...these questions about your hybrid IT infrastructure, you need a modernised data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) solution:
- How many server rooms, wiring closets, and edge sites do you have? In other words, exactly how much “distributed IT” do you own?
- Who last accessed your IT rack and what is the physical environment appropriate for equipment that is now considered mission-critical?
- How much energy is your IT consuming?
- Are you prepared for the looming energy consumption dilemma at the edge of your network?
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In their last DCIM Magic Quadrant report, industry experts at Gartner define DCIM as “tools (that) monitor, measure, manage and/or control data centre utilisation and energy consumption of all IT-related equipment (such as servers, storage, and network switches) and facility infrastructure components (such as power distribution units (PDUs) and computer room air conditioners (CRACs)).” The report goes on to make clear DCIM primarily covers “the equipment that provides the power, cooling, and physical security necessary to keep the IT systems up and running.”
DCIM goes beyond basic device monitoring to enable data centre operators to understand what’s happening in their environments, including power and cooling device status. The idea is to help managers prevent problems and to aid in planning for future requirements and optimum equipment placement.
As detailed in a blog post by our colleague, Kevin Brown, customers faced some challenges with traditional DCIM tools, including long deployment times and a high degree of complexity in terms of use and maintenance, including software updates.
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Data centre management software generally falls into two main categories: monitoring/automation and planning/implementation. The first category deals with monitoring and automation of the IT room and facility power, environmental control, and security. It helps ensure the data centre is operating as designed and provides user-configurable thresholds for alarms on physical devices, including heat, ventilation, and air conditioning. It also reports on real-time, average, and peak power use, and measures power usage effectiveness (PUE). Planning and implementation software focuses on helping IT managers facilitate data centre changes, deploy new equipment for peak efficiency, and track assets. It supports “what-if” scenarios to help with planning and reduce the total cost of ownership.
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DCIM helps customers with four key pain points:
- Preventing downtime
- Lack of remote monitoring and management
- Managing equipment from multiple vendors
- Dealing with a large number of sites with limited or no IT staff