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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Data Center Analyst

💰 $ - $

Data CenterIT OperationsInfrastructureSystems Administration

🎯 Role Definition

The Data Center Analyst is responsible for day-to-day operations, maintenance, monitoring and optimization of physical and virtual data center infrastructure. This role ensures uptime, capacity, security, and compliance across servers, storage, network, power/cooling, and facility systems while executing scheduled changes, incident response, and documentation. The ideal candidate balances hands-on hardware and cabling work with systems administration, automation, and collaboration with cross-functional teams, vendors and service providers.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Data Center Technician / Facilities Technician
  • Junior Systems Administrator or Network Support Engineer
  • IT Support / Help Desk Specialist with data center exposure

Advancement To:

  • Senior Data Center Analyst / Lead Operations Engineer
  • Data Center Operations Manager or Infrastructure Manager
  • Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) or Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

Lateral Moves:

  • Systems Administrator (Windows/Linux)
  • Network Engineer (Cisco/Juniper)
  • Storage Engineer (SAN/NAS)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Monitor and maintain data center infrastructure 24x7 using tools such as Nagios, SolarWinds, Zabbix or Datadog to proactively detect and remediate server, network, storage and environmental issues to meet SLA uptime targets.
  • Perform physical racking, stacking and cable management of servers, storage arrays, switches and PDUs following labeling and documentation standards to ensure serviceability and disaster recovery readiness.
  • Execute hardware diagnostics, fault isolation and coordinated hardware replacements for blade servers, rack servers, storage controllers and networking hardware with minimal downtime and detailed post-incident reporting.
  • Manage power and cooling systems, including UPS testing and maintenance, generator coordination, CRAC/CRAH monitoring and PDU firmware updates to optimize power usage effectiveness (PUE).
  • Operate and maintain DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) systems to track asset inventory, power/capacity utilization, change history and to support capacity planning with actionable forecasting.
  • Perform routine OS-level administration and patch management for Windows Server and Linux hosts, coordinating change windows and rollback plans in alignment with configuration management and ITIL change control processes.
  • Provision, configure and maintain virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere, ESXi, vCenter; or Microsoft Hyper-V) including VM lifecycle operations, snapshots, resource pools and host maintenance.
  • Administer storage systems (SAN/NAS) including LUN provisioning, volume management, replication (SnapMirror/RecoverPoint/array replication), performance tuning and coordination with storage teams.
  • Troubleshoot and escalate complex network issues across LAN and data center Fabrics (Cisco Nexus, Juniper, Brocade) and manage switch/router configurations, VLANs, trunking and fiber troubleshooting.
  • Implement and operate monitoring and alerting for environmental sensors (temperature, humidity, water detection), security systems (access control, CCTV) and integrate telemetry into central dashboards for on-call escalation.
  • Maintain and validate data center cabling (fiber and copper), perform OTDR and fiber test certificate work, terminate and test patch panels, and remediate connectivity issues with vendor coordination.
  • Execute scheduled firmware and BIOS updates for servers, storage controllers, switches and PDUs while validating firmware compatibility and maintaining rollback documentation to mitigate production risk.
  • Support incident management and on-call rotations: perform root cause analysis, document incident timelines, produce corrective actions and maintain communication with stakeholders and problem management processes.
  • Coordinate vendor relationships and on-site service contractors for hardware RMA, emergency site access, specialized lifts/cranes and facility repairs while enforcing vendor access policies and SLAs.
  • Maintain inventory, asset tagging and lifecycle management for consumables and critical spares; perform procurement checklist support and advise on spares stocking levels based on MTTR and criticality.
  • Implement and maintain backup and restore operations at the infrastructure level (Veeam, CommVault, NetBackup) in support of recovery point/objectives and regularly test restores as part of disaster recovery plans.
  • Support disaster recovery exercises and failover testing for cross-site replication, scripts, runbooks and coordinated failback with a focus on minimizing RTO and preserving data integrity.
  • Enforce physical security and compliance controls: manage badge access, escorting procedures, visitor logs, CCTV evidence retrieval and audits to meet SOC/ISO/PCI and client contractual requirements.
  • Maintain thorough documentation of runbooks, SOPs, configuration baselines, network diagrams and change records in Confluence, SharePoint or equivalent knowledge base systems for operational continuity.
  • Create and maintain capacity planning dashboards and reports for compute, storage and network utilization; provide quarterly forecasts and recommendations for refresh, consolidation or expansion investments.
  • Develop simple automation and scripting (PowerShell, Bash, Python) to automate routine tasks such as log collection, patch orchestration, alert triage and repetitive configuration tasks to increase operational efficiency.
  • Participate in cross-functional projects to deploy new services, migrations, hardware refreshes and cloud hybrid integrations while ensuring the data center architecture supports project requirements and SLAs.
  • Ensure compliance with safety protocols (lockout/tagout, material handling, ESD, and working at heights) and promote a zero-incident safety culture through regular training and audits.
  • Conduct performance tuning and troubleshooting for critical workloads, coordinating with application teams to identify I/O, memory, CPU or network bottlenecks and implement tuning recommendations.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Assist in onboarding and training junior operations staff and cross-train across data center disciplines to broaden team resiliency.
  • Produce operational metrics, post-change reviews and continuous improvement proposals to reduce incident frequency and mean time to repair (MTTR).

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proficiency with virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere/ESXi, vCenter; familiarity with Microsoft Hyper-V).
  • Strong server administration on Windows Server and Linux (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu) including patching, logging and kernel troubleshooting.
  • Experience with SAN/NAS storage arrays (EMC, NetApp, Pure Storage, Dell) and LUN/volume management, replication and backup technologies (Veeam, NetBackup).
  • Networking fundamentals and hands-on experience with data center switches and fabrics (Cisco Nexus, Catalyst, Juniper) including VLANs, STP, LACP and troubleshooting tools.
  • Familiarity with DCIM tools (Nlyte, Sunbird, Schneider EcoStruxure) for asset tracking, power/capacity and rack layouts.
  • Proficient with monitoring and observability tools (Nagios, Zabbix, SolarWinds, Datadog, Prometheus) and alerting configuration.
  • Scripting and automation skills (PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible) to automate repetitive operational tasks and configuration management.
  • Knowledge of UPS, PDUs, generators, CRAC/CRAH systems and basic electrical/power distribution concepts relevant to data center environments.
  • Hands-on experience with cabling standards, fiber optics termination, testing (OTDR) and documentation of patch panels and backbone connections.
  • Experience with ITIL processes: change management, incident and problem management, CMDB and service catalog operations.
  • Familiarity with backup/recovery procedures, DR plan execution, and periodic restore validation testing.
  • Understanding of security controls within the data center: physical access controls, CCTV, SOC reporting and patch/vulnerability management tools.
  • Basic knowledge of cloud connectivity and hybrid models (Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, VPN) and how on-premise data center operations integrate with cloud providers.

Soft Skills

  • Strong verbal and written communication to coordinate with technical teams, vendors and business stakeholders and to produce clear runbooks and incident reports.
  • Excellent troubleshooting and analytical thinking under pressure with an ability to prioritize actions during incidents.
  • Attention to detail and documentation discipline for change records, asset inventories and compliance evidence.
  • Customer-focused mindset with professional escalation management and vendor negotiation skills.
  • Team player with ability to mentor junior staff and collaborate across infrastructure, network and application teams.
  • Time management and organizational skills to manage concurrent change windows, projects and on-call responsibilities.
  • Adaptability to shift work and on-call rotations while maintaining operational reliability and safety protocols.
  • Continuous improvement orientation and willingness to learn new tools, platforms and methodologies.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Associate degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field; or equivalent technical certifications and hands-on experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Electrical/Computer Engineering or a related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Electrical or Computer Engineering
  • Network Engineering
  • Systems Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years in data center operations, systems administration, or network/support engineering with hands-on hardware and infrastructure responsibilities.

Preferred:

  • 4+ years supporting enterprise data center environments, experience with virtualization and SAN storage, and demonstrable experience with DCIM and ITIL-based operational processes.
  • Relevant certifications strongly preferred: VMware Certified Professional (VCP), Cisco CCNA or CCNP (data center focus), CompTIA Server+/Network+, NetApp/EMC certifications, ITIL Foundation, or relevant cloud connectivity certifications.
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