How many of you when you were kids were scared to death of the movie The Shining? I know I was. I think it still scares me today. The movie even made a little kid scary; his voice is what pulled it off. I can still get in trouble with my wife for getting our 6 year old to say “redrum” in a scratchy scary voice.

What do The Shining and redrum have to do with SoftLayer. At SoftLayer we are all about redrum but only when it comes to destroying left over customer data. What do I mean by destroying customer data you ask?

When you have a server that you spent Capex on and have it in front of you and can touch it and set coffee on it or use it for a plant stand, you know where your data is. When you replace that server or upgrade the hard drive you can then do what most people do with the old one and chunk it in the dumpster or be a little more secure and format the hard drive or even a little more secure and take the drive out and smash it into pieces. Now, that is secure.

So what do you do when you outsource your hardware to a provider like SoftLayer? You put your old data in our hands and we redrum the data and make Jack Nicholson seem like an angel.

It is a little more difficult for us to protect your old data because we are an on-demand provider. When you cancel a server we reuse that server for another customer. You probably don’t want your data in that new customers hands so we have to do a little more than format the drive and we can’t just take it outside and bash it into pieces because then we couldn’t reuse the drive. So we use a little technology to make sure your old data is safe.

When you cancel a server it sits in limbo for a bit just to make sure we can’t change your mind and make you keep it. After the waiting period we erase the data. This is a destructive process so when you do cancel a server, make sure you have the data you still require somewhere else. Our system uses algorithms developed by the Department of Defense and several independent agencies that are considered military grade as defined by the DOD 5220.22-M (sounds official right?). Utilizing this process residual drive data is destroyed. This process is monitored and logged and we can track the history of any drive. Once complete the drive is ready to be redeployed to a new customer.

I know what you are thinking, that isn’t redrum, but what do we do with a drive when it is at the end of its productive life? Either too small, not fast enough, dead and out of warranty? We redrum it for sure! We complete the steps above and then send them offsite to get destroyed and then get them back after they are destroyed for tracking and verification of redrum! Yes, we could get them shredded but then we would have no proof they were destroyed. Here is what they look like when they return.

Note the hole in the center

This is looking down from the “top”

And last but not least, a view from the bottom. Note the platters are bent and protruding through the board.

*Note – Just in case you haven’t seen The Shining (Spoiler Alert) a small boy in the movie mumbles redrum in an eerie voice in the beginning of the movie. He continues to say it more and more and finally he writes it on the bathroom wall. When you see it reversed in the bathroom mirror you then understand what he is saying.

I have to admit it, I enjoy watching football. Now that the Super Bowl has come and gone, I took a few minutes to reflect on exactly what the Saints had to go through to get to the big ‘W’. Winning isn’t easy, and requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Furthermore, just because you’re crowned the champion once, doesn’t mean that there’s not a team from Dallas fighting to claim that top spot from you (yes, obligatory Cowboys reference). While I’m insanely jealous that my annual salary pales in comparison to what they make, I can certainly see some parallels in what they do and what we do here at SL.

Imagine all the hard work, long hours, sacrifice, pain, and even creativity it took to get to that spot. The championship isn’t given as a concession, and certainly isn’t taken lightly. Likewise, we don’t claim to be the best, just because we think we are. Our support staff works long hours, sacrifices time with family and friends, and works as a team to provide the best support we can. Our Hardware engineers spend entire days on their feet, running around the multiple datacenters, all ensuring that servers are rapidly provisioned and ready for our customers to release into their production environment. Our Inventory crew works tirelessly in order to ensure that we have the parts we need to keep operations moving. Our team at our corporate office is also deserving of the hosting equivalent to the Lombardi trophy. Our Development and IS crew keep the current systems running smoothly, and are always pushing harder for the next big release. There’s also the number of other employees at corporate that keep the show going.

It goes without saying that SoftLayer didn’t become a champion web hosting provider overnight. Our team worked closely together to ensure that our products, support, and initiatives are top notch. We will continue to push the envelope and will continue to be the best. It takes a lot, but we’re up to the challenge ,and have been for quite some time. Luckily for us, we get to hang out in the NOC, and not have high speed collisions with very large individuals.

In my role at SoftLayer, I am asked by a number of people for our financial forecasts. Fortunately, we know our business well enough that our expectations for one year ahead have proven to be on target. For example, in December 2008, we told our bankers to expect 2009 net income (profit) to grow 254% over 2008 – and yes, this was at the worst point of the recession. When we closed out the books for 2009, net income actually grew 255%. Our forecasting error was one-third of one percent, and it was an error to the good side.

I can tell you right now that our profit projections will never, ever again be that accurate. Ever. Why is that? Well, after posting such a profitable year, the Taxman has showed up. You see, when you start a business, you usually post losses, not profits, for a while. SoftLayer was no exception here. After posting losses in 2006 and 2007, we turned the corner to profitability in 2008. So why were we not bothered by taxes in 2009? In a nutshell, the tax laws allow you to roll a portion of historic losses forward against profits before you must begin booking tax expenses. We had a meeting yesterday with our corporate tax advisor, and in 2010, we must begin booking tax expenses. Oh boy.

It’s one thing to look at your business model going a year ahead. We can look at macroeconomic indicators that are meaningful to our business and calculate the coefficient of correlation (R-square for you stat geeks) of our growth rate to those indicators and walk things forward. Then based on our anticipated sales growth, we can extrapolate how much datacenter space and power we will need to add, how many routers, switches, and servers to order, and how many people to hire.

Now, if you think that sounds complicated, just wait until you try to forecast how much tax you will have to pay. The biggest problem is the tax laws themselves. They are always moving and changing. In addition, they are sometimes changed retroactively. For example, in 2009, there was an allowance to take bonus depreciation on equipment purchased. (We purchase a lot of it, by the way.) This means that you are allowed to deduct a higher percentage of the dollars spent on equipment from your taxable income and thus lower your tax expense. Well, so far in 2010, there is no bonus depreciation available. BUT, there is a possibility that Congress will extend bonus depreciation into 2010, and make it retroactive to January 1. You tell me – how are we supposed to forecast that?

This is one of but many examples of the craziness of the tax codes that we encounter. As we open more locations in the future, I may blog a bit about some of the other craziness we find.

How many times have you received a “task” through email with no priority or due date attached? Just “Hey, do this…” with nothing more. It leaves you wondering when this particular “task” is supposed to be completed or how important this task may be. What if you’re slammed with about 5 different items at once and the email with the “task” disappears into the mass of emails you receive all day? Now you have the author of this “task” upset because their task was not completed by the time they didn’t specify in the email lost in your inbox. It’s a disaster just begging to happen.

Emails get lost. Task notes get thrown away by the cleaning crew. The dog ate my task. In using a task management system, none of these situations could ever happen.

A Task Management System is either a frightening or salvatory three words for the disorganized among us. It’s a savior for those desiring efficiency and a nightmare for those unwilling to change.

Wow, you are really convincing! So, what type of task management systems are out there? I’m glad you asked that question…

Task Management Systems range from the simplest (Ta-da Lists – http://tadalist.com/) to the more advanced (JIRA – http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/). Both, of which, could meet your needs exceptionally well.Wow, JIRA looks really awesome! What are some pros and cons of the task management system? Another excellent question… PROS:

• Task organization
• Task prioritizing
• Task collaboration between employees
• Task status updates
• Custom reports for Tasks

Task history CONS:

• New system to learn.
• That’s really about it, honestly.

It’s really a no brainer that the task management system is a major improvement over basic email and can bring about high efficiency in the work place.

I have a friend who recently took a CTO position with a medium-sized company. The huge company that previously employed him moved their entire IT staff a long way outside of Texas to a rather unpleasant location as a cost cutting move. He and many others declined the relocation offer. I can’t say as I blame them.

The other day, he told me some of the interesting things he’s found at his new company. This company is not a technology company but a professional services company. Up to now, they have opted to be in the IT business by running their own data center. To keep this post to a reasonable length, I’ll just mention a few of the things he’s run into.

Keeping the room powered and cool – trust me, this is harder than it sounds. It involves things like redundant power, UPS devices, generators, CRAC units, dehumidifiers, fire suppression, etc. All this stuff must be tested and maintained constantly.

Ordering new servers – they have to go through an online configurator, and then wait to receive the shipment. Once it arrives, they have to unpack it, rack it, power it up, and install the software. The cycle time from ordering a new server to getting it into production can stretch from days to weeks.

Tracking assets – needless to say, he’s found several holes in the process here. Knowing how much RAM is supposed to be in each server vs. what’s really there is a struggle. Heck, even knowing what servers are supposed to be there is a challenge. It seems that as servers are moved, replaced, or disposed of that the asset tracking system and processes are not as solid as he would like. These loose operations also bring heat from accountants and auditors, especially if a server ‘s value is still on the balance sheet but it has actually been tossed out and they no longer own it.

Maintenance – they pay for a service agreement where a tech is guaranteed to be onsite in 4 hours to do anything up to a complete rip and replace to get them back in production. Once he asked why several servers, each north of $10,000 in value, were just laying around in a parts cage. He was told these were for spare parts in case of an emergency, just in case they couldn’t wait 4 hours.

Bankers and lessors routinely ask us who our biggest competitors are. We routinely tell them that they are not other hosting companies – they are companies like the one described above that insist on being in the data center business even though they are not IT infrastructure companies. Since these companies are our largest competition, let’s look at how SoftLayer beats the competition on the items listed above.

Keeping the room powered and cool – as a customer of SoftLayer, you simply don’t have to worry about all this. Not at all. This is a huge savings of time, effort, and money.

Ordering new servers – Once you either run through the configurator or call your SLales rep with your order, your new servers are immediately provisioned. The cloud products are up in minutes, and you can have a few HUNDRED dedicated servers ready for production in a few hours. Not in days or weeks or months.

Tracking assets – From the accounting side of things, you just don’t have to worry about tracking the assets at all as a SoftLayer customer. They are an operating expense to our customers, not a capital expenditure. As far as knowing what assets you have to work with, you have access to the best customer portal in the business where every detail about every server is kept up in real time, right down to the individual sticks of RAM and drive configurations of each server. If you need tighter integration, SoftLayer provides an API to put all this information seamlessly into your environment. Disposing of a server is a simple cancellation ticket. It couldn’t be easier.

Maintenance – this is also a simple ticket submission, which is resolved in an impressive turnaround time. This service is included in SoftLayer’s monthly fees. There is no need to stockpile parts or entire servers for emergencies.

Bottom line, if your business’s core competency is not IT infrastructure, you are being beaten in the IT infrastructure business by SoftLayer. You are spending way too much time, money, and attention to run something that isn’t a part of your business. Hey, if you can’t beat us, then join us!

By the way, my friend is proposing a major project for his company in 2010. That project is getting out of the business of running a datacenter. He faces a lot of resistance to change “the way we’ve always done it” from the other senior executives. From my point of view, it’s a no brainer. But I’m biased I guess. I’d just tell them, hey, don’t run a data center – run your business!

You’re hired, welcome to the company! All you techies out there have heard that before. Then for the first couple of weeks you get the luxury of, “just take a look around the network and see what you see, make a note of what is good and what needs some work”. You make a few notes during your two week honeymoon period and then you hit the ground running. You make changes to a few of the server configs to speed them up, and you notice that there are a couple of hard drives in the server farm that are showing they are about to fail and you make a note to get that fixed. Everyone on the team hails your progress, smarts, and work ethic and thinks they have made the right choice. Even though the in-house gear is a little old you have made changes that made things faster and more redundant in your first month. Great Job! You are on your way to the Information Systems Hero title.

Everything is going along great at about the 8 month point. You have made a few key decisions along the way and have some of your gear outsourced now. All the ancient hardware onsite has been retired and liquidated and just a few core machines remain. You still have a large storage device and a tape robot onsite for your backups and you keep the tape library safely offsite. All is good in the department.

If you want to be the Hero skip to the word HERO / If you want to be a failure please skip 2 paragraphs to the word FAILURE

HERO

You have a free day or two in which nothing pressing needs to be addressed and you decide to look into the backup rotation and type. After spending a little time looking at it and not feeling comfortable you make the decision to create a secondary backup into the cloud as a test. After a little setup and tinkering you finish up and go on with your daily tasks.

A few months later your onsite storage device hard fails and there is massive data loss. A new system is delivered the same day and once the setup is complete the tapes are delivered and the restore process starts. Three hours into the restore a bad tape is encountered and again you are faced with massive data loss. The entire group is now in panic mode. It suddenly hits you that you setup a test backup offsite. What are the odds that it is still functioning and you will be able to get the data? With help from the entire department you get the network right and the data transfer starts. About one hour later the data is restored and your employees are happy not to mention your boss. You are now an IT hero.

FAILURE

A few months later your onsite storage device hard fails and there is massive data loss. A new system is delivered the same day and once the setup is complete the tapes are delivered and the restore process starts. Three hours into the restore a bad tape is encountered and again you are faced with massive data loss. The entire group is now in panic mode. After many attempts at trying to repair the damaged tape and having multiple experts look at the failed storage device. You and your team realize that 5 days of data will be lost and have to be recreated. Not a great day for your team. You are now an IT failure.

Moral of the story?

Use the tools the world provides to stay ahead of the curve. All it takes is one mistake to be a failure.

Nothing’s worse than trying to use someone’s website when you absolutely need information right now, and it’s unavailable. Last semester when attempting to figure out where the heck my classes were located, the school’s website was crippled by the influx of new freshmen that were trying to do the same. Imagine over 20,000 people trying to access this site at the same time, and because of this, the site is rendered practically useless.

We’ve had customers of ours face all sorts of hardships with their sites. Whether they’re featured on a popular TV show, or they’ve seen an unprecedented rise in traffic due to such sites as www.digg.com and www.Slashdot.org (commonly referred to as the Digg effect, or being ‘slashdotted’ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_effect> ) it’s often difficult to get a new dedicated server online quickly enough to mitigate this effect. Imagine that instead of tens of thousands of college students, its tens of thousands of dollars! Quite the predicament, right?

Not a problem though! Cloud computing to the rescue! CloudLayer computing instances are able to be rapidly deployed to provide additional resources should they be required. Even better, if you only anticipate a short burst, you can grab a few up, use them while they’re needed, and then toss them, all while only being billed by the hour! With cloud computing administrators can quickly react to changing situations. We offer several solutions in our bag of tricks, including Dedicated, Bare Metal Cloud, and CloudLayer computing. With proper planning and deployment, your site can be profitable regardless of the situation. This includes a popular product, blog, or the first day of college.

As you all know it is now 2010. We live in the most technological age of this planet. We have reached into the stars to find out if we are alone in the universe, while still finding out the secrets of our own planet. Growing up 2010 seemed so far away. Not just for me but it seemed that it did for everyone. Looking back at the pop culture of decades past the future was always around this time. Watching movies from the 50’s to the 80’s the 21st century was to be so advanced. People had robots, flying cars, etc. So why don’t we have personal robots that clean our house, mow the lawn or just do our job for us? I understand why we don’t but I guess I just kind of expect we should. It would be great to have a robot do my job for me so I could chill at the crib and still get paid. Now I am not lazy, I work hard and do my job well. In fact all of us here at SoftLayer work hard and perform them with an excellence that is not matched in the industry. That is why we are where we are, the leaders of IT. This is the best job I have ever had and I enjoy working here. It would be nice though to be able to stay at home and watch movies, play video games or just chill with friends while I send my robot to work for me and collect my paycheck. That would be cool. So I ask with all of the technology we have and the things that we can do with that technology, where are all of the robots? Oh and I want a flying car too!

So there we were at Lance’s New Year’s Eve party and all of us are having a great time and enjoying some of Sam F’s delicious 3-Bars BBQ. We at some point decide that it would be a good idea to jump into Lance’s pool for a little swim. This is when Lance whips out his fancy new scuba diving outfit that he has custom-fitted with a Camelbak that’s full of Miller Lite*. Why you would need a Camelbak full of Miller Lite while swimming underwater breathing a tank full of oxygen, I don’t know, but I’ve seen weirder and more inventive things with this group of people, so I move on. A few of us try it on and swim around underwater while drinking delicious Miller Lite from the Camelbak and we’re having a good ol’ time getting ready for the fireworks show. I then notice that there are a lot of people showing up for the annual fireworks display – a lot – like people are flying in on helicopters. This is when Lance announces his big plans for this year’s fireworks display to us all.

He has made himself a homemade rocket suit propelled by crazy amounts of giant fireworks. Once lit, it will thrust him straight up into the air. It should be noted that Lance is not a small man and the amount of fireworks strapped to his homemade suit was ridiculous in size and by no means safe, to him or anyone within a 10 mile radius for that matter. The fact that he had a SoftLayer-themed biker’s helmet on (I assume for safety?) accompanied with tons of explosives strapped to his body was also – ridiculous. I’m thinking Nathan, our CTO, had something to do with this idea. The idea was that Lance was to reach the proper altitude, and then the fireworks would be released from him like the space shuttle’s booster engines when entering orbit and the fireworks would burst into beautiful explosive visuals and spell out “SoftLayer” in fire in the sky. How he was going to get down safely remains a mystery, because at this point in time someone lit Lance’s rocket suit and sure enough, away he went, straight up into the sky as planned, leaving sparklers and pretty fireworks bursting in his wake.

It was then that I had woken myself up, giggling at the thought of Lance being shot up into the sky with tons of explosives strapped to him and in a biker helmet and I emailed myself the contents of this yet another strange dream.

Back in my younger days I had taken on a few new hobbies that strike fear into the hearts of most mortals; Auto Mechanics. While working on vehicles, especially your own, can be terrifying imagine placing a necessary part on incorrectly that would eventually lead to failure and possibly serious injury to yourself or others. Luckily I had some backup while working on my truck. The individuals at the auto shop, that I did most of my work at, were knowledgeable and always willing to help (when they could get to you).

One specific experience rings loudly in my head to this day (for more than one reason, as you will soon find out). While driving around San Diego, I noticed a rather unnerving grinding/squeaking noise emanating from one off my wheels. I quickly headed to the local parts store to pick up a new ball joint and proceeded to take on the attempt to fix it.

Long story short, after some nuts, bolts, cuts, and bruises, I finally got to where I needed to remove the part. One of the techs there suggested using a hammer to bang it out of the coupling (or whatever it’s seated in). Thirty minutes later, I was tired, frustrated, sore, and deaf. Come to find out there was a perfect tool at my disposal, which cut the job down to approximately five minutes. One of the individuals at the shop told me that “no one had been able to make it work”. Needless to say, I made a liar out of him.

Similarly, we provide the resources that allow our customers to quickly and effectively attack a possible situation and fix the problem. Our technicians are the best in the industry and our primary focus is to ensure that customer satisfaction is at its highest. We have several tools at our disposal and offer those tools, and guidance on using them. Also, much like the staff at the auto shop, we try and point our customers to the ‘tricks of the trade’. We have an extensive knowledge base that can assist with day to day problems.

Quite on the contrary, though, we never discourage using certain tools because we don’t think that they’ll work. As anyone in IT can attest to, just because something doesn’t work the first time doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a lost cause. With the right instructions and a little bit of patience, a little can go a long way. The trick is to use the correct tools for the job. While an ICMP request will tell you that the server’s online, it won’t give you the reason for outages like output from /var/log/messages or event viewer would.

Luckily, I don’t think I’ll be changing a ball joint on my car any time soon but I’m always learning new tricks and tools that I can use to further enhance my proficiency and I’ll always be happy to share those tricks to you; our loyal customers!