Understanding DCIM

Data Center Infrastructure Management software is expected to be one of the key agents of transformation in the data center of today. We explore the benefits and challenges of implementing DCIM

Data Center Infrastructure Management was called a hot trend for 2013. As the year comes to a close, it’s being called one of the top technologies transforming today’s data center, by Data Center Journal.

If the pressure on data centers and their manager is increasing, then it definitely does become a transformational technology. Just look around you. The number of devices and the data we deal with on a daily basis has exploded.

For every 600 mobile phones, a server needs to be added at the data center, estimates Intel. As devices proliferate, expect the number of users to go up in 2014. Every enterprise today is adding more and more devices to their setup, and as devices add up, so does the load on the data center.

The volume of data is growing by 30-50% every year, says Forrester. There is pressure to virtualize and increase compute densities.

What does all this mean for data center managers?

They now need a way to assess how much computing would be needed by the business, over time, and plan for that while keeping the TCO issues in mind.

How much space and capacity do we have? When will we run out? Where should compute power be added, and how does that affect the power chain? What should move to the cloud? Which racks are overloaded? Which servers or racks are susceptible to failures or security issues? Which are the hot spots?

In many data centers, this information is stored across multiple systems, and there is no way to integrate the data and get a single view of what’s really going on. Often it requires a visit to the data center to confirm what’s captured in the various systems. And even then, the chain of connections from a device may not even be clear. 

This is where Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) tools come into play. The 451 Group defines DCIM “as a system that collects and manages information about a data center’s assets, resource use and operational status. This information is then distributed, analyzed and applied in ways that help managers meet business and service-oriented goals and optimize their data center’s performance.”

With a DCIM tool, the data center manager can quickly model and allocate space for new servers, manage power and network connectivity, in a single view or a few clicks. Options open up to be able to virtualize available capacity. Changes to be made to the assets become simple. This is also enabled by the clear visibility into the power and the network connections, thus bringing down the chances of overloads and failure significantly.

Shands HealthCare, a premier healthcare provider in Florida, USA has used DCIM to gain a better understanding and clearer picture of its data center resources. Joseph Keena, Manager of data center operations at Shands HealthCare talks about why they decided to go for a DCIM solution. He says, “Beyond trying to keep track of assets in a changing environment, we also were constantly doing a battle between power, space and cooling, just like any other data center. You solve one of those three issues, and then that drives one or both of the other items to be under capacity. So, we knew that a DCIM solution was needed in order for us to have a chance of keeping up with capacity planning and growth; and, to track what’s where and what we are doing in the data center. It was a natural progression—we were at that point that we needed to invest in a DCIM solution.”

What does DCIM have?

A DCIM solution has one accurate, authoritative database to house all data from across all data centers and sites of all physical assets, including data center layout, with detailed data for IT, power and HVAC equipment and end-to-end network and power cable connections. It has asset discovery and asset tracking tools to capture assets, their details, relationships and interdependencies.

A DCIM solution have graphical visualization, tracking and management of all data center assets and their related physical and logical attributes – servers, structured cable plants, networks, power infrastructure and cooling equipment. It also has automated tools to support prompt and reliable deployment of new systems and all their related physical and logical resources.

It integrates with real-time monitoring systems to collect actual power usage/environmental data to optimize capacity management, allowing review of real-time data vs. assumptions around nameplate data. It also has change management workflow procedures to ensure complete and accurate adds, changes and moves.

Capacity planning tools in DCIM solutions determine requirements for future floor and rack space, power, cooling expansion, what-if analysis and modeling. There is also simplified reporting to set operational goals, measure performance and drive improvement.

DCIM uses a holistic approach, which works as a bridge across organizational domains – facilities, networking and systems, filling all functional gaps; used by all data center domains and groups regardless of hierarchy, including managers, system administrators and technicians.

DCIM on the uptick

DCIM has gained tremendous ground over the past year, says the Uptime Institute. Its 2013 survey shows a huge 38% adoption share among the respondents, driven by the need for improved capacity management. 451 Research predicts the revenue of DCIM tools to grow at 44% CAGR by 2016. IDC predicts the DCIM revenue to touch $690 million in 2016, up from $ 426 million in 2013. Among the key suppliers of DCIM tools are Emerson Network Power, Schneider Electric, Raritan and Nlyte Software.

Challenges ahead

While the numbers look promising, things are not all that easy for enterprises to deploy DCIM. One of the key challenges is that of costs. According to 451 Research, “Although DCIM is not necessarily expensive when compared with other enterprise management software systems, it is rarely planned for, and many datacenter operators do not have a large budget for software implementations. Also, because DCIM crosses the typical divide between IT and facilities departments within companies, there are questions over whose budget should pay for DCIM.”

A key challenge is the lack of awareness about DCIM. Dr Ching-I Hsu, Chairman and CEO of Raritan says, “DCIM solutions are more than tools or widgets that you simply procure and turn on. Like CRM or ERP deployments, they are process solutions, requiring the alignment of problems, processes, and people. Successful DCIM deployments often call for fundamental changes in organizational work processes. So companies like Raritan need to educate and provide the tools that help data centers assess their operations and identify the key problems that they want to solve.”

Data centers also typically face many challenges at a time—power inefficiencies, compute densities, virtualization issues, and many others. The approach that some managers and vendors opt for is to look at a total solution. This could turn out to be very expensive. According to Frank Huang, Product Marketing Manager of Raritan Asia Pacific, a better approach is to start with the key challenge and work in a consultative mode keeping the customer’s total picture in mind.

But the benefits are huge

With DCIM in place, data center teams do not need to be on-site to identify status of assets, assess the power and network connections every time a change is to be made. This leads to reduction of wasted time and increases productivity.

A DCIM solution optimizes energy consumption. A data center manager can easily understand asset details and their physical power and network connections. This enables highly accurate capacity planning.

Take the example of British Airways, an early adopter of DCIM software. The airline wanted to extend its use with an easy to use, flexible solution that could make server allocation faster and provide instant reporting and real-time dashboards of power and cooling capacity. After much deliberation about various options, they chose to implement the dcTrack DCIM solution across their six locations. “The new DCIM software allows us to quickly allocate space for new servers, manage power and network connectivity, issue work orders and provide capacity planning across all British Airways data centers,” says Keith Bott, Service Manager, British Airways.

The risk of failures and downtime is considerably reduced with DCIM solutions. Changes, moves, adds at the facility can be done easily. This immediately reflects in the improved morale of the team and significantly brings down work pressure.

A DCIM solution when fully implemented can lead to a huge gain in confidence in capacity planning, analytics, and strategy and budget planning.

As the data center grows, locations increase, so do complexities and pressure on budgets. A good DCIM tool becomes imperative to arrive at an integrated view of the data center.