Network
Enviroment
Precision-controlled air conditioning systems protect and cool
mission-critical servers and equipment in the Allegiance Telecom
Center. The facility is controlled by York quad-compressor/dual-blower
redundant systems. These systems provide a virtually dust-free
and particle-free computing environment, with temperature, humidity,
and air-quality regulation.
Security
Restricted access to the Allegiance Telecom Center is monitored
by qualified personnel 24 hours a day, every day. Visitors and
clientele are only allowed on-site if escorted by Network Operations
Center staff. The entire Allegiance Telecom Center is monitored,
ensuring prompt response and thorough coverage to fire or security
alarms. We supply all our Allegiance Telecom Center customers
with advanced firewall, encryption, intrusion detection and other
security measures.
For added safety and reliability, our Data Center
is smartly engineered and outfitted with state-of-the-art security
measures such as: highly secure intrusion and access control via
surveillance, cameras and card readers.
Our Data center maintains a full digital video surveillance
system of the Allegiance Telecom Center, with full on-site and
off-site recording.
The data center has 24x7 staffing and management,
including operations personnel and security guards. The physical
structure is equipped with environmental controls to provide the
consistency and safekeeping of our equipment and your data. These
environmental controls include extensive early warning fire detection,
smoke management, and suppression systems.
Failsafe Power Supply
Our Allegiance Telecom Center currently has 800amps 3-Phase AC
power currently available from PP&L (Pennsylvania Power
& Electric). The facility is backed up and protected by UPS
(Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems on each individual rack.
In a very rare case of utility outage, our Cummins 250KW
deisel generator starts automatically, taking over for the UPS
systems and supplying all necessary power for the facility. The
generator interfaces to the power grid thru a Cutler-Hammer
automatic transfer panel. The generator is powered by a 500 gallon
fuel tank, capable of running without refueling for approximately
80 hours. Our Data Center has plans for facility-wide enterprise
UPS coverage for implementation in 2002.
24x7x365 Monitoring
The Allegiance Telecom Center uses industry-standard SNMP (Simple
Network Management Protocol) and provides round-the-clock monitoring
of all hardware, including routers, switches, UPS systems, and
servers. The Allegiance Telecom Center also monitors power, environmental
factors (such as temperature and humidity), generator status,
and network connectivity. All critical services/ports are monitored,
including FTP, HTTP, SMTP, HTTPS, SSH, TELNET, and POP3. We provide
network monitoring of the Local Area Network, Internet connectivity
(all routers, switches, and wiring), and the Internet backbone
via MRTG. Our close and constant communication with our upstream
backbone providers ensures that our customers have constant access
to high-performance Internet connections. Failure on any monitoring
service results in audible alarms, LAN messages, and alerting
our staff paging system.
Hardware
The Allegiance Telecom Center utilizes ONLY top name brand hardware.
The facility is centered on a Cisco 7206VXR Router, with
the newest Processor (CPE400), connecting via Gigabit Ethernet
to the Hewlett Packard Procurve 4108 primary switch.
Hewlett Packard Procurve 4000M, 2524M, 2424M managed
switches comprise the power and stability of the network, operating
at 100mbps switched ethernet speeds. Servers utilize Intel/Asus/Abit/SuperMicro
motherboards, Intel Processors, 3Com/Intel network
cards, Adaptec/Tekram SCSI controller cards, name
brand PC-100/133 SDRAM, & IBM/Maxtor/Western-Digital/Seagate
hard drives. APC, Tripp-Lite & Liebert UPS
Systems provide the power backups, along with a Cummins
generator system. Facility monitoring is provided by a Panasonic
WD-500 Digital Video System over Sony CCTV cameras.
Software
The Allegiance Telecom Center utilizes the Red Hat Linux
operating system on the majority of servers present. Red Hat
Linux is a highly configurable system, and well known for speed
and stability. Red Hat Linux servers have been documented
to remain operating for up to one year at a time without even
requiring a reboot. The Apache Web Server nicely compliments
the Red Hat Linux Operating System.
The majority of remaining servers operate on the Microsoft
Windows NT/2000 operating systems, with Internet Information
Server Web Server. Microsoft Windows NT/2000
provides a system that simplifies database, application, and visual
effect programming. Digitekhost.com also supports FreeBSD,
Mandrake, Slackware, Turbo Linux, & Debian
Linux.
Connectivity
The Allegiance Telecom Center is connected via a OC192 fiber connection
to Verizon (Formerly Bell Atlantic PA). Digitekhost.com
utilizes redundant DS3 (45mbps) connections thru Sprint
(http://www.sprint.com) and AT&T (http://www.att.com).
A third DS3, thru Cable&Wireless, MCI/UUNet, or
Global Crossing is scheduled for install in the 4th Quarter
2001. The Sprint connection is scheduled for upgrade to OC3 (155mbps)
connectivity during the 1st Quarter 2002. After this, Digitekhost.com
will then be peering (sharing capacity) with major backbones,
to exchange connectivity. For redundancy, Digitekhost.com
is currently running BGP4 (border gateway routing protocol) to
maintain the speed and uptime. If one backbone line goes down,
it will balance the load to the other(s). If one line gets congested,
it will load balance the traffic. Digitekhost.com is currently
negotiating with major backbone providers to lay fiber and open
POPs (Points of Presence) in the Digitekhost.com Scranton
PA facility. This will provide redundant fiber connectivity in
our building, as well as increase speeds tremendously due to on-site
peering arrangements.
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