Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1066130
60 I ICT TODAY BRINGING DCIM SOFTWARE TO THE TABLE Once the monitoring capability is in place, DCIM simplifies site-level management. A common theme across all use cases is the utilization of a centralized management application (DCIM) that will collect data from all intelligent PDUs and perhaps other infrastructure equipment located within the data center. DCIM allows organizations to effectively utilize all the data through customizable dashboards, trend reports and auditable logs. While DCIM has much to offer, consider these key features: • For flexibility, the application should be vendor-neutral to support all categories of infrastructure equipment within the data center. • For quick setup, the application should support auto discovery, as well as the ability to import information from other applications such as Excel or Visio. • For ease of deployment, it should have an embedded database with enough scalability to support data points obtained from hundreds to thousands of devices. • For enhanced security, the application should support enterprise authentication services, such as LDAP or Active Directory. • For easy integration, the application should support application programming interfaces (APIs) to connect with other applications being used (e.g., building management systems, ticketing systems). • For enhanced reporting, the database should support protocols that allow easy, customizable data exports not native to the application. MAXIMIZING ROI: INTELLIGENT COLLABORATION With an average data center size having several hundred intelligent rack PDUs, the question becomes, "How do you effectively use the information polled from all of them to ensure availability of all applications?" 1. MINIMIZE NETWORKING PORTS AND ENSURE FAILOVER SUPPORT Putting PDUs in a daisy chain (IP consolidation) is a common practice. However, a traditional daisy chain has no failover support. This means if connectivity is lost, users cannot get any information downstream of the PDU. New technology available allows for deployment of up to 32 PDUs to be placed in a secure array under only two IP addresses. This allows for failover capability in case connectivity from any of the PDUs within the array is lost. In this case, a secondary PDU takes FIGURE 4: Robust IP consolidation technology allows for the installation of less network infrastructure to support power management, environmental monitoring and access control. This technology also allows data center managers to use fewer network ports in each cabinet for power management, environmental monitoring and access control, which means more ports for production equipment. FIGURE 3: Select a simple, yet robust DCIM tool that provides the information and controls needed to fully utilize existing infrastructure resources, while alerting to trouble before it causes downtime. Traditional Networking Saving with Secure Array $ Secure Array $390 $6,240 $5,850 Available Network Ports 30 Traditional Networking Secure Array Ports Cabinets