I've been reflecting on my experience at my previous company where we had multiple racks spread across different sites, all secured with the same key. Until we eventually set up a cage, I felt uneasy about the single key controlling so many racks in shared environments. Additionally, accessing logs from these sites was quite challenging, which made it difficult to track who had been accessing the racks. I'm curious if anyone else has faced a similar dilemma and what solutions you found for enhancing cabinet-level security before moving to a more secure setup like a cage.
5 Answers
Some of the racks we use have security measures like mechanical combination locks or electronic options. These come with card or dongle readers that can be powered over Ethernet. Plus, with door sensors, you can get alerts on unauthorized access or even set up cameras to keep an eye on things!
Honestly, if the security is a concern and you’re not in a regulated industry, it might be best to just stick with the colo’s protocols. Relying solely on racks without a cage can leave too many vulnerabilities. If security’s a top priority, the full cage is truly the only way to ensure safety!
In my experience, it's best to have card key access for racks if you want to track who’s entering. It's essential to have security cameras set up as well to monitor activities around the data center. That would significantly improve your security posture!
If all your racks share one key, that could be a huge issue. Ideally, each rack should have unique access. From my experience in shared spaces, combination locks or unique-key systems are the way to go. Shared keys open up security risks — you might want to rethink your data center choice if that's the case!
Yikes! Scary to think all these customer racks might be unlocked with the same key. Who knows what else is happening beneath the surface!
What brand of cabinets are you working with? Many times, manufacturers offer replacement locks. Alternatively, you could hire a locksmith to change them all or invest in some high-tech HID badge-reader locks. They can be pretty pricey, but the access logs are great for keeping track of who’s coming and going. Hard to maintain though!
I hear you! Just to clarify, my experience is with different cabinet brands at various sites, and I was hoping for something user-friendly and easy to install!
Yeah, we've had APC systems before. It was a bit of a pain to manage due to the software, but at least it allowed everyone to have their own access badge and kept logs.
For sure! Given that it's a colo, I’d imagine some of those measures are already in place. It’s crucial for credential validation if you want robust security.