Posted by Donald Klein on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 @ 01:26 PM
You may have asked yourself, “Why do I need another monitoring and reporting product if I already have five?” True, you most likely don’t need another monitoring product, but rather what you really, really need is a system to link these systems together.
Why? Because several different monitoring systems operating in their own silos doesn’t help you improve your business. Instead, what you need to do is build business logic for optimization and capacity expansion strategies, as well as decrease the time spent to repair problems.
To do this effectively, you need a super system: what we call the “mother of all monitors”. This is a system that cannot only collect a superset of monitoring data from different point solutions, but also connect directly to other devices that may not currently be monitored (e.g. generators, transfer switches, breaker panels, etc.). And it needs to do this with the kind of scalability, analytics, and ability to integrate with other management systems that you would expect from an enterprise-class tool.
Here at Modius, we are already seeing this happen in the field. There is a current trend among data center managers to link their monitoring platforms together so that they have one common central platform to view and navigate to distributed monitoring systems. We have designed our application, OpenData, with a “Monitor of Monitors” architecture in order to provide operators with a single pain of glass into both the facilities infrastructure including power-chain, cooling, and redundancies as well as IT system level information.
The key problems solved are:
- System-level metrics - Link system level IT metrics to facilities capacities
- Trouble shooting - Accelerate trouble shooting and fault dependency mapping
- Alarm management - Reduction in “noise-level” alarms
- Analytics - Building business-level metrics (BI) for capacity, efficiency, etc.
- Controls-based integrations – Improved automation based on broad data capture
Here is some more detail on each of these benefit areas …
1) System-level metrics
Typically, IT system-level metrics are collected by system management tools and will provide logical properties based on MIB-2 or the Host MIB (RFC-1514). This provides IT managers with data on the operating health of the equipment and capacity related to CPU, Disc, I/O, Memory. What management systems typically do not provide, however, is how facilities (power, cooling, etc.) impacts the cost of operations and the amount of optimal cooling.
By linking IT system-level metrics with unified facilities monitoring through a single portal, higher level business and operating metrics can be formulated to reduce the cost of operations by tuning available cooling resources to the actual needs of each server instance or other IT gear.
2) Trouble shooting
By consolidating event and performance data into a single view, you can quickly determine the cascade of failures with the visibility to determine the impacts of facility equipment. An example could be a PDU failure and what devices are in the path of the affected circuit. In redundant environments there will be a fail-over to the second PDU but in most cases the assurances of a successful hand-off are difficult to predict. By linking both facilities BMS, PDU’s, UPS, Genset with system level IT information the relationships are documented, visualized, correlated and actively monitored.
3) Reduction in rogue alarms
By linking point solutions and consolidated even level data, a complete historical view may be achieved. Through this historical view, alarm flows can be optimized and reduced operationally. An example would be a BMS received alarms at a rate where the alarms become noise as they are not easily tuned. Also contextually, it is very difficult to look at what a typical operating condition is as there is not enough or broad enough history to proactively set truly meaningful thresholds or deviations.
4) BI-based business metrics
With a single point of consolidation, you can quickly build reports and dashboards across platforms. An example would be a stock chart type view when you can visualize a period of time. This is used to determine deviations from the norm which might cause downtime or affect operational performance. With several independent systems it becomes impossible to correlate based on time or carry enough history to gain the insight necessary to prevent a potential outage.
5) Single application launch point
The “Monitor of Monitor” architecture brings a unified structure to gain access to operational and control systems. An example use case would be to identify cooling requirements based on broad-based data capture (e.g. an array of environmental sensors at the rack level, or real-time server-inlet temperatures taken directly from servers themselves) and then tie the resulting performance metrics into building control systems to tune VFD’s and cooling output. Integrating the BMS application directly to the monitoring system allows the use the real-time data required and feedback mechanism to optimize cooling and cost without overheating the IT equipment.
Conclusion
If you would like more detail on how Modius can help with any the above topic areas, please reach out directly using info@modius.com, and we will be happy to set up an appointment.
Posted by Donald Klein on Mon, Aug 02, 2010 @ 11:43 AM
Enterprise software Proof-of-Concepts (POCs) are often challenging to administer and implement as they typically require the vendor to train, install and implement the software in the client’s facility. This process can prove costly and time consuming for both the vendor and the client.
Modius has solved this challenge by creating a new offering for a “virtual” proof of concept (vPOC). The vPOC allows customers to try Modius OpenData in a secure sandbox environment without installing any local software.
The database is pre-populated with a typical Data Center environment including a full range of data center equipment, including typical ‘heavy equipment’ such as UPS, CRAC, Genset, PDU, as well as rack-level equipment such as iPDU’s and wireless temperature sensors from leading equipment providers including HP, IBM, APC, Emerson, RFCODE, and Server Tech.
The vPOC provides a fully
-functional instance of the Modius OpenData system that the user can manage and administer. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) allows the user to drill through to each device and identify which alarm points are being collected, how they are correlated and distributed, their polling rates, and which “real-time” alarms are critical or require immediate action. Typical customers who are signing up for a Modius vPOC are looking to replace several existing monitoring point solutions (e.g. homegrown, ALC or DataTrax). In addition, they may be looking at Modius OpenData’s “multi-site” capability to consolidate existing infrastructure monitoring across multiple locations with a single repository of easy accessed and reported information for availability, capacity, and performance utilization.
The process to get started is as simple as signing up for the 15-Day free trial. To get started, please see our vPOC registration page for a simple form to have one of our team contact you.
Posted by Mark Harris on Wed, Jun 09, 2010 @ 04:19 PM
So there I was, sitting in New York City a couple of weeks ago at The 451 Group's Uptime Institute Symposium, and spent a little time listening to Dean Nelson, the Sr. Director of eBay's Data Center services. He spoke about what eBay was doing with their new Salt Lake City data center and how it was paid for with their active cost savings initiatives. Sounds like the kind of data center we all dream about, and a management structure that understands long term winning strategy...
One of the most intriguing comments he made was regarding who pays the bill for power. Apparently, as soon as eBay moved the cost of power to the budget managed by the CIO, decisions were made in a much different manner. In fact, after the power bill was added to the CIO's bottom-line, he immediately ramped up it's efforts to reduce power consumption. Surprising? Not really.
So the question bounced back to the top of my brain stack: Why don't we all just bite the bullet and add the power bill to the CIO's budget? Wouldn't that create the same catalyst for change that eBay saw? Wouldn't that shift efforts to reduce carbon, reduce cost, and become a Green corporate citizen into 5th gear everywhere? IT WOULD!!!! Oh sure there are some logistic and measurement and data center monitoring issues, some economic G/L mechanics involved to implement the process, but for heaven's sake, we should encourage the proper behaviour, and stop hiding the problem. Hiding the budget as a 'burdened' cost, buried...
Frankly, it is very much like the Shell Game. Keep hiding the money so that know one knows where the money issue really belongs. Sure the CEO and CFO 'own' the power bills, but wouldn't it make sense to push the responsibility down a bit? To the teams that can actually DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE to lower these costs? Very few CIO's today pay (or are even aware of the detail for) the power bills for their data centers. My suggestion, follow eBay's lead and shift the G/L line items to the CIO and watch the rapid progress that will ensue... (and when this higher level of interest takes hold, Modius will be there to help establish metric and measurement baselines by which to steer these cost improvements in very tangible ways!)
Posted by Mark Harris on Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 11:23 AM
Think back to the last time your purchased a new car. I would bet that within the first 30 minutes of actually looking at the brochures or sitting in the car, the attention turned to the Leather seats, body color, Stereo system and electronics package.
By inference, the consumer (you) had already assumed and agreed that the car foundation itself was as stated in the data sheet and their design engineers had done their job building a functional car. It had a chassis, it had an engine of a certain size, and it was as speedy and efficient as the TV commercial showed. No need to be concerned that the physical layer had any issues. Somehow the car would perform.
Instead, your attention was to the 'soft' details. There you are, buying a $30,000 car, and most of the sales configuration and cost discussion was about the $3000-$4000 worth of options. Most people don't even know how big the gas tank is when they drive home in the car!
The Data Center is much the same. The underpinnings for most data centers have for the most part been specified by the building design engineers of record, built per spec, and typically installed far away from view. The mechanical and electrical structures were designed and installed based upon equipment resource requirements and assumptions at the time, and at the end of the day, the IT organization ultimately 'inherited' what was installed. How many watts per square foot were really possible? What is the redundant Cooling capacity? None of these critical resource available capacities or real-time usage is actually well understood or even visible to the IT organization over time. (And UNTIL LATELY, not even much concern about it). This situation is compounded by the fact that all of the major IT vendors are now selling boxes that consume 2-4 times the amount of power in the same space as the units shipped just two years ago. It can be seen that the data center is a VERY dynamic system, and the most valueable on-going data center analysis and KPIs must be based upon it's real-time aspects.
While IT as a whole has focused for years on their own 'Fine Corinthian Leather", (like virtualization/operating systems, storage and networks), the real challenge at hand today is to better understand the real-time performance of the chassis. The amount of fuel in the gas tank and it's current efficiency, the engine performance, the available redundancy systems, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Fine Corinthian Leather, but I think it's prudent to understand the bigger picture before claiming victory...
Posted by Mark Harris on Fri, May 21, 2010 @ 06:32 PM
Just got back from the Uptime Institute's latest data Center conference held in New York City. In a nutshell, it was everything that is interesting in the data center, only in the year 2010 this really means the physical layer!
"Physical Layer" you say? Yes, the physical side of the data center is driving all of the column inches in the press these days. That is where the chaos and panic around power and cooling AND costs and carbon all come together. In 2010, THIS is where the challenges are. This is where the opportunities exist to demonstrate thought leadership once again, and based on what I saw, people are rising to the challenge!
Frankly, the data center has far too long been a 'mysterious black box' where Intel meets Microsoft meets Linux meets storage and networks. This logical stuff USED TO BE the hard part. Physical resources were ASSUMED to be under control. Those days are gone. Today, it is a GIVEN by the CIO that the technologists in the crowd will figure out how to string together all the logical data processing stuff since modern servers and routers and everything in between have the ability to provide a fairly similiar set of functions and compatibility today. It is the PHYSICAL LAYER which is driving everyone CRAZY!!!!
So in New York, we had over a thousand people, all gathered with more than a hundred vendors talking about cooling strategies, powering data centers with high voltage DC, monitoring practices and advances in Computational Fluid Dynamics. There were the cable managers, PDUs, batteries and floor tile systems. Layer-0 Physical Layer stuff is SO TANGIBLE and comes in a wide range of colors, TAN, GREY and BLACK!
All in all, a great use of time, a place to make or renew relationships across the industry, and a suitable challenge to each attendee's traditional ways of thinking about the challenges in building and operating the required data centers of today....
Posted by Mark Harris on Fri, May 14, 2010 @ 12:14 PM
With the new focus on EFFICIENCY within the data center, it is quite clear that there are TWO major sub-systems that actually comprise the 'data center'... the IT / Infrastructure stuff INSIDE the rooms (i.e. on the raise floor) and then the Facilities stuff which is distributed through the facility and outside in the back yards. For years, the IT and Facilites groups were autonomous, and simply expected the other to exist.
Today, it is very short-sighted to look at data center efficiency as ONLY a function of the Metrics available in the rooms themselves. We must not ignore the Metrics about the power generation and distribution and Cooling plants. Remember, for every WATT going into a room, it had to COME FROM somewhere, and it had to be COOLED in some way!
Modius recognized that need to a SINGLE system that gathers performance metrics from IT and Facilities and created the only distributed technology that has no limitations of scale or geography. It's pretty cool stuff (in my unbiased view! LOL)
Imagine being able to say "How much POWER is my Fortune 100 company using right now?" I bet the CIO and CFO would love to know that. "How much is Power costing me this month?", "What is the PUE of each of my data centers?", "What is my Carbon Footprint?", etc etc etc.
These answers are possible today, and Modius customers are doing so TODAY! Data Center Metrics live across the data center and facilities, and can be treated as parts of a single system--- if you want to!