1. dossier
Aniket
Patange
Director- Profes-
sional Services,
APC Schneider
Electric, provides
proof points and
insights into why
DCIM (Data Centre
Infrastructure
Management) is
going to be critical
for IT managers
in improving the
efficiency and
reliability of data
centres
Creating
an Energy-
Efficient
Data
Centre
usingDCIM software
toolscombinedwith
virtualisationandcloud
computingmethods
3 6 itnext | J u n e 2 0 1 2
ASK THE EXPERT
Data centre infrastructure
management
How is the DCIM practice going to address the
data centre challenges of IT managers?
The data centre infrastructure is not just traditional IT
equipment and networks; it also includes power sys-
tems, air conditioning, uninterrupted power supplies
and generators, and the associated switching equip-
ment. These components are part of an ecosystem, and
any change in a component can have detrimental or
unintended impact on other components.
The key challenges of data centre managers are with
regard to downtime, wasted rack space, delayed server
deployment, wasted energy, lost man hours, operating
outside design parameters and so on. All of these result
in missed market opportunities, revised customer loyal-
ties leading to operational inefficiencies, capacity con-
straints, rise in operational cost and so on.
Data centre managers and senior IT managers have
realised that the underlying operating costs for these
infrastructures are not as clearly understood as once
thought, especially when energy consumption is brought
into the equation. The DCIM strategy will impact every-
thing from inventory and change management to capac-
ity planning and carbon footprint reporting.
DCIM enables the monitoring and collection of low-
level infrastructure data to enable intelligent analysis by
individuals with domain expertise (eg, capacity and facil-
ities planners), as well as holistic analysis of the overall
infrastructure. DCIM tools integrate facets of system
management with building and energy management,
with a focus on IT assets and the physical infrastructure
needed to support them.
How are DCIM tools enabling IT managers in
planning and cutting operational cost?
New DCIM software planning and implementation tools
such as our StruxureWare Data Centre Operation Suite
Photo:SubhojitPaul

2. 50%
or higher
would be the
virtualised
server’s
CPU utlisa-
tion when
customers go
in for virtu-
alisation to
drive energy-
efficiency
Source: Schneider
Electric Data Centre
Science Centre
3 7J u n e 2 0 1 2 | itnext
ask the expert
C U S T O M P U B L I S H I N G
improve IT room allocation of power and cooling (plan-
ning), provide rapid impact analysis when a portion of
the IT room fails (operations), and leverage historical
data to improve future IT room performance (analysis).
These tools help data centre managers to create a
dashboard, monitor and automate collection of data.
By correlating power, cooling and space resources to
individual servers, DCIM tools can proactively inform
IT management systems of potential physical infra-
structure problems and how they might impact spe-
cific IT loads. Particularly, in a highly virtualised and
dynamic cloud environment, this real-time awareness
of constantly changing power and cooling capacities is
important for safe server placement. These intelligent
tools also enable IT to inform the lines of business of the
consequences of their actions before server provision-
ing decisions are made. Business decisions that result
in higher energy consumption in the data centre, for
example, will impact carbon footprint and carbon tax.
Charge backs for energy consumption are also possible
with these new tools and can alter the way decisions are
made by aligning energy usage to business outcomes.
The DCIM Suite allows the IT manager to do an
impact analysis and also perform other “what-if” sce-
narios. For eg, the IT manager can simulate the impact
caused by taking a UPS into maintenance mode in
the software model, ie, see which PDUs, servers and
applications will be impacted if a UPS goes down. This
simulation capability allows him to take pro-active
steps to prevent failures, eg, by predicting overloads or
phase imbalances.
As a trend, by capturing environmental data at the
device level (eg, power consumed, performance levels
and BTUs generated), data centre managers can gain a
more detailed view of the environment and, thus, make
informed decisions about equipment placement, cool-
ing efficiency, power consumption and upgrades, and
capacity planning.
Can you elaborate on how the implementation
of virtualisation, consolidation and cloud
computing technologies will enhance data
centre efficiency?
Virtualisation or physical server consolidation and
movement to cloud-based technologies will help in
a) Moving towards higher power densities in racks
which leads to higher efficiencies in power utilisation
b) Creating a more focussed cooling approach as
compared to perimeter cooling—which again is more
efficient
c) Cutting operational costs (man-power, licences
and maintenance) by removing underutilised or zombie
servers.
What becomes more important in a virtualised envi-
ronment is infrastructure reliability at these higher
power densities when packed into each rack. Virtualisa-
tion also allows workloads to be dynamically moved,
started and stopped—the result can be physical loads
that change both over time and in their physical loca-
tion. Here again, the DCIM software comes in handy to
help not only in monitoring the infrastructure but also
in utilising the same in the right proportion. The key is
to integrate DCIM software with VM manager. Maintain-
ing a highly-efficient, leanly-provisioned data centre in
an environment characterised by frequent and sudden
load shifting requires a management system that works
automatically in real time with the VM manager.
How can an IT manager predict the need for
future infrastructure, investments and
roll-outs?
The StruxureWare Operation and capacity software have
the ability to help identify and eliminate stranded capac-
ity. It also presents data on the remaining capacity of the
data centre in the form of dashboards. The design and
“what-if” simulation capability of the software helps the
IT manager to extend the life span of his current data
centre. Also, it helps the IT manager to plan for future
roll-outs. Besides, enterprises with strong corporate
social responsibility programmes or robust green initia-
tives should target a PUE closer to 1.6.
“DCIMenablesthemonitoringandcollectionoflow-
levelinfrastructuredatatoenableintelligentanalysisby
individualswithdomainexpertise”
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