Security Readiness With Tier 4 Data Center

The facility used by the house computer systems and its associated components, such as the storage system or the telecommunication systems, is termed as the data center. Usually a data center consists of backup or redundant power supplies, security devices, unnecessary data communications connections and substances of environmental controls such as fire suppression, air conditioning, etc. Generally large industrial houses use a huge amount of electricity which can be compared to the scale of electricity used in a small town and, sometimes, it turns out to be a major source of complexities and pollution in the society in the form of diesel exhaust.  

A four tier system provides a simple and efficient tool for the identification of different data center site infrastructure with the design topologies. The Uptime Institute's tier classification system is an industry standard approach which explains the tier 4 data center as a composition of multiple cooling distribution paths and active powers and unnecessary redundant components. It is an efficient fault tolerant system that provides not less than 99.995% of availability.

Tier 4 data center is measured as the most powerful among all its parts and is less flat on failures. Tier 4 is designed to swarm a charge of grave computer systems and servers with completely superfluous subsystems like cooling, power, network links, storage, etc. It has been designed with compartmentalized safekeeping zones which are monitored by the method of biometric access control. Hence, it can be said that the simplest of all the tiers is a Tier 1 data center whereas tier 4 is a bit complex but includes all fully tolerant apparatus like storage, uplinks, HVAC systems, chillers, servers, etc. Everything in it is dual-powered. In tier 4, no utility power sources are mandatory, though they are commonly used as a low-cost alternative to commercial power. Tier 1 is basically preferred by small business enterprises whereas Tier 4 is used by large companies that prefer utmost security.

Standards are set for data center tiers so as to evaluate the reliability and quality of the web hosting capacity of the data center’s server. Institutes usually use a ranking technique for the four tier system, which they set as a bench mark for measuring the trustworthiness of the data center. The scoring system starts with the tier 1 and gradually heads towards the tier 4 systems. Tier 1 is generally seen to be warehoused with powers and ends, whereas tier 4 offers a 2N outmoded power and cooling with an additional guarantee of 99.99% uptime.

Tier 4 data center is a completely fault-tolerant tool that promises to handle any accidental activity on any occasion without hampering the flow of operations. Tier 4 facilities do not have any scope for failure. The basic concept working behind the system is that a Tier IV design requires double the intensity of the infrastructure present in the Tier 3 design. However, the noteworthy thing is that specification of both, the Tier 3 and Tier 4, data centers demand IT equipments so as to have a dual power input. This would help them to allow the maintenance and security of the power distribution apparatus between the IT equipment and the UPS. 

Therefore, all the large scale firms, that do not like to bargain with the security of its data, prefer Tier 4 data center because of its appreciable superiority and security over its minor members. 

Asia’s largest Tier 4 certified data center, CtrlS Data center India  offers  Cheap VPS hosting, disaster recovery, Managed Services, online backup, online storage, dedicated email solutions, server colocation, secure Dedicated server hosting solutions and Cloud hosting services

 

Security and Vulnerability Issues of Cloud Hosting

In recent years, the level of web hosting has been raised to a whole new level with the introduction of cloud hosting services. Thousands of firms have been impressed by the idea of cloud hosting and many of them avail the service to experience the benefits. It has been widely accepted by online businesses as well as other website owners and has become popular all over the world. But, with the increasing popularity, cloud hosting is exposed to various security and vulnerability issues. Although people used to think that the idea of cloud computing is flawless, several threats have caused a huge risk to the users of cloud hosting services and hence people’s mindset is on the verge of change. 

·     (a)      Data Loss: Individuals assume that cloud is the best platform to keep important data safe. But, it is important to know that the risk of data loss is involved while it's updated. When certain data are updated in the cloud, it passes through various sources and servers. Data can be lost in the processing stage due to the occurrence of some failures or corruption. Therefore, it is very crucial to update important data through a secured channel. 

·   (b)        Account Hacking: Over the years, amount of underground hacking groups have grown tremendously. Today, present in different parts of the world is tons of talented hackers who can access a company’s account in the cloud and therefore play with the firm’s future. As Internet-connected machines can be accessed virtually, the hackers practice this technique of hacking illegally to steal the account of various website owners who use cloud hosting. 

·    (c)     Alteration of data: Data in the cloud can be accessed by the professionals working in a website owner’s company. These professionals can use the company’s cloud account to add, remove and change the data available in it. Hence, if the data is modified maliciously by a professional of the firm, entire data can get distorted. This can prove to be disastrous at times. Therefore, user accounts should be kept private and confidential in order to prevent the hindrance of data modification. 

·    (d)      Temporary Service Denial: It is not necessary that the cloud will provide consistent service for the whole year. Due to certain problems or corruption, cloud server might get temporarily down causing network failure. A client cannot access his website during this time so it can cause tension if he needs to update data urgently. Therefore, cloud is vulnerable to connection failure temporarily and this risk cannot be avoided easily.

Although there are several security and vulnerability issues in cloud hosting, thousands of website owners don’t mind to use it; mainly because of its incomparable benefits. To prevent various security-related issues, companies follow certain guidelines. Using a confidential password or going beyond the password level by opting for 2-level authentication technique can prevent a couple of harmful issues. Security firewall is another important stuff that should never be ignored by the users of cloud hosting service because firewall protects data and network from various malicious factors. Therefore, a company should be aware of various security issues of cloud hosting and take suitable precautions before enjoying the merits of cloud computing.

CtrlS cloud server hosting company  offers  Secure cloud server hosting, automated cloud solutions, cloud computing   and cloud performance  testing services.

 

Tips to Pick a Cloud Hosting Provider

As every organization aims to establish a website in today’s market, hosting services have been a hot topic in recent years. Although web hosting services such as shared server, virtual server and dedicated server ruled the market of web hosting services for years, Cloud hosting services has secured the driver’s seat of the hosting services at present. Today, the majority of companies prefer cloud hosting services because of some convenient and crucial reasons that supersede web hosting services.  For instance, cloud hosting services minimize the amount spent on hardware and provide better downtime. Also, the processing speed provided to users is faster than that of web hosting services.

Although the list of cloud hosting service benefits is long, it is imperative to choose the right cloud hosting service provider because the selection of wrong provider may invite negative outcomes. Hence, you should know certain factors and consider them effectively to choose the most suitable cloud hosting provider for your website. 

Selection of a cloud hosting provider kicks off with understanding individual needs. It is crucial to be aware of what you want from your website and hosting service. For instance, if you want your cloud server to store a tremendous amount of data and provide appreciable speed, you should opt for a leading cloud hosting provider. It is critical to understand your needs because the selection of an unsuitable service provider may fail to yield positive results which will ultimately result in loss of money, time and effort. You can make a list of the factors that you would like to avail in your cloud hosting service. Once you’re done with it, you can proceed to the next step, i.e. evaluation of services.

Available in the market today are dozens of cloud providers. But, as all that glitters is not gold, all the cloud hosting providers are not genuine. It is important to pick the right provider for your website because you will be availing its service for a long time. Hence, before appointing a company, contacting a couple of firms (who satisfy your list of needs) for a free trial version would be useful. You can evaluate the services of all the providers and pick the right one. However, there are certain factors that you should take into consideration while evaluating a cloud hosting provider.

·         Uptime and Load Balance: The first thing that matters to website owners is uptime. Every website owner wants his website to be available over the internet all the time. The uptime holds utmost importance for websites that are used for online business. An outage of these websites may result in loss of money, customers and reputation. It may also give your competitors a golden opportunity to steal your customers who switch on to them because of your temporary absence. Outage on a holiday can be excessively annoying because it would affect your business negatively. Therefore, it is very important to know the uptime promised by the cloud hosting provider. You should check the approximate interval between outages and notice how they manage to tackle the same. Some companies guarantee to provide 99.999% uptime in order to gain attention of clients. You should check whether the company really manages to perform as guaranteed. 

Some cloud hosting providers maintain a load balance of their servers. This means that when one server is down, another server is used to provide backup of uptime. Corporate enterprises that establish a website for online business should check this type of cloud hosting providers.

·         Flexibility to choose Cloud: There are different kinds of clouds. Some cloud hosting providers offer multiple choices to clients whereas others have just one offering. Clouds built on open sources are known as open clouds whereas those which are built on proprietary models are called proprietary clouds. Generally, open clouds proves to be better than the proprietary clouds because vendor lock-in is not present and innovation that a product receives is more in open clouds. Therefore, you should see to it that the cloud hosting provider gives you the flexibility to choose the right cloud for your website.

·         Support: Website owners or maintainers may not have a clear knowledge about everything related to the cloud. Certain situations may arise when you get struck at a step and do not have any idea what to do next. For example, you are creating your own server and you get struck in one step in between the procedure. In such case, you would like to fall back to the cloud hosting provider. Hence, you should make sure that the cloud hosting provider you’re choosing will give you 24 hours a day support. 

·         Security: It is one of the most imperative factors for some business corporations that prefer cloud hosting service. Companies that store important data in cloud look for providers who can provide ultimate security so that the data cannot be accessed or hacked by any third party. Not all cloud service providers offer this service. Therefore, if high security is one of your needs, look for a company that promises a complete security solution.

·         Provider’s Overview: Before appointing a company, you must check certain things. It includes the reputation of the firm, its experience in the field and reviews of its past clients. A cloud hosting company that exists in the market for more than 4 years and has been showing excellence in its service will have a good reputation, appreciable experience and positive customer reviews. Therefore, have an in-depth survey of the provider before you decide the fate of your online business.

·         Price: Budget always plays a vital role in the selection of a cloud hosting provider. If your aim is to avail appreciable service, never go with the Cloud computing companies that attract you by offering the cheapest price. Remember, quality of service shouldn’t be bargained over the price. You should choose a company that satisfied all, or at least majority of your needs, and charges a reasonable price.

Once you have evaluated every factor effectively, you can make sure which cloud hosting provider will be most suitable for your business. You can appoint the firm that satisfies all your needs to get ahead of your competitors’ websites in near future.