Cisco Unified IP Phones enable you to communicate by using voice over a data network. To provide this capability, the Cisco Unified IP Phones depend upon and interact with several other key Cisco Unified IP Telephony components like the networking device,i.e, a Cisco Catalyst switch and DNS, DHCP, TFTP servers, and other switches and also the IP Phone should be registered on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager system.

The following figure identifies the important parts of the phone.

Figure 1: Cisco IP Phone

• Programmable buttons: Buttons illuminate to indicate status or can be programmed as speed dial buttons,
  Green, steady—Active call or two-way intercom call
  Green, flashing—Held call
  Amber, steady—Privacy in use, one-way intercom call, DND active
  Amber, flashing—Incoming call or reverting call
  Red, steady—Remote line in use
• Handset light strip: Red illumination indicates an incoming call or new voice message.
• Messages button: Auto-dials your voice message service.
• Directories button: Opens/closes the Directories menu. Use the button to access call logs and directory extension# of any employee.
• Settings button: Opens and closes the Settings menu. Use the button to change phone screen contrast, ring settings and to find the MAC address of the IP Phone.
• Services button: Opens and closes the Services menu. This button is used to guide the user to login screen to make use of the Extension Mobility(EMCC) feature.
• Phone screen: Shows call features. The above figure shows a Cisco 7961/62/42 screen, whereas the Cisco 7975/71/65/45 model provides a color screen.

The back of the Cisco Unified IP Phone includes these ports: Network port, Access port, Headset port and the Handset port.

Cisco Unified IP Phones and VLAN Interaction, Power

The Cisco Unified IP Phones have an internal Ethernet switch, enabling forwarding of packets to the phone, and to the access port and the network port on the back of the phone.

If a computer is connected to the access port, the computer and the phone share the same physical link to the switch and share the same port on the switch. This shared physical link has the implication of Data traffic present on the VLAN supporting phones might reduce the quality of VoIP traffic.Network security may need to isolate the VLAN voice traffic from the VLAN data traffic. You can resolve these issues by isolating the voice traffic onto a separate VLAN. The switch port that the phone is connected to would be configured to have separate VLANs for carrying:

• Voice traffic to and from the phone (auxiliary VLAN on the Cisco Catalyst 6000 series, for example)
• Data traffic to and from the PC connected to the switch through the access port of the phone (native VLAN)

The Cisco Unified IP Phones is powered with Power over Ethernet (PoE). PoE is provided by a switch through the Ethernet cable attached to a phone.

Cisco Unified IP Phone and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Interactions

Cisco Unified Communications Manager is an open and industry-standard call processing system. Cisco Unified Communications Manager software sets up and tears down calls between phones, integrating traditional PBX functionality with the corporate IP network. Cisco Unified Communications Manager manages the components of the IP telephony system—the phones, the access gateways, and the resources necessary for features such as call conferencing and route planning. Cisco Unified Communications Manager also provides:

• Firmware for phones
• Authentication and encryption
• Configuration, certificate trust list (CTL), and Identity Trust List (ITL) files via the TFTP service
• Phone registration
• Call preservation, so that a media session continues if signaling is lost between the primary Communications Manager and a phone

Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Phone Addition

You can add phones individually to the Cisco Unified Communications Manager database by using Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration. To do so, you first need to obtain the MAC address for each phone.

You can determine a phone MAC address in these ways:

• From the phone, press the Settings button, select Network Configuration and look at the MAC Address field.
• Look at the MAC label on the back of the phone.
• Display the web page for the phone and click the Device Information hyperlink.

After you have collected MAC addresses, in Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration, choose Device > Phone and search the device by selecting the Device Name, contains option from the drop down menu and enter the MAC address as shown in the below Figure 2.

Figure 2: Device search using MAC address

Click on Find and the Cisco IP phone connected to the network will show up in the search result. Now click on the device name link and the below screen will show up.

Figure 3: Device Information Entry

Enter all the necessary information and click on Save, Apply Config buttons at the top left to update the changes on the device. On the Phone screen, a maximum of 6 user numbers can be displayed including own number.The directory number setting and phone screen display setting for a user can be done by clicking on “Line[1] to Line[5]” under the Association section. Clicking on Line[1] will display the below screen.

Figure 4: Directory Number Information Setup

Enter the user extension/directory number, name and other required information. Scroll down to the Call Forward and Call Pickup Settings as shown in Figure 5. In case of forwarding all the calls to some other extension (Eg:when the user is on leave), enter the same in the Forward All section.The Call Pickup Group indicates that all the members in the group can pickup the call.

Figure 5: Call Forward Setting

Scrolling down further will take us to the Display Setting as shown in Figure 6. The entry made in the Line Text Label section will be displayed on the Phone screen. The External Phone Number Mask is the User Direct Access number from outside office and the masked area (XXXX) will automatically be filled with the last four numbers of the extension on the phone screen. Click on Save, Apply Config buttons at the top left in Figure 4 to update the changes on the device.

Figure 6: Display Setting

After the completion of the above settings,the Phone screen display will appear as shown in the Figure 7 below.

Figure 7 : Phone screen with User1 setting done

As we look at the screen ,we can observe the User name, direct access number, extension displayed as per the settings done. But, at the bottom of the screen we can see one more entry, i.e, the branch/office extension which we will be looking into from now on. The first step would be to click on Line [5] in the Figure 3 which will direct us to the following screen.

Figure 8 : Office Main Line Setting

The office extension should be entered in the Directory Number section and the other areas will be automatically populated if the number is already registered in the directory, else the other sections need to be corrected manually if already registered under a different name or need to be registered newly. Since new customers access the office number directly, all the frontline members need to have this setting on their respective IP Phones. The Associated Devices section indicates all the IP Phones having this particular setting and all the phones will ring once an external customer calls the office number.

Scrolling down will take us to the Call Forward and Call Pickup Settings, where none of the sections are touched except for the Call Pickup Group which will be the same as in Figure 5. This indicates that all the members in the group with this directory number setting on their IP Phones can pickup the call. Scrolling down further will bring us to the phone screen display setting as shown in the Figure 9 below.

Figure 9 : Main Line Display Setting

Input the Name to displayed on Line [5] in the Line Text Label section and the Office/Branch Main line number in the External Phone Number Mask section. Click on Save, Apply Config buttons at the top left in Figure 8 to update the changes on the device. So, when anyone calls the Office main line number, all the IP phones with this particular setting will ring and the respective programmable button next to the ‘Main Line’ will flash with Amber light indicating an incoming call.

Enabling the Special features:

• Addition of Expansion Module

The Cisco Unified IP Phone Expansion Module attaches to a Cisco Unified IP Phone 7962G, 7961G and 7961G-GE to extend the number or line appearances or programmable buttons on your phone. These phones support the Cisco Unified IP Phone Expansion Model 7914, 7915, and 7916. You can customize the button templates for the Cisco Unified IP Phone Expansion Module to determine the number of line appearances and speed dial buttons.

Figure 10 : Setting up of Expansion Module on CUCM

You can attach a Cisco Unified IP Phone Expansion Module 7914 to the Cisco Unified IP Phone 7961G and 7961G-GE by using the following methods:
When you initially add the phone to Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), you can choose 7914 14-Button Line Expansion Module in the Module 1 or Module 2 fields as shown in the figure above which appears as we scroll down from the Figure 3 screen. Another method is after the phone is configured in Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

When the Expansion Module is added, the Add On Module(s) section as shown in Figure 3 will be populated with Lines which can be updated with the user extension numbers.

• Extension Mobility

This feature allows a user to log into the Extension Mobility service on a phone by pressing the Services button and have the phone use the user’s phone number and user profile settings. Extension Mobility can be useful if users work from a variety of locations within your company or if they share a workspace with coworkers.

Figure 11 : Extension Mobility

The above screen appears once we scroll down from Figure 3 on CUCM. To enable the extension mobility we need to check the option as shown in the section(a) and once the user has logged onto to a different phone we can see the section(b) login information for that particular user.

• Do Not Disturb

This feature allows to mute the ringing and/or reject calls to an IP phone which may be helpful at times like when it is unused or when the user wants to just mute the ringing sound.

Figure 12 : DND Setting

On CUCM, check the Do Not Disturb option and select the appropriate item from the DND Option drop down selection as shown in the above figure, which shows up once we scroll down from the Figure 3 screen.

Cisco Unity Connection Administration

A tool used in most of the administrative tasks such as, customizing user settings and implementing a call management plan. This includes handling messages and distribution lists, managing audio formats, managing user passwords and PINs etc.

Cisco Unity Connection users are created to administer or provide access to the voice messaging system. The user attributes are the objects that enable you to control which users can connect to the system, and determine the system features and resources they can access. You can either manually add users or import them from the LDAP directory on the Cisco Unity Connection Administration page. Refer Figure 13 below right side window to Edit/Update User Basics setting.

Each user and administrator account that you add in Unity Connection is based on a user template. The user template settings include authentication rules and schedules. The authentication rules dictate the password or PIN and account lockout policy for the users that you create. You must review the settings in the user templates that you plan to use before creating a user account. This helps you to determine whether you need to make changes to an existing user template or create new user templates. For each template, consider the features that you want to enable, specify a class of service, set a schedule and time zone for the accounts you want to create.

Figure 13 : User Settings & Search

Cisco Unity Connection Administration allows you to find users based on search criteria that you enter. You can enter all or part of a name, extension, and/or user alias (ID) to find a user. In the above figure, we are using the extension number to find the user details.

Users with voice mailboxes are end users and the users without voice mailboxes are system administrators. Before you add user accounts individually, you need to select and define a template and class of service (COS) for each type of account you need to add. In case of end users, the default voicemail PINs and web application passwords are applied to each user account that you create. The voicemail PIN can be changed by clicking on Change Password as shown in the figure below.

Figure 14 : User Voice mail setting

Unity Connection comes with a set of default notification devices that can be configured as required. Following are the default notification devices:

• Pager
• Work Phone
• Home Phone
• Mobile Phone
• SMTP
• HTML

The default notification devices can be modified or enabled but cannot be deleted. An administrator can add, edit or delete additional notification devices whereas a user can only edit the notification devices.

Our point of focus here would be to setup SMTP Message notification as shown in the figure above. Cisco Unity Connection can notify a user of new messages by calling a phone or pager. Also, you can set up Unity Connection to send message, mail and calendar event notifications in the form of text messages to text pagers, mail address and text-compatible mobile phones using SMTP.

When a user observes red illumination on the handset light strip, it means that a voice mail has arrived. The user can press on the Messages button on the IP Phone and enter the voice mail PIN to listen to the voice mail.

Credits:
Experience
Knowledge
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/collaboration-endpoints/unified-ip-phone-7900-series/products-maintenance-guides-list.html
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/10x/administration/guide/10xcucsagx/10xcucsag010.html#24744
Other online articles

The IT infrastructure in organizations today is an outgrowth of decades of evolution in computing platforms.The most recent eras are the general-purpose mainframe and minicomputer computing, personal computers, client/server networks, and the current enterprise and Internet computing.These eras do not necessarily end for all organizations at the same time, and the technologies that characterize one era may also be used in another time period for other purposes. For example, mainframe computers today are used as massive servers supporting large Websites and corporate enterprise applications.

Enterprise Internet Computing

A Basic Enterprise LAN Network Architecture

The below diagram shows you the connectivity architecture of the major components that form an enterprise network.

LAN Architecture Sketch and Components

The Internet cloud refers to the source of the Internet to an organization. The organization could be connected to the Internet via Internet Leased Lines/ Broadband/ 3G etc. For connectivity to other branches, a VPN Network over the Internet could be used.

Before going ahead with the description of other components, lets get to know about switches. Network switches are always seen in data centers or server rooms for data transmission. Switch is used for linking the network devices together and switching the data from one port to another based on information from the packets being transmitted. The information complies with the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) seven-layer model to ensure product interoperability.

OSI seven-layer model

As for small networks, Layer 2 switches might be a good option. However, most networks will combine the Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches. Layer 3 is more intelligent and provides all the functionality of Layer 2 networks. Layer 4 switch is the enhanced version of Layer 3 and provides higher class of service for controlling the network traffic.

The Enterprise Router is basically a Layer-3 Network device that connects disparate networks. It acts as a gateway between the LAN and the WAN networks and the Internet Leased Lines/ MPLS Circuits/ Managed Leased Lines/ Broadband networks are all terminated on the router. Some Routers support additional modules for secure connectivity to other branches through VPN, Intrusion Prevention and Content Filtering etc.

The Unified Threat Management Appliance (or software) is for providing gateway level network security for the various end points used in the organization.The UTM Devices provide the following network security options: Firewall, Anti-Spam, Anti-Virus, Content Filtering, URL Filtering, Intrusion Prevention (IPS), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Protection from Internet threats like Phishing etc.

A Core/Backbone Switch is generally a Layer-3 based Network Switch that connects to the various distribution switches, edge switches (through distribution switches / directly) using Optical Fiber Networks or UTP Copper cabling. They generally also connect to the computer servers (ERP, Web Server, Mail Server, Database Server, Application Servers, etc). The core switch is in the center of an enterprise network and it also provides Inter-VLAN routing.

A NAS Device refers to a Network Area Storage Appliance (This could also be a Storage Area Network, depending upon the storage requirements) where bulk of the files/ data are stored for the servers and individual users (PC’s) to access them over the network whenever required.

There are many access points to provide wireless (Wi-Fi) access to the PC’s/ Laptops/ Wi-Fi Phones in the enterprise. All these Access Points are managed/ controlled by an appliance called ‘Wireless Controller’ which provides centralized authentication and other functionalities required for the wireless users across the network. The IP Telephony Server provides the call control functions (voice switching) for the telephony operations in an enterprise network. Since the IP Phones connect to the computer networks, these IP Telephony Servers provide centralized administration and connectivity to PSTN Lines to all the IP Phones/ VOIP devices over the network.

Enterprise IT

Enterprise IT includes the technology staff, services, and support associated with enterprise systems and services, as well as their strategy, management, budgets, and policy. Enterprise IT also includes many of the infrastructure and services that companies or institutions use to store and manage data and processes, regardless of whether they are hosted on campus, in the cloud, or through shared services. It primarily has an administrative focus rather than one of research. Because it deals with core organizational business activities, enterprise IT is central to the success of any company or institution. In the below picture, one can get an idea of all the components like the development of enterprise IT, testing the same and implementing. Once implemented, the support team needs to provide the users with support relating to application or system issues.

One of the main component here is Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) as well, which is a type of business planning that relates to business intelligence (BI), which involves evaluating and managing performance for an enterprise to reach performance goals, enhance efficiency or maximize business processes. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can be said to be a part of EPM.

Management of these core organizational services goes beyond just taking care of the technology. For example, as institutions move services into the cloud, the responsibility for managing the service remains a responsibility of enterprise IT. The transition from on-premise to cloud causes IT to shift focus and concentrate on contract management, vendor relations, collaborations with functional and business units, and data integration issues.

Our focus here will be on ‘end user support’ or the ‘application and system operations support’ which mainly includes IT Service Desk Support, Desktop Management Services etc.

Application and System Operations Support

Enterprise support services manage the daily activities to keep end users PC, applications and related infrastructure highly available and secure which ensures the organization to focus on its own core business.

Desktop Management Services & IT Support

BMC Remedyforce:
A best-practice approach to the management of incidents, problems, service requests, and tasks. The relevant data for any record is displayed in a visual format, making it easy to access all related information to fulfill a request. See which tasks are open, pending, or closed and get details about the record’s action history as well.

BMC Remedyforce

There are various user applications used at organizations, like the MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, Document Manager, Sharefile, Skype for Business etc., as well as OS regarding which issues or queries may come up and would require IT support team to address them. So when a user request or escalation comes up, the best practice approach of handling the requests in the form of tickets is used so that the issue can be resolved by the concerned IT support team or can be routed to the next level IT support team for better handling of the issue.

The generation of a new ticket w.r.t a user request would involve inputting the following sections;
Client ID/Name, Incident Title, Description, Category, Impact, Priority, Incident Source, Incident Type ,Urgency, Status, Date and Time, Queue, Staff

OS Image Install:
The computer must be connected to the LAN network when re-imaging a managed computer/laptop. Restart the computer. Click on F1 to enter the bios menu. Here the standard setting under Startup “UEFI/Legacy Boot” would be Legacy Only or both. Security “Secure Boot” to be set to disabled and “Security Chip” to be made active and to be set to 1.2 TPM. Save the setting and press F12 to enter the boot menu. Once you arrive at the boot menu, select the option to boot to the Onboard Network Interface Card (NIC). Upon arriving at the next screen, enter the necessary password if any. Next, it’ll prompt you to “Select the operating system you want to install” – choose the appropriate installation image (operating system) for that type of computer. The installation is expected to complete in a couple of hours in case of no issues.

Once the OS is setup and the user credentials are received from the Active Directory administrator, login using the user credentials and check whether the necessary applications are installed properly and also do the necessary setting which allows remote login with or without permissions. Use the desktopadmin login to perform the necessary settings or to do the group policy update.

Symantec Encryption Server Administration:
Symantec Encryption Management Server is a console that manages the applications that provide email, disk, and network file encryption. Symantec Encryption Desktop, a client product, creates PGP keypairs , encrypts user email, encrypts entire, or partial, hard drives etc. This is mainly used when WDRT’s are to be generated. Whole disk recovery tokens (WDRTs) are a means by which an encrypted device is accessed once a user has been locked out or has forgotten their password. This is especially valuable when the device is not in the same location as the administrator.

System Center Configuration Manager:
Configuration Manager console provides remote control, patch management, software distribution, operating system deployment, network access protection and hardware & software inventory. Once OS is installed on a PC we can see the PC getting listed on SCCM which must be deleted inorder to perform re-installation of OS image on the same PC the next time in case of need. Once the device is detected on SCCM, set the device as a primary device for the user.

Configuration Manager Console

In case we need to push a new application or a patch which is present on SCCM to a PC remotely, we can go to the respective folder as shown inside the red frame in the above picture ,i.e, “Device Collections > Desktop Team > Application Deployment Collections” > Application name > Application  Installation > Deploy Device item. Now right click on the options to select “Add Resources” , type in the PC name here to push the application install which might take time to install on the remote system. Also click on “Client Notifications > Evaluate Application Deployments” to cross check the installation.

Configuration manager can be configured to deploy content to a device based on the primary device setting.

Proxy Master & Proxy Pro Host Control Panel:
PROXY Pro Master is a program developed by Proxy Networks. It allows administrator to view and operate PROXY Pro Hosts. PROXY Pro Host application enables the desktop/laptop of a Windows PC or server to be viewed and controlled remotely. As shown in the below figure, five devices can be viewed to be online and can be controlled by the administrator by clicking on the respective item to remotely perform any activity on the user’s PC. In case we want to access the PC which is not displayed in the list, just type in the PC name or IP address in the “Station” box to search the PC and remotely login to the online PC.

Proxy Pro Master Application

Proxy Pro Host Control Panel is basically installed on all the PCs. The client/user access permission can be set so that the administrator can remotely access the PC with/without permission. Here the client/user PC name can be changed on the user’s PC so that we should be able to recognize the correct user name on the Proxy master window while remoting on to the user’s system.

ForeScout CounterACT:
In response to enhanced client security requirements, a new technology to protect the firm’s network from unauthorized computers and other devices. Such devices could be used to gain access to sensitive data belonging to the firm and clients, so going forward only devices which are recognized as our company supplied devices will be able to gain network access.

ForeScout Application

ForeScout will be enabled and lock out machines that do not pass internal compliance: If any of these applications / key is not present or modified(not to standard) ForeScout will go ahead and lock the machine out of the network.
•Tanium (Investigation Software)
•Symantec EndPoint (Antivirus)
•Cylance (Antivirus)
•Cyber Reason (Investigation Software)
•A registry key

In case of any PC blockage due to known modifications or issues which can be checked under the compliance tab at the center of the screen, the blacklisted PC can whitelisted on the ForeScout Application by the administrator.

Cisco IP User phone:
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) administrative page is accessed to perform moves, adds, and changes of Cisco IP phones, while configuring users and associating them with phones. Configuring simple features, such as DND, Music on Hold, as well as access to CUCM user web pages can be done. Cisco Expansion module configuration can also be done using CUCM.

Cisco Unity Connection Administration tool is used in most of the administrative tasks such as, customizing user settings(voice messaging, mailbox storage etc) and implementing a call management plan. Unity Connection Administration also provides access to several other tools including the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT), Custom Keypad Mapping, Task Management, and Migration Utilities. 

We already know that IP Phones connect to the computer networks and they do so through VLANs similar to PCs. To brief about VLANs, they are a method of creating logically-independent networks within a huge network interconnected through switches. A VLAN consists of a network of computers that behave as if connected to the same wire – even though they may actually be physically connected to different segments of a LAN. Several VLANs can co-exist within such a network. This helps in reducing the broadcast domain and therefore the effects of broadcast storms, worms and viruses, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. VLANs are therefore often deployed to improve the overall system performance and availability, which are important security considerations. IP Phone connection illustration: Cisco IP Phone connect to PoE network point through LAN cable which inturn connects to VLAN10(Layer 2 segment) port in the server room.

Mobile Device Management:
The IBM® MaaS360® Mobile Device Management (SaaS) is an enterprise mobility management (EMM) platform that provides visibility and control of smartphones and tablets in the enterprise. The IBM MaaS360 software supports devices such as iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Phone.

IBM MaaS360

The above figure shows the administrative screen of MaaS360 application. Either the firm issued mobile device or the self owned device can be configured using this application for any user. Once the device registration link is accessed from the mobile device, MaaS360 mailbox will be installed automatically which can be used to check corporate emails or perform secure browsing with the MaaS browser.

Power Outage Support:
Sometimes there will be a need to switch off all the devices of the organization which includes the server room as well due to some maintenance activity or power outage. So one needs to make sure each employee switches off his/her PC and other associated devices beforehand. Moving on to the server room activity of the branch/main office, the virtual machines(VM) running on the servers need to be turned off followed by the shutdown of servers with UCS and finally the storage array devices using the concerned application by IT support staff with administrative access. During power outage, the DNS server routing will be changed to data center from the local server. Once the outage activity is complete, the storage arrays, servers and VMs need to be restored and the network access need to be checked by turning on the PC and other associated devices.

The Cisco Unified Computing System is a next-generation data center platform that unites compute, network, storage access, and virtualization into a cohesive system designed to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase business agility. Virtualization helps data centers the most when servers are configured into resource pools that can be harnessed on demand to meet fluctuating workload requirements; deploy new applications without tying them to specific hardware; and move virtual machines between servers to balance workloads, meet service-level agreements (SLAs), or prepare a server for scheduled downtime. Cisco UCS Manager transforms the resources of the Cisco Unified Computing System into a single cohesive system that is ideal for establishing resource pools for virtualized environments.

Finally coming to one of the most important Microsoft service ,i.e, the directory service that Microsoft developed for the Windows domain networks called the Active Directory(AD) as mentioned in the OS image install section. Starting with Windows Server 2008, Active Directory became an umbrella title for a broad range of directory-based identity-related services. A server running Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) is called a domain controller. It authenticates and authorizes all users and computers in a Windows domain type network—assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers and installing or updating software. For example, when a user logs into a computer that is part of a Windows domain, Active Directory checks the submitted password and determines whether the user is a system administrator or normal user. Also, it allows management and storage of information, provides authentication and authorization mechanisms, and establishes a framework to deploy other related services.

Credits:
Knowledge, Experience

In information technology, hardware is the physical aspect of computers, network devices and others. The term is a way to distinguish the “box” and the electronic circuitry and components of a computer/network device from the program you put in it to make it do things. The program came to be known as the software.

Software or programming can easily be varied. You can put an entirely new program in the hardware and make it create an entirely new experience for the user. You can, however, change the modular configurations that most computers come with by adding new adapters or cards that extend the computer’s capabilities. Hardware being a collective term, includes computers and its peripheral devices, cables, power devices, display devices, telecom equipment to name a few.

Basics

Components

Let’s make sure that we know the markings for all the types of resistors, capacitors, ICs, and everything else required to know.

Resistors

Through Hole Resistors
Standard resistors are NOT polarized and can be placed in the PCB either way round.The most common have four bands. Bands 1 and 2 identify the first two digits, band 3 is the Multiplier and band 4 is the tolerance (normally Gold 5%). The through hole technology refers to the use of leads on the components that are inserted into holes drilled in printed circuit boards (PCB) and soldered to pads on the opposite side.

Resistor Colour Codes

SMD Resistors
SMD resistors or Surface Mount Device resistors are rectangular in shape. These chip resistors [Fig:] have metallised areas at either end of the body and this enables them to make contact with the printed circuit board through the solder. A three figure SMD resistor coding system is the one that is normally used. The first two figures in the code indicate the significant figures, and the third is a multiplier. This is the same as the coloured rings used for wired resistors, except that actual numbers are used instead of colours.

When resistance value falls below ten ohms, the letter “R” is used to indicate the position of the decimal point. Also a four digit marking is used for high tolerance resistors.

Capacitors

Electrolytic Capacitors
Electrolytic capacitors are polarized devices which means they must be inserted with the correct polarity. Electrolytic have one lead longer than the other and this denotes the POSITIVE lead and on the opposite side of body is a black band with a minus sign.

Ceramic Capacitors
Ceramic Capacitors are non-polar device, that means they do no have polarities. So we can connect it in any direction on a circuit board.

Surface Mount Ceramic Capacitors
Surface-mount components like MLCCs(Multi Layer Ceramic Capacitors) are non-polar and are cheaper (because they have no leads) and a little bit smaller than their counterparts with leads, and they need no holes in the PCB, a second reduction of costs. They are designed to be handled by machines rather than by humans, to reduce costs.

Capacitor codes and markings

ICs

Programmable Logic Device
A PLD, or programmable logic device, is an electronic component that is used in order to build digital circuits that are reprogrammable. The PLD types are Complex Programmable Logic Device(CPLD), Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) etc., which you will be able to choose based on their technical attributes and your search results will be narrowed to match your specific programmable logic device application complexity needs. There are a lot of manufacturers like Xilinx, Altera, Lattice, Atmel etc., who have a range of surface mount or through hole ICs to choose from with their own specific markings.

Platform Flash PROM
The in-system programmable configuration Programmable ROMs are basically used in combination with FPGA. Unlike CPLDs which are EEPROM based, FPGAs lose their configuration on power reboot, hence an additional flash memory would be required on board to configure it each time on power up. There are many Flash ROMs available and usually the PLD manufacturers release their own PROMs with specific marking which represents different memory capacities.

PSoC Mixed Signal Array
PSoC is an FPGA that includes programmable analog capabilities as well. They are generally expensive and are largely limited to fairly narrow application domains where the use of external analog components is undesirable from either a board space or power consumption perspective.PSoC devices include a fast CPU, Flash program memory, SRAM data memory, and configurable blocks of analog, digital logic and IO are included in a range of convenient pinouts and packages.

Integrated Circuit (Through Hole/SMD)

Oscillators
Most electronic circuitry uses the oscillator when there is a requirement of clock signal. This includes the FPGA board as well.The oscillators come in 4 pins package and contain the electronic required to oscillate, so that an oscillator generates a clock by itself when it is powered-up.They are selected based on the circuit clock frequency requirement like 25MHz, 50MHz etc.The metal case of canned oscillators is connected to ground and provides shielding.

Transceivers
The Transceiver(Eg:RS232) is a hardware layer protocol converter IC. Commonly known as a RS-232 Transceiver, it consists of a pair of drivers and a pair of receivers. At a very basic level, the driver converts TTL or CMOS voltage levels of the circuitry to TIA/EIA-232-E levels, which are compatible for serial port communications. The receiver performs the reverse conversion.

Buffer/Driver
Buffer ICs with open-collector outputs form the basis of a number of clever tricks for level-shifting and interfacing between different types of logic(TTL/CMOS), and from logic to other types of electronic circuits. So, where with most digital electronics, the output of a buffer (or other logic gate) is a “high” or “low” voltage, an open collector has two different states: Output transistor disabled or output transistor enabled.This, therefore, is a neat way to build a logic-level shifter where the output when disabled can be pulled up to any desired voltage like 3.3V, 5V, 12V etc.

Other Components

There are various other components which may be required for building a circuit. Some of which are shown in the figure below.

Other Components(Through Hole/SMD)

I/O Ports

I/O stands for Input and Output. In computing, input/output or I/O is the communication between an information processing system (such as a computer) and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it. A few of the I/O ports are as follows;

RS232
Despite the development of newer digital interface standards, the humble RS-232 serial port is still a very popular means of data transfer. It is also called “EIA-232”. The purpose and timing of the signal lines and the connectors are to be defined (D-sub 25-pin or D-sub 9-pin). RS-232C is a short distance(15m), full duplex, 1:1 connection standard. Check the below figure for the details on pin signal assignments.

RS232 pin layout and connection

PCI-X
Stands for “Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended.” Once again, “Ex” is abbreviated with an “X” instead of an “E.” Most desktop computers include one or more PCI slots for expanding the computer’s I/O capabilities. Common PCI cards include network cards, sound cards, and video cards. PCI-X cards are available at speeds of 66MHz,133MHz & 533MHz compared to the earlier PCI which supported only 66MHz data speed.PCI-X cards can only be installed in PCI-X slots, but the slots themselves are backwards compatible with PCI cards.Going forward, PCIe ,i.e, PCI express, the high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, is expected to replace PCI & PCI-X standards.

JTAG
Joint Test Action Group, also known as JTAG, is the common name for IEEE std 1149.1. This standard defines a particular method for testing board-level interconnects, which is also called Boundary Scan. In short, JTAG was created as a way to test for common problems, but lately has become a way of configuring devices. FPGA manufacturers allow configuring the FPGA through JTAG connector, and use the JTAG signals inside the FPGA core.

Other Ports
There are so many different ways to interface to TVs, Computers, monitors and other electronic devices these days — and it can get confusing, especially because so many of these ports and connectors have become obsolete over the years. The ones which can still be seen are USB, HDMI, DVI, Display Port, VGA to name a few.

Test Equipments

DC Power Supply
As the name says, DC power supply provides the DC voltage to power the circuit. The advantage of using a programmable power supply is that it can cater to circuits with varying ranges of voltages and current requirements.

Signal/Function generator
A function generator is usually a piece of electronic test equipment or software used to generate different types of electrical waveforms over a wide range of frequencies.They are used in the development, test and repair of electronic equipment.Some of the most common waveforms produced by the function generator are the sine wave , square wave, triangular wave and sawtooth shapes.Another feature included on many function generators is the ability to add a DC offset.

Multi-meter
A multimeter or a multitester is an electronic measuring tool that is a combination of several tools in one unit. It usually includes an ammeter, voltmeter, and ohmmeter. Digital multimeters are sometimes called DMM too. Often they include a number of additional specialized features or advanced options. Technicians with specific needs, therefore, can seek out a model targeted for particular tasks.

Test Equipments

CRO
An oscilloscope or Cathode Ray Oscilloscope, is a type of electronic test instrument that allows observation of varying signal voltages, usually as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. Oscilloscopes are used to observe the change of an electrical signal over time, such that voltage and time describe a shape which is continuously graphed against a calibrated scale. The observed waveform can be analyzed for such properties as amplitude, frequency, rise time, time interval, distortion and others. However, oscilloscopes are somewhat limited with only two or four input channels to correlate a small number of digital, analog and serial signals.

Logic Analyzers
A logic analyzer is an electronic instrument that captures and displays multiple signals(>34 channels) from a digital system or a complex digital circuit. A logic analyzer may convert the captured data into timing diagrams, protocol decodes, state machine traces, assembly language, or may correlate assembly with source-level software. Logic Analyzers have advanced triggering capabilities, and are useful when a user needs to see the timing relationships between many signals in a digital system.

Board build

Design Schematics

Circuit diagrams are designed based on specifications and entered using an easy to use schematic editor like Design works. Component symbols chosen from the component bar are positioned, moved, rotated and/or mirrored on the screen by the mouse.You can open any number of circuit files or sub-circuits, cut, copy and paste circuit segments from one circuit into another, and, of course analyze any of the currently open circuits using waveforms.

Part of a Schematic (Circuit editor window in red frame)

Apart from the schematic data, the schematic editor can be used to generate bill of material list and the netlist. The netlist file(mostly) or schematic file(some cases) can be used as an input to the PCB layout generation tool depending on the design bureau requirements.

BOM & Netlist

PCB layout to the Final Board

PCB layers are the determining factor in the power and capacity of a printed circuit board. People often wonder whether a one-layer PCB will suffice, or if it is better to go with a two- or four-layer PCB.The number of layers largely depend on your budget and functional needs in a PCB.Anything more than 2 layers is referred to as a multilayered board.

The layout or the film diagram(4 layers) of the circuit as shown in the below figure will be generated by the design bureau which needs to be checked before giving a go ahead to the board generation.The visual continuity check can done by taking the netlist as a reference and would be required since the netlist might have been modified by the vendor due to compatibility issues with their PCB film generation tool.

PCB Layers Layout

Making sure your schematic is correct and when you are done with the layout check, it is time to get your PCB design ready for manufacturing. So, once your PCB returns from the manufacturing with the components mounted , it looks like the one shown in the figure below(part of a board). You wanna make sure you do the necessary steps for a good board bring-up. Failing to do it would result in a dead or fried board. Or it could be worse – a board that looks like it works, but actually has hidden hardware issues that only crop up later when developing firmware/software, which are very difficult to debug.

Final Board

The first check you want to do is continuity testing. This might be daunting because there are many pads on an average PCB and checking each of the connection with a multimeter would be cumbersome. It will be over quicker than you’d think, and it’s very worth your time to catch issues early on like a pad isn’t connected to a desired power rail, or that two power rails are shorted to each other etc. The second check you want to do is a visual inspection. If you have small parts on your PCB, this is much easier with a magnifying glass. This inspection would detect issues like un-drilled vias and through holes, shorted pads and traces etc.

After you’ve done as many checks as you can, take a deep breath and power it on using the programmable power supply with the required voltage and current. If you have done your checks properly you should be confident of the board powering up without any issues.

Implementing PLD designs

Before starting with the CPLD/FPGA coding, we need to create a design document based on which can start coding.The design document should detail on the low level FPGA/CPLD architecture which should contain the description of functionalities of each of the modules, pin details, internal architecture, implementation details and timing analysis of the block as a whole.Let us consider implementing a simple UART with only the receiver functionality, the block diagram of which is shown as below;

Block Diagram

Description & Coding

A UART is one of the simplest methods of talking to your FPGA. It can be used to send commands from a computer to an FPGA(here) and vice versa. A UART is an asynchronous interface.In any asynchronous interface, the first thing you need to know is when in time you should sample (look at) the data. If you do not sample the data at the right time, you might see the wrong data. In order to receive your data correctly, the transmitter and receiver must agree on the baud rate. The baud rate is the rate at which the data is transmitted.

The FPGA is continuously sampling the serial data input line. Once it sees the line transition from high to low, it knows that a UART data word is coming. This first transition indicates the start bit. Once the beginning of the start bit is found, the FPGA waits for one half of a bit period. This ensures that the middle of the data bit gets sampled. From then on, the FPGA just needs to wait one bit period (as specified by the baud rate) and sample the rest of the data. The FSM below depicts the whole cycle of operations.

UART Receiver State Machine

VHDL Implementation

-- This file contains the UART Receiver.  This receiver is able to
-- receive 8 bits of serial data, one start bit, one stop bit,
-- and no parity bit.  When receive is complete o_rx_dv will be
-- driven high for one clock cycle.
-- 
-- Set Generic g_CLKS_PER_BIT as follows:
-- Example: 16.9344 MHz Clock, 2400 baud UART
-- (16934400)/(2400) = 7056 Clocks per bit
--
library ieee;
use ieee.std_logic_1164.ALL;
use ieee.numeric_std.all;
 
entity UART_RX is
  generic (
    g_CLKS_PER_BIT : integer := 7056     -- Needs to be set correctly
    );
  port (
    i_Clk       : in  std_logic;
    i_RX_Serial : in  std_logic;
    RST_L       : in  std_logic;
    o_RX_DV     : out std_logic;
    o_RX_Byte   : out std_logic_vector(7 downto 0)
    );
end UART_RX;
 
 
architecture rtl of UART_RX is
 
  type t_SM_Main is (s_Idle, s_RX_Start_Bit, s_RX_Data_Bits,
                     s_RX_Stop_Bit, s_Cleanup);
  signal r_SM_Main : t_SM_Main := s_Idle;
 
  signal r_RX_Data_R : std_logic := '0';
  signal r_RX_Data   : std_logic := '0';
   
  signal r_Clk_Count : integer range 0 to g_CLKS_PER_BIT-1 := 0;
  signal r_Bit_Index : integer range 0 to 7 := 0;  -- 8 Bits Total
  signal r_RX_Byte   : std_logic_vector(7 downto 0) := (others => '0');
  signal r_RX_DV     : std_logic := '0';
   
begin
 
  -- Purpose: Double-register the incoming data.
  -- This allows it to be used in the UART RX Clock Domain.
  -- (It removes problems caused by metastabiliy)
  p_SAMPLE : process (i_Clk, RST_L)
  begin
    if RST_L = '0' then
      r_RX_DV     <= '0'; 
      r_Clk_Count <= 0;
      r_RX_Byte   <= (others => '0');
    elsif rising_edge(i_Clk) then
      r_RX_Data_R <= i_RX_Serial;
      r_RX_Data   <= r_RX_Data_R;
    end if;

    
  end process p_SAMPLE;
   
 
  -- Purpose: Control RX state machine
  p_UART_RX : process (i_Clk)
  begin
    if rising_edge(i_Clk) then
         
      case r_SM_Main is
 
        when s_Idle =>
          r_RX_DV     <= '0';
          r_Clk_Count <= 0;
          r_Bit_Index <= 0;
 
          if r_RX_Data = '0' then       -- Start bit detected
            r_SM_Main <= s_RX_Start_Bit;
          else
            r_SM_Main <= s_Idle;
          end if;
 
           
        -- Check middle of start bit to make sure it's still low
        when s_RX_Start_Bit =>
          if r_Clk_Count = (g_CLKS_PER_BIT-1)/2 then
            if r_RX_Data = '0' then
              r_Clk_Count <= 0;  -- reset counter since we found the middle
              r_SM_Main   <= s_RX_Data_Bits;
            else
              r_SM_Main   <= s_Idle;
            end if;
          else
            r_Clk_Count <= r_Clk_Count + 1;
            r_SM_Main   <= s_RX_Start_Bit;
          end if;
 
           
        -- Wait g_CLKS_PER_BIT-1 clock cycles to sample serial data
        when s_RX_Data_Bits =>
          if r_Clk_Count < g_CLKS_PER_BIT-1 then
            r_Clk_Count <= r_Clk_Count + 1;
            r_SM_Main   <= s_RX_Data_Bits;
          else
            r_Clk_Count            <= 0;
            r_RX_Byte(r_Bit_Index) <= r_RX_Data;
             
            -- Check if we have sent out all bits
            if r_Bit_Index < 7 then
              r_Bit_Index <= r_Bit_Index + 1;
              r_SM_Main   <= s_RX_Data_Bits;
            else
              r_Bit_Index <= 0;
              r_SM_Main   <= s_RX_Stop_Bit;
            end if;
          end if;
 
 
        -- Receive Stop bit.  Stop bit = 1
        when s_RX_Stop_Bit =>
          -- Wait g_CLKS_PER_BIT-1 clock cycles for Stop bit to finish
          if r_Clk_Count < g_CLKS_PER_BIT-1 then
            r_Clk_Count <= r_Clk_Count + 1;
            r_SM_Main   <= s_RX_Stop_Bit;
          else
            r_RX_DV     <= '1';
            r_Clk_Count <= 0;
            r_SM_Main   <= s_Cleanup;
          end if;
 
                   
        -- Stay here 1 clock
        when s_Cleanup =>
          r_SM_Main <= s_Idle;
          r_RX_DV   <= '0';
 
             
        when others =>
          r_SM_Main <= s_Idle;
 
      end case;
    end if;
  end process p_UART_RX;
 
  o_RX_DV   <= r_RX_DV;
  o_RX_Byte <= r_RX_Byte;
   
end rtl;

The code above uses one Start Bit, one Stop Bit, eight Data Bits, and no parity half-duplex communication. The IDE for either the Altera or Xilinx device enables analysis and synthesis of HDL designs, which makes the developer to compile their designs, perform timing analysis, examine RTL diagrams, simulate a design’s reaction to different stimuli, and configure the target device with the programmer. .

Functional Simulation

If you want to simulate your code (and you should) you need to use a testbench. The testbench below tests the above Receiver code. It is programmed to work at 2400 baud. Note that this test bench is for simulation only and cannot be synthesized into functional FPGA code. Scripting language like the Tcl/tk can be used to run the verification environment which consists of the source code, test bench and any other additional modules. ModelSim simulator is one of the most reliable simulators used by many to verify their complex VHDL/Verilog code designs.

VHDL Testbench

library ieee;
use ieee.std_logic_1164.ALL;
use ieee.numeric_std.all;
 
entity uart_tb is
end uart_tb;
 
architecture behave of uart_tb is
  component uart_rx is
    generic (
      g_CLKS_PER_BIT : integer := 7056   -- Needs to be set correctly
      );
    port (
      i_clk       : in  std_logic;
      rst_l       : in  std_logic;
      i_rx_serial : in  std_logic;
      o_rx_dv     : out std_logic;
      o_rx_byte   : out std_logic_vector(7 downto 0)
      );
  end component uart_rx;


  -- Test Bench uses a 16.9344 MHz Clock
  -- Want to interface to 2400 baud UART
  -- 16934400 / 2400 = 7056 Clocks Per Bit.

  constant c_CLKS_PER_BIT : integer := 7056;
 
  constant c_BIT_PERIOD : time := 417 us;

  signal r_CLOCK     : std_logic    := '0';
  signal r_RST       : std_logic;

  signal w_RX_DV     : std_logic;
  signal w_RX_BYTE   : std_logic_vector(7 downto 0);
  signal r_RX_SERIAL : std_logic := '1';

  -- Low-level byte-write
  procedure UART_WRITE_BYTE (
    i_data_in       : in  std_logic_vector(7 downto 0);
    signal o_serial : out std_logic) is
  begin
 
    -- Send Start Bit
    o_serial <= '0';
    wait for c_BIT_PERIOD;
 
    -- Send Data Byte
    for ii in 0 to 7 loop
      o_serial <= i_data_in(ii);
      wait for c_BIT_PERIOD;
    end loop;  -- ii
 
    -- Send Stop Bit
    o_serial <= '1';
    wait for c_BIT_PERIOD;
  end UART_WRITE_BYTE;

begin

  -- Instantiate UART Receiver
  UART_RX_INST : uart_rx
    generic map (
      g_CLKS_PER_BIT => c_CLKS_PER_BIT
      )
    port map (
      i_clk       => r_CLOCK,
      rst_l       => r_RST,
      i_rx_serial => r_RX_SERIAL,
      o_rx_dv     => w_RX_DV,
      o_rx_byte   => w_RX_BYTE
      );
 
  r_CLOCK <= not r_CLOCK after 50 ns;
  r_RST   <= '1';
   
  process is
  begin
    -- Send a command/data to the UART
    wait until rising_edge(r_CLOCK);
    UART_WRITE_BYTE(X"69", r_RX_SERIAL);
    wait until rising_edge(r_CLOCK);
 
    -- Check that the correct command/data was received
    if w_RX_BYTE = X"69" then
      report "Test Passed - Correct Byte Received" severity note;
    else
      report "Test Failed - Incorrect Byte Received" severity note;
    end if;
 
    assert false report "Tests Complete" severity failure;
     
  end process;
   
end behave;

Through the test bench code we are writing the data “0x69” and reading it which verifies the functionality of the UART receiver design. Also the o_RX_DV signal should be observed to go high once the stop bit is read.

UART receiver receiving 0x69

Synthesis, Place & Route

Analysis stage of Analysis & Synthesis examines the logical completeness and consistency of the project, and checks for boundary connectivity and syntax errors. Analysis & Synthesis also synthesizes and performs technology mapping on the logic in the design entity or project’s files. It infers flip flops, latches, and state machines from Verilog HDL and VHDL. It creates state assignments for state machines and makes choices that minimize resources usage. It also uses algorithms to minimize gate count, remove redundant logic, and use the device architecture (e.g. DSP blocks and memory blocks) as efficiently as possible.

The Place & Route tool will do an optimal job at implementing timing specifications. It automatically assigns each logic function to the best logic cell location for routing and timing, and selects appropriate interconnection paths and pin assignments. However this will not be the case in challenging designs.If user have a very good idea about the design then user can find a good way to place different components of design using floor planner manually or fine tune already placed design. For example you can place your DDR logic nearby to DDR pins or take advantage of using clock tree etc. Also, many things can pop out when visually inspecting critical paths and component placements,  which will not be obvious when looking at text-based reports and summaries.

Programming the Device & Testing on PCB

Once you have successfully compiled and simulated a project with the Altera Quartus/Xilinx ISE software, you can program the respective device with the configuration file(*.pof/*.sof) and test it in the target circuit. The software includes interfaces to the Altera Programming Unit (APU). The APU provides the hardware and software needed for programming Altera devices, when used with the appropriate programming adapters. Altera programming software can also be used with download cables such as USB-BlasterTM, ByteBlasterTM II, ByteBlasterMVTM or MasterBlasterTM cables.

Configuring Altera Device

Once the device is successfully programmed, the board as a whole can be tested for serial communication with a terminal. Here the test equipments like multimeter, oscilloscope etc., can be used as and when required in order to make the board work as per the requirements.

Credits:
Knowledge, Experience, Datasheets

Although data center designs are unique, they can generally be classified as internet-facing and enterprise (or internal) data centers. Internet-facing data centers usually support relatively few applications, are typically browser-based, and have many users, typically unknown. In contrast, enterprise data centers service fewer users, but host more applications that vary from off-the-shelf to custom applications.

The main purpose of a data centre design is to run core business or mission critical applications and store operational data as well as providing Disaster Recover (DR) facilities. Typical applications will be enterprise software systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services. Data center architectures and requirements can differ significantly.
For example, a data center built for a cloud service provider like Amazon EC2 satisfies facility, infrastructure, and security requirements that significantly differ from a completely private data center, such as one built for the Pentagon that is dedicated to securing classified data.

Why data centers are business-critical

Most data center deployments are carried out for the following reasons:
•Availability: Maximizing the availability of IT services to the organization.
•Business continuity: The redundancy, monitoring and infrastructure provided by most data centers means that the potential for business  interruption is very low.
•Lower total cost of ownership: Where an organization has several silos of data, it can combine resources and reduce the amount of separate data servers required.
Staff overhead is reduced as administrative operations are simplified, whilst energy and floor space costs are reduced.
•Agility: Centralizing IT infrastructure within a data center creates greater agility since new deployments do not have to be rolled out to multiple physical locations.

Basically, an effective data center operation is achieved through a balanced investment in the facility and equipment housed. The elements of a data center break down as follows:

Facility – the location and white space or usable space, that is available for IT equipment. Providing round-the-clock access to information makes data centers some of the most energy-consuming facilities in the world. A high emphasis is placed on design to optimize white space and environmental control to keep equipment within manufacturer-specified temperature/humidity range.

Support infrastructure – equipment contributing to securely sustaining the highest level of availability possible.
Some components for supporting infrastructure include:
•Uninterruptible Power Sources (UPS) – battery banks, generators and redundant power sources.
•Environmental Control – computer room air conditioners (CRAC), heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and exhaust systems.
•Physical Security Systems – biometrics and video surveillance systems.

IT equipment – actual equipment for IT operations and storage of the organization’s data. This includes servers, storage hardware, cables and racks, as well as a variety of information security elements, such as firewalls.

Operations staff – to monitor operations and maintain IT and infrastructural equipment around the clock.

Data centers have evolved significantly in recent years, adopting technologies such as virtualization to optimize resource utilization and increase IT flexibility. As enterprise IT needs continue to evolve toward on-demand services, many organizations are moving toward cloud-based services and infrastructure. A focus has also been placed on initiatives to reduce the enormous energy consumption of data centers by incorporating more efficient technologies and practices in data center management. Data centers built to these standards have been coined green data centers.

Data Center Solutions

So, what exactly do data centers offer? What’s so great about them versus doing everything in-house.Below is a list of some of the services offered:
•Colocation Services
A colocation data center lies on the opposite spectrum of the in-house data center. Colocation facilities are third party organizations that are multi-tenant accessible, meaning that multiple businesses of any size or industry may house their equipment within the data center. Customers are able to select from a variety of solutions to accommodate the specific requirements for their business.

•Cloud Services like Iaas, Paas, Saas

•Disaster Recovery
This is a flexible and scalable service to enable the recovery or continuation of vital technology infrastructure and systems following a natural or human-induced disaster. Disaster recovery focuses on the IT or technology systems supporting critical business functions,as opposed to business continuity, which involves keeping all essential aspects of a business functioning despite significant disruptive events. Disaster recovery is therefore a subset of business continuity.

•Managed Services
Managed hosting service provider is a company or individual that remotely manages a customer’s IT infrastructure.Many small and medium sized businesses tend to use the services of a managed service provider for web servers and website management.

Managed providers will each specialize in a different area of IT. Some may be experts in managed colocation services whereas others are more focused on business connectivity and cloud services.

•High Availability
High availability in the data center refers to systems and components that are continuously operational for a long time. It typically means the systems have been thoroughly tested, are regularly maintained and have redundant components installed to ensure continuous operation.

These services and much more are managed professionally by IT administrators who stay up-to-date with the latest technology and ultimately help a data center’s overall efficiency.

Data center administrators have a long to-do list when it comes to infrastructure monitoring. From server and equipment monitoring — and in some cases, mainframe monitoring — it’s a practice that’s often difficult to juggle, especially if you work in a large data center. But monitoring is an essential task. By obtaining the data you need, you can increase security and scalability, efficiently automate and better align resources with capacity needs.

Instead of scrambling to fix a problem after it occurs, data center admins should strive to be proactive, anticipating issues before end users even notice. But that can be difficult to do without the right data center monitoring tools and strategy.Trends such as mobility, virtualization adoption, new and increasing compliance and governance requirements, and the need to modernize existing infrastructure add further complication to managing the IT environment.

To make information across the enterprise readily available requires an enterprise infrastructure that is managed as an integrated whole. The go to ITSM tool(Example:Opsmart, Remedy etc.,) should provide a flexible, scalable, and open solution.Also the tool should align ITSM resources to support customer business objectives.These services create a centralized operations and support center, providing the customer a cohesive approach to integrate process optimization, systems development and support, and network and service desk management across the business enterprise.

Moving Forward

Due to the cloudification of data centers, current situation is such that it is no longer reserved for any specific type of organizations any longer; they’ve become accessible to almost anyone. Even if in-house IT operations are conceivable for small or large companies, wise IT administrators are choosing to outsource some portions of IT management. In the long run, it saves time, money, and manpower and it’s much less of a headache.

Service Desk Operations

Operations staff have direct responsibility for the availability of computer services; nonetheless, they also have direct contact with users and decision makers. One part of the Operations ,i.e,the service desk also known as the “help desk” is the single point of contact for users to report incidents. Without the service desk, users will contact support staff without the limitations of structure or prioritization. This means that a high-priority incident may be ignored while the staff handles a low-priority incident.

IT Infrastructure Library, ITIL is a set of best practices for an effective IT Service management, ITSM is followed across companies of all sizes.
ITIL enables businesses to handle IT issues and service requests efficiently by assigning clear roles and responsibilities. It helps individuals and organizations to realize business growth and transformation.

ITIL Service Life cycle

ITIL service lifecycle consists of five stages. Each stage has a set of ITIL processes and it is significant to understand the purpose of each process before implementing. However, companies may selectively implement few processes that are necessary.

• Service strategy – Service strategy involves clear understanding of customer’s and market’s needs. This advocates a long-term market driven approach to deliver IT support. Service strategy include strategy management for IT services, service portfolio management, demand management, financial management for IT services and business relationship management that focuses on customer satisfaction.

• Service design – This is an holistic approach to design a support service. The right service design approach translates to higher customer satisfaction and usability. Some of the ITIL service design processes include service level agreement, service catalog management, availability management and IT service continuity management.

• Service Transition – This stage ensures changes in service lifecycle are handled with minimum risk and impact so that there is minimal or no downtime. Some of the processes here include change management, release management, configuration management database, knowledge management.

• Service Operation – ITIL service operation ensures seamless service in day to day business activities. Actual delivery and consumption of services happen during this stage. This has a direct impact on the productivity of end users. Typical processes include incident management, request fulfillment, problem management.

• Continual Service Improvement – CSI aims for process review and improvement throughout the service lifecycle. This is applicable to all service stages including strategy, design, transition and operation. Metrics definition and performance review happen at this stage which help companies to revisit existing process.

Incident Management

ITIL defines an incident as an unplanned interruption to or quality reduction of an IT service. The service level agreements (SLA) defines the agreed-upon service level between the provider and the customer. Incident management focuses solely on handling and escalating incidents to the next level as they occur to restore defined service levels. Incident management does not deal with root cause analysis or problem resolution. The main goal is to take user incidents from a reported stage to a closed stage.

The below figure depicts a sample incident management flow.

The Alerts and incident calls may be related in cases where the incidents result in Alerts on the monitoring tool. However, Alert may occur on tool independently and follows the flow 1 – 3 – 4 – 5 and finally closure of the ticket raised w.r.t to the Alert generated on tool.

The other case is when the Client or user calls up regarding a service disruption issue or a service enhancement support. In such cases, the flow 1 or 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 is followed. Here as well, once the issue is resolved the concerned ticket is closed.

Operational incident management requires several key pieces:
1.A service level agreement between the provider and the customer that defines incident priorities, escalation paths, and response/resolution time frames
2.Incident models, or templates, that allow incidents to be resolved efficiently
3.Categorization of incident types for better data gathering and problem management
4.Agreement on incident statuses, categories, and priorities
5.Establishment of a major incident response process
6.Agreement on incident management role assignment

Incident statuses

Incident statuses mirror the incident process and include:
•New
•Assigned
•In progress
•On hold or pending
•Resolved
•Closed

The new status indicates that the service desk has received the incident but has not assigned it to an agent.
The assigned status means that an incident has been assigned to an individual service desk agent.
The in-progress status indicates that an incident has been assigned to an agent but has not been resolved. The agent is actively working with the user to diagnose and resolve the incident.
The on-hold status indicates that the incident requires some information or response from the user or from a third party. The incident is placed “on hold” so that SLA response deadlines are not exceeded while waiting for a response from the user or vendor.
The resolved status means that the service desk has confirmed that the incident is resolved and that the user’s service has restored to the SLA levels.
The closed status indicates that the incident is resolved and that no further actions can be taken.

Incident management follows incidents through the service desk to track trends in incident categories and time in each status. The final component of incident management is the evaluation of the data gathered. Incident data guides organizations to make decisions that improve the quality of service delivered and decrease the overall volume of incidents reported. Incident management is just one process in the service operation framework.

Sources:
Work Experience, Online Learning