDynamics provide full-stack visibility, automatic alerts, automated incident response and remediation, and in-depth analysis so DevOps teams can make data-driven decisions to improve their products.

Deploy the best DevOps tools with Nodegrid

DevOps is all about agility, speed, and efficiency. The best DevOps tools use automation to streamline key workflows so teams can deliver high-quality software faster. With so many individual tools to manage, there’s a real risk of DevOps tech sprawl driving costs up and inhibiting efficiency. One of the best ways to reduce tech sprawl (without giving up all the tools you love) is by using vendor-neutral platforms to consolidate your solutions. For example, the Nodegrid Services Delivery Platform from ZPE Systems can host and integrate 3rd-party DevOps tools, reducing the need to deploy additional virtual or hardware resources for each solution. Nodegrid utilizes integrated services routers, such as the Gate SR or Net SR, to provide branch/edge gateway routing, in-band networking, out-of-band (OOB) management, cellular failover, and more. With a Nodegrid SR, you can combine all your network functions and DevOps tools into a single integrated solution, consolidating your tech stack and streamlining operations.

A major benefit of using Nodegrid is that the Linux-based Nodegrid OS is Synopsys secure, meaning every line of source code is checked during our SDLC. This significantly reduces CVEs and other vulnerabilities that are likely present in other vendors’ software.

Learn more about efficient DevOps management with vendor-neutral solutions

With the vendor-neutral Nodegrid Services Delivery Platform, you can deploy the best DevOps tools while reducing tech sprawl. Watch a free Nodegrid demo to learn more.

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Edge Management and Orchestration

by | Sep 28, 2023 | Consolidation, Edge Computing, EdgeOps, Improve Network Security, Increase Productivity, NetDevOps, NetDevOps Transformation, Network Automation, Network Edge Orchestration, SD-WAN, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Security Service Edge (SSE), Vendor Neutral Platform, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

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Organizations prioritizing digital transformation by adopting IoT (Internet of Things) technologies generate and process an unprecedented amount of data. Traditionally, the systems used to process that data live in a centralized data center or the cloud. However, IoT devices are often deployed around the edges of the enterprise in remote sites like retail stores, manufacturing plants, and oil rigs. Transferring so much data back and forth creates a lot of latency and uses valuable bandwidth. Edge computing solves this problem by moving processing units closer to the sources that generate the data.

IBM estimates there are over 15 billion edge devices already in use. While edge computing has rapidly become a vital component of digital transformation, many organizations focus on individual use cases and lack a cohesive edge computing strategy. According to a recent Gartner report, the result is what’s known as “edge sprawl”: many individual edge computing solutions deployed all over the enterprise without any centralized control or visibility. Organizations with disjointed edge computing deployments are less efficient and more likely to hit roadblocks that stifle digital transformation.

The report provides guidance on building an edge computing strategy to combat sprawl, and the foundation of that strategy is edge management and orchestration (EMO). Below, this post summarizes the key findings from the Gartner report and discusses some of the biggest edge computing challenges before explaining how to solve them with a centralized EMO platform.

Table of Contents
  1. Key findings from the Gartner report
  2. Edge computing challenges
  3. . Enabling extensibility
  4. . Extracting value from edge data
  5. . Governing edge data
  6. . Supporting edge-native applications
  7. . Securing the edge
  8. . Edge management and orchestration
  9. Edge management and orchestration with Nodegrid

Key findings from the Gartner report

Many organizations already use edge computing technology for specific projects and use cases – they have an individual problem to solve, so they deploy an individual solution. Since the stakeholders in these projects usually aren’t architects, they aren’t building their own edge computing machines or writing software for them. Typically, these customers buy pre-assembled solutions or as-a-service offerings that meet their specific needs.

However, a piecemeal approach to edge computing projects leaves organizations with disjointed technologies and processes, contributing to edge sprawl and shadow IT. Teams can’t efficiently manage or secure all the edge computing projects occurring in the enterprise without centralized control and visibility. Gartner urges I&O (infrastructure & operations) leaders to take a more proactive approach by developing a comprehensive edge computing strategy encompassing all use cases and addressing the most common challenges.

Edge computing challenges

Gartner identifies six major edge computing challenges to focus on when developing an edge computing strategy:

Gartner’s 6 edge computing challenges to overcome

Enabling extensibility so edge computing solutions are adaptable to the changing needs of the business.

Extracting value from edge data with business analytics, AIOps, and machine learning training.

Governing edge data to meet storage constraints without losing valuable data in the process.

Supporting edge-native applications using specialized containers and clustering without increasing the technical debt.

Securing the edge when computing nodes are highly distributed in environments without data center security mechanisms.

Edge management and orchestration that supports business resilience requirements and improves operational efficiency.

Let’s discuss these challenges and their solutions in greater depth.

  • Enabling extensibility – Many organizations deploy purpose-built edge computing solutions for their specific use case and can’t adapt when workloads change or grow.  The goal is to attempt to predict future workloads based on planned initiatives and create an edge computing strategy that leaves room for that growth. However, no one can really predict the future, so the strategy should account for unknowns by utilizing common, vendor-neutral technologies that allow for expansion and integration.
  • Extracting value from edge data – The generation of so much IoT and sensor data gives organizations the opportunity to extract additional value in the form of business insights, predictive analysis, and machine learning training. Quickly extracting that value is challenging when most data analysis and AI applications still live in the cloud. To effectively harness edge data, organizations should look for ways to deploy artificial intelligence training and data analytics solutions alongside edge computing units.
  • Governing edge data – Edge computing deployments often have more significant data storage constraints than central data centers, so quickly distinguishing between valuable data and destroyable junk is critical to edge ROIs. With so much data being generated, it’s often challenging to make this determination on the fly, so it’s important to address data governance during the planning process. There are automated data governance solutions that can help, but these must be carefully configured and managed to avoid data loss.
  • Supporting edge-native applications – Edge applications aren’t just data center apps lifted and shifted to the edge; they’re designed for edge computing from the bottom up. Like cloud-native software, edge apps often use containers, but clustering and cluster management are different beasts outside the cloud data center. The goal is to deploy platforms that support edge-native applications without increasing the technical debt, which means they should use familiar container management technologies (like Docker) and interoperate with existing systems (like OT applications and VMs).
  • Securing the edge – Edge deployments are highly distributed in locations that may lack many physical security features in a traditional data center, such as guarded entries and biometric locks, which adds risk and increases the attack surface. Organizations must protect edge computing nodes with a multi-layered defense that includes hardware security (such as TPM), frequent patches, zero-trust policies, strong authentication (e.g., RADIUS and 2FA), and network micro-segmentation.
  • Edge management and orchestration – Moving computing out of the climate-controlled data center creates environmental and power challenges that are difficult to mitigate without an on-site technical staff to monitor and respond. When equipment failure, configuration errors, or breaches take down the network, remote teams struggle to meet resilience requirements to keep business operations running 24/7. The sheer number and distribution area of edge computing units make them challenging to manage efficiently, increasing the likelihood of mistakes, issues, or threat indicators slipping between the cracks. Addressing this challenge requires centralized edge management and orchestration (EMO) with environmental monitoring and out-of-band (OOB) connectivity.

    A centralized EMO platform gives administrators a single-pane-of-glass view of all edge deployments and the supporting infrastructure, streamlining management workflows and serving as the control panel for automation, security, data governance, cluster management, and more. The EMO must integrate with the technologies used to automate edge management workflows, such as zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) and configuration management (e.g., Ansible or Chef), to help improve efficiency while reducing the risk of human error. Integrating environmental sensors will help remote technicians monitor heat, humidity, airflow, and other conditions affecting critical edge equipment’s performance and lifespan. Finally, remote teams need OOB access to edge infrastructure and computing nodes, so the EMO should use out-of-band serial console technology that provides a dedicated network path that doesn’t rely on production resources.

Gartner recommends focusing your edge computing strategy on overcoming the most significant risks, challenges, and roadblocks. An edge management and orchestration (EMO) platform is the backbone of a comprehensive edge computing strategy because it serves as the hub for all the processes, workflows, and solutions used to solve those problems.

Learn more about zero trust on the control plane

Edge management and orchestration (EMO) with Nodegrid

Nodegrid is a vendor-neutral edge management and orchestration (EMO) platform from ZPE Systems. Nodegrid uses Gen 3 out-of-band technology that provides 24/7 remote management access to edge deployments while freely interoperating with third-party applications for automation, security, container management, and more. Nodegrid environmental sensors give teams a complete view of temperature, humidity, airflow, and other factors from anywhere in the world and provide robust logging to support data-driven analytics.

The open, Linux-based Nodegrid OS supports direct hosting of containers and edge-native applications, reducing the hardware overhead at each edge deployment. You can also run your ML training, AIOps, data governance, or data analytics applications from the same box to extract more value from your edge data without contributing to sprawl.

In addition to hardware security features like TPM and geofencing, Nodegrid supports strong authentication like 2FA, integrates with leading zero-trust providers like Okta and PING, and can run third-party next-generation firewall (NGFW) software to streamline deployments further.

The Nodegrid platform brings all the components of your edge computing strategy under one management umbrella and rolls it up with additional core networking and infrastructure management features. Nodegrid consolidates edge deployments and streamlines edge management and orchestration, providing a foundation for a Gartner-approved edge computing strategy.

Want to learn more about how Nodegrid can help you overcome your biggest edge computing challenges?

Contact ZPE Systems for a free demo of the Nodegrid edge management and orchestration platform.

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Data Center Migration Checklist

by | Aug 18, 2023 | Data Center Management, Data Center Resilience, DevOps, NetDevOps Transformation, Network Automation, Remote Network Management, Scripting, Streamline Deployments, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

A data center migration is represented by a person physically pushing a rack of data center infrastructure into place
Various reasons may prompt a move to a new data center, like finding a different provider with lower prices, or the added security of relocating assets from an on-premises location to a colocation facility or private cloud.

Despite the potential benefits, data center migrations are often tough on enterprises, both internally and from the client side of things. Data center managers, systems administrators, and network engineers must cope with the logistical difficulties of planning, executing, and supporting the move. End-users may experience service disruptions and performance issues that make their jobs harder. Migrations also tend to reveal any weaknesses in the actual infrastructure that’s moved, which means systems that once worked perfectly may require extra support during and after the migration.

The best way to limit headaches and business disruptions is to plan every step of a data center migration meticulously. This guide provides a basic data center migration checklist to help with planning and includes additional resources for streamlining your move.

Data center migration checklist

Data center migrations are always complex and unique to each organization, but there are typically two major approaches:

  • Lift-and-shift. You physically move infrastructure from one data center to another. In some ways, this is the easiest approach because all components are known, but it can limit your potential benefits if gear remains in racks for easy transport to the new location rather than using the move as an opportunity to improve or upgrade certain parts.
  • New build. You replace some or all of your infrastructure with different solutions in a new data center. This approach is more complex because services and dependencies must be migrated to new environments, but it also permits organizations to simultaneously improve operational processes, cut costs, and update existing tech stacks.

The following data center migration checklist will help guide your planning for either approach and ensure you’re asking the right questions to prepare for any potential problems.

Quick Data Center Migration Checklist

  • Conduct site surveys of the current and the new data centers to determine the existing limitations and available resources, like space, power, cooling, cable management, and security.

  • Locate – or create – documentation for infrastructure requirements such as storage, compute, networking, and applications.

  • Outline the dependencies and ancillary systems from the current data center environment that you must replicate in the new data center.

  • Plan the physical layout and overall network topology of the new environment, including physical cabling, out-of-band management, network, storage, power, rack layout, and cooling.

  • Plan your management access, both for the deployment and for ongoing maintenance, and determine how to assist the rollout (for example, with remote access and automation).

  • Determine your networking requirements (e.g., VLANs, IP addresses, DNS, MPLS) and make an implementation plan.

  • Plan out the migration itself and include disaster recovery options and checkpoints in case something changes or issues arise.

  • Determine who is responsible for which aspects of the move and communicate all expectations and plans.

  • Assign a dedicated triage team to handle end-user support requests if there are issues during or immediately after the move.

  • Create a list of vendor contacts for each migrated component so it’s easier to contact support if something goes wrong.

  • If possible, use a lab environment to simulate key steps of the data center migration to identify potential issues or gaps.

  • Have a testing plan ready to execute once the move is complete to ensure infrastructure integrity, performance, and reliability in the new data center environment.

1.  Site surveys

The first step is to determine your physical requirements – how much space, power, cooling, cable management, etc., you’ll need in the new data center. Then, conduct site surveys of the new environment to identify existing limitations and available resources. For example, you’ll want to make sure the HVAC system can provide adequate climate control – specific to the new locale – for your incoming hardware. You may need to verify that your power supply can support additional chillers or dehumidifiers, if necessary, to maintain optimal temperature ranges. In addition to physical infrastructure requirements, factors like security and physical accessibility are important considerations for your new location.

2. Infrastructure documentation

At a bare minimum, you need an accurate list of all the physical and virtual infrastructure you’re moving to the new data center. You should also collect any existing documentation on your application and system requirements for storage, compute, networking, and security to ensure you cover all these bases in the migration. If that documentation doesn’t exist, now’s the time to create it. Having as much documentation as possible will streamline many of the following steps in your data center move.

3. Dependencies and ancillary services

Aside from the infrastructure you’re moving, hundreds or thousands of other services will likely be affected by the change. It’s important to map out these dependencies and ancillary services to learn how the migration will affect them and what you can do to smooth the transition. For example, if an application or service relies on a legacy database, you may need to upgrade both the database and its hardware to ensure end-users have uninterrupted access. As an added benefit, creating this map also aids in implementing micro-segmentation for Zero Trust security.

4. Layout and topology

The next step is to plan the physical layout of the new data center infrastructure. Where will network, storage, and power devices sit in the rack and cabinets? How will you handle cable management? Will your planned layout provide enough airflow for cooling? This is also the time to plan the network topology – how traffic will flow to, from, and within the new data center infrastructure.

5. Management access

You must determine how your administrators will deploy and manage the new data center infrastructure. Will you enable remote access? If so, how will you ensure continuous availability during migration or when issues arise? Do you plan to automate your deployment with zero touch provisioning?

6. Network planning

If you didn’t cover this in your infrastructure documentation, you’ll need specific documentation for your data center networking requirements – both WAN (wide area networking) and LAN (local area networking). This is a good time to determine whether you want to exactly replicate your existing network environment or make any network infrastructure upgrades. Then, create a detailed implementation plan covering everything from VLANs to IP address provisioning, DNS migrations, and ordering MPLS circuits.

7. Migration & build planning

Next, plan out each step of the move or build itself – the actions your team will perform immediately before, during, and after the migration. It’s important to include disaster recovery options in case critical services break, or unforeseen changes cause delays. Implementing checkpoints at key stages of the move will help ensure any issues are fixed before they impact subsequent migration steps.

8. Assembling a team

At this stage, you likely have a team responsible for planning the data center migration, but you also need to identify who’s responsible for every aspect of the move itself. It’s critical to do this as early as possible so you have time to set expectations, communicate the plan, and handle any required pre-migration training or support. Additionally, ensure this team includes dedicated support staff who can triage end-user requests if any issues arise during or after the migration.

9. Vendor support

Any experienced sysadmin will tell you that anything that could go wrong with a data center migration probably will, so you should plan for the worst but hope for the best. That means collecting a list of vendor contacts for each hardware and software component you’re migrating so it will be easier to contact support if something goes awry. For especially critical systems, you may even want to alert your vendor POCs prior to the move so they can be on hand (or near their phones) on the day of the move.

Additional Data Center Migration & Management Resources

10. Lab simulation

This step may not be feasible for every organization, but ideally, you’ll use a lab environment to simulate key stages of the data center migration before you actually move. Running a virtualized simulation can help you identify potential hiccups with connection settings or compatibility issues. It can also highlight gaps in your planning – like forgetting to restore user access and security rules after building new firewalls – so you can address them before they affect production services.

11. Post-migration testing

Finally, you need to create a post-migration testing plan that’s ready to implement as soon as the move is complete. Testing will validate the integrity, performance, and reliability of infrastructure in the new environment, allowing teams to proactively resolve issues instead of waiting for monitoring notifications or end-user complaints.

Streamlining your data center migration

Using this data center migration checklist to create a comprehensive plan will help reduce setbacks on the day of the move. To further streamline the migration process and set yourself up for success in your new environment, consider upgrading to a vendor-neutral data center orchestration platform. Such a platform will provide a unified tool for administrators and engineers to monitor, deploy, and manage modern, multi-vendor, and legacy data center infrastructure. Reducing the number of individual solutions you need to access and manage during migration will decrease complexity and speed up the move, so you can start reaping the benefits of your new environment sooner.

Want to learn more about Data Center migration?

For a complete data center migration checklist, including in-depth guidance and best practices for moving day, click here to download our Complete Guide to Data Center Migrations or contact ZPE Systems today to learn more.
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