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DCIM Real World Deployment Best Practices Raritan, Inc. - Proprietary and Confidential Richard Brooke Sr. Trainer [email protected]
DCIM Real World Deployment Best Practices
Derek Finch Product Manager
Raritan, Inc. - Proprietary and Confidential
Richard Brooke
Sr. Trainer
Common Pain Points in Data Center Management
• Unable to locate assets
• Unable to know what is connected to what (manage relationships and dependencies)
• Unable to find available resources (rack space, power, cooling, network, IP addresses, etc)
• Unable to do accurate capacity planning
• Unable to manage change and enforce best practices and processes
• Unable to comply with internal and external regulatory audits
What Does an Enterprise Data Center Look Like?
Asset Tracking: Spreadsheets, Homegrown DBs
Floor Plan: AutoCAD, Visio Monitoring: Sitescan, Foreseer, Raritan, etc.
Cable/Net Tracking: Spreadsheets, Homegrown DBs Configuration: CiscoWorks, etc.
Monitoring: HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli
Asset Tracking: Spreadsheets, Homegrown DBs CMDB: HP OpenView, BMC BladeLogic, etc. Monitoring: HP Insight Manager, IBM Director
Tool
s
Facilities Networking Systems
Dom
ains
Raised Floor, UPS, PDU/RPP,
Rack PDUs CRACs, Probes
Mainframe, Servers, VMs,
Storage, Apps
Structured Cabling, LAN, SAN, WAN
How is the Data Center Operations Model Evolving?
Asset Tracking: Spreadsheets, Homegrown DBs
Floor Plan: AutoCAD, Visio
Monitoring: Sitescan, Foreseer, Raritan, etc.
Cable/Net Tracking: Spreadsheets, Homegrown DBs
Configuration: CiscoWorks, etc.
Monitoring: HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli
Asset Tracking: Spreadsheets, Homegrown DBs
CMDB: HP OpenView, BMC BladeLogic, etc.
Monitoring: HP Insight Manager, IBM Director
Tool
s
Facilities Networking Systems
Dom
ains
Raised Floor, UPS, PDU/RPP,
Rack PDUs CRACs, Probes
Mainframe, Servers, VMs,
Storage, Apps
Structured Cabling, LAN, SAN, WAN
Dom
ains
Data Center Operations
Executing Work Orders Racking and Stacking
Power Rack Connectivity Fiber and Copper Cable Patching
Manual Processes
• Labor-intensive processes
• Slow, time-consuming
• Unreliable
• Prone to conflict and errors
Costly
Unable to meet SLAs
Add New Device
Dispatch Personnel
to DC
Rack Space
Cabling Patch Panels
Network or SAN
Switches
Power Sockets
+ Capacity
Query Available
Resources IP Address
Space
Problematic
Power Sockets
+ Capacity
So What is the Solution?
Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) Systems
Where is the Industry Heading?
Gartner DCIM Model Evolution
Source: Extreme Data Centers David Cappuccio, Gartner Data Center Conference 2010
The 451Group DCIM Model
Source: 451 Group Andy Lawrence, The Evolution of DCIM, September 6, 2012
DCIM: Beyond the Hype and What is Achievable Today
IT + Facility Assets
Power Chain Infrastructure
Data Infrastructure
IT + Facility Assets
• Cabinets / Racks • Rackable Servers • Standalone Systems • Chassis / Blade Servers • Virtual Machines • Network / SAN Gear • Power Chain Items • CRACs • Environmental Probes
Power Chain Infrastructure
• UPS Banks • Floor PDUs • Panel Boards / RPPs • Busways • Circuit Breakers • Electrical Outlets • Rack PDUs
Data Infrastructure
• Structured Cabling • Fiber + Copper • Patch Panels • Network and SAN
Connectivity • IP Subnets • VLANs
DCIM becomes the gate
through which you enter the data center
Automate Provisioning Through Change Management
• Process-driven provisioning
• Capacity-based provisioning
• Work orders
• E-mail notifications
Request Issued
Request Updated
Request Approved
Request Rejected
Work Order Issued Work Order
CompletedRequest
CompletedConfigure
A real world DCIM story
Fast Forward
Why Did We Need DCIM?
Business Drivers
• Integration of IT and facilities
• New data center build project
• Remote management (true lights out)
Expected Benefits
• Automate manual processes
• Enable “what if” scenarios for change management
• Better space and energy utilization
• Streamline communications between all data center stakeholders
• Better problem management between facilities and IT
Our Search for DCIM
What to look for in DCIM
• Equal balance between IT and facilities features and functionality
• Standards-based, database connectivity, APIs, standard floor plans
• Seamless integration with existing enterprise asset management and change management tools
• Customization and configuration by end-users
• Simplicity and intuitiveness of the user interface and natural flow of information
Our Search for DCIM
Lessons Learned
• Mismatch of sales/marketing presentations vs. current product capabilities
• Seek references
• Establish a small proof of concept
• Total cost of ownership Watch out for hidden costs
• Add-on modules
• 3rd party licenses for SQL servers, change management engines, etc.
• Professional services for implementation and integration services
A Real World Experience Implementing DCIM
• Create project plan
• Engage all stakeholders
• Don’t do it all by yourself seek expert help
• Conduct a trial run (POC) in part of DC to validate plan
Implementation Best Practices
POC
• Define best sequence of tasks to build database
• Mock up data center floor plan
• Models library
• Product functionality
• Product integration
Lessons Learned
• Assign an internal dedicated PM
• Project plan must clearly define roles, responsibilities, resources, and dates
• Focus on quality of data collected and entered garbage in, garbage out
• Assign internal resource to become the resident expert
How to Maximize Your DCIM Operational Experience
• Secure buy-in of all operational stakeholders
• Launch and enforce a change control process
• Don’t allow unauthorized changes (without system-generated work orders)
• Be proactive in providing constant feedback to your vendor’s roadmap
• Keep on pursuing opportunities to integrate with other systems to eliminate double entry of data
Enforce Process
Integrate
Bridge IT + Facilities
Maximize DCIM Benefits with Integration
• Automate process of feeding general enterprise requests into DCIM • Eliminate double entry of data
Enterprise Change Management
• Federate DCIM asset database with enterprise CMDB • Eliminate double entry of data to create a single version of truth
Enterprise Asset Management
• Increase database accuracy • Increase rack space utilization
Electronic Asset Tracking
• Create a single pane of glass to manage and administer servers KVM Gateways
• Power monitoring (rack PDUs, branch circuit panel boards, UPS) • Building management systems (BMS/BAS)
Real-time Monitoring Tools
