Going mobile, by David Geer

Contact me at david@geercom.com, via this form or at 440-964-9832 (Fax:440-964-2172).

Data Center Management magazine

Going mobile

Gizmos and gadgets for the data center

By David Geer

Here are some of the best and brightest mobile and wireless technologies for the data center in 2006. How will they help? What else should you hope for?

Mobile Benefits

As we talk about the new year's best mobile gadgets, Douglas Alger, a data center manager for Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose, CA, and author of Build the Best Data Center Facility for Your Business (Cisco Press), shares, "I'm actually getting my first smart phone at the start of 2006."

Alger's new phone includes e-mail, messaging and, equally important if not more so, Web access. Why is Web access so vital? Because Alger's company's data center has remote monitoring tools that can be accessed via the Web on this new smart phone.

The phone supports most Web standards, including HTML 4.01, xHTML 1.0, cHTML, WML 1.3, SSL 3.0, HTTP 1.1, JavaScript 1.5, CSS 1.0 and some 2.0, GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP and Cookies, explains Alger, "meaning most Web sites and content are viewable." 

The phone includes common Web controls onscreen like "Back" and "Forward" buttons, as well as "Refresh", "Home", "History" and "Bookmarks." Whatever model you acquire, you'll want these kinds of features to make the fullest use of your Web-based monitoring tools while on the go.

"Currently," continues Alger, "if there's an infrastructure-related problem in a server environment, it's often easier to investigate and diagnose the issue from outside the room than inside." The smart phone makes it possible for Alger to be anywhere he needs to be, and still have access to the same diagnostic and monitoring tools.

Smart Phone Impact

At Cisco, Alger's infrastructure has an internal Web site with massive data center-related content. "We have 45 data centers spread across 11 countries and 10 time zones, so a lot of how we support and manage these rooms has to be done from afar," declares Alger.

Some of this content includes graphical floor plans and weight capacity, phone numbers, card reader numbers, sensor network data, Web camera data and database information, including circuit information. It also includes an interface for the monitors and controls of the data center cooling and standby power systems, notes Alger.

In that environment, one example of how a single smart phone like the one described can cut time and avoid install problems on an average job involves the installation of 20 high-density (1U) servers.

1. Surf to the internal Web site and lookup a vacant tile location.

2. Check whether that tile location can support the servers' weight.

3. Check whether that tile location has adequate power.

After the servers are in the racks and powered up, use the smart phone again to:

4. Check temperature sensors to see if the added servers have created a hot spot in the room.

5. If there is a hot spot, access the building automation system and adjust the settings of the DC air handler closest to the newly installed servers to try to lower the temperatures.

The smart phone can put all of that information and control at my fingertips, emphasizes Alger, "whether I'm in the data center or the build room or the receiving dock; I don't have to go to a PC first."

The phone can also help managers message or call for help and even take digital images of problem areas to forward to engineers and technicians.

Wireless Helping Wireless

The Cisco Data Center Infrastructure Team is piloting RFID tags. In one application, the tags will proactively collect data about the location and configuration of every server and network or peripheral device, imparts Alger. Inventories will be automated; server space metrics will be collected and measured; and security will be monitored for the unauthorized movement of any server.

You can use the smart phone to locate any server in the data center—just Web access your inventory database. "Since the database's information comes from RFID tags, you know the information is accurate up-to-the-minute," remarks Alger, adding that they plan to have that location information displayed graphically on a floor plan image of the data center. "I could actually use the phone and follow a display of the data center and walk right up to the correct tile location, almost as if I were using a GPS tracker."

BlackBerry Answers to Data Center Problems

Budgets are tight around personnel costs. It's a fact that mobility is making it possible to have less staff. "We need to provide 24x7x365 service with the minimal amount of people possible," explains Greg Solak, vice president of network operations at TeleCommunication Systems Inc., formerly Aether Systems, Annapolis, MD.

To do that, Solak's people have embarked on a two-part approach that includes:

1) Automating everything that can be and 2) enabling the remaining staff to work from anywhere at anytime.

Today, part two is enabled using the BlackBerry. Solak's team can collaborate from anywhere and respond quickly to data center trouble tickets and system restoration needs with fewer technicians on hand.

While laptops and remote VPN access have been useful, Solak needs more data access and system control through these smaller mobile gadgets. "The wireless networks are no longer the bottlenecks; we are currently utilizing 1XRTT (CDMA) and will most likely migrate to EVDO [which is even faster] when the devices and carriers are ready," observes Solak.

Greater speeds mean getting more detail to the device faster, explains Gregg Smith, senior vice president, TeleCommunication Systems, Inc.

Current devices have screens that make reading charts and management consoles possible. "The devices have matured from monochrome screens to color screens to high resolution LCD technology. Color screens greatly enhance the usability and readability of the charts similar to what an engineer would get to at his desktop," indicates Smith.

We are beginning to rollout converged devices like the RIM 7250 with 1XRTT data capabilities (upgradeable to EVDO) along with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, says Solak. These make life easier because you can carry fewer devices.

Wish Lists

If you see vendors recombining technologies, or if you get into the act yourself, here is some food for thought from other managers.

The ideal next phase of growth toward optimized mobility, according to Solak, is better application integration with enterprise management systems such as NetCool, Tivoli or Openview. "Email alerts are great, but during high volume times, you need to access the whole console to truly understand the issues and triage the situation," adds Solak, meaning he would like the look and feel of working on mobile devices to be more like working at his desktop. This integration should be done in a way that minimizes data usage, "which can be unruly when utilizing TCP-based applications," insists Solak.

Alternatives include desktop remote control applications for mobile devices, in which an engineer can connect to his desktop and have his whole toolbox at his fingertips," explains Solak. This would add non-Web-based tools to the mix. "While the devices are available today, its the need to extend the desktop application to the device that is paramount to make this happen," adds Smith. Security is a concern for such applications, however, because they require additional open ports beyond port 80.

In response to security, "devices capable of utilizing smart cards, or better yet, biometrics, would be ideal," says Solak. "Some devices have been developed with the security technology available, but they are for specialized use. We expect more devices to be available in 2006," Smith states.

"Another plus would be the ability for your device to handle voice and data simultaneously, so active work could be done while talking to other members of the team," he adds.

Finally, Solak warns that, while mobile devices can make technicians more available, this can "also make personnel feel even more tethered to their jobs."

The Need for Speed

"Security, speed, and interoperability—in that order—are the things I'd be looking for in mobile devices," shares Tim Cannon, director, service deliver operations, Unisys Corporation, Salt Lake City, UT.

At Unisys data centers, the problem is high-volume and high-diversity issues all competing for a piece of Cannon's attention around the clock. With that in mind, "It would be great to have a fast and secure device that would keep me constantly plugged in," notes Cannon.

According to Cannon, it would be even better if it were interoperable to the point that all the technologies used at all the data centers he has responsibility for were able to come together seamlessly. This observation is highly comparable to the directions being taken at Cisco and TeleCommunication Systems Inc. data centers, with one distinct difference: "I'd like to see all the above in a usable tablet form factor," says Cannon.

In Cannon's view, putting these functionalities into a Tablet PC and the tablet into his hands would enable him "to coordinate the work of multiple sites by providing multiple channels of communication in the same device."

Prepare for Impact, Demand Security

The mobile promise of 2006 is to better enable data center managers to stay "in touch and in the know about every nook and cranny of their world," reflects Cannon. That's not 100 percent feasible all the time, "but the easier the technology makes it to approach that, the higher the expectations get set," he says. "These tools really facilitate (near) real-time situational awareness, which should be the hallmark of a good data center manager."

To get penetration into the data center, any significant improvements in mobile technology will have to come with or be around better mobile security, continues Cannon, "both of the device and the communications channels."

I think the data center manager's time is best spent beefing up security, agrees Christopher Faulkner, chief information officer and data center manager at CI Host, Bedford, TX. "The new technology will expedite processes and increase performance very economically, but it opens new points of entry if we are all not careful," he warns.

"The last thing a data center manager would tolerate is any sort of negative security implication with a device that should be making him or her more efficient and productive," agrees Cannon.