In California, earthquakes are not ‘seasonal’ disasters. They can strike at any time and with no warning. Experts have predicted there is a 67% chance of an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 or greater striking Los Angeles within the next 30 years. If you conduct business online, that’s a reason to worry.
Earthquakes can disable data centers by damaging the building, its equipment, and the connections that sustain it. Your information may not be lost, but without access to critical data like customer and financial records, your business cannot successfully manage the event.
The good news is that staying operational during a natural disaster is possible. To ascertain if your Los Angeles data center is up to the challenge of keeping your information safe and accessible no matter what read on.
Offsite Backup
Ask the facility manager if their data center does secondary backups and stores the data at another location unlikely to be affected by crises compromising the main data center.
Cloud backups are on the rise as a source of customer data protection. Software on the principal storage system replicates data and transmits it to the service provider’s remote backup location, eliminating a single point of failure.
Disaster-Proof Rack Storage
A Los Angeles data center should ideally use seismic-rated rack storage to hold customer servers.
This type of rack system is specially designed to counteract the ground shaking caused by earthquakes.
Barriers, such as wire mesh attached to the front and back, can prevent stored hardware from shaking loose and falling out.
Fire Protection Systems
Fire is a normal byproduct of an earthquake and can destroy hardware that survived the upheaval.
Newer buildings are typically built to allow the sprinkler system to move with the building when seismic upheavals occur, preventing rupture and malfunction. Older buildings, though, may lack the bracing needed to protect the system. So raise this question with your data center’s facility manager.
Suspended Ceiling Support
While newer buildings likely have installed proper bracing for suspended ceilings, older facilities may not have the reinforcements necessary to keep the ceiling from crashing and damaging equipment during an earthquake.
This is another potential problem you will want to discuss with the management of any data center hosting your equipment.
The Bottom Line
Earthquakes not only interrupt business operations but can also spell the end for companies that don’t have safeguards in place for their data. Confirming that your Los Angeles data center has structural and procedural safeguards against earthquake damage is the best way to keep your business running during and after any upheaval.
Does your Los Angeles data center adequately protect against earthquakes and other natural disasters? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.
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