Foolish Assumptions

It has been said that most assumptions have outlived their use-
lessness, but I assume a fe thin s nonetheless

Mainly, I assume you re an IT e ecuti e, data center mana er, IT

mana er, or facilities mana er. As such, I assume you re some-
what familiar with at least some of the topics discussed in this
boo , but you ant to learn more about ho DCIM is e ol in to
become more strategic and functional in the modern enterprise.

If that describes you, you re in the ri ht lace If it doesn t, ee

readin any ay. It s a reat boo , and you ll learn a fe thin s
about DCIM.

Icons Used in This Book

Throu hout this boo , I use icons to call attention to im ortant
information. Here s hat you can e ect

This icon points out information or a concept that may well be

orth committin to your non olatile memory

This icon e lains the ar on beneath the ar on and is the stuff

le ends ell, nerds are made of

Ti s are a reciated, but ne er e ected, and I sure ho e you

appreciate these useful nuggets of information.

This is the stuff your mother arned you about. Well, robably
not, but these alerts do offer ractical ad ice.

Beyond the Book

If you nd yourself at the end of this boo , onderin Where can
I learn more , ust o to www.nlyte.com.

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 IN THIS CHAPTER
» Understanding the different elements of
DCIM

» Achieving different goals for different

stakeholders

» Going beyond the data center with DCIM

» Getting strategic with your DCIM

implementation

Chapter 1
DCIM 101

I
n this chapter, you learn the basics of data center infrastructure
management (DCIM): what it is, what it does, how it supports
different oals ithin your or ani ation, hat it can do beyond
your data center, and how it plays a strategic role in an
or ani ation.

Identifying the Components of DCIM

To effecti ely mana e today s data centers, enter rise infrastruc-
ture and operations (I&O) teams require a complete suite of tools
and solutions that ro ide the follo in ca abilities across build-
ing management systems (BMSs), on-premises data centers,
IT ser ice mana ement ITSM , ublic and ri ate clouds, and
nance systems, amon others see Fi ure

» Asset discovery
» Asset management
» Facilities insight
» Power management
» Machine learning
» Workload insight

CHAPTER 1 DCIM 101 3

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 FIGURE 1-1: DCIM provides a complete suite of tools and solutions to manage
data center infrastructure across di erent locations and systems

A BMS is a centrali ed, net or ed system of hard are and soft-

are that monitors and controls a buildin s facility systems
includin electrical systems re and ood safety li htin sys-
tems mechanical systems security and sur eillance systems
ater su ly and lumbin and heatin , entilation, and air con-
ditionin HVAC .

O er the course of its e olution, DCIM has become a mana e-

ment extension to a number of other systems, including asset
and ser ice mana ement, nancial and human resource infor-
mation systems HRISs , and other core business systems.
A ell desi ned DCIM solution uanti es the costs associated
ith mo in , addin , or chan in or loads on the data center
oor or in the hybrid cloud to ensure o timal or load lacement.
It understands the cost and complexity of the operation of those
assets and clearly identi es the alue that each asset ro ides
o er its life s an.

Fi ure sho s ho DCIM stands bet een IT and facilities and

oins them to ether. The hysical assets of the facility such
as oor s ace, electrical o er, en ironmental control, and
coolin are monitored and controlled by DCIM rocesses,
hich then interface ith the irtual infrastructure o erseen by

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 the IT function. The DCIM suite ro ides an o er ie of system
health and functioning and enables drilling down to any desired
le el of detail for ne rained control of o erations.

FIGURE 1-2: DCIM works with ITSM and other instrumentation to support
capacity planning and analytics reporting and business intelligence

Key capabilities and features of DCIM software include the

following:

» Asset life-cycle management

• Get detailed information about your assets and

en ironment

• Manage information with robust dashboards and

reporting

• Increase e ibility to wor in any en ironment

• Provide support for receiving, provisioning, making

changes, doing a tech refresh, and decommissioning
goods
» Capacity planning

• Visualize space, cooling, power network, connections,

storage and irtuali ation

• Enable proactive versus reactive data center

management

• Predict data center life span with accuracy and

con dence

CHAPTER 1 DCIM 101 5

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 » Real-time data collection

• Trac power cooling C usage and alarms

• Integrate real time analytics le eraging arti cial intelli-

gence and machine learning

• Report on detailed rack, server, and workload power and

cooling metrics

• Avert bottlenecks with global visibility of worldwide

operations
» Automated workflow and change management

• Coordinate activities across independent departmental

resources

• Ensure change management requests are compiled

correctly and in a timely manner

• Eliminate communication gaps between facilities and IT

» Bidirectional systems integration

• utomate changes to the data center oor for physical

install mo e add change processes

• Deli er end to end isibility of time and costs

• utomate reconciliation of physical assets to con gura-

tion items

• Enable isibility of physical connecti ity dependencies

• alidate locations

• Map irtual to physical dependencies

» Audit and reporting

• og all asset changes accurately and completely

• erify proper con guration was e ecuted according to

re uest

• Automate reports to reduce hundreds of man hours for

manual processes

• Identify key performance indicator (KPI) metrics and

discrepancies instantly

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