More about the Dynamic Systems Initiative

DSI focuses on automating data center operational jobs and reducing associated labor through self-managing systems. What this means is making management software clever enough to know when a particular system (or application) has a problem and then dynamically take actions to avoid the problem.

Consider a scenario where, without operator intervention, a management system is able to start an additional web server because the existing web farm is overloaded from traffic. This particular capability is available already, and DSI aims to extend this type of self-healing and self-management to other operations.

In support of DSI, Microsoft has invested heavily in:

• Systems designed for operations
• An operationally aware platform
• Intelligent management tools

The philosophy behind DSI is this:

• That Microsoft products be patched in a simplified and uniform way
• That Microsoft server applications are optimized for management
• That developers have tools to design applications in a way that makes them easier for administrators to manage after those applications are in production

With DSI, Microsoft utilizes a nontraditional approach to systems management. DSI employs an application development standpoint, rather than a more customary operations perspective that concentrates on automating task-based processes.