Colombia. When we talk about managing the physical infrastructure of the Data Center in an obligatory way we arrive at the term DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management).
There is not yet an article that involves all the elements that this management and monitoring tool should include. The Green Grid is developing a White Paper on this.
In order to give a guide to our readers for the selection of a DCIM within the basic elements that this tool must have, let's analyze the main Systems that the physical infrastructure has: electrical, mechanical, connectivity, security, storage, servers, among others. The DCIM must have the capacity to allow us to manage the changes and capacity of our infrastructure, the services provided to it and of course the asset management, present the main indicators of the Infrastructure in a control panel (Dahsboard) and make reports.
Among the elements to be taken into account we suggest that the DCIM involves: Asset Management, connectivity, Energy, Environment (temperature, humidity and air flow), resources, inventories, software contracts and licenses, planning and tasks, change and workflows.
Prior to the implementation of a DCIM solution we consider it necessary to have an updated database with the information of all the elements to be monitored and managed. This can be a wasteful task and it is recommended that the tool has an automatic computer finder, a feature that helps but does not do all the task.
Another point to take into account is the collection of data in real time. This point needs a network of sensors that send information to the DCIM, so it is necessary to know which protocol the tool accepts and that it must be compatible or the same of the sensors. At this point I quote Florian Sippel who reminds us that the basis of every DCIM solution is the registration of data at the field level and if we feed our tool with inaccurate information the result will be of the same quality.
Finally, I invite you to make an economic analysis of the tool in order to project the savings we can obtain by optimizing the use of our infrastructure that is reflected in better use of servers, minimization of the use of air conditioning, savings in the purchase of new equipment for the use of those we already have (its acquisition is postponed by lowering CAPEX), among others. You can use the CTO (Total Cost of Ownership), ROI (Return on Investment), VPN (Net Present Value) or another that your organization prefers.
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