Data center deployments require careful planning and execution. The sheer complexity makes it easy to stumble into common pitfalls that can compromise uptime, security, and scalability. After talking with hundreds of customers, we’ve compiled the top five data center mistakes organizations often make during deployments, with tips on how to avoid them.
1. Overlooking Isolated Management Infrastructure
In the data center, the focus is bringing production infrastructure online, including power, cabling, racks, servers, and network gear. But many project managers and architects say they wished they’d given more attention to setting up proper management infrastructure. This oversight usually leads to business challenges down the line, especially when management access relies on the production infrastructure. When a device fails or goes offline, there’s no choice but to go on-site to manually troubleshoot and recover. Many professionals admit to making this data center mistake and wish that they had considered this early in the planning process. Incorporating something called Isolated Management Infrastructure from the start can avoid this challenge, since it provides a dedicated management plane through which teams can access production gear without relying on the production network.
Tip: Make management infrastructure a priority in your initial planning stages. This proactive approach can prevent complications later.
2. Neglecting Automation for Configuration and Scaling
Many data center implementors focus heavily on the “rack and stack” initial setup, but fail to automate processes for configuration and scaling operations. This data center mistake often leads to days’ or weeks’ worth of manual, repetitive work, while also exposing the organization to human error. A lot of people we talked to wish they’d invested just a few weeks into automating essential tasks such as switch setup, VLAN configurations, and IP address assignments, which would have saved them lots of time later on and likely helped to prevent errors. Additionally, if rearchitecting is needed, automated systems allow for quick reimplementation, minimizing the time and complexity involved.
Tip: Dedicate time to automating routine processes. This investment will pay off in enhanced operational efficiency and reduced human error.
3. Inadequate Out-of-Band Management
When people think of out-of-band (OOB) management, a common misconception is that it is solely about Ethernet switches. However, it’s crucial not to overlook the importance of having management access to your entire device stack. Low-level access can be essential for system recovery and management. The recent CrowdStrike outage is a perfect example – when the failed devices needed to be reimaged, typical out-of-band management solutions were inadequate at providing this type of low-level access. Generation three out-of-band serial consoles, like the Nodegrid Net SR, give Ethernet, serial, and USB access, allowing teams to remote-in at the BIOS level to revive failed devices. Using this kind of comprehensive out-of-band – on a fully isolated management plane – helps teams remotely recover and confidently automate processes.
Tip: Ensure that your OOB strategy includes robust serial console access to enhance system reliability and recovery capabilities.
4. Ignoring Security Best Practices
Zero trust security is no longer just advisable, it’s essential. The typical approach is to establish direct connectivity to devices to configure, troubleshoot, upgrade, etc. But this comes with unnecessary risks, often exposing management ports to the Internet and leaving you at risk of attack. Without a fully isolated management plane and zero trust security controls, how would you recover if you were ransomware’d? This is why it’s essential to implement security controls like role-based access and multi-factor authentication, and ensure complete separation of management and production networks.
Tip: Prioritize security by adopting a zero-trust approach and implementing rigorous access controls to safeguard your data center.
5. Cutting Corners on Out-of-Band Management
In the race for implementing AI, it’s crucial to invest in AI data center infrastructure. But organizations often cut corners on their ability to manage the underlying infrastructure that powers AI. Management access should not stop at ethernet switches; it should extend to encompass serial console access, PDUs, jump boxes, 5G connectivity, routing, WAN links, and a centralized cloud hub with secure tunnels to colocation sites. Using a comprehensive and centralized platform like Nodegrid consolidates many management devices into one while giving remote control to optimize AI’s underlying infrastructure. Aside from enhancing efficiency, this approach minimizes waste and energy consumption, which addresses environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns.
Tip: Avoid the partial out-of-band management deployment. A complete system not only supports resilience and security but also contributes to sustainability goals.
Addressing these common data center mistakes can significantly enhance operational efficiency, security, and scalability. By prioritizing management infrastructure, automating processes, ensuring adequate out-of-band access, implementing robust security measures, and investing wisely in management systems, organizations can build resilient data centers equipped to meet the demands of today and the future.
See ZPE Cloud in action with this video demo
Senior Sales Engineer Marcel van Zwienen gives you a hands-on demo of ZPE Cloud in this video. Watch Marcel take you from signing in to gaining remote access for troubleshooting, to showing how to apply configuration changes automatically across device fleets. Watch now at the link below.
Use Our Blueprint to Avoid Data Center Mistakes
Our blueprint shows how to deploy an isolated management infrastructure, which gives you secure remote access to recover from outages and automate operations. Download now for the complete guide.