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7X24MAGAZINE SPRING2014
DCI Monitoring...
Back to the Basics
bySevO yshkevych
It’shard tovisitadatacenter show, or
pickupadatacentermagazine,
withoutbeing inundatedwithhype
aboutDCIM (DataCenter Infrastructure
Management).DCIMhasbeen the rage
for several years, andwhilesomeof the
initial hypehassubsided, industry
analystsandvendorskeeppushing the
envelopewithvisionsofaholistically-
managed, autonomically-controlled,
datacenter thatblendseverypieceof
Facilities infrastructure, ITequipment,
and thesoftware runningon this
equipment intooneharmonious,
utopian, entity,withvery lowpower
consumption, littledowntimeand
requirement forhumanbeings. This
utopiandream isdirectionallycorrect
butnotquiteattainable todayand, like
achievingnirvanaoreliminating
poverty, youcannot justwaveamagic
wandand jump to thisdesiredend-
state—youneed tobuild ituppieceby
piece. The journey is longandhardbut
yougaingreatbenefits fromeach
incremental step.
Thepath toenlightenmentbeginswith
asinglestep.Don’tgetcaughtup in the
hypewhichpromisesaquick fix.Begin
with thebasics—andget them right,
becauseunlessyouget the foundation
right, asyoubuildup the restof the
solution, yourDCIMhousewillbeon
shakyground.
TheBasicBuildingBlocks ofDCIM
The leading industryanalystshavebeen
segmentingDCIM into itscomponent
parts, andwhile theymayuseslightly
different terminology, theyall agree
that thereare really two foundational
componentsofDCIM,withoutwhich
noneof theotherapplications—the
ones thatget thehype—haveany
chanceofworking. These two
fundamentalbuildingblocksareDCIM
Monitoring, and ITAssetManagement
(ITAM). Simplifyinggreatly,DCIM
Monitoring isaboutcollectingdata
aboutwhat isgoingon, in thephysical
datacenterenvironment, and ITAM is
aboutknowingeverythingconcerning
the ITequipment that’s inside thedata
center.And ifyoudon’tknowwhatyou
have—andwhat’sgoingon—thennone
of theotherapplicationscanwork
properly. Thisarticle focuseson the
DCIMMonitoringbase layer.
Themantrayouhear repeatedly inany
sortofprocessorquality improvement
project is “Ifyoucannotmeasure it, you
cannot improve it.”Thisquote is
attributed toLordKelvin, the Irish
physicistwithmanynotable
contributions, butperhapsbest-known
forestablishing theexact temperature
of “AbsoluteZero.”Sowhen itcomes to
measuring temperatures insideadata
center,Kelvin’sadvice isparticularly
relevant.Withoutmeasuring, youcan’t
control.Withoutmeasuring, youcan’t
figureout ifyou’vemade
improvements.
DCIMMonitoring
Sowhat isDCIMMonitoring?Simply
put, it isa toolwhichconsolidatesa
myriadofmeasurements fromall
around thedatacenter—particularly
thepowerand the temperature—from
both theFacilitiesand the IT
equipment, normalizesandpresents it
intoacommon “singlepaneofglass,”
so that thedatacenter staff,whether
Facilities, IT, ITOperationsorexecutive
management, aswell asother
applications, understandwhat isgoing
on, in real-time, aswell ashistorically. It
providesadashboardaboutkey
metricswhich tell youabout thecurrent
physical stateofyourdatacenter, as
well asalarmsaboutcurrentand
potentialproblems. Itmakes thisdata
instantlyavailable tovariouscontrol
applications, aswell as the futuristic
applicationswhichgarnermuchof the
aforementionedhypeaboutDCIM.
MostdatacenterswithoutDCIM
alreadyhavesomesortofmonitoring
solution. In fact, theyprobablyhave
multiplesolutions. If it’sasmallor large
datacenterofanyappreciablesize,
there is likelyaBMS (Building
ManagementSystem). Itmayhavean
ElectricalPowerMonitoringSystem
(EPMS). ItsUPSesmaybemonitored
withaBatteryMonitoringSystem
(confusinglyalsoabbreviatedasBMS).
YoumighthaveaSCADA (Supervisory
Control andDataAcquisition)system.
Intelligentpower strips, branchcircuits,
serversandswitchesmayhave their
ownmonitoring tools.Youmayhave
coolingcontrol systemswith theirown
sensorsandmonitoring. The reality is,
noneof these “islandsofmonitoring”
talk tooneanother. Theyoperateon
variousdifferentprotocols (BACnet,
Modbus, SNMP, etc.). Theymaybe
calibrated todifferentunits (wattsvs
kilowatts, orFahrenheitvs.Celsius).
AgoodDCIMMonitoringsolution
doesn’t forceyou toabandon these
islands (you’ve invested timeand
money inmaking itwork)—itbuilds
bridgesbetweenallof the islands.
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