Automation principles

Automation is a topic, which seems quite simple and straightforward at a first glance. Mostly it is seen as simple as:

1. Find a repeatable task.
2. Create a script or program to replace the manual steps.
3. Add it to a trigger or scheduler for repeated execution.

While this is true for the actual scripting the first point is maybe the most important. There are many tasks in a modern data center, but not all are gold candidates for automation.

Day two automation

Automating daily manual tasks which are important to run and operate the data center and often performed by admins are so-called day two operations. Normally each data center has quite a few of them happening in the back to keep running. The very first step into the automation world should be to proper identify and define those tasks, as well as find a repeatable and clear way of executing them. Therefore you should think of a few criteria to successfully identify those tasks:

• Often repeated per work day
• Execution is straight...