It’s easy to think that, in the data center and beyond, automation knows no boundaries. It’s easy to think that, in the data center and beyond, automation knows no boundaries. In a world where artificial intelligence offers seemingly endless opportunities to improve data center operations and networks, the IT industry as a whole has embraced the concept that workflows can become fully automated, to the point where we reach a state of NoOps. It seems like there’s nothing we can’t automate in the data center, but the reality is getting more sobering. While modern technology offers great potential for data center automation in many areas, some key aspects of data center operations may not be automated for the foreseeable future. The physical nature of data centers means that in some ways, automating data center facilities and equipment is more challenging than other types of IT infrastructure or environments, such as public cloud platforms. In a public cloud environment, everything a user interacts with is on the platform and is defined in software, so it can be easily automated using software-based solutions.

To prove the point, let’s look at these five aspects of a data center or data center operations that no one should expect to be fully automated anytime soon.

1. Server deployment

In the public cloud, automatically deploying servers is as simple as applying some infrastructure-as-code templates to provision cloud resources. However, in a data center, this kind of automation is not possible because the servers you deploy are physical hardware and someone has to install the servers, connect them to power and network cables, make sure the servers are properly cooled, etc. In theory, robots could automate much of the work of deploying servers in data centers. However, to do this job cost-effectively with robots, you need a large-scale operation. You also need server deployments that are consistent and predictable enough to enable automation without human help. Today, most server deployments do not meet this standard. Although people have been talking about the potential of robotic data center automation for at least a decade, we still rarely see robots in data centers, and there's a reason for that: It's impractical in most cases. Server deployment is expected to remain manual for the foreseeable future.

2. Hardware maintenance

Similarly, maintaining server hardware after deployment in the data center is not a task that can be automated in most cases. Replacing failed disks, replacing frayed cables and power supplies, and updating network cards are routine procedures in most data centers, and the only way to deal with these problems is by technicians.

3. HVAC installation and maintenance

HVAC systems prevent IT equipment from overheating and are an important part of every data center. Like servers, HVAC systems contain physical components that require manual maintenance. Remote HVAC sensors and monitoring systems can help automate some processes related to HVAC management, but ultimately, HVAC maintenance is not a job that can be easily automated in the data center.

4. Physical security

Data center physical security is another area where monitoring systems can help automate certain tasks but require human intervention to respond to major issues. You can use sensors to track the movement of people within the data center, and you can deploy biometric devices to automatically control physical access to the data center, but if an intruder is detected, or the automated access control system is not functioning properly, you will need security personnel to do so. respond.

5. Disaster recovery

In some cases, disaster recovery routines can be automated, and in fact, disaster recovery automation is critical to saving time when recovering data or applications after a failure. However, you can only automate disaster recovery if the assets you need to recover are software-based and you have adequate infrastructure to host the recovered assets. If recovery requires deploying new hardware or replacing failed components (which might be the case if a data center suffers a natural disaster that renders some systems inoperable), you'll need to rely on humans to perform the work manually.

Limitations of data center automation

There are many good reasons to automate data center operations as extensively as possible, but many aspects of data center management are not amenable to automation. Even in the age of generative AI and robotics, it’s hard to imagine humans being completely removed from data centers anytime soon.