DCIM: Two worlds collide

Monitoring equals managing

Many servers today use embedded smarts that autonomously measure critical performance metrics, such as the intelligent platform management interface, or IPMI.

This IPMI platform was originally developed by chip giant Intel, and has since been adopted worldwide by more than 200 hardware manufacturers.

IPMI is key to the running of modern data centres. It’s an out of band-standard, which means control functions can be invoked before the operating system has booted.

Administrators can remotely diagnose a server or rack using IPMI, allowing BIOS or system changes, even if the system is powered down, or there has been a system failure.

IPMI can be used to control thermal loads in the event of a fan shutdown on a server.

“As the temperature rises, the usual response would be to shut down the entire server,” a representative from Cisco Systems told iTnews. “With IPMI, the clock of the server’s processor can be slowed, bringing the temperature back under control.”

In doing this, the server remains functional – if a little slower – and instrumentation with the server pings service technicians to schedule a repair or replacement of the server at an appropriate time.

Maintenance: from outside the datacentre

Most of the data DCIM systems gather from physical plant and servers can be fed into web-based dashboards.

Tyrer said a dashboard would usually offer management an overview of the entire data centre.

“There are three perspectives” he added. “There’s a rear view of what’s happened. Then there are analytics for real-time management of the facility,  Finally, there are forward-looking and predictive and planning tools for the management of the facility.”

Because most devices in the data centre are now IP-enabled, it’s relatively easy to create apps to access them – so long as the APIs are exposed, noted Gedda.

“It’s also standard for alarms to be sent via e-mail and high-priority messages can be routed via an SMS gateway,” he said.

The next level of data centre monitoring is to bring alerts and dashboards to the mobile devices of facilities and IT managers.

Datacentre provider NextDC has developed its own monitoring and maintenance tool called ONEDC.

This proprietary customer portal is integrated with NextDC’s building management and ticketing systems, offering customers a “single point of access for managing their entire colocation service with us,” said NextDC chief executive Craig Scroggie.

Crucially, Scroggie said, it gives customers visibility they didn’t have in the past.

Gedda said mobility “is a hot trend in monitoring right now.”

Tyrer suspects it is because these tools truly “empower” the data centre manager.

New services and applications and required at such speed, he said, facilities and IT managers often don’t have the information they need at hand.

“It’s a people and process issue,” he said.

“The responsible organisations deploying DCIM are not just selling software, they should be consulting and advising around the people and the process as well as the tools,” he said.

“If you are deploying DCIM it has benefits to the organisation, but if you ignore the people, process and management, you will not realise the benefits.”

iTnews will lead a thinktank discussion on the next generation of data centre monitoring tools at February's Data Centre Strategy Summit on the Gold Coast.