Infrastructure Configuration Management - An Introduction

As most data centers don’t have integrated DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) toolsets – it doesn’t mean they’re badly managed. Often it means that streamlined processes and existing information sets work well enough to manage data center space and capacity, with expensive DCIM systems not offering enough value, or requiring more skills to do the same job. This webinar covers how data capacity management and control can be improved by adopting best practices, process changes and better use of existing data.

Understanding and communicating change impacts, dependencies and risks is made all the more difficult when it is all conceptual. This webinar looks at the different methods available to create and maintain diagrams when 100s or 1000s of servers are involved.

Creating and updating large amounts of Visio diagrams for multi-site enterprises isn't difficult if you automate the process. This webinar shows how simple it is to create and maintain network, data centre, floor plans, ITIL service maps, etc.

Managing the complexity and inter-dependencies of IT systems is vital for day to day management, as well as reducing the likelihood and impact of cyber attacks. All best practice management frameworks such as ITIL, 27001, CoBit, NIST, etc emphasize the importance of understanding and managing IT systems complexity – but actually doing it in practice is not simple. If you’d like to know why IT systems continue to “fail” without faults or cyber-attacks, then you’ll find this talk very illuminating.

Planning and managing changes to data centres and equipment rooms isn’t easy if you don’t what is there and how devices connect. This webinar look at how to avoid the unnecessary project delays and costs associated with repeated site surveys and multi-site auditing. Maintaining knowledge of the local physical infrastructure is vital for centralised planning, provisioning and operational management, but you need a baseline to start with. With this baseline you can maintain knowledge of local infrastructure through improved change processes, as well as simplifying and reducing workload on infrastructure teams. Undertaking a baseline project isn’t easy, but there are methods and practices we’ll be covering that reduce the pain and improve the accuracy of baseline audits.

David will be covering;

- Data centres
- Equipment rooms
- Networks
- Servers
- Data and power connectivity

This webinar is part of BrightTALK's Ask the Expert Series.

Join David Cuthbertson, CEO of Square Mile Systems, as he takes a deep dive into cloud management. Many senior decision makers have negative feelings regarding the issues of technical teams and don't want to bring them to light - data security, change control, lock in to a supplier who overcharges, proper outage stats, etc.

Just as there is more awareness of outsourcing contract nightmares, many of the same issues apply to cloud providers. Managing change in cloud-based systems is still a relatively new issue as most technical teams don't think about how cloud systems are managed and the potential risks posed by many suppliers without a viable business model.

Audience members are encouraged to send questions to the expert which will be answered during the live session.

David Cuthbertson will show you methods and techniques to help achieve a baseline map of your IT systems, supporting not just GDPR issues but also change control, operational management and risk assessment.

David Cuthbertson and Jerry Bowman will cover how deploying the AssetGen system directly reduces engineer workload, change and auditing costs - through increased productivity and better team interfaces. This webinar will focus on the ROI and other financial benefits which are achieved by improved infrastructure documentation delivered by the AssetGen system.

Many organisations would like more complete and accurate IT systems documentation, but cannot find a way around their current methods such as multiple isolated spreadsheets and diagrams. Our webinar will cover techniques to reduce workload and improve consistency for IT infrastructure technologies such as networks, servers, applications, data centres, cabling, etc. The larger the infrastructure the greater the benefits of our

Increasing connectivity densities and use of modular fibre components is great for flexible cabling provision, but presents extra challenges for those having to manage infrastructure connectivity. David’s overview of best practice methods will help avoid both low and high density “spaghetti” and unnecessary disruption in the data centres.

Multi-building and multi-site IT environments are not simple to document with both legacy and new technology co-existing for many years. Our webinar looks at documentation methods that make multi-building IT infrastructure easier to plan and manage.

This webinar is being delivered in conjunction with the UKDCIG, PTS Consulting and Square Mile Systems.
Migrating data centres or moving to co-location is complex and subject to cost overruns, especially where existing infrastructure documentation is of questionable quality. We'll show how the use of database driven toolsets can help automate the project processes and avoid many of the typical problems that organisations with overstretched teams encounter.

When you have 1000s of servers shared by multiple applications it gets complex - so complex no individual can understand how it all works and no spreadsheet can cope with the scale and dependencies. Mapping technical and service dependencies between servers, applications, data, networks, batch processes and users also becomes more difficult as the infrastructure size increases – so David Cuthbertson will cover techniques that make the complex simpler to understand. He’ll cover how improved management methods and support systems reduce the disruption and risks to enterprise customers and users.

Incidents, planned changes, service transformations and technology refreshes all require change impact analysis - but many still find it difficult to deliver a centralised system. This webinar will show methods and techniques found to work in practice for hybrid and cloud environments..

If transforming your data center without service interruptions is imperative, join this session to learn about a tested and proven methodology, the DKGm, that will get you there. It has produced to date on time and on budget data center transformations without service interruptions 100% of the time.

Join David-Kenneth Group’s Kristofer Mathisen as he presents the details of the DKGm, including its processes, procedures, tools and technologies for data center transformations.

So many companies drown in spreadsheets and duplicate diagrams when trying to document IT infrastructure, but there are better ways. This webinar will cover simple methods and techniques to reduce effort and improve quality of network, data centre and systems documentation. The aim is to achieve a baseline of complex environments which is updated and maintained by change processes.

Lee Smith (Dee Smith & Associates) and David Cuthbertson (SMS) will cover their approach and methods of assessing existing data centre facilities and management processes. Rapid changes in both IT and data centre technologies often mean that facilities and management techniques fail to evolve fast enough, with the data centre potentially being the weak link in the delivery chain of all IT services. Achieving a baseline through an assessment is critical for any improvement or transformation activity - but is not so easy to do in practice.

Vital for teams who have to manage change and transformation activities in complex environments with enterprise systems (SAP, JD Edwards, Siebel, Peoplesoft, Oracle eBusiness, etc). A case study in how enterprise application discovery (Safyr) can be combined with Visio automation and infrastructure documentation (AssetGen). Reduce project risk, delays, cost overruns, individual overloads and improve your operational controls at the same time.