Data Center Operations:
To ensure non-stop delivery of essential business services to users across and beyond the enterprise, IT data centers operations require constant, diligent management. There are two reasons, however, why it is not wise to have technicians constantly going in and out of the data center operations to perform these daily management tasks.
First, over-reliance on the physical presence of technicians in data center operations is slow and inefficient. Every time someone gets up from his or her desk to install a patch or run some diagnostics, valuable time is lost - time that could be spent taking care of other important tasks. Second, foot traffic through the data center is never a good thing for data center operation. When too many people spend too much time around critical data center systems, it greatly increases exposure to both malicious and inadvertent security risks.
Virtual Media addresses these twin issues of operational efficiency and security of data centers by allowing servers to access CD-ROMs and other storage media anywhere across the enterprise just as if they were directly attached via the server's USB port. It thus empowers technicians to do their jobs more quickly and efficiently, without compromising the physical security of the data center.
Virtual Media allows a server to access storage media such as CD-ROMs, flash memory, and external drives anywhere on the data center network - just as if they were directly attached to that server's USB port. This allows technicians to quickly and easily move and copy data between the storage media and the computer. They can install application and OS patches, download files, and perform diagnostic testing on multiple servers without ever physically entering the data center or leaving their desks. They can even work from home or on the road. Everything they would be able to do on-site, they can do securely from any remote location.
Virtual Media can be provisioned locally or remotely. With local Virtual Media, the server and the storage media are attached to the same KVM switch - so data transfers occur out-of-band through the switch. With remote Virtual Media, the storage media can be attached to any Virtual Media-enabled desktop anywhere on the network. In these cases, data center operation moves over the network from the enabled desktop to the KVM switch - and then via the USB port from the switch to the server.
Unlike conventional network attached storage (NAS), Virtual Media allows technicians to take advantage of the convenience of removable media to work wherever and whenever they have to. As long as they have a CD with whatever files they need on hand - whether it's diagnostic tools, a clean system image, or a set of current patches - they can manage any server with a USB connection to a KVM switch.
The power of DSView 3 management software is its hub and spoke architecture - a fully redundant, replicating database system. Users securely authenticate to a central management "hub" server (or one of up to 15 mirrored "spoke" servers if the primary server is unavailable). This allows for real-time updates and load balancing across multiple sites. Virtual Media support is included, providing quick and easy remote loading of CDs, OS patches, and/or specialized diagnostics.
