By. Emerson Network Power
Standardization and consolidation have become something of a “holy grail” for data centers with the promise of higher application availability, lower operating costs and faster provisioning. But, just as King Arthur’s knights searched endlessly for the grail, realizing the benefits of standardization and consolidation has proven somewhat elusive, especially in multi-site and heterogeneous equipment environments.
Cost-effective standardization and consolidation requires deep visibility into the static and dynamic state of the entire infrastructure. With complete information about your IT and facilities assets, you can better manage data center growth, drive consolidation through increased flexibility and gain the agility to manage assets in a way that ensures availability. So, if global visibility is the key to maximizing the benefits of standardization and consolidation, what information is crucial? There are two key categories of data you need—detailed information about your total inventory and equally detailed data about your power consumption.
1. KNOW YOUR INVENTORY
This may seem obvious, but really understanding your data center requires knowing where all your assets are located and being able to see the relationships between your data and power devices. The best way to do this is with a visual asset map that mirrors the actual floor plan so you know the configuration of each rack and row and can see the dependencies between data devices and power connections.
With comprehensive visibility, you can better manage the asset lifecycle to optimize their use while reducing operating and capital equipment costs. For example, you can more accurately assess risk and improve capacity planning because knowledge of device dependencies helps you quickly recognize the impact of changes. You can increase staff productivity because a virtual inventory map reduces the need for physical inspections to locate devices and figure out connections.
2. KNOW YOUR REAL POWER CONSUMPTION
As important as knowing your inventory is knowing exactly how your assets are consuming power by tracking and monitoring consumption in real time. Real-time data provides a real-world view of your power consumption, which can substantially improve the quality of decisions you make and eliminate over or under-provisioning.
For example, you can use real-time consumption data to understand actual power usage over time and identify trends that will help you improve your consolidation planning. You can gain visibility into the impact of decisions intended to control costs and how they might affect SLAs, such as moving activities to off-peak times or adjusting operating loads.
As is the case with your inventory, a granular visualization that provides a one-line, real-time view of the power chain is the most efficient way to understand power usage effectiveness (PUE) and data center infrastructure efficiency (DCIE). It lets you quickly identify where there is unutilized or underutilized capacity. You can also use it to visualize alarms within the infrastructure, making it easier and faster to determine the source of a problem and address it.
Another useful tool that can enhance decision making is an automated capacity calculator that shows available and consumed capacities and can factor in growth. For example, you can use a calculator to quantify energy efficiency strategies before implementing them or to understand how the power system will be impacted by a new IT device.
3. TYING IT ALL TOGETHER
While knowledge of your assets, their relationships and power consumption is crucial, there is another requirement to take the pain out of standardization and consolidation. There are lots of tools out there that can gather and manage different pieces of the overall data you need—but this is exactly the problem—they manage pieces, not the data center as a whole. Tools that must be stitched together thwart the point of standardization and consolidation to consistently implement best practices that lead to greater availability and efficiency at lower cost.
What’s required is centralized remote management that provides a holistic view of every asset in the IT and facilities infrastructure, even when those assets are in multiple locations. With remote access and control, you can standardize processes across multiple sites, promoting staff efficiency, consistency and coordination and even aiding efforts to implement the lights-out data center model. Remote management lets you view, monitor and manage capacity holistically, providing the flexibility to efficiently restructure your assets. And remote access can increase your agility, helping you quickly find and manage assets to reduce MTTR and downtime.
As you go forward with standardization and consolidation, look for solutions that offer unified access across the infrastructure and real-time visibility. These will help you reach your standardization and consolidation goals more quickly, enabling you to achieve higher application availability and efficiency while significantly reducing capital and operating expenses.
Emerson Network Power works closely with its customers and partners to deliver transformational solutions to help you streamline data center operations, reduce costs and support business growth. Find the solutions that best fit your standardization and consolidation initiatives at: http://www.emersonnetworkpower.com/en-US/trellis/Pages/Explore-Trellis.aspx
STANDARDIZATION AND CONSOLIDATION CHECKLIST
Achieving the benefits of standardization and consolidation requires deep insight into your IT and facilities infrastructure. Can you:
- Track the cost of consolidations and changes to the organization?
- Efficiently track inventory across multiple sites?
- Quickly locate spaces where to install devices?
- Know how much capacity has been consumed and how much is still available?
- Gain visibility into energy consumption costs and trends in your infrastructure?
- Model and quantify energy efficiency improvements prior to implementation?
- Understand the impact of change on your capacity?
- Collect actual power data?
- Diagnose and remedy problems remotely?
- EmersonNetworkPower.com
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Source: http://www.emersonnetworkpower.com/en-US/sites/DCIM/Documents/IT-OP-EN.pdf