Servers & Hosting Network
NOC (Network Operations Center)
The NOC (or Data Center), located in Scranton PA USA, was opened
May 1st 2001. The facility contains everything needed to ensure
your mission-critical Internet operation is functioning at the
highest performance levels.
NOC: Environment
Precision-controlled air conditioning systems protect and cool mission-critical servers and equipment in the NOC. 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.
NOC: Security
Restricted access to the NOC is monitored by qualified personnel 24 hours a day, every day. Visitors and clientele are only allowed on-site if escorted by NOC staff. The entire NOC is monitored, ensuring prompt response and thorough coverage to fire or security alarms. The NOC provides advanced firewall, encryption, intrusion detection and other security measures. A full digital video surveillance system of the NOC is maintained, with full on-site and off-site recording.
NOC: Failsafe Power Supply
The NOC 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 diesel 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. A facility-wide enterprise UPS coverage was implemented in 2003.
NOC: Backup System
WSOman.com automatically provides backup data services to all shared hosting solutions clientele. Linux systems store zipped copies of server system files and client data files, for simple server rebuilding. Backups are run daily.
NOC: 24x7x365 Monitoring
The NOC 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 NOC 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.
NOC: Hardware
The NOC utilizes ONLY top name brand hardware. The facility is centered on Cisco™ Routers, with the newest Processors, connecting via Gigabit Ethernet to the Hewlett Packard™ Procurve™ primary switches. Hewlett Packard™ Procurve™ managed switches comprise the power and stability of the network. Additional Cisco™ routers are on hand, as fail-safe for the primary routers. Hardware utilized in the facility is comprised of the following brands: Intel™, Asus™, Abit™, AMD™, 3Com™, Hewlett Packard™, Adaptec™, Cisco™, Tekram™, Kingston™, Micron™, Crucial™, IBM™, Maxtor™, Western-Digital™, Seagate™, Quantum™, Fujitsu™, Datatel™, Belkin™, & Lucent™. APC™, Tripp-Lite™, Compaq™, & Liebert™ UPS Systems provide the power backups, along with a Cummins™ generator system. Facility monitoring is provided by a Panasonic™ Digital Video Systems over Sony™ CCTV cameras.
Server Software
The NOC utilizes the Red Hat™ Linux Enterprise
operating system on the majority of servers present. Red Hat™
Linux Enterprise is a highly configurable system, and well known
for speed and stability. Red Hat™ Linux Enterprise 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 Enterprise Operating System.
Network Connectivity
The Network Operations Centre is connected via OC192 fiber
connections to Verizon™ (Formerly Bell Atlantic PA) &
Commonwealth Telephone (CTSI), NorthEast PA's 2nd largest Telco.
The N.O.C utilizes a Sprint™ http://www.sprint.com) OC3 (155mbps)
connection, as well as MCI/Worldcom™ (http://www.worldcom.com)
and AT&T™ (http://www.att.com) DS3 (45mbps) connections. A Qwest™
(http://www.qwest.com) 100mbps Metro Fast Ethernet drop, as well
as a Cogent™ (http://www.cogentco.com) 100mbps Metro Fast
Ethernet drop are scheduled for installation. The AT&T™
connection is scheduled for upgrade to OC3 (155mbps) capacity as
well.
For redundancy, we are 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.
Web Servers
All servers are wired into an uninterruptible power supply, as well as connected to a diesel backup generator. All our Servers are built with Intel™/AMD™ Processors, 3Com™/Intel™ NICs, DDR RAM, and ONLY major name brand components. Specifications of a typical server would be as follows: Intel Pentium D (Dual-Core), 2800 MHz processor (as a minimum), with 1024mb RAM memory and a 7200rpm hard-drive. All servers run the latest version of the Apache Server software on Linux-based systems. We quite often increase RAM memory to as high as 2GB, to keep pace with the increasing needs of existing accounts.