Links List 8.8.08

Ask the Admin experienced some downtime this week, but not before posting on the importance of change management. Peter states that, “if you are making changes to your network without keeping a detailed record of what you are doing and when you’re doing it, it is going to be extremely difficult to diagnose problems later.”

Michael Krigsman notes that the New York Times website experienced some downtime this week, but it appears they have not yet made a statement as to why.

Virtual Strategy Magazine reminds us of the one core element to virtualization and cloud computing, the human factor. Remember, it’s all about people, processes and technology.

Cloud computing is definitely the hottest trend; so hot, that IBM invested $400 million in it. As part of the company’s Project Big Green, which aims to improve energy efficiency in the data center, IBM plans to expand by creating two centers to power the next era of computing. Even though this shows the progression of cloud computing, some question what IBM’s new data center has to offer. Are vendors ‘confusing the physical with the meta-physical in the Cloud discussion?’

Another big player joining the cloud-computing field is AT&T. This past Tuesday, AT&T formally announced their service, AT&T Synaptic Hosting. AT&T describes the Synaptic Hosting as ‘enterprise-class; unlike services like Amazon’s EC2 and S3, Synaptic hosting offers service-level agreements, rapid support, and management of off-the-shelf-applications,’ which will set the company apart from ‘anything else on the market.’

How do you know if your Configuration Management System is built to last? Although many IT organizations implement an ITIL based on their CMS, it is important for an organization to actively manage their CMS. Tips for good service management include having someone in the organization accountable for the integrity of the data in the CMS and ‘establish regular naming conventions and stick to them.’

Popularity: 5% [?]

Filed Under: Change Management, Cloud Computing, Downtime, ITIL, Virtualization