Today let’s look at an article from The Data Center Journal by Jim Manias. He points out the following obstacles to achieving optimal data center performance:

• Scheduling is fragmented across servers
• Too many repetitive and time consuming manual tasks
• Ever changing market place
• Fragmented security management
• Increases in virtual resources

Let’s break down a couple of these obstacles to data center performance. First, it can happen to the best of data center operations. A new need arises and in the hustle and bustle of operations a “point solution” is added.  It may require manual processing and over time you might find yourself with several point solutions. Now, your manual workload has increased as well as your costs, both time and money.  It further creates a more disjointed Operation making it even harder to grow, be flexible and change with new demands.  As our environments become more complex it is important to be intentional when adding solutions and appliances, always keeping an eye out for Centralized Management and intelligent automation.  For example, routine processes like backups need to be able to work across platforms automatically. Overall, administrators need to be able to clearly see the big picture of what is happening within their data centers and how it all functions and ties together to effectively manage resources.

Customers, regulations, new technology,  all are changing and our data centers must be flexible now more than ever before.  Breaking down silos and taking a centralized approach to managing operations coupled with automation can help your team meet change head on. Mr. Manias adds, “Today’s IT managers need to own a new version for their data centers as places that are diverse, interconnected and interdependent. The data center of the future will accommodate heterogeneity and change as the status quo: a natural condition rather than something to be avoided.”

Centralized management and automation are two keys to ensuring better data center performance.

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