Data Center Managers Need Broad Skill Sets to Manage Modern Centers

Posted: January 29, 2010 in Technical Guides
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ABSTRACT

In the context of the modern data center, the job of the data center facilities engineer is no longer limited to IT. To be sure, this position’s responsibilities include the usual tasks associated with IT, but with the changing concerns of the modern data center comes changing company needs for its staff.

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In the context of the modern data center, the job of the data center facilities engineer is no longer limited to IT. To be sure, this position’s responsibilities include the usual tasks associated with IT, but with the changing concerns of the modern data center comes changing company needs for its staff. A range of technical and business areas converge in the data center, including such disparate matters as compliance with environmental and other regulations, budget concerns, security, disaster recovery, and determination of locations for new data center facilities.

Security and facilities management skills are at the top of the list for data center facilities engineers. As more equipment is crammed into existing data centers, for instance, the data center facilities engineer must be able to manage the limited space as well as the cooling requirements that come along with heat-producing (and heat-sensitive) equipment. The recent economic downturn has also put pressure on budgets, meaning that not only must the data center facilities engineer keep the equipment sufficiently cool to maintain optimum performance, he must also do so in a way that keeps expenses as low as possible.

Today’s data center facilities engineer must therefore wear a number of hats. In addition to the standard requisite IT understanding and skill set, the engineer must be comfortable working with electrical and HVAC equipment, including computer room air conditioner (CRAC) units and air handlers, chillers, and heating equipment. In addition, the data center facilities engineer must be familiar with generators, uninterruptible power supplies, and other equipment needed for maintaining continual operation of the data center. Familiarity with fire detection and suppression systems as well as oversight and maintenance of security systems are also necessary skills for protecting the potentially multi-million-dollar equipment in the data center.  

A perusal of job advertisements for data center facilities engineers is telling in this regard. Almost every listing includes requirements that encompass a broad skill set. Other skills include ability to work with mechanical equipment as well as to construct racks, run cables, deploy new equipment, and maintain existing equipment. Many companies expect the data center facilities engineer to also be responsible for planning future equipment deployments and data center construction projects. The engineer may even be responsible for finding appropriate locations for new data centers. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling, a tool that is increasingly used in designing new data centers and evaluating the cooling capabilities and requirements of existing data centers, can also benefit the data center facilities engineer. Short of expertise in physics (and specifically fluid dynamics), however, knowledge of CFD modeling typically requires familiarity with one of the available software packages.

Given all the different requirements for maintaining a data center and the expense of hiring a separate expert to handle each particular area (such as one employee for HVAC, one for fire detection and suppression, one for security, and so on), companies are increasingly putting all of these burdens on the shoulders of the data center facilities engineer. In addition to navigating all the technical responsibilities, the data center facilities engineer increasingly becomes a liaison between technical personnel, company management, government regulators, contractors, and other interests. The ability to communicate well in writing and in person therefore becomes invaluable—the modern data center facilities engineer cannot simply be a hermit who interacts only with electronic equipment.

Numerous threats loom over data centers, including (but not limited to) threats to the network from remote locations. Break-ins and other types of malicious attacks also pose a local threat. Responsibility for anticipating and planning for such attacks often falls to the data center facilities engineer, who may be required to create risk assessments and disaster recovery plans. Such risks and disasters can also include power outages, earthquakes, lightning storms, and fires, any of which can cause extended interruption of data center uptime.

To top it all off, emergencies in the data center can arise any time, day or night. Therefore, many companies expect the data center facilities engineer to likewise be available any time, day or night. Engineers may be required to work odd hours and can expect to be called in late at night or on weekends from time to time as problems arise and threaten data center operation. Not only must the data center facilities engineer have a broad skill set, he must also have a willingness to put his skills to work in an on-call manner. Such a level of commitment and the required jack-of-all-trades skill set of the data center facilities engineer has made for something of a dearth of qualified individuals in this area, but companies are no less seeking such to take on the varied responsibilities of the modern data center.

Written by Jeffrey Clark  /  Written by Jeffrey Clark / Datacenterjournal