Optimizing your data center requires first knowing what is in there. That is normally not as straightforward as it sounds.

In many, if not most data centers, technology was added piece-by-piece over the years. A new server was brought in to support a newly computerized business function. A merger or acquisition amalgamated heterogeneous hardware and software. More storage units were added to accommodate new and/or growing databases. Networking components were added to improve connectivity and/or bandwidth. And so on.

Documentation on technologies added over time is often scant. In fact, 15 to 18% of assets are not properly documented in the typical data center. The relevant purchase orders and invoices may still be on file, but going through them to create a comprehensive inventory is difficult at best and next to impossible at worst.

You could do a physical inventory, but that is an error-prone exercise, particularly if the equipment is spread out over multiple locations. And a physical inventory will not take into account virtual assets, such as data, applications, and middleware.

Furthermore, the picture used to be much simpler. At one time, a server was a server was a server. It was a piece of hardware that you could visually count. That’s no longer necessarily the case. Thanks to virtualization, a single physical server may host several virtual servers, possibly running differing operating systems.

What’s more, a physical inventory won’t tell you how IT assets are being employed. Sometimes, that information resides only in people’s heads. If so, and if people with critical knowledge leave the company, their knowledge might leave with them. That’s not a problem as long as everything continues to work as it should and you don’t want to make changes. Yet, by definition, data center transformation requires changes.

How can you make changes until you know everything you have and what interdependencies exist between them?

Read more in Virima’s latest whitepaper – A Voyage of Discovery – to examine these challenges and gain suggestions for embarking on a voyage of discovery that will overcome the obstacles imposed by existing information gaps.