1. Explain what Is Data Center?
A data center (or datacenter) is a facility composed of networked computers and storage that businesses or other organizations use to organize, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data. A business typically relies heavily upon the applications, services and data contained within a data center, making it a focal point and critical asset for everyday operations.
2. Explain me what are Your Technology Strengths?
Data center infrastructure services include network hardware, servers, storage and security products. Each product includes hardware components and software to run the hardware. Find out the extent of each candidate's infrastructure knowledge. An understanding of end-to-end technology provides a good foundation for data center oversight.
3. Please explain how Do I Evaluate Dcim Solutions?
There are many DCIM tools and suites of solutions on the market, and as with any acquisition, you need to look at each critically and choose the one that best meets your specific needs.
4. Tell me what Application Management Tools Have You Used?
Application management tools are used to monitor technology services in the data center, along with facility services like humidity levels, cooling and power. Determine how well each candidate's experience corresponds to the tools currently used.
5. Tell us do You Use a Process-Based Approach?
Taking a process-based approach to operations management keeps data center services predictable and reliable. Find out what approach each candidate has used. One common answer to expect is Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
6. Tell me what Is A Cross-connection Or Data Center Cross Connect?
A cross connection is most often a layer 1 or physical layer connection between two networks. Data center providers typically segment cross connections by type of cabling used to make the connection - copper, coaxial or fiber. Cross connections are usually completed by the data center provider for a non-recurring (NRC) and a monthly recurring (MRC) charge.
7. Tell us what is the Extent of Your Data Center Experience?
Find out how many years the candidate has been working with data center services and what positions he's held. A director should have worked his way up, typically starting with an IT engineer role and progressing into management. Progressive experience provides keen insight into data center operations.
8. Explain what is Your Experience Developing and Managing Metrics?
Metrics show business leaders how well things are performing and where attention is needed. Data center metrics provide performance values to gauge technology performance, such as the speed of the network. Find out how candidates select, collect and monitor metrics associated with data center performance.
9. Tell us what Does Data Center Architecture Mean?
Data center architecture is the physical and logical layout of the resources and equipment within a data center facility.
It serves as a blueprint for designing and deploying a data center facility. It is a layered process which provides architectural guidelines in data center development.
10. Tell us why should we hire you as Data center operations manager position?
This is a very common question that is asked in almost every interview. I love this question because it gives you the opportunity to sell yourself. Discuss what makes you standout from the crowd and show them how you can help advance their company. Remember to be specific. This is where all the company research you have done comes into play. You should have an idea as to why the company is hiring or looking to hire someone for that position. What problem do they have that they are looking for people to help them solve? And once you can establish this, you are to show them how you can solve this problem for them.
11. Tell us as Data center operations manager position, how would your co-workers describe you?
Questions such as this one are asked with the aim of getting you to discuss some of your qualities, perhaps hidden that you wouldn't have mentioned if you weren't asked.
“Well, my colleagues will tell you they can count on me. They will tell you that I am a team player and someone they enjoy working with.”
12. Tell me what Is Dcim, And Why Would I Need It?
DCIM (data center infrastructure management) is a combination of software, hardware and sensors that allows you to monitor, optimize and intelligently plan power and cooling capacity in your data center. DCIM tools have become essential as the availability and operating costs of the data center have become increasingly intertwined with the facility.
13. Explain me what Size Data Centers Have You Managed?
Data centers vary in facility and staff size, as well as in layers of redundancy that allow business to keep running even if one system fails. Interviewers typically want to hire someone familiar with operations similar in size and scope to that which the hiring company operates. A director of a data center with a small scope of operations might not be well equipped to take on the role of director for a large-scale operation.
14. Tell me as Data center operations manager position, what is your viewpoint of management?
The aim of this question is to ascertain the kind of leader you are. If you ever get to hold a management position in their firm, how would you handle issues of workload delegation or teach your subordinates?
I am of the opinion that a team should have specific individuals who are experts or most qualified to handle certain tasks, so as a leader, I would distribute the workload as evenly as possible to ensure that the best hands for different tasks are put where they are most effective. This will be done by ensuring that every member of the team has the skill and resource needed to complete his/her tasks.
15. Explain me what Are Some Common Scenarios That Dcim Tools Can Help Avoid?
Here are a few we see more often than we'd like:
☛ A rack of servers loses power when an IT administrator unintentionally overloads an already maxed-out power strip.
☛ A large data center virtualizes and consolidates its most critical applications on a cluster of servers. Using the failover mechanism of the virtualization platform, they feel protected from hardware failure. Unfortunately, in their panning, they don't recognize that each of the servers is dependent on the same UPS, which means that if the UPS fails, no UPS-protected servers are available to migrate the affected loads to.
☛ An operator is trying to determine whether power capacity that was just exceeded on a rack is only an anomaly or a developing trend. She goes on “gut feel” and leaves it alone. The next time power capacity in that rack is exceeded, a breaker trips and all the servers downstream of that breaker that are running mission critical applications are suddenly shut down.
☛ In a large. mission critical data center, the provisioning and installation of servers is so complex that only highly paid contract engineers are able to perform the task.
It is crucial that you discuss your objectives and how you intend to achieve them.
For instance: I would like to be the best in my department or I'd love to be the person my colleagues can rely on. I also feel I would be skilled and experienced enough to handle whatever responsibilities might come my way.
17. Tell me types Of Dcim Software, And What Do They Do?
User interfaces - different packages offer different views, so choose those that would be most useful to you. Among those typically available:
☛ Floor layout: provides an accurate representation of your data center in a floor plan and/or elevation diagram
☛ Recommended actions: Provides decriptions of problems and recommended actions
☛ Virtual store room: Keeps track of new devices from arrival on site through installation
☛ Rack front view: Provides accurate graphical representation of equipment and its location in the rack
☛ Equipment browser: Locates equipment based on vendor name, model and/or type, and can often export equipment data to Excel format
☛ User rights management: Allows assignment of individual user rights and controls across rooms, locations, reports, alarms, and work orders
☛ Mobile devices: Communicates critical data to specified PDAS
18. Explain me what Does Critical Power Mean?
"Critical" power or "IT load" often refers to the data center load that is consumed or is dedicated to IT equipment such as servers, storage equipment and communications switches and routers. Power for lighting or cooling the data center is excluded from "critical" power. It's important for an end user to understand their critical load as the data center - whether managed internally or outsourced - will be sized based on the current or expected amount of critical power.
19. Tell me what Features/functions Do I Look For?
Some features/functions to consider:
Open source - vendor-neutrality is key, as very few data centers are standardized on a single vendor from top to bottom. Open source DCIM software can integrate data from, for example, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, power distribution units (PDUs), and cooling units from three (or more) different vendors.
In addition, with open protocols, it is quite easy to add additional software tools and expect them to communicate and work together effectively.
☛ Functionality - depending on your needs, you'll want to explore various functions:
☛ Planning functions, such as asset management and cause/effect analysis
☛ Operational functions, such as helping to complete more tasks in less time, reducing human error, and identifying root causes of problems
☛ Analysis functions, such as identifying operational strengths and weaknesses and optimizing energy usage
20. Tell us have You Led Managers?
It is important to understand the extent of an applicant's leadership experience to explore similarities to the current opening's scope of responsibilities. Find out if the candidate has experience overseeing the facility and leading managers across all information technology service areas, or if the experience is limited to specific portions.
Your answers should focus on how well you can review relevant facts, consider various options and select the most appropriate option. Discuss how you factor in variables such as constraints and resources.
22. Basic 10 Data Center Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ Are we effectively measuring power utilization in our data center(s) today?
☛ What's our overall efficiency rating (PUE, DCIE, and CADE), and how does that compare to the industry norm?
☛ Are we able to accurately determine which equipment is being utilized the least and/or is the least efficient?
☛ Can we determine energy consumption by application, transaction, or department, and does it make sense to allocate those costs accordingly?
☛ How much is this year's technology refresh cycle expected to improve overall data center efficiency and capacity?
☛ What gains did we realize (or do we expect to realize) from consolidation and virtualization of server and storage resources?
☛ Can we optimize those gains with "what-if" analyses of all available options or through other measures?
☛ Where are we most likely to experience a serious limitation, and are we at risk of having a data center exceed its available capacity?
☛ How can we minimize energy consumption (and costs) in our data center(s)?
☛ What will be the return on investment for improving overall efficiency in our data center(s)?
Eay physical infrastructure management tools were limited in scope and required considerable human intervention. While they would warn that a particular parameter had been exceeded, the operator would have to determine what equipment was affected by the error. First-gen tools could not make correlations between a physical infrastructure device and a server, nor were they capable of initiating actions to prevent downtime, such as speeding up fans to dissipate a hot spot.
Never management tools are designed to identify and resolve issues with minimum human intervention. By correlating power, cooling and space resources to individual servers (physical and virtual), DCIM tools today can proactively inform IT management systems of potential physical infrastructure problems and how they might impact specific IT loads. Newer planning software tools illustrate, through a graphical user interface, the current physical state of the data center and simulate the effect of future physical equipment adds, moves, and failures.
24. Explain tell me what is your greatest strength as Data center operations manager position?
This could be a very simple question if you are prepared for it. You just have to talk about the strengths that you know would be of value to the company.
• Make the most of this question. This question gives you the control to guide the interview to where you want it so take advantage.
• Emphasize the strengths you have that are crucial to the position
• Find out from the job description and from company research, the kind of strengths the company invests in.
Leadership comes with responsibility so an effective way to approach this question would be “ everyone that works with me is an extension of my effectiveness as a manager and as such, I will have a heart-to-heart with the employee in question however, if nothing changes and it starts to affect the company bottom line, well, that's my responsibility as well”
26. Please explain what is Your Experience with Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity?
Find out what candidates have done to create and test disaster recovery and business continuity plans. These plans should be designed to keep business running even if problems occur at the facility, such as weather-related disasters.
27. Tell us what Are The Primary Types Of Dcim Software, And What Do They Do?
There are two main categories of data center management software tools: monitoring/automation software and planning/implementation software.
The first deals with monitoring and automation of the IT room and facility power, environmental control, and security. It acts upon user-set thresholds by alarming, logging, or even controlling physical devices, and does things like verifying the data center is functioning as designed, and automating activities that optimize availability and efficiency.
The second category of software focuses on planning and implementation, where IT managers can typically have the greatest impact on total cost of ownership (TCO). It ensures efficient deployment of new equipment, organizes planning in order to facilitate changes in the data center, tracks assets, and simulates the impact of all kinds of what-if” scenarios.
The reason why you are asked this question is to hear what you consider difficult and how you approached the situation. Select a difficult work situation, which wasn't caused by you and can be explained in a few sentences. You can then show yourself in a positive light by explaining how you handled the situation.
29. Tell me as Data center operations manager position, how do you keep staff members motivated?
Questions about delegating tasks and motivating staff are quite common in management job interviews. Your emphases should be on team building when answering this question. You can say something like “I always endeavor to show recognition to members of staff that meet goals and in my experience, I have seen that this keeps them motivated to take on more tasks. Where possible, I make the tasks delegation interdependent so that staff members can learn to work with each other and improve one another to get the best out of themselves.”
30. Tell us what Document Management Tools and Methodologies Have You Used?
Technology services and facility documentation is used for trouble-shooting, problem solving and future technology or facility planning. Managing this documentation effectively can mean the difference between preventing problems and making things worse, if obsolete specifications are referred to by mistake. Find out what document management tools each candidate has used.
The multi-tier data center model is dominated by HTTP-based applications in a multi-tier approach. The multi-tier approach includes web, application, and database tiers of servers. Today, most web-based applications are built as multi-tier applications. The multi-tier model uses software that runs as separate processes on the same machine using interprocess communication (IPC), or on different machines with communications over the network. Typically, the following three tiers are used:
☛ Web-server
☛ Application
☛ Database
Multi-tier server farms built with processes running on separate machines can provide improved resiliency and security. Resiliency is improved because a server can be taken out of service while the same function is still provided by another server belonging to the same application tier. Security is improved because an attacker can compromise a web server without gaining access to the application or database servers. Web and application servers can coexist on a common physical server; the database typically remains separate.
32. Tell us what Can Dcim Tools Do To Help Manage Energy Consumption In M Data Center?
Newer DCIM tools measure, monitor, automate, and optimize processes for energy efficiency. They can do things like:
☛ Initiate load shifts: for example, when a monitoring system detects a reduced data center load at night, it might consolidate applications onto rack #1 and turn off rack #2, saving energy. In addition, if the reduced IT load can operate at a higher temperature, variable speed fans in CRAGS can be adjusted down, and the reduced cooling load would be reported to the building management system (BMS), which optimizes the chiller by raising the chilled water temperature, saving more energy.
☛ Maximize use of existing capacity: DCIM tools help identify excess capacity and pinpoint devices that can either be decommissioned or used elsewhere, saving on energy, capital, maintenance, and manpower costs. DCIM tools also help identity stranded capacity, or unusable capacity caused by an imbalance in power, cooling, and/or rack space. Map out what-if scenarios, such as: if I change the contents of this rack, how will it impact my cooling? Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE) on a daily basis and track historical PUE. helping you analyze whether cost cutting and energy saving strategies are actually working.
☛ Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE): DCIM tools track daily and historical PUE, helping you analyze whether cost cutting and energy saving strategies are actually working and make adjustments accordingly
33. Explain me what Do These Two Types Of Dcim Software Do?
Monitoring and automation software can do things like:
☛ Provide energy use details that enable the linking of operating costs to each business unit user group, which then ll ws for” charge backs”
☛ Monitor and control facility heat, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, as well as fire, water steam, and gas systems, and facility security
☛ Perform auto discovery of new equipment additions, verifying that everything works out of the box
☛ Report real-time, average and peak power usage by rack, which might help you decide where to add a new server or identity and eliminate recurring and possible dangerous load spikes
☛ Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE) on a daily basis and track historical PUE, helping you analyze whether cost cutting and energy saving strategies are actually working.
Planning and implementation software can do things like:
☛ Generate inventory reports organized by device type, age, manufacturer, and properties of the device (handy to quickly identify underutilized assets, assets out of warranty, and assets that need to be upgraded)
☛ Generate an audit trail for changes to assets and work orders, including a record of alarms raised and alarms removed, providing factual evidence for post-failure analysis Perform auto discovery of new equipment additions, verifying that everything works out of the box
☛ Map out what-il scenanos, such as: ill change the contents of this rack, how will it impact my cooling? Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE) on a daily basis and track historical PUE, helping you analyze whether cost cutting and energy saving strategies are actually working.
☛ Answer questions such as:
☛ What is my data center's PUE?
☛ What is the optimal place to put my next physical or virtual server?
☛ What will the impact of new equipment be on my redundancy and safety margins?
34. Explain me what Is A Carrier-neutral Data Center?
A data center is said to be carrier-neutral if a customer can order cross connections or communications services from any existing provider and the data center provider actively tries to court additional carriers into the facility.
35. Tell us why do you want to work for us as Data center operations manager position?
Here, they just want to know how motivated you are about the position or if you are just there for the pay. They want to ascertain that you would form an important part of the company. You have to show them that you are willing to be part of the company and would do all you can to ensure you and the company grows together.
You can also try to show them the alignment between their needs and yours.
