I recently attended a day long session on the subject of Data Centre Management. As you would expect, the discussion topics were somewhat generic in nature, after all DC Management covers such a broad range of considerations.
One of the discussion areas focused on links to external best practices and frameworks and this included reference to the ITIL Service Management Framework.
Group discussion soon revealed that most attendees were unaware of the multitude of Data Centre / ITIL links. This of course prompted me to point out a few of the key associations, shown below.
Service Strategy – IT Financial Management
The sheer volume of services supplying / running the Data Centre e.g. electrical power supply, cost of cooling etc. and the installed volume of capital assets / Configuration Items (CIs) e.g. servers, network infrastructure, cabinets etc. ensure that any Data Centre represents a significant Corporate investment and therefore a key focus area for the organization’s Senior Management and IT Financial Management teams.
Elements such as electricity supply and associated costs are much in focus due to substantial price increases over the past year.
Service Design - Capacity Management
Capacity is a primary focus area for any Data Centre / Facilities Manager. Again, Capacity considerations are extensive and need to be considered on multiple levels. Taking the example of a Server / comms cabinet installed within the Data Centre, the Data Centre Manager might need to consider;
- What capacity within the cabinet is taken by management equipment e.g. monitoring devices and patch panel presentations (in affect, non usable space)
- How much usable space (U space) remains available for server / equipment installation
- What power capacity is available for equipment within the cabinet (and across adjacent cabinets, rows). Are there sufficient power socket presentations
- What services capacity is available to the cabinets e.g. links to various networks, SAN, external services etc.
- Will installation of equipment exceed maximum heat thresholds
Service Design - Availability Management
Service Design – Service Continuity Management
The design of most Data Centre carefully considers Availability / Continuity Design. Availability requirements are often based on best practice recommendations contained within external best practice publications including the Uptime Institute Data Centre Tier Classifications and the TIA-942 Data Centre Standards.
Apart from being a centralized facility housing corporate equipment assets, many data Centres are built satisfy Service Continuity requirements e.g. secondary / backup facilities in a remote geographical location supporting one or more primary sites.
Service Design - Information Security Management
Service Operation – Access Management
Another wide range of factors for the Data Centre Manager (normally in conjunction with the Information Security function) will include:
- Physical Access – to buildings, rooms, cabinets
- Monitoring – IP / CCTV Cameras (building and Data Centre perimeter and in room)
- Cabinet Access / Opening – via Keypad, key or using remote access capability
- Access pass distribution – provision and management of permanent / temporary access passes
- Access reason monitoring – Why is access required, response to Incidents / Changes etc.
- Third party access – escorted access required?
Service Design – Supplier Management
The effort relating to the development and ongoing management of Service Level / Underpinning Contracts with Vendors should not be underestimated. There will inevitably be a large volume of vendors associated with any Data Centre. They will vary dramatically in respect to their size, process maturity, installation / support offerings, conformity / awareness of best practices, reporting capabilities etc.
Service Transition - Change Management
Service Transition – Release and Deployment Management
Service Operation - Incident Management
With so many configuration items in a single location, it is inevitable that access will be required for Change, Release and Incident Management reasons. However, as discussed earlier in the Information Security / Access Management section, there may be requirements to limit access to the facility.
Strict access times / Change Windows, may be imposed to reduce the risk to services and to limit the possibility of human error etc. during the defined Production day. This might therefore require response and implementation actions to be conducted outside of normal working hours e.g. overnight or weekends, unless approved as an emergency by authorized parties.
Service Transition – Service Asset and Configuration Management
There are many excellent applications and tools available on the market today, which greatly enhances the Data Centre Manager’s ability to automatically collect and populate information into the company’s centralized CMDB and Asset databases. Of course there will always be additional manual processes required to maintain accurate records.
Close links to change, Release, Incident and other ITIL / IT related processes are essential to track and record all changes to Configuration items.
These are just a few of the links between ITIL and Data Centre Management, and these only discussed in high level. I hope this inspires you to study the links further.
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