Smarter.DCIM Dashboard Application with Qlik
The Smarter.DCIM Dashboard Application is a solution for data centre managers. The dashboard addresses their need to report from dial to detail on a timely basis. The application is supported by a Self-Service BI, data centric, QlikView GreenStack architecture. This offers accelerated time-to-report, time-to-decide, and time-to-value. The Smarter.DCIM Dashboard delivers operational excellence and competitive advantage to our clients.
Why an integrated dashboard for data centre infrastructure management?
Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software poses a unique challenge to data centre operators. Many organisations have deployed key DCIM functions like environmental and device alarming, historical power trending, and asset tracking. However, most of these deployments are standalone applications tools with no relational database to tie the disparate data sources together. Many end users do not have the operational bandwidth to populate, update, and use these systems and some resort to Excel spread sheets.
Based around five key topics the Smarter.DCIM dashboard has been designed to provide a single view that gives companies the ability to make better decisions about future capacity and other key requirements, without the need for expensive and time consuming third party integrations.
Dashboards
Based around five key topics The Data Centre Infrastructure Management dashboard provides data centre managers with key responsibilities an overview of the drivers of data centre management, addressing questions surrounding past present and future operations.
Key topics:
- Assets
- Capacity & Cost
- Events Dashboard
- Impact
- Change
Features
The Smarter.DCIM dashboard concentrates on, but is not limited to, three specialist areas, or categories, of DCIM that will vary depending on the information stored by the customer. Other data sources can be interrogated as required to create a customised end user application.
Categories:
- IT infrastructure the White Space that is inside the data room or hall
- Facilities infrastructure the components that power the IT infrastructure outside the White Space
- IT servers and applications the end user devices (physical and logical) and applications, normally managed by a specialist IT group
Typical Sources of Data
There are several configuration management databases or CMDBs that contain information of all physical infrastructure and the changes associated with them over their lifecycle, typically branded as DCIM applications in some shape or form. These could include Aperture and nlyte as well as specific corporate asset management software such as HP Asset Manager.
Building Management Systems (BMS) record data from Mechanical and Electrical components in the data centre such as electrical switchgear, air handlers, chillers, room level power distribution units (PDUs) and uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) and can also interface with SCADA control systems installations as well.
There are also several standalone specialist power and environmental monitoring applications that record real time and historical monitoring data, together with events and alarms sent from individual cabinets and racks. Some of these applications also include security monitoring for data rooms and racks that previously have been viewed in isolation.
In addition to the above there are a number of software companies now providing solutions to access and record data directly from servers and other end user equipment, to understand the behaviour of the server plant and any associated virtual machines. This would include information such as server CPU, memory, disk and network usage.
Technology:
Aperture, nylte and various best of breed core DCIM funtional applications
