With rising electricity costs and the need for service resilience, data centre infrastructure management is as much about capacity planning, as it is about the ability to monitor and control physical assets within an IT, server room or datacentre environment. DCIM software packages from Server Room Environments are supplied to work with a range of devices as a central monitoring or middleware system. Each hardware manufacturer supplies a DCIM package for their systems which can generally monitor other devices using industry standard protocols.
A data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) system is actually a set of software tools that can be used to monitor and manage capacity and systems including uninterruptible power supplies, power distribution units, racks, environmental monitoring solutions, physical security systems (access control and CCTV) and fire suppressions systems within the IT ‘white space’.
A DCIM package is a building management system at the datacentre operational level, designed to provide an holistic view of the performance of the datacentre in order to optimise and plan for capacity changes, monitor alarms and improve energy efficiency. As well as monitoring a data centre infrastructure management software can also be used to automate tasks related to critical power, cooling and other essential systems within the building area.
The use of a Cloud-based monitoring package provides additional functionality including remote monitoring, rule-based alerts and data-drive recommendations on a 24/7 basis.
For more information on the data centre infrastructure management software available please contact our projects team.
Whether you operate a small server room or a large data centre, your biggest operating cost will be electricity. The energy used to not only power your servers and IT network but for the cooling, uninterruptible power supplies, lighting, and any other electrical devices within your facility.
There are several ways to manage heat within a datacentre, computer or server room, and improve operational efficiency. Some are relatively easy and straightforward, and others require a little more planning and capital investment. Collectively, they can not only help improve operational efficiency and save costs but can help to extend the life of the assets and reduce their service costs.
The layout of your server room or datacentre facility will impact energy efficiency and operational costs. Even if the room is ideal in shape and size, how all your IT, power and cooling systems are arranged within the space must be optimised. So what are the key server room layout characteristics to consider when planning for a new facility, an upgrade or complete refurbishment?
When we look at a server room or datacentre in terms of energy efficiency, we are looking at loads on the demand-side of the electricity distribution infrastructure. Related terms include Demand Side Management (DSM) and Demand Side Response (DSR). Our objective is to find ways to improve the overall energy efficiency of the facility through behavioural changes, more efficient hardware use and where necessary hardware upgrade to more energy efficient infrastructure systems (uninterruptible power supplies and cooling systems). We can make recommendations for IT hardware upgrade but focus purely on the infrastructure and related systems.
We do not charge for an energy efficiency audit, if we can easily book the review into the diaries of our project managers. If a client requests an outside-working-hours audit or one that will involve us travelling over 250miles, we may have to make a special booking and will quote a reasonable price for this.
