Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM)
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)
Server room operation beyond the abundance of excel tables
Nowadays, data centre infrastructure management systems are an integral part of an advanced IT server centre. Such integrated systems provide up-to-date information, which helps accurate planning of resources, forecasting, making risk analysis and managing automatic interventions. The extent of the systems and the number of important information related to the daily work demands extremely quick and dedicated attention not only in case of large facilities, which without DCIM system would be replaced only with much time of several people, many separate excel and numerous exciting investigations, searches, trials and errors.
Everything is solved more easily with data, logical connections and maps
In case of DCIM projects of H1 Systems the very first request in each case is data collection, the development of processes and steps of monitoring function so that the continuous collection, recording, storage of data of systems necessary for IT devices would be obvious and inevitable. If this process is well established, the system will force users to modify anything in the system only after entering the data so that it is possible to easily, cheaply and efficiently proceed with troubleshooting, expansion and reporting while maintaining the security of operation. Such a real-time one place recording is of great value in itself, but usually we don’t stop here. The second most common request for us is to pass infrastructure modelling in an orderly manner, because several DCIMs are able not only for tabular records, but also visually display the entire data centre infrastructure, the context of systems, which is a huge help for every activity.
With rules and protocols, not only the inventory, but even all processes can be supported
The third predominant demand is to develop in-app rules so that the routine tasks of operators are truly routine tasks. Check lists make processes transparent and guarantee that nothing is left out of the processes, which would cause more trouble later e.g. whether the rack cabinet or floor structure can statically withstand weight changes. Based on the current load, planned loads, further installation difficulties can be decided, whether there is physical space, whether there are free ports, whether there are prerequisites for installation in the designated location, cooling, electricity, IT network is available and in what a degree. In server rooms populated under DCIM rules, no big surprises need to be expected, especially where collocations management and change management are common. In general, operators do not like the automatic action of the system, however last but not least, we regularly prepare and set basic interventions based on defined conditions, special resources or energy-efficient basic operation optimization automatic tasks that launch and control low-risk routine processes for operators.
