Solution Set

In order to avoid constant firefighting, an Infrastructure Manager must have a strategic plan in place. By developing and building an infrastructure roadmap, the IM can plan out that strategy and proactively put the actions in place that will...

Note

In order to avoid constant firefighting, an Infrastructure Manager (IM) must have a strategic plan in place. By developing and building an infrastructure roadmap, the IM can plan out that strategy and proactively put the actions in place that...

Note

Many organizations collect metrics to validate they are keeping the lights on and the infrastructure running. But the Infrastructure Managers who are benefiting the most are taking steps to ensure they are getting the right metrics to help them...

Case Study

This case study showcases an organization that made better use of metrics by closely examining and eliminating more than 1500 metrics, making data more accurate and relevant to the running of the business, and enabling a savings of $2.7 million.

Tool

Metrics are often collected using several tools and coming from several sources. Use this tool to centralize key metrics tracking and reporting.

Template/Policy

Infrastructure Managers are often blindsided by upcoming projects that were not accurately scoped in terms of impact on the infrastructure. Use this checklist to ensure you have the necessary details to plan changes to the infrastructure and...

Template/Policy

Establish quarterly metric reviews with your CIO to support capacity planning and management. Use this template to create a metrics report for your CIO.

Template/Policy

As an Infrastructure Manager, your time is scarce. Use this template to ensure that weekly metrics reviews are isolated to those facts you need to know about - SLA breaches, anomalies, and potential risks.

Template/Policy

Enterprises looking at potential vendors as part of their uninterruptible power supply (UPS) selection process may want to issue a request for proposal (RFP) once they establish their selection criteria.

Solution Set

IT managers may only face a data center move once or twice in their professional lives, and therefore may have little knowledge of how to approach the project.

Template/Policy

Ongoing management of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and co-location contract is critical for a successful co-location engagement. Assessments should be conducted at least annually to ensure the co-location vendor is complying with the...

Note

Successful data center renovation projects involve more than refreshing specific components of the facility. Renovation projects are more complex than first thought and require specific design and requirement steps. Define and scope the data...

Tool

IT leaders tasked with renovating a data center often experience scope creep and budget issues in later stages if initial planning, design and requirements are not properly outlined in beginning stages of the project. Start the project off on...

Tool

Renovating a data center can be a complex project that can be difficult to plan and scope for. Because a single renovation project generally cascades into multiple projects, it is extremely important to accurately estimate a budget to plan from....

Tool

When meeting with potential contractors for the data center renovation project, organizations should use a scripted interview process to aid in decision making. Each contractor should be scored based on a standard scoring method to ensure...

Template/Policy

In complex, multi-vendor data center environments, a contract management policy is an essential control tool used to minimize the risk and maximize the benefits of vendor contracts to the enterprise. Establish a data center contract management...

Template/Policy

One of the most important phases a new data center build is selecting the building site. Whether it is an existing building or a new construction site, IT must exercise due diligence by completing a site evaluation for each potential location....

11-Sep-09 Nothing is perfect. Much as we like to tout the robust hardware and rampant failover measures implemented in data centers, systems go down occasionally. That's why the industry measures reliability in "nines" rather than making absurd...

Premium Resource

This guide gives directions on how to effectively plan and execute a physical relocation. Every aspect of relocation that involves IT is covered in detail.