Data center management

Terms related to data centers, including definitions about network operations centers (NOCs) and words and phrases about the storage, management and the transmission of data.

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abend (abnormal end) - An abend (abnormal end) is an unexpected or abnormal termination of an application or operating system that results from a problem with the software.
adiabatic cooling - Adiabatic cooling is the process of reducing heat through a change in air pressure caused by volume expansion.
ambient temperature - Ambient temperature is the air temperature of any object or environment where equipment is stored.
AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) - AMD-V (AMD Virtualization) technology refers to a set of hardware extensions and on-chip features for the AMD family of x86 microprocessors.
Ansible playbook - An Ansible playbook is an organized unit of scripts that defines work for a server configuration managed by the automation tool Ansible.
availability zones - Availability zones (AZs) are isolated locations within data center regions from which public cloud services originate and operate.
AWS Lambda (Amazon Web Services Lambda) - AWS Lambda is an event-driven computing service that allows developers to program serverless functions on a pay-per-use basis.
AWS Management Console - The AWS Management Console is a web-based application that lets users access the broad range of services included in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform.
AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) - AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) are virtual servers that run in AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) or AWS Relational Database Service (RDS) and are purchased at a fixed rate per hour.
AWS OpsWorks (Amazon Web Services OpsWorks) - AWS OpsWorks is a cloud computing service from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that manages infrastructure deployment for cloud administrators.
AWS Spot Fleets (Amazon Web Services Spot Fleets) - An AWS Spot Fleet (Amazon Web Services Spot Fleets) is a collection of virtual servers (instances) purchased at reduced rates within Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
baffle (data center hot aisle containment) - Baffle paneling covers unwanted space between racks, under the raised floor and above dropped ceilings in the data center, reducing energy consumption and power use.
battery management system (BMS) - A battery management system (BMS) is an electronic regulator that monitors and controls the charging and discharging of rechargeable batteries.
Bloom Energy Server (Bloom box) - A Bloom Box, officially known as an Bloom Energy Server, is a modular stack of solid oxide fuel cells that can produce electricity.
break/fix - For IT services companies, break/fix is a method of providing IT support to customers.
burn-in - Burn-in is a test in which a system or component is made to run for an extended period of time to detect problems.
business metric - A business metric is a quantifiable measure businesses use to track, monitor and assess the success or failure of various business processes.
business process - A business process is an activity or set of activities that accomplish a specific organizational goal.
business service management (BSM) - Business service management (BSM) is an approach to overseeing information technology that emphasizes treating IT offerings as part of the larger enterprise strategy, and provisioning IT resources based on an understanding of the business' most pressing needs.
carbon footprint - A carbon footprint is the measure of the environmental impact of a particular individual or organization's lifestyle or operation, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
carbon negative - Carbon negativity is the reduction of an entity’s carbon footprint to less than neutral, so that the entity in question has a net effect of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere rather than adding it.
carbon usage effectiveness (CUE) - Carbon usage effectiveness (CUE) is a metric developed by The Green Grid to help organizations measure the amount of carbon used -- or carbon footprint -- in the daily operations of their data centers.
chief architect (chief IT architect) - In information technology (IT), a chief architect is a c-level executive whose job is to look closely at how IT functions can be centralized so that departments across the company can work together seamlessly.
circular logging - Circular logging is a method of conserving hard disk space in the Microsoft Exchange transactional logging process.
Cisco HyperFlex - HyperFlex systems combine software-defined storage and data services software with Cisco UCS (unified computing system), a converged infrastructure system that integrates computing, networking and storage resources to increase efficiency and enable centralized management.
clean electricity - Clean electricity, or carbon-free electricity, is electricity without high voltage spikes and drops, meaning it is low on emitting electrical pollution.
clock gating - Clock gating is the power-saving feature in semiconductor microelectronics that enables switching off circuits.
cloud computing - Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet.
cloud storage API - A cloud storage API is an application programming interface that connects a locally based application to a cloud-based storage system so that a user can send data to it and access and work with data stored in it.
cloud storage infrastructure - Cloud storage infrastructure is the hardware and software framework that supports the computing requirements of a private or public cloud storage service.
cloudlet - A cloudlet is a small-scale data center or cluster of computers designed to quickly provide cloud computing services to mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets and wearable devices, within close geographical proximity.
cluster - Clusters are typically defined as collections or groups of items with similar or different characteristics.
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) - Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the use of applied mathematics, physics and computational software to visualize how a gas or liquid flows -- as well as how the gas or liquid affects objects as it flows past.
computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit - A computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit is a device that monitors and maintains the temperature, air distribution and humidity in a data center, network or server room.
computer room air handler (CRAH) - A computer room air handler (CRAH) is a device used frequently in data centers to deal with the heat produced by equipment.
computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) - A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is software that helps operations and maintenance staff identify and track the status of maintenance tasks and availability of replacement parts.
configuration drift - Configuration drift occurs naturally in data center environments when changes to software and hardware are not recorded or tracked in a comprehensive and systematic fashion.
consumption-based pricing model - A consumption-based pricing model is a service provision and payment scheme in which the customer pays according to the resources used.
container (disambiguation) - This page explains how the term container is used in software development, storage, data center management and mobile device management.
continuous modeling (data center continuous modeling) - Continuous modeling is an approach to data center management that supplements infrastructure management (DCIM) tools with engineering simulation tools such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
converged data center - A converged data center pre-integrates server, storage and networking hardware with management, hypervisor and operating system platforms, as well as applications and services.
converged infrastructure - Converged infrastructure is an approach to data center management that packages compute, networking, servers, storage and virtualization tools on a prequalified turnkey appliance.
cow power (biogas) - Cow power is a term for the conversion of manure to usable energy.
critical infrastructure - Critical infrastructure is the body of systems, networks and assets that are so essential that their continued operation is required to ensure the security of a given nation, its economy, and the public’s health and/or safety.
data catalog - A data catalog is a software application that creates an inventory of an organization's data assets to help data professionals and business users find relevant data for analytics uses.
data center - A data center -- also known as a datacenter or data centre -- is a facility composed of networked computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure that organizations use to organize, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data.
data center administrator (DCA) - A data center administrator monitors systems, installs equipment and cabling, and participates in change processes and everyday procedures that support information technology.
data center as a service (DCaaS) - A data center as a service (DCaaS) provider will supply turnkey physical data center facilities and computing infrastructure (e.
data center bridging (DCB) - DCB is a suite of IEEE standards designed to enable lossless transport over Ethernet and a converged network for all data center applications.
data center capacity planning - Data center capacity planning ensures that an IT organization has enough facility space, power and computing resources to support average and peak workloads.
data center chiller - A data center chiller is a cooling system used in a data center to remove heat from one element and deposit it into another element.
data center infrastructure efficiency (DCiE) - Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) is a metric used to determine the energy efficiency of a data center.
data center infrastructure management (DCIM) - Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) is the convergence of IT and building facilities functions within an organization.
data center interconnect (DCI) - Data center interconnect (DCI) technology links two or more data centers together to share resources.
data center management - Data center management refers to the set of tasks and activities handled by an organization for the day-to-day requirements of operating a data center.
data center outsourcing (DCO) - DCO (data center outsourcing) is the practice of outsourcing the day-to-day provisioning and management of computing and storage resources and environments to a third party provider.
data center resiliency - Resiliency is the ability of a server, network, storage system or an entire data center to recover quickly and continue operating even when there has been an equipment failure, power outage or other disruption.
data dictionary - A data dictionary is a collection of descriptions of the data objects or items in a data model to which programmers and others can refer.
data fabric - A data fabric is an architecture and software offering a unified collection of data assets, databases and database architectures within an enterprise.
data historian - A data historian is a software program that records the data created by processes running in a computer system.
data in motion - Data in motion, also referred to as data in transit or data in flight, is a process in which digital information is transported between locations either within or between computer systems.
data in use - Data in use is data that is currently being updated, processed, accessed and read by a system.
data lake - A data lake is a storage repository that holds a vast amount of raw data in its native format until it is needed for analytics applications.
data management as a service (DMaaS) - Data management as a service (DMaaS) is a type of cloud service that provides enterprises with centralized storage for disparate data sources.
data migration - Data migration is the process of transferring data between data storage systems, data formats or computer systems.
data pipeline - A data pipeline is a system that moves data from one (source) location to another (target) location, much like how an oil pipeline moves oil from one location to another.
data protection management (DPM) - Data protection management (DPM) comprises the administration, monitoring and management of backup processes to ensure backup tasks run on schedule and data is securely backed up and recoverable.
data transformation - Data transformation is the process of converting data from one format, such as a database file, XML document or Excel spreadsheet, into another.
database administrator (DBA) - A database administrator (DBA) is the information technician responsible for directing or performing all activities related to maintaining a successful database environment.
database management system (DBMS) - A database management system (DBMS) is system software for creating and managing databases, allowing end users to create, protect, read, update and delete data in a database.
demand signal repository (DSR) - A demand signal repository (DSR) is a database that aggregates sales and demand data at the merchant's point of sale (POS).
desktop management interface (DMI) - The desktop management interface (DMI) is a standard industry framework that manages and tracks components on one or more personal computers, usually from a centralized console.
device cloud - A device cloud is a mobile testing environment that enables developers to remotely evaluate the performance of applications on a wide range of smart devices.
disaggregated server - A disaggregated server is a server that breaks up components and resources into subsystems.
disaster recovery (DR) - Disaster recovery (DR) is an organization's ability to respond to and recover from an event that affects business operations.
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) - Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is the replication and hosting of physical or virtual servers by a third party to provide failover in the event of a natural catastrophe, power outage or another type of business disruption.
distributed computing - Distributed computing is a model in which components of a software system are shared among multiple computers or nodes.
distributed control system (DCS) - A distributed control system (DCS) is a digital automated industrial control system (ICS) that uses geographically distributed control loops throughout a factory, machine or control area.
ducting (data center cooling) - Ducting is the use of a metal or plastic pipe to carry air from one place to another.
dynamic infrastructure - Dynamic infrastructure refers to a collection of data center resources, such as compute, networking and storage, that can automatically provision and adjust itself as workload demands change.
dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) - Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) is the adjustment of power and speed settings on a computing device’s various processors, controller chips and peripheral devices to optimize resource allotment for tasks and maximize power-saving when those resources are not needed.
economizer - An economizer is a mechanical device that reduces the amount of energy used to cool a data center or other buildings.
Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) - Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) is a load-balancing service for Amazon Web Services (AWS) deployments.
EMC Corporation - EMC Corporation was a multinational provider of products and services related to cloud computing, storage, big data, data analytics, information security, content management and converged infrastructure.
emergency notification system - An emergency notification system is an automated method of contacting a group of people within an organization and distributing important information during a crisis.
Emergency Power Off (EPO) button - The Emergency Power Off (EPO) button -- sometimes called an EPO switch -- is a large red device in data centers that kills power to a particular piece of equipment, or to an entire facility, in the event of an emergency.
enterprise server - An enterprise server is a computer containing programs that collectively serve the needs of an enterprise rather than a single user, department, or specialized application.
enterprise storage - Enterprise storage is a centralized repository for business information that provides common data management, protection and data sharing functions through connections to computer systems.
eventual consistency - Eventual consistency is a characteristic of distributed computing systems such that the value for a specific data item will, given enough time without further updates, be consistent each time it is accessed.
flash storage - Flash storage is any type of drive, repository or system that uses flash memory to keep data for an extended period of time.
free cooling - Free cooling is an approach to lowering the air temperature in a building or data center by using naturally cool air or water instead of mechanical refrigeration.
geothermal cooling - Geothermal cooling is a type of renewable energy system that moves heat from a building to below the earth’s surface, using the ground like a heatsink.
ghost imaging - Ghost imaging, often called cloning, is a software-driven data backup process that copies the contents of a computer hard disk in a single compressed file or set of files, referred to as an image.

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