It’s that time of year! As the new year begins, it’s time to step back from the daily grind and plan for 2012. One high-level challenge for data center managers is the use of floor space, and this new report from Gartner Research can help you meet that challenge.
Data center floor space is costly. When you have to upgrade or renovate a data center to meet growing IT needs, it is a very expensive proposition. Consequently, when you maximize the use of your existing data center floor space, you can avoid costly and time-consuming upgrades to your entire facility.
But what are the best practices? What are the most effective techniques to maximize your existing data center floor space? How do you measure and project your capacity? How much savings in floor space can you achieve?
A new report by Gartner addresses these questions. Based on their research, Gartner has developed four key recommendations for maximizing the use of your existing data center floor space. The report also describes the range of savings you can expect.
The complimentary report is available courtesy of nlyte Software, makers of Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software. Read the full report here.
By Nathan Weiss, IDMWORKS
Last week I was interviewed by a reporter from SearchITChannel.com about why IDMWORKS is having success with DCIM solutions in small to midsized data centers (20-100 cabinets). Although there are a multitude of benefits associated with implementing a DCIM solution, most (DCIM) companies are focusing solely on the enterprise market. Until recently that has been a major disadvantage for organizations in the small to mid size space that have some of the same needs, just on a smaller scale. DCIM solutions as a planning tool can provide a real world proof of concept that will give clients the confidence to implement and utilize a DCIM solution for their Data Center Infrastructure Management needs. SME and Enterprise clients should both benefit from the value these solutions can provide when integrated with migration or consolidation projects.
IDMWorks’ Data Center Migration team is certified by several of the industry leading DCIM solution providers. We have put our time and experience tested twist on how we deliver our services and how we believe DCIM solutions should be positioned in the data center space.
The Data Center Migration team specializes in migration planning. The evolution of our process has taken us from homegrown proprietary tools to the use of DCIM solutions during our engagements that provide strong benefits and features than we could not have offered years ago. Traditional methods would have the client going back to documenting their hardware and application inventories and circuit and connectivity in spreadsheets, Visio and CAD. The reality is once clients see the value that the DCIM solutions provide, and have worked with the product throughout a migration, the thought of going back to the old way of managing their the environment is not appealing. Additionally we do not utilize the typical auto-discovery features built into the DCIM solutions we work with as we have found there is much greater value derived in the manual process we deploy (basically the auto-mated processes give customers the bare minimum or less needed to have a successful engagement), and that most clients are reluctant to allow these applications to perform their auto-discovery functions on their networks (as to do so violates many tried and true network IT security principles).
No matter what the size of your organization is there are quantifiable benefits from utilizing DCIM solutions for planning, modeling, and scheduling an efficient equipment migration. Once the migration is complete, our team can install a fully populated DCIM solution for a client to use.
What is CFD?
Computational Fluid Dynamics is state-of-the-art computer-based simulation predicting what will happen when fluids (e.g., air, water or gases) flow. Using numerical methods and algorithms, CFD provides the ability to visualize and understand the complicated flow phenomena for systems too challenging and expensive to prototype. The factors affecting the path of flow such as objects and boundary conditions are mapped to a three-dimensional computational domain that is subdivided to small and finite volumes. The governing non-linear differential equations of fluid dynamics are then solved in the computational domain using high-performance computers and performing millions of calculations. The solutions to these equations are usually presented in graphical form as flow patterns. CFD analysis for data centers provides the virtual modeling of the room complete with IT and cooling equipment to help visualize and understand complicated airflow and thermal patterns in the room.
What CFD can add to the DCIM solution
Computational fluid dynamics has become an invaluable tool in helping organizations using DCIM solutions to investigate present and future power performance of data centers by providing clarity regarding their cooling efficacy. CFD’s capabilities are truly aligned with DCIM’s objectives of modeling, analyzing and predicting due to its ability to create virtual models and simulate the cooling environment of data centers.
- Virtual simulation by CFD provides airflow and thermal patterns of the data center and enables detection of cooling problems (e.g., hotspots, restrictions in the airflow paths and mixing of cold and hot air streams) for any given scenario or layout configuration. While CFD has long been used by various industries to gain insight into complicated flow problems, the use of CFD by mission-critical facilities has recently begun to gain momentum. Many data centers have been turning to CFD simulation to find ways to improve reliability, availability and cooling effectiveness. In fact, recent surveys indicate that about 50 percent of data centers either have used or are using CFD to deal with their cooling issues.
CFD facilitates the investigation of cooling effectiveness of any proposed scenario by providing detailed airflow and thermal modeling of the room, aisles and racks while including the most salient physical features of data centers. These features can include equipment layout (IT and cooling), raised floor, dropped ceiling, columns, beams, cables, pipes, tiles (solid and perforated), floor cutouts and more. No other analysis tool can provide the ability to visualize how air — cold supply and hot return — moves through the room to reveal the underlying root causes of cooling problems and determine how much cooling capacity is left at the site. (Continued in next blog post.)
Excerpt from The DCIM Advisory feature article by Kamran Fouladi and Soheil “Sam” Negahbani, Energex Technologies. Check back later for more on this feature.What is Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)? DCIM is a relatively new term that can mean different things to different people and vendors. Some first generation DCIM vendors provide monitoring of infrastructure data, 2D data models and basic energy management and reporting. A complete DCIM solution provides 3D data models, auto-discovery of data center assets, intelligent capacity planning and advanced integrated analytics. In preparation for the Uptime Institute Symposium in May, Matt Stansberry interviewed Andy Lawrence, Research Director of Eco-Efficient IT at The 451 Group and Program Director of Uptime Symposium, on what DCIM really means. Watch the video below.
(click here if you are unable to view)
Andy presented on DCIM at the Uptime Institute Symposium May 9-12, 2011 in Santa Clara, Calif.
There is a disease in the data center: skyrocketing energy costs, inefficient infrastructure management tools and the unknown effects of looming regulatory action in the United States.
Luckily there is an antidote: a new group of solutions for data center infrastructure management. DCIM tools graphically display a complete inventory of the data center’s physical and logical assets, showing rack and data center floor location and rack heat load. Using the software, a data center manager can model any move, add or change by creating sophisticated “what if” scenarios before implementing changes that can dramatically impact data center performance.
They can look to the past and the future, using historical data to report and track trends and forecast or predict future requirements for power, cooling and space, making it possible to drive down energy costs and make the data center run more efficiently. Continue reading »
Engage with nlyte