Automation: Will I lose control?

We hear a lot of talk from analysts and big-name companies about the need to automate. As someone who manages a large data center with thousands of servers, I'm concerned that in the rush to automate, I'll lose control of my server environment. Can you tell me what the benefits are of automating the IT server management process, and how can I guarantee my CIO that by automating the process there won't be unwanted disruptions in service?

First, your concerns are shared by a lot of other people, including many CIOs and data-center managers I've talked with in recent years. And you're right; the hype around data center automation gets pretty thick.  I believe that automation in the data center is inevitable: just as automation came to manufacturing facilities and to processes as complex as flying jets, automation is making its way into the world of software and hardware.  

Why? It's because of the advantages it will bring.  Automation - when it's done right - can mean lower costs, lower error rates, greater reliability, increased stability and availability.

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We hear a lot of talk from analysts and big-name companies about the need to automate. As someone who manages a large data center with thousands of servers, I'm concerned that in the rush to automate, I'll lose control of my server environment. Can you tell me what the benefits are of automating the IT server management process, and how can I guarantee my CIO that by automating the process there won't be unwanted disruptions in service?

First, your concerns are shared by a lot of other people, including many CIOs and data-center managers I've talked with in recent years. And you're right; the hype around data center automation gets pretty thick.  I believe that automation in the data center is inevitable: just as automation came to manufacturing facilities and to processes as complex as flying jets, automation is making its way into the world of software and hardware.  

Why? It's because of the advantages it will bring.  Automation - when it's done right - can mean lower costs, lower error rates, greater reliability, increased stability and availability.

All that being said, I can assure you that any automated process that makes you feel a loss of control is ugly automation.  Good automation, successful automation provides selective control and transparency. 

Let me make a comparison:

Automatic transmission takes care of a lot of processes that were once manual in our cars.  We put the car in gear, and watch data indicated on the tachometer and the speedometer, but in our daily driving, we don't need to see the gear ratio and RPMs, etc. to operate the vehicle comfortably.  There's intelligence built into the vehicle that takes care of those things, and we maintain control over certain aspects of the machine, but not all of them. 

Cruise control allows us to set a speed, and the car maintains it automatically.  We don't see all of the systems involved in maintaining that speed, and perhaps most important of all, control is immediately returned to us when we communicate that we need it, by braking.

In our cars, we trust that automation is doing what we need and we can verify it through selective transparencies (like the speedometer).  The same applies in the data center.  Well-designed automation allows you to verify that applications, processes and systems are doing what you need them to do.  You've got costs, and budgets, SLAs, and so on and you must have the ability to view what's happening.  You can't afford unplanned disruptions and good automation will ensure that you don't have them.

It's important to understand that well-designed automation does not force you to do everything at once: it's a step-by-step process of automating selected processes based on your comfort level and business priorities.

Being concerned about control is just as natural as the fighter pilot who puts the jet on autopilot for the first time.  But not having autopilot at all can be dangerous.

On the subject of danger, let me warn you about first-generation automation.  It tends to be Rube Goldberg.  There are products out there claiming to be automation that are really just miles and miles of script attempting to duplicate choices and conditions that a human could make in any situation.