How Monitoring Systems Reduce Human Error In Distributed Server Rooms And Remote Wiring Closets

By Dennis Bouley, senior research analyst, Schneider Electric, Data Center Science Center

Many IT managers recount stories of unexpected downtime events that occurred in their distributed server rooms and remote wiring closets. When analyzing these stories, a common thread emerges: lack of information. This lack of information leads to human error which causes the downtime. Stress levels are high because operators and administrators have no real-time data at their disposal and therefore, cannot prevent the human error from occurring.

Consider the following two statistics:

• According to estimates, there are 2.9 million server rooms and wiring closets in the United States alone
• Over 70% of reported data center outages are directly attributed to human error

This paper details common distributed server room and remote wiring closet downtime incidents. Then recommendations are proposed for how monitoring & automation software integrated with video surveillance and sensors can reduce the occurrence of human errorrelated downtime problems in these small, distributed environments.