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.
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.
assembler - An assembler is a computer program that takes in basic instructions and converts them into a pattern of bits that the computer's processor can use to perform basic operations.
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.
baffle - In data center hot aisle containment, a baffle is anything that disturbs the flow of air through a room, rack or system.
boot loader (boot manager) - A boot loader (boot manager) is a small program that places the operating system (OS) of a computer into memory.
brownfield (brownfield deployment, brownfield site) - A brownfield deployment, in information technology, is the installation and configuration of new hardware or software that must coexist with legacy IT systems.
building management system - A building management system (BMS) is a control system that can be used to monitor and manage the mechanical, electrical and electromechanical services in a facility.
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.
clean electricity - Clean electricity, or carbon-free electricity, is electricity without high voltage spikes and drops, meaning it is low on emitting electrical pollution.
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.
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.
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.
consumption-based pricing model - A consumption-based pricing model is a service provision and payment scheme in which customers pay according to the resources they use.
converged infrastructure - Converged infrastructure, sometimes called 'converged architecture,' is an approach to data center management that packages compute, networking, servers, storage and virtualization tools into a prequalified set of IT hardware.
critical infrastructure - Critical infrastructure is the collection of systems, networks and public works that a government considers essential to its functioning and safety of its citizens.
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 is a facility composed of networked computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure that organizations use to assemble, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data.
data center as a service (DCaaS) - Data center as a service (DCaaS) is the provision of off-site physical data center facilities and infrastructure to clients.
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 by measuring what percentage of total facility power is consumed by IT equipment.
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 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 center services - Data center services provide the supporting components necessary to the proper operation of a data center.
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 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 pipeline - A data pipeline is a set of network connections and processing steps that moves data from a source system to a target location and transforms it for planned business uses.
data protection management (DPM) - Data protection management (DPM) is the administration, monitoring and management of backup processes to ensure backup tasks run on schedule and data is securely backed up and recoverable.
data warehouse as a service (DWaaS) - Data warehouse as a service (DWaaS) is an outsourcing model in which a cloud service provider configures and manages the hardware and software resources a data warehouse requires, and the customer provides the data and pays for the managed service.
database administrator (DBA) - A database administrator (DBA) is the information technician responsible for directing and performing all activities related to maintaining and securing a successful database environment.
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).
disaster recovery (DR) - Disaster recovery (DR) is an organization's ability to respond to and recover from an event that negatively affects business operations.
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 an approach to air management that uses a series of metal or plastic pipes to carry heated or cooled air from one place to another.
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.
e-cycling - E-cycling, also known as 'electronic recycling,' is the reuse or recycling of used electronic materials to limit e-waste.
economizer - An economizer is a mechanical device that reduces the amount of energy used to cool a data center or other buildings.
emergency power off (EPO) button - The emergency power off button, also called an EPO switch or EPO panel, is a safety measure for quickly disconnecting electrical power to a particular piece of equipment or facility in the event of an emergency.
Energy Star - Energy Star is a government-backed labeling program that helps people and organizations save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by identifying factories, office equipment, home appliances and electronics that have superior energy efficiency.
enterprise storage - Enterprise storage is a centralized repository for business information that provides common data management, protection and sharing functions through connections to computer systems.
epoch - In a computing context, an epoch is the date and time relative to which a computer's clock and timestamp values are determined.
Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) - An Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) is a category ranking assigned to an IT product or system after a Common Criteria security evaluation.
fault tolerance - Fault tolerance is the capability of a system to deliver uninterrupted service despite one or more of its components failing.
field-replaceable unit (FRU) - In electronic hardware, particularly computer systems, a field-replaceable unit (FRU) is a circuit board or part that can be easily removed and replaced by the user or technician without having to send the product or system to a repair facility.
flash storage - Flash storage is any type of drive, repository or system that uses flash memory to write and store data for an extended period.
flow control - Flow control is a technique used to regulate data transfer between computers or other nodes in a network.
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.
ghost imaging (disk imaging) - In computing, ghost imaging, also called disk imaging, is a data backup process that creates an image of a computer's hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD) or one of the drive's partitions.
graph database - A graph database, also referred to as a semantic database, is a software application designed to store, query and modify network graphs.
green cloud - Green cloud refers to the potential environmental benefits that green IT services delivered over the internet can offer to individual companies and society as a whole.
greenfield deployment - A greenfield deployment is the design, installation and configuration of computer infrastructure where none existed before, for example, in a new office.
greenhouse gas - A greenhouse gas lets the sun's rays warm the Earth's surface but restricts the heat from escaping into space.
hardware clustering - Hardware clustering, sometimes called OS clustering, is a hardware-based method of turning multiple servers into a cluster -- a group of servers that acts like a single system.
headless system - A headless system is a computer that operates without a monitor, graphical user interface (GUI) or the typical peripherals used to control it, such as a keyboard and mouse.
heartbeat (computing) - In computing, a heartbeat is a program that runs specialized scripts automatically whenever a system is initialized or rebooted.
heat - Heat is the transfer of thermal energy from one physical system to another system or from one region in a physical system to another region.
hyperconverged appliance (HCI appliance) - A hyperconverged appliance (HCI appliance) is a hardware device that provides multiple data center management technologies within a single box.
IBM Roadrunner - Roadrunner was a supercomputer developed by IBM at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
immutable infrastructure - Immutable infrastructure is an approach to managing services and software deployments on IT resources wherein components are replaced rather than changed.
industrial control system (ICS) - In industrial settings, industrial control system (ICS) is a term used to describe the integration of hardware and software with network connectivity to support production processes in manufacturing or critical infrastructure.
ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) - ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) is a file management system developed at IBM that enables records to be accessed either sequentially, in the order they were entered or randomly with an index.
IT incident management - IT incident management is a component of IT service management (ITSM) that aims to rapidly restore services to normal following an incident while minimizing adverse effects on the business.
IT operations management (ITOM) - IT operations management (ITOM) is a strategic approach to managing an organization's information technology needs.
IT service delivery - IT service delivery is the way a corporation provides users access to IT services, such as applications, data storage and other business resources.
IT systems management - Systems management is the administration of the information technology (IT) systems in an enterprise network or data center.
JAVA_HOME - JAVA_HOME is an operating system (OS) environment variable which can optionally be set after either the Java Development Kit (JDK) or the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed.
Kubernetes - Kubernetes, also referred to as K8s for the number of letters between K and S, is an open source platform used to manage containerized applications across private, public and hybrid cloud environments.
liquid - A liquid is a type of matter with specific properties that make it less rigid than a solid but more rigid than a gas.
load shedding - Load shedding (loadshedding) is a way to distribute demand for electrical power across multiple power sources.
logical network - A logical network is a software-defined network topology or routing that is often different than the physical network.
LUN masking - LUN masking is an authorization mechanism used in storage area networks (SANs) to make LUNs available to some hosts but unavailable to other hosts.
mechanical refrigeration - Mechanical refrigeration, often referred to simply as refrigeration or air conditioning, is a process by which heat is removed from a location using a human-made heat exchange system.
memristor - A memristor is an electrical component that limits or regulates the flow of electrical current in a circuit and remembers the amount of charge that has previously flowed through it.
Microsoft Cloud Witness - Microsoft Cloud Witness is a quorum witness for Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) that uses Microsoft Azure as the arbitration point.
moves, adds and changes (MAC) - Moves, adds and changes (MAC) refers to a set of tasks that IT teams regularly perform to keep computing equipment up to date and aligned with user and business requirements.
MTTR (mean time to repair) - MTTR (mean time to repair) is the average time required to fix a failed component or device and return it to production status.
Nutanix - Nutanix is a private and hybrid cloud software provider.
operational data store (ODS) - An operational data store (ODS) is a type of database that's often used as an interim logical area for a data warehouse.
operational technology (OT) - Operational technology (OT) is a category of hardware and software that monitors and controls how physical devices perform.
physical layer - The physical layer is the first and lowest layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communications model.
pizza box server - The term 'pizza box server' refers to the shape of a computer server enclosed in a rectangular and horizontally- arranged chassis and often installed in a rack with similar servers.
plenum - In building construction, a plenum (pronounced PLEH-nuhm, from Latin meaning full) is a separate space provided for air circulation for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (sometimes referred to as HVAC).
power cycling - Power cycling is the process of turning hardware off and then turning it on again.
power factor correction (PFC) - Power factor correction (PFC) is the set of mechanisms built into a power supply circuit to raise the power factor (PF).
process innovation - Process innovation refers to a change in an existing operation or product that creates significant value for an organization.
programmable logic controller (PLC) - A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a small, modular, solid-state computer with customized instructions for performing a particular task.
raceway - A raceway, sometimes referred to as a raceway system, is an enclosed conduit that forms a physical pathway for electrical wiring.
raised floor - A raised floor is a data center construction model in which a slightly higher floor is constructed above the building's original concrete slab floor, leaving the open space created between the two for wiring or cooling infrastructure.
