As information technology powers most of modern society, ensuring your data center is always functioning is critical to serving the interests of your customers while also keeping your costs in check. As technology usage has surged over the past few years, the strain on data centers has increased, making it critical for data center professionals to have the proper tools to get the job done. Fortunately today, there is a variety of data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solutions on the market to help simplify common systems administration challenges.

What is Data Center Infrastructure Management?

For many professionals in the industry, DCIM might seem like its only downtime alerts, server component and/or resource evaluation and network latency checks, but it is much more. Infrastructure monitoring is only a small piece of the functionality which goes into ensuring the success of your facility. Monitoring tools might tell you if a server is functioning but it can’t tell you how many servers you can fit on your racks or if the facility is still at a safe temperature.

To help professionals cope with modern challenges, DCIM introduces features such as:

• Asset tracking
• Analysis of virtual/logical systems and how they integrate with physical hardware
• Optimization of physical space to ensure higher capacity
• Planning for future situations through modeling scenarios
• Consolidation of resources and locations

What Are Best Practices to Make the Most of DCIM Solutions?

According to a report from Gartner below are a handful of recommendations for making the most of your DCIM software:

• When building out new data center infrastructure or refurbishing existing buildings, make sure to integrate a solid DCIM solution
• When evaluating different products, use DCIM software to gather data (utilization, energy consumed, cooling required, etc.) to see if the specifications match up with the vendor specification sheets
• In all data centers, the head of infrastructure and operations needs to handle the needs analysis for DCIM software and then choose the proper software accordingly
• For companies where corporate social responsibility policies are in effect, DCIM tools should be used to collect data on energy usage and carbon dioxide related information.

While on the topic of corporate social responsibility, Site24x7 has a post outlining a variety of tools which can be used to monitor pollutant emissions so you can remain compliant with industry standards.

Key Components of DCIM Solutions

Successful DCIM solutions need to fully address all the challenges commonly faced by data center professionals, such as:

Asset Change and Configuration~~~~~~~

Since data centers can contain thousands of assets ranging from servers, storage and network devices to power and cooling infrastructure equipment, it is vital to ensure that you have the proper tools in place to track and manage these solutions. According to a Digital Realty Trust survey only 26% of surveyed data center managers stated they could locate a specific server within four minutes. Only 58% could locate the server within four hours, and 20% required more than a day.

Aside from location management, asset tracking also involves knowing detailed specifications of equipment. For example, if a server is powered by more than one power strip or switch, disconnecting just one of them can result in the equipment going down.

By using proper DCIM software, you can ensure that system reconfigurations and data center restructuring does not result in downtime.

Similarly by using a DCIM solution, you can streamline the setup and configuration process of new hardware while also simplifying routine maintinance tasks. Many DCIM solutions allow you to track the progress of teams throughout the project progress, ensuring that tasks are done accurately and efficiently.

Since DCIM solutions can adapt to your workflow, you don’t need to worry about changing your processes to fit the software.

Real Time Monitoring

When looking at real-time monitoring solutions, there are three types of products to keep in mind:

• Building management systems (BMS):~ Typically a hardware based system which monitors mechanical and electrical equipment. Typically these systems are custom built around the specs of your data center.
• Network management systems (NMS):~ Typically a software based system which monitors all the network devices in the data center. These systems can be automated to a degree since network devices can be auto discovered.
• Data center monitoring systems (DCMS):~ Can be a hardware or software based solution used to monitor a data center or computer room.

Key considerations to keep in mind when evaluating monitoring solutions include:

• Is the DCIM software compatible with your hardware?
• Does the monitoring tool require a hardware component or is it software based? Keep in mind that hardware solutions can gather data faster however the costs are higher than software solutions.
• Does the DCIM suite support auto-discovery of new devices? Keep in mind that not all assets support auto-discovery so your mileage with this feature will vary.

Analytics and Reporting

Analysis of performance is one of the most important capabilities of DCIM solutions as this data allows you to take proactive actions to prevent trouble later on. Since DCIM systems are sophisticated, the amount of data often is impossible to decipher by hand. This is why you should ensure that your DCIM software includes the proper tools to allow you to make sense of data.

Virtualization of Physical and Virtual Infrastructure

Many advanced DCIM tools include integration with AutoCAD or Visio or visual tools to let you plan your infrastructure entirely within the software. Many tools include top-down views, however some higher end packages include 3-D views. By being able to view details down to the rack level, data center professionals are better able to forecast the assets required to build out their sites before construction begins.

Conclusion

By using a proper DCIM software suite you can slash overhead while still improving the reliability of your data center so that you can keep the trust of your customers, even as your center deals with increased demands. While DCIM software can be slightly complex to setup, in the long run, the increased efficiency can make the software pay for its self.