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toolkit such as intelligent PDUs, KVM over IP
switches, serial console servers, baseboard
management controllers, cloud monitoring, IT
systems monitoring, IT service management
(ITSM), building management (BMS) and
electrical power management (EPMS).
But to complete the remote data center
management toolkit and bridge information
across organizational domains, all data
center managers must-have Data Center
Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software.
DCIM enables data center managers
to centrally manage all their resources
and capacities in a single pane of glass
to maintain uptime, improve efficiency
of capacity utilization and increase
productivity of people.
Consider the following use cases for
remote data center management with
DCIM software:
• Remotely plan space, power and
connectivity. DCIM software provides a
virtual visual instance of your data center
in 3D with colour-coded floor map overlay
reports displaying real time data such
as cabinet space, budgeted and actual
power, plus network and power port
availability to help you easily identify the
ideal location to deploy assets. Similarly,
‘what-if’ analysis helps you understand
the potential impact of additions and
decommissions in your data center. With
this information at your fingertips, you
can identify stranded space and power
capacity to defer capital expenditures or
understand if additional resources are
necessary in order to meet demand. Plus,
a comprehensive DCIM solution with an
Auto Power Budget feature will unlock
precious rack capacity as each individual
server make/model instance is assigned
a unique power budget value that’s
automatically set from real-time outletmeasured
readings from intelligent rack
PDUs-your devices’ exact loads under
your compute stress in your environment.
• Direct technicians to complete
changes accurately. With limited on-site
hands at data centers and colocation
sites, accurate and productive remote
direction of technicians on where to go
and what to do can be a difficult process
without the right tool. Without a single
source of truth of all assets across all
“Herman Chan, President at Sunbird Software
NOW MORE
THAN EVER,
DATA CENTER
PROFESSIONALS
NEED A COMPLETE
REMOTE
DATA CENTER
MANAGEMENT
TOOLKIT WITH
DCIM TO BRIDGE
INFORMATION
ACROSS
ORGANIZATIONAL
DOMAINS.
locations, you will not have confidence
that you are directing technicians to
the correct location to make the correct
changes. DCIM software enables remote
planning and initiation of clear work
orders and instructions for remote hands.
Cabinet elevation views provide the exact
U position of your assets and device
views while high-fidelity front and back
images show technicians exactly where
the data and power ports are located
to ensure that connections are made
correctly. DCIM ensures that work activity
is done accurately the first time, reducing
the need for additional trips to the data
center and mitigating the number one
cause of downtime: human error.
• Remotely monitor power and
environment sensors across multiple
locations. Managing multiple remote
sites with their own power and cooling
systems is easy with DCIM. An enterprise
dashboard displays real-time power and
environmental health, trends, events and
alerts for all sites in a single pane of glass
with the ability to drill down for more
granular cabinet-level metrics. Advanced
warning of issues such as hot spot
formation, power capacity limitations,
and loss of redundancy allows you to
take action to prevent downtime. DCIM
software combined with remote power
control on intelligent rack PDUs lets you
switch devices on or off or power cycle
them without the need for an on-site
technician to reboot servers and restore
them to service.
• Remotely manage all assets and
connections across the entire data
center deployment. As data centers
become more complex and distributed,
more data center managers are tasked
to remotely manage multiple sites and
business applications. In a modern data
center environment, maintaining an
accurate inventory of all your assets
across all sites requires a tool that
provides real-time views of all your
physical data center infrastructure.
DCIM provides business intelligence
and analytics on metrics such as asset
count by location, hosts per application
and asset cost by location which helps
you understand which applications
require the most resources and where
you can increase efficiency. DCIM also
lets you easily understand how assets
are physically connected via visual circuit
traces to help you avoid overloaded
circuits, decrease latency, perform
impact analysis and quickly troubleshoot
connections to reduce downtime.
• Improve collaboration and
productivity of remote workers.
With most data center employees now
working from home, it’s more important
76 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com