SOFTWARE
DCIM Software: Improving Planning and Cutting Costs Informed Decisions By Paul Tyrer, VP UK , Ireland and Nordics, APC by Schneider Electric
The market for software to manage data centres was described as a nascent as recently as 2009. Even though it estimates that market penetration was no greater than 1% in 2010, today Gartner predicts that such tools will become mainstream by 2014. 451 Group anticipates the wholesale adoption of Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software, in much the same way that enterprises standardised on ERP software. According to the Uptime Institute the market for DCIM systems will grow from $500 Million in 2010 to $7.5 Billion by 2020.
A tipping point has been reached. In 2010 the number of physical x86 servers deployed was eclipsed by virtual machines (IDC). Data centres – physical infrastructure and IT equipment together – have become too complex to manage without a high degree of automation. Additionally, IT and business executives have realised that hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy and operational costs can be saved by improved physical infrastructure planning, minor system reconfiguration, and small process changes. New software tools for planning and implementation (see diagramme overleaf) improve allocation of power and cooling (planning), provide rapid impact analysis when a portion of the IT room fails (operations), and leverage historical data to improve future IT room performance (analysis). Data Centre Infrastructure
Management software has been described as a control system for the critical facility – an enabling technology for the trend towards integration of the IT and physical layers of the system. The analyst company, 451 Group, defines DCIM as a system which “collects and manages information about a data centre’s assets, resource use and operational status. This information is then distributed, integrated, analysed and applied in ways that help managers meet business and service-orientated goals and optimise their data centre’s performance.” This means that data centre managers
now have access to tools which can help prevent the inefficiency of over- provisioning power and cooling capacity, as well as answer the everyday questions of data centre layout and operations, such as where to place new servers and what will happen to facility PUE when new IT equipment is introduced. Latest generation DCIM tools are
designed to identify and resolve issues with a minimum amount of human intervention. These more intelligent tools also enable IT to inform businesses of the consequences of their actions before decisions are implemented. Charge backs for energy consumption are also possible with these new tools, altering the way decisions are made by aligning energy usage to business outcomes.
34 NETCOMMS europe Volume I, Issue 6 2011 Planning
Planning tools improve data centre operational efficiency and create an environment for process improvements. Using a graphical user interface (GUI), they illustrate the current physical state of the data centre and simulate the effect of any changes. This capability answers some common planning questions, such as where to place a server, or whether existing infrastructure can support the introduction of new technologies. Planning tools can predict the impact of IT load changes on space, power and cooling capacities, helping data centre operators to respond to failures or prevent failures from occurring. Planning tools therefore help maintain business continuity and perform the following functions:
Provide graphical representations of IT
equipment and its location in the rack. This frees the operator from having to either pour over spreadsheets to find this information, or having to physically be present in the data centre. Visually display the impact of pending moves
and changes on power capacity and cooling distribution. This spares the operator from having to engage in complex mathematical calculations and from potentially committing some serious errors that result in unanticipated downtime. Simulate the consequences of power and
cooling device failure on IT equipment for identification of critical business application impacts. This provides an up- front assessment of risk, based on scientific calculation, rather than by making decisions based only on ‘gut feel’. Take into account rack and floor tile weight
limits. This avoids the disruptive situation of compromised rack integrity or having a rack crash through a stressed out raised floor. Simulate cooling scenarios in the data centre
with CFD approximation. This produces an airflow analysis in seconds as opposed to an actual CFD analysis that would take days and require large quantities of data input. Generate recommended installation locations
for rack-mount IT equipment. The location selection is based on available power, cooling, space capacity, and network
ports. This helps to avoid the problem of overloaded branch circuits or hot spots.
The deployment of planning tools
can save hundreds of man hours and thousands of dollars downtime costs annually. These benefits extend to new private cloud environments.
Operations
Automated workflow tools allow operators to assign work orders, reserve space, track status, and extract an audit trail for complete visibility and history to the change cycle when equipment goes in and out. They perform the following functions:
Distribute and track single and three phase
equipment power draw, ensuring all three phases on the power system carry a balanced load. This means an operator becomes less reliant on a vendor or on an electrician to determine power system load balances. Illustrate power path – from UPS to
rack to individual devices – within the rack, measured load, and rack capacity. Rather than discovery through trial and error, this helps the operator to immediately identify which servers will be affected if a particular rack or UPS happens to fail. Illustrate average and peak power usage
by rack. This helps to justify decisions when determining where to locate a new server. Generate an audit trail for all changes to
assets and work orders for a specified range of time, including a record of alarms raised and alarms removed. When trying to determine why a system failed, rather than relying on various individuals’ opinions of which equipment was moved and when, the operator can utilise the system to provide the factual evidence. Identify excess capacity and indicate which
devices can either be decommissioned or used elsewhere. This can help save energy costs by reallocating underutilised IT room assets. Generate a PUE value on a daily basis
and track historical PUE. This allows the operator to analyse whether management’s cost cutting, energy saving strategies are actually working.
www.netcommseurope.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52