{"id":246,"date":"2020-03-11T18:32:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T16:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/?p=246"},"modified":"2020-03-11T18:33:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T16:33:00","slug":"security-connectivity-and-remote-management-are-integral-parts-of-any-edge-architecture-heres-how-to-include-them-in-your-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/security-connectivity-and-remote-management-are-integral-parts-of-any-edge-architecture-heres-how-to-include-them-in-your-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Security, connectivity and remote management are integral parts of any edge architecture. Here’s how to include them in your infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

4 essential components to edge data center maintenance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

George Lawton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributor – SearchMicroservices<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\t\n\t\n\tPublished: 30 Sep 2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edge computing architectures represent a new generation of smaller \ninfrastructure and new technical maintenance requirements. However, even\n with their dispersed nature, factors such as reliability, security and \nedge data center maintenance are just as important as an on-premises \ndata center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edge sites run the same types of general-purpose computing hardware \nas data centers and include storage and networking equipment. \nOrganizations often deploy them in nontraditional locations<\/a>,\n such as cell towers, factory floors or even outdoors with no \nenvironmental protection. An edge data center provides a management tier\n for multiple devices in the field and typically supports 50 kW to 150 \nkW of capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest change for admins is the number of sites to manage within\n an edge network. Consequently, it is not as practical to have a \ndedicated team at each data center. With on-premises data centers, \nadmins can walk through the facility, but that’s not necessarily \npossible — or needed — with edge deployments. The other issue is \nincorporating edge facilities into the overall data center strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two issues lead to four significant edge computing challenges \nadmins must address: security, connectivity, remote management and heterogeneous<\/a> hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolstering security setups<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Security — both application and physical — is one of the biggest edge computing challenges for data. Operators must invest in application vulnerability management<\/a>, as well as offerings that detect security threats and prevent attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edge data centers also expand the overall attack surface because \nevery edge site is a potential network access point. Admins must ensure \nthat applications running on edge servers aren’t a potential launchpad \nfor attacks on other infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of edge data center maintenance, think about the physical \nsafeguards for equipment protection. Secure gateways at each edge site \nare a best practice, and protecting the physical ports makes it less \npossible for malware injection or other attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open ports could have rogue devices inserted into them for loading \nmalware. Admins should encrypt data at rest so it cannot be stolen or \ncopied from a physical storage device<\/a>.\n Edge data centers should also support secure lifecycle updates that \nrequire verification to prevent hackers from hijacking data “in transit”\n or inserting malware into the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In on-premises data centers, admins don’t typically have to worry \nabout locking down spare ports because gaining physical access to the \nactual servers is more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintaining connectivity across the edge<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Servers in an on-premises data center typically have a strong, \nreliable internet connection; that’s not always the case for edge \ndeployments, especially because lower bandwidth and intermittent \nconnections are top edge use case characteristics. One strategy is to \nset up a secondary control channel. Another is to implement autonomous \nmanagement capabilities that address network outages as part of edge \ndata center maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Administrators must also think through data backup and protection \nworkflows. Items such as data protection and availability become even \nmore difficult with distributed data centers<\/a>, which have a wider attack surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Edge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, lightning could hit one of these edge data centers. \nAdmins must account for the effect of a downed site on data loss and \nplan failover strategies. These can become more challenging when the \nhardware and software are distributed because all traditional data \ncenter concerns are amplified when data loss or outages occur across a \nmore disparate network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional data center management paradigms don’t apply to the \nedge. Particularly for valuable data, one strategy is to send all data \nto the cloud or other nearby points of presence to increase resiliency. \nAnother strategy to reduce space and power requirements is to tier data \nso that only hot data is kept at the edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remote management and edge data center maintenance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Remote and edge data centers require the basic components of a large\n data center, such as a chassis or rack, a primary power source, \nuninterruptable power supply (UPS) to power and provide battery backup, \nand connectivity to make the components work together. A big difference \nis that it can be harder for technicians to fix a problem in the field \nif they don’t have the right equipment or information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ivo Petrov, data center segment specialist with Tripp Lite, \nrecommended that admins develop a remote access strategy to help field \ntechnicians and reduce overall repair time via built-in service modules \nand KVM over IP<\/a> or console servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Components with self-healing features or keepalive probes to reboot \ncomponents and UPS units with automatic and manual bypass features can \nensure operability while servicing equipment. Another option to minimize\n on-site service is to use console servers with out-of-band access via \ncellular management networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edge data centers’ distributed nature might require hiring more \nmaintenance support. For consistency and security, it is important to \nestablish standards for monitoring and maintenance across these \nproviders. These standards should include configuration governance<\/a>, homogeneity assurance and comparative performance analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also important to have a business model for the edge data \ncenter that complements the management model. Requirements such as \nworkloads, tenancy, service-level agreements and quality of service \ndetermine the business model and directly affect the management model \ndesign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streamlining heterogeneous hardware and IT oversight<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another challenge is that remote equipment likely uses a wider mix \nof hardware, OSes and protocol choices than traditional data centers, \nsaid Jason Shepherd, CTO of IoT and edge computing at Dell Technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These devices can also borrow capabilities from the programmable \nlogic controller (PLC), PC, router and server management paradigms that \ntraditionally have different tool sets for management. These admin \nresponsibilities are also split across the organization and departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operational technology (OT) teams typically manage industrial \nequipment and PLCs, whereas IT teams have usually overseen data \ninfrastructure. Troubleshooting problems with IoT equipment<\/a> in the field may involve both skill sets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OT folks in the field don’t necessarily have the skill sets for \nmanaging computing infrastructure, whereas admins do. IT doesn’t \ntypically have the necessary domain knowledge about the real-world use \ncases that drive the business. Edge data center workflows must ensure \nthat both IT and OT teams have the required tools to do their jobs, \nShepherd explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admins should implement consistent management tools that have \nseparation of concerns. Admins can add out mechanisms so updates aren’t \npushed on OT in the middle of an important process, Shepherd said. There\n are some efforts to decouple infrastructure from applications such as \nThe Linux Foundation’s EdgeX Foundry<\/a> and VMWare’s Pulse IoT Center, which organizations can use as a foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>4 essential components to edge data center maintenance By George Lawton Contributor – SearchMicroservices Published: 30 Sep 2019 Edge computing architectures represent a new generation of smaller infrastructure and new technical maintenance requirements. However, even with their dispersed nature, factors such as reliability, security and edge data center maintenance are just as important as an on-premises data center. Edge sites<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19,5,23,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-center-hardware","category-data-centre-servers","category-engage-the-experts","category-it-infrastructure-management-and-planning","category-tekmart-enterprise-hardware-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions\/247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}