A Logical Solution

Data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) has attracted much interest in recent years, and it is easy to see why. DCIM consolidates information from various equipment and appliances in the data centre and offers managers a way to make informed decisions and act upon them based on the data - all from within a coherent DCIM solution. No longer is it necessary to do ‘whatever it takes’ just to keep IT working. DCIM offers a solution to the complex task of managing the data centre’s overall assets, resources, status and more, allowing IT managers to monitor the data centre infrastructure and maintain “equilibrium” across all its resources.

DCIM has increased tremendously in popularity, with the software market generating $245 million in revenue in 2010 . There are so many vendors and products defining themselves in the DCIM “space” however, that knowing which specific DCIM products or services to implement can often be overwhelming, if not downright confusing.

Distinguishing DCIM

The Head of a data centre in Asia commented, “The ROI and business case for DCIM is complex and very subjective due to the associated costs of retrofits and instrumentation.” The majority of DCIM systems offer management software while integrating third-party hardware to provide distributed hardware monitoring. The downside of this approach is that ‘management’ of devices in a cabinet is restricted and limited only to information about those devices.

Looking at it this way, one can understand IT managers’ concerns: why buy a software management system, when one would also need to pay separately for hardware management systems in order to see “cost-effective” results?

A DCIM should be able to keep power, cooling, space, servers, networking and storage all controlled and secure. What the administrator therefore needs is a DCIM system that also monitors the hardware. Many DCIMs however, do not offer online monitoring of the physical layer such as cables and racks.

Keeping all the data centre’s assets controlled is also not the same for each organisation and therefore DCIM should be customised according to each company’s needs. This is due to the fact that the providers of DCIM software often lack the knowledge and experience of hardware, cabling and power.

Provisioning is another area that DCIM should focus on. As server density in data centres increases, knowing where best to locate new equipment is essential. A manager who provisions devices such as a server, must know if there is sufficient physical space, services and power (including other variables such as capacity for future growth). The manager also needs a system that supplies alternative locations for placing servers, given the same considerations and any additional customised rules that the organisation may have. Many DCIMs today unfortunately do not offer customised provisioning tools.

What is needed is a single interface to monitor and manage everything in one, manageable, coherent place.

Cohesive Units

Forrester explains, “The DCIM solution must be able to construct the necessary relationships and dependencies between the assets, such as the relationship between circuits and power distribution units (PDUs), and …PDUs and racks and connected equipment. These relationships are vital for power and cooling management and planning.”

DCIMs need to change from having many disjointed elements all operating with diverse goals, to a united harmonious system with a single purpose: to make the data centre operate smoothly and cost-effectively. Simply put, a DCIM needs to be holistic and incorporate everything on one single platform.

There are many advantages to a cohesive, holistic unit. The most obvious is the cost factor. Having one interface that enables the administrator to view all the elements of the data centre, including the environment (power, cooling etc.) lets the data centre manager focus on what he wants to do, while providing the tools and engines to meet the requirements.

Downtime is another advantage. Reducing downtime requires an holistic approach to DCIM since both the physical and logical aspects of the entire data centre need to be addressed. DCIM software may integrate well with some hardware, but how effective is that software at managing third-party technologies and maintaining an up-to-date picture of the data centre? Furthermore, will the DCIM software work when upgrading to third-party firmware? DCIM solutions are often weak on connectivity management and manually updated or offline records are the norm. Where a comprehensive DCIM solution is not being used, these records may even be stored in spreadsheets. Not only does this offline approach increase the manual effort required to maintain the data (which means more expense), it introduces the risk of human error and a significant opportunity for control is lost.

A major attraction to a holistic system is in planning the data centre server installation. An integrated DCIM enables all current needs to be taken into account, ensuring server requirements are not limited in the future. This means that rules and priorities can be decided by the data centre manager on their own and the installation will not block or prohibit other current or future services. Furthermore, when selecting the level of management to begin with, one can start with one level and then gradually and intuitively expand the automation and management capabilities, while ensuring interoperability.

One large organisation in Wisconsin did not take into account all the considerations when designing the cabinets’ layout. When it came to physically installing the servers, they found that they could not provide the required network services. In the end, they were back to square one and had to repeat the entire installation process.

Data analysis is another advantage to a holistic DCIM. If data centre managers are able to gather data about their systems, they still find it difficult to analyse. Indeed, few data centre professionals are in a position to act on all the information they have gathered. With so many variables to be monitored and balanced, data centre managers can struggle to define the problems they face. Without updated connectivity records, even before doing any server installations, a manual physical audit of the cabinets will have to take place to ensure the network services required will be delivered to the cabinet.

A large financial institution with dispersed systems originally took half-an-hour to collect and analyse the data for planning one single server. With an integrated DCIM, the planning time for 11 servers now takes the operations manager up to 10 minutes – saving 97% of his time.

With an holistic DCIM, physical security is ensured by monitoring any physical interaction with connections to the network outside of the planning scheme specified by the data centre manager. For example, if someone makes unscheduled connections or disconnections, an alert is raised and the data centre manager will know what unauthorised change took place and exactly where it happened.

“Everything” one needs in one platform may seem beyond reach. After all, can one solution really offer: capacity planning, asset management, security, centralisation, connectivity management, power management as well as fault management – with environment management too? And do all this while giving the manager a total feeling of efficiency, command and control?

RiT Technologies, the pioneers in intelligent infrastructure management (IIM), recently introduced a new DCIM solution called CenterMind which unites all the critical resources together – connectivity, network, assets, environment, power and more. This customisable solution is in fact able to “construct the necessary relationships and dependencies between the assets.” It is the first DCIM to offer IT managers both software and hardware as one complete system, including an IIM that provides the administrator with the ability to see the “whole picture”.

Conclusion

It is hard to imagine operating a data centre these days, no matter how big or small, without a DCIM. Figuring out however which solution can genuinely assist and which will end up costing the organisation more, can be a challenge. The business proposition for a holistic DCIM approach is easy. It brings IT, network infrastructure, people and processes altogether on one single platform - all this while lowering CAPEX and OPEX and aligning business goals with IT operations. Fortunately, a DCIM solution of this kind already exists: CenterMind provides a robust, highly versatile platform for intelligently managing every aspect of the data centre - with maximum ease, efficiency and productivity.

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