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Allen Yang
July 28, 2010
At Raritan’s data centers, we integrate network monitoring and management with console management and power management into a single global IT dashboard. From the IT dashboard, IT members can see the current hot issues and track their progresses, or click into the network monitoring system to see the details of topology map and network and servers health. What’s cool is that, with Dominion PX, the network monitor also displays environmental sensor information such as the temperature on the same screen, making it really convenient for IT members. The only glitch was that we initially forgot to make it clear that the temperature was reported in 1/10 Celcius units, I almost had a heart attack when I saw the temperature numbers for the first time.
The dashboard summarizes power consumption information for each data center; for details, IT administrators can then click through to access Power IQ. This is convenient enough for now; but we are thinking to correlate the server utilization with data center power consumption in the future. And we are waiting for the next release of Power IQ to calculate data center PUE numbers as we are now calculating that manually.
After we integrated network management with power management, we are currently integrating Raritan CC-SG and KVM into the same IT dashboard to provide the same one-click convenience of securely accessing servers and VMs through Raritan CC-SG/KVM devices. We can do this all because of Raritan’s support for open standards and popular AA services including SNMP, IPMI and Active Directory in its products. It feels really good to see that Raritan products integrate easily with popular network management tools.
Dorothy Ochs
July 26, 2010
Full Power: Join us as we share our ideas on how to efficiently power your data center and impact your bottom line.
Energy is the single largest expense of data center operations. Improving efficiency is the surest way to impact your bottom line.
Join us for a first-of-its-kind energy summit featuring power players from Raritan, Teledata Communications, Federspiel Controls, and Power Assure. Learn from the experts how to capitalize on data center energy efficiency as they debunk common misconceptions and illustrate:
July 19, 2010
How do you use PUE to minimize wasted power? How do you identify stranded power and thereby possibly delay the construction of a very expensive new data center? How do justify the investment to gather detailed power information? Attend our Data Center Power Savings presentation at BICSI and learn how.
BICSI Region Meeting - Indianapolis, IN *
IUPUI Campus Center
420 University Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN 46202
*source: www.bicsi.org/event_details.aspx?sessionaltcd=MT-NCRGN-IN-0710
Dorothy Ochs
July 7, 2010
This conference is the premier forum to bring Government and Industry together to openly communicate commercial best business practices and government implementations. Learn about Raritan’s latest KVM, power and infrastructure management solutions. For more info, visit http://www.afcea.org/events/landwarnet/10/intro.asp.
June 29, 2010
Many IT professionals battle with the issue of gaining convenient “single pane of glass” access to multi-vendor and multi-technology data center servers, equipment and devices. Not only do an overwhelming majority of data centers include servers from different vendors, but they also require an array of methods to access and control them. Virtualized servers, embedded service processors (ESP), servers with KVM ports, intelligent PDU’s, and serial access routers all require frequent access and maintenance.
To meet this need, centralized management systems must to be able to support access to virtual machines and ESP-ready servers — in addition to the traditional KVM access to which we’re all accustomed.
Many administrators are implementing a hybrid approach, while others continue to expand on their KVM footprint because of its inherent performance, manageability and security features. Cost is also an obvious consideration.
Performance: ESP management features can be less “clean” and less convenient than a full-featured KVM platform. KVM solutions provide optimal video quality at any bandwidth, a broad choice of remote clients, and robust features like video scaling, full-screen mode, and Absolute Mouse Synchronization. There are also more choices when it comes to building redundancy and failover functions into the solution.
Manageability: KVM switches typically provide “plug and play” deployment features. And configuring a single KVM switch takes much less time than configuring 64 embedded processors. Although server vendors claim automatic ESP discovery, IP address ranges must be provided to the management interface. Also, each ESP physical connection requires network setup, user privileges, SNMP scripting, etc. Comparatively, a heterogeneous management system — if designed properly — can be set up quickly, provides thorough reporting capabilities and delivers centralized user rights management and authorization.
Security: Centralized authentication management is critical; not only for efficient user management — but also to ensure that the right people have access to the right equipment. Built-in ESPs are often lacking in this area.
Costs: ESPs often incur incremental cost for advanced features. They may be advertised as free, but embedded solutions may not include rights to advanced features; licenses for those are additional — as much as $500 per port. The average KVM over IP solution comes in at around $200 per server. Also, only one IP address is needed per KVM switch, while each ESP typically uses up another one on its own. The average TCO for a network port in a data center is $200. With the use of a 32 or 64 port KVM switch, a 32 to 64-to1 reduction can be made in IP addresses, network ports and cable runs.
Local Port: If there is a network failure, KVM solutions typically provide local access; embedded solutions do not.
Of course, some homework is needed to help determine if traditional KVM or ESPs are the better match for your organization. Whichever you choose, your management system should be able to accommodate both.