Data Centers

A data center, sometimes called a server farm or cluster, can present special challenges to forensic investigators. The computing environment contained within a modern data center is the perfect environment for virtualization. A machine in a data center may hold 30 to 50 virtual machines (VMs). The equipment typically housed in a data center can include the following:

• Systems with 16+ CPUs/cores per server

• 64-bit addressing schemes

• Considerable amounts of physical memory

• Power-aware CPUs, servers, and racks

• Converged input/output (I/O) fabrics

• Shared high-speed interface to network and storage

• Network-based, virtualized storage

• Stateless servers with flexible I/O connections