How secure is our data centre and what keeps it ticking?
In short, our data centre is very secure and we have great, innovative tech that ensures the optimum environment for our servers.
Things that make our data centre super, smashing and great:
- A pretty cool fire protection system
- Power supply and emergency back up
- Climate and humidity control
- State of the art Dell Servers (the heartbeat of the operation)
- Some awesome CCTV and security features
In more detail (no jargon – we promise):
Fire suppression system
So, in case of a fire (or zombie apocalypse) we have a really clever system implemented that ensures that the data centre is filled with gas that will extinguish any fire quickly. Because no water is used in the system, the servers / equipment won't be damaged further by the extinguishment. As well as being pretty clever, this system is the quickest and safest way of ensuring that if a fire did occur - it wouldn't be around for long.
Power supply / Back up
In the unlikely event that power to our servers fails and isn't restored within 10 seconds, 3 back up diesel generators will spring into life and take over. The reason that we say that power failure to our servers is unlikely is because each rack in our data centre has two power feeds to the national grid fed from two differing connections. If one or both of the feeds fails, back up is needed from our friends - the diesel generators. Just in case you were worried that diesel inevitably runs out, spare fuel is stored on site and there are agreements with fuel companies to deliver emergency fuel if needed.
Cooling Systems / Climate
Control We like to think that it is pretty cool here at Squirrel Hosting HQ but our data centre surely takes the prize for the coolest place on earth. The nifty N+1 Stultz DX Cybercool Air Conditioning system both monitors and controls the temperature and humidity in the server room. A system is implemented that ensures cooling throughout each server rack as cool air is circulated from under each rack and vacuumed up through the top. There are even sensors to detect whether there are any leaks in the system.
Dell Servers / Server Cabinets Our servers are top notch and our standard Dell server has at the very least :
- Dual Core Intel Xeon 3.16GHz with 2X6MB Cache
- 8 GB RAM
- Dual 136 GB SCSI Drive
- RAID Mirroring
- Dual Power Supplies
- Dual Gigabit Network Adapters
- Our server cabinets are 46u high, 1500mm wide, 1000 mm deep and are kept locked at all times.
Security
Now this is the James Bond bit – we have CCTV throughout the data centre (inside and out). All CCTV images captured are stored securely for 3 months. The building is surrounded by a 8ft perimeter fence with gates locked when it is outside of business hours. Entry to the data centre is via security fob access and you have to go through two levels of this security to get to the data centre. Only authorised staff members have security access / fobs.
So as you can see, it's pretty secure and safe in our data centre and we wouldn't offer hosting on our servers if it was anything less. Hopefully the above has answered most of your questions but if not - feel free to contact us.
