Data centres and IT management blogs

A single pane of glass - being able to view every aspect (facilities/hardware/software) of the data centre in real time is the holy grail for data centre managers. However, the reality is somewhat different, with most managers using everything from customised spreadsheets right up to the very latest version of some server monitoring software, for example - vast amounts of distributed software applications, making it very difficult to get a coherent narrative as to what's going on in the data centre, how and why.

In the hardware space, there's been a whole new tranche of start-ups bringing clever new technology to the data centre, forcing the enterprise IT department to completely re-think, and re-budget, the IT infrastructure that hasn't changed much for eons.

On the software side, there has been some comparable innovation (virtualisation, Big Data etc.) , but, by and large, when it comes to IT and data centre management, there's still a lot of legacy applications that are merely being tweaked and bundled to try and provide this single pane of glass. DCIM could still turn out to be the saviour, but, thus far, it's a little too facilities-centric.

Maybe, like the holy grail, the concept of one piece of management software is unattainable, but let's hope there are some smart companies out there willing to give it a try. Otherwise, data centre managers are likely to disappear under a deluge of management and monitoring applications - all good in themselves, but not offering the breadth and depth of data required.

Early Sunday morning, and catching up with emails and preparing for the week ahead before breakfast and a busy family day. Several emails answered with 'I'm not in the office right now, but if your message is urgent, please contact...'

Most, if not all, of us would accept that the weekend is downtime when it comes to the business of business - we'd not expect to contact folks, or receive a response anytime Saturday or Sunday. Yet, thanks to all manner of handheld gadgets, we all know that our emails are getting through and being read by the recipients. The bleep of a text message received early on Saturday morning could well be irritating, but, if we choose to set ourselves up to be on call all the time, do we have any right to resent such a contact?

Is there an accepted 'weekend' etiquette? Should those of us who welcome the peace and quiet of a couple of early morning hours on a Saturday or Sunday to sort out our business lives refrain from hitting the 'Send' button until Monday morning? And, if so, how early on Monday morning is acceptable?

Leaving aside the issue of when to send, what about the rules for replying? Someone sends an email at, say 10.00am on a Monday, are they entitled to expect a response: within the hour; within the day; or, whenever the recipient chooses to reply?

Flexibility (as with all things IT) would seem to be the watchword. We might want a response by a certain time, to suit our needs. But the other half of the email conversation might not want, or be able, to reply until some time later.

Rather than allow ourselves to get frustrated by the 'shortcomings' of those with whom we're trying to communicate, we should celebrate the fact that IT has improved the whole process immeasurably. Okay, so the odd telephone tag episode might still take place, but sending an email is an elegant solution - it starts the conversation rolling, and allows it to continue no matter the day or time.

Much of the problem can be avoided, according to 8 Solutions CEO, Mark Plant, with proper care and attention, but the reality is that, sooner or later, any data centre will need some kind of a clean – whether it’s simply a surface clean, or a deep, clinical clean that goes under the raised floor, into the ceiling voids, under/over/into the cabinets themselves.

At the worst end of the scale, poorly trained subcontractors coming into a data centre environment can bring vast amounts of dust with them (the toolbox is a ‘favourite’ location), unpack new IT equipment in the data centre itself – and then leaving the packaging under the floor, where it joins a host of cable ties and bits of cable, discarded air filters and other rubbish.

Without a proper cleaning regime, contamination can end up blocking as much as 50 per cent of a servers air intake, for example – not, I suspect, something that is generally included in the average data centre power and cooling review.

And then there’s the cases where the person mopping the floor is none too careful, and water slops up the side of the cabinets, or the floor is polished to such an extent that it loses its anti-static property.

This blog is not intended to scaremonger, nor promote the services of 8 Solutions specifically, rather to raise the issue of data centre contamination, and to make sure that it’s on the data centre management list.

However, 8 Solutions is currently offering a free, 20 point Health Check, where it will come and look at everything from the sub-floor to the ceiling voids and write up a report. No doubt, other companies are also available to do likewise.

The point is, not so much who carries out the contamination assessment, but the fact that one is done at all. After all, your PUE might be approaching the sub zero level, and your ICT infrastructure the best that money can’t buy, but nobody yet found a way of magicking away dust…