Benefits of deploying data center management solution (DCIM) in your DC
In my previous article of ‘DCIM features’ I discussed some key features of data center management solution. In this post we will discuss some key benefits of deploying DCIM solution in your data center.
Network operations center’s life was not so easy before launch of DCIM solutions. Still in some DCs asset information is maintained in spreadsheets or in-house software. This practice may lead to incorrect & incomplete data about assets. For monitoring data center environment different monitoring tools are used for each aspects like bandwidth monitoring, performance & service monitoring etc. As monitoring data is present on different monitoring tools there is difficulty in collecting the monitoring information which is due to lack of integration of different monitoring tools. DC owner may face delays in delivering work orders due to inappropriate & poorly managed process of change management.
If any organization facing above issues then it should deploy DCIM solution.
For DC managers, DCIM software can completely minimize issues related to collecting information which is required to efficiently manage infrastructure. Investing in DCIM can give you following key benefits:
Real time infrastructure asset visibility:
Asset/Inventory management feature of DCIM will provide you the benefit of real time infrastructure visibility. It will allow you track thousands of critical assets of your DC. Also if there is any need of any kind of diagnosis you can check it out on your monitor for exact location of asset through auto asset discovery. There is no need to send employee physically on site. In few clicks you will get answers of questions like what assets my DC have? Where they are located, configured & deployed? Who is vendor? For which client it is deployed? Using answers of these questions you planning become stronger & easy for next deployments. This will definitely improve productivity of NOC engineers for server deployment process. Faster deployments will enhance customer satisfaction & so your business.
Resources – Capacity planning & demand management:
If it is not clear that where space is empty, which rack is filled then it is difficult to utilize existing space & resources efficiently. DCIM will answer you the answers of questions like how much space, assets, power do I have? Where best available place to deploy new device? When I will run out of resources? How do I manage my network & power connectivity? If you have this information in your hand then you can easily execute the client’s demand. DCIM solutions can be used to manage capacity of the racks, blades etc. You can predict risk of capacity limitations well before it occurs & you can take appropriate action.
Faster & improved change management process:
DCIM solution offers more in lined & better change management process. DCIM automates the change management process areas and logs the changes made in equipments. DCIM will take care of questions like how to manage change? What will be the impact of change? When change order will complete? Who will do the change work? What is current status of change process? Integrated ITIL change management process will definitely improve the speed of change request implementation.
Integrated Network Monitoring, Power monitoring & Environmental monitoring (all in one):
Matured DCIM solution like eMagic will take care of total infrastructure monitoring & give benefit of centralized monitoring. If you have set correct monitoring parameters for the devices then you can identify the weaknesses in the setup that may result in system failure.
Therefore, you can have the environmental failure taken care of before anything untoward occurs, setting your business back. Live alerts & notifications helps in quick decision making. DCIM will help you to find out answers like are we over cooling the infrastructure and wasting? How much energy /power is being consumed?
Return on investment (ROI):
After investing on DCIM, you will get benefits like enhanced space & energy efficiency that will help to get rid of unnecessary expenditure on power, space and other operational cost. Improved Availability& Manageability of data center, reduce time to find root cause of issues.
For data center administrators the top priorities are maintaining high availability, conserving resources & reducing cost.
A true DCIM solution can help you to keep your infrastructure healthy &balanced with help of above mentioned benefits.
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