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Zombies are afoot! Data Center Monitoring is the weapon!
Having walked through my share of data centers, it is always interesting to see such a heterogeneous amalgamation of IT gear that has accumulated since the data center itself was commissioned. While every data center designer and manager starts out with wild fanciful ideals about the pristine architecture of the data center, the actual complexion of the data center changes dramatically over time and we are left with rows and rows of assorted gear, all happily consuming power, blinking LEDs, and perhaps 20%-30% of these devices no longer in use… Zombies abound! Perhaps Zombies is a harsh word, but the concept is the same. A non-trivial portion of the devices […]
Why has it been so hard to deploy Data Center Monitoring?
For those of you following my writings, you’ll know that I’ve “been around the block” a few times in the IT world. For 30 years I’ve seen alot of technologies come and go. Various technologies always seem to sound great at first (to some people), but how those technologies play out over time is a measure of the capabilities, costs, and timing BUT more importantly a bit of ‘chance’. Sometimes it just doesn’t add up or make any sense, and yet certain solutions thrive while others fail. Data Center Management has always been considered an “ART” rather than a science. Emotions, previous experiences and personal focal points drive investments within […]
Do Co-los & MSPs need Unified Monitoring & Measurement more than other Data Centers?
Here at Modius, we are seeing an increasing number of requests among Co-locations (Co-los) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to help them capture more robust and accurate power measurement data. In one sense, this trend is nothing new because all data centers—whether captive inside an enterprise or an outsourced service provider—need accurate power measurement, typically for improving: Capacity optimization Energy efficiency Uptime assurance But we find that Co-lo’s and MSP’s have a special need that takes power reporting to the next level: Providing disaggregated energy consumption and power usage data by customer at a very granular level, often by rack or even a group of servers. Typically, they need detailed […]
Measuring PUE with Shared Resources, Part 1 of 2
Measuring PUE with Shared Resources Last week I wrote a little about measuring the total power in a data center, when all facility infrastructure are dedicated to supporting the data center. Another common situation is a data center in a mixed environment, such as a corporate campus or an office tower, at which the facility resources are shared. The most common shared resource is the chilled-water system, often referred to as the “mechanical yard.” As difficult as it sometimes can be to set up continuous power monitoring for a stand-alone data center, it is considerably trickier when the mechanical yard is shared. Again, simple in principle, but often surprisingly painful […]
Measuring PUE with Shared Resources, Part 2 of 2
PUE in an Imperfect World Last week I started discussing the instrumentation and measurement of PUE when the data center shares resources with other facilities. The most common shared resource is chilled water, such as from a common campus or building mechanical yard. We looked at the simple way to allocate a portion of the power consumed by the mechanical equipment to the overall power consumed by the data center. The approach there assumed perfect sub-metering of both the power and chilled water, for both the data center and the mechanical yard. Lovely situation if you have it or can afford to quickly achieve it, but not terribly common out […]
Collecting Data From Legacy Equipment
Data Center Infrastructure: Data Collection via LAN or Serial Interfaces When the topic of data center infrastructure comes up, there exists some confusion regarding how the two technologies, Serial and LAN, relate. Let me start by saying that nearly every piece of equipment built in the last 20 years includes at least one form of core controller interface. In fact, the engineering teams that build this type of equipment will tell you that one of the very first portions of a control system developed is the console/monitor access interface because it is this interface that typically is used to help continue to develop and debug the controller itself (as well […]
“Smart” Data Center Infrastructure Management. IoT for IT (Post #1)
Bridging the gap between IoT and Asset Management By Sean Gately Data centers have come a long way since their birth out of the necessity to house large Electronic Numerical Computers in the tracking of artillery for the United States Army. The need to isolate and care for complex electronic equipment and wiring is as entrenched into the data center’s DNA as the need to monitor and analyze this complex and expensive equipment, so much so that innovation within data centers has been one of the core tenets of data center management since the beginning. This push for innovation has only increased since the Microcomputer explosion in the early […]
“Smart” Data Center Infrastructure Management. IoT for IT (Post #2)
Bridging the gap between IoT and Asset Management An IoT World By Sean Gately Fast forward to today’s explosion of smart devices and the Internet of Things and you and see that data centers infrastructure management is under a dynamic change. The core concept that data centers have been focused on since inception has been to centralize IT operations and management for cost efficiency and predictable operations. With 50 Billion devices set to come online by 2020, and more deployed devices getting “smart”, much of the centralized structure of a traditional data center becomes inadequate because of the massive amount of data created at-the-edge, and the need for real-time edge-based […]
“Smart” Data Center Infrastructure Management. IoT for IT (Post #3)
Bridging the gap between IoT and Asset Management By Sean Gately This rapid change in data center architecture puts traditional data center management tools at a disadvantage and adds strain to IT and Facility professionals. Managing a traditional modern data center while also trying to manage the Internet of Things devices requires a whole new level of wholistic monitoring and is a complex and complicated task. Traditional asset management in the data center will now need to extend outward to account for edge-based data centers and new smart devices with all new ways to monitor and manage them. With less in-person interaction these edge deployments will need to utilize machine […]
Modius OpenData collaborates with Dell Technologies to reduce IoT complexity with new IoT bundles
Modius OpenData collaborates with Dell Technologies to reduce complexity in IoT deployments. San Francisco, CA, September 6th, 2018 – Today, Modius, a recognized leader in critical infrastructure monitoring solutions is collaborating with Dell Technologies to remove the complexity in IoT deployments by offering turn-key bundled solutions. A Dell Technologies IoT Solutions Partner Program member, Modius OpenData enables the acceleration of IoT adoption by providing an end-to-end IoT platform which offers near real-time visibility and the intelligent insights needed to effectively manage distributed smart assets across building facilities, datacenters, and commercial applications. OpenData is factory installed on ruggedized Dell Gateway 3000 series and embedded box Industrial PC’s and bundled with all […]
