Datacenter PlannerDatacenter PlannerEfficient Capacity Planning, Documentation and Visualization

• How much rack space do I have left ?• Have I overloaded any of my racks ?• Where are all of our finance servers

located ?• How much power is in my data center

in Paris• What physical changes occurred globally

in the last 3 days• How much heat am I putting out,

do I have enough cooling?• Where do we install the new blade server• What will happen if we…

• Cooling causes too high energy bill• Too high IT energy cost • IT downtime due to too high capacity load • How can I utilize my existing capactities in

the most efficient way ?• How can I qualify scenarios for energy

efficiency improvement ?• How can I answer the daily questions:• How can I fulfill my regular reporting tasks

in the most efficient way ?• How can I achieve the best possible match

of datacenter documentation and reality ?• Analysis of planned changes and their

business impact

Daily Challenges in the DatacenterDaily Challenges in the Datacenter

ServiceProactiveReactiveAd-Hoc

Datacenter Maturity Model

Minimal IT Operations Limited Staff, part-time Limited or No documentation Unrestricted IT Access No Standard Change

Processes Outages Commonplace IT may not be mission critical No Predictability No SLA Audits

Inaccurate Documentation High Error Rates Limited repeatability/re-use Fragmented Monitoring Little SLA predictability Incident Fire Fighting mode

Some Change Management Fragmented Documentation Basic Charge-backs Limits on access Lower Error rates Focused Monitoring Root cause analysis

Service Driven Management Integrated Change-Management Holistic dynamic monitoring Alignment with Business Demands Formal Capacity Management Accurate Configuration database

Increasing Effort and Value

Gartner: Datacenter Maturity ModelGartner: Datacenter Maturity Model

20% 50% 25% 5%

+ +

Fragmented Spreadsheets Static CAD Drawings Proprietary Rack Configurators

ConsolidationConsolidation

Data Center Planner TM

• Detailed insight into the datacenter with consolidated dataabout IT-Assets, datacenter capacities and –projects.

• effcient planning, documentation, optimization and visualization.

Model

Plan

Design

Document

Report

Integrated SolutionIntegrated Solution

Detailed data center insight, with Rack View

Visualize port relationshipsCapacity planningReports

Analyze Asset Details and model ChangesAnalyze Asset Details and model Changes

• Items are placed and consumption and capacity data is aggregated

• Over 13,500 items

• Built-in form for shape requests

How does it work ?How does it work ?

• orange racks are consuming lots of power, indicating a limited resource for expansion and potential density issues

• Infrastructure Explorer displays a number of environmental capacities/states• Power• Space• Weight• Heat• Connectivity

Data Center Planner Floor Plan ViewData Center Planner Floor Plan View

• illustrates the amount of heat generated by rack in BTU/hr

Data Center Planner Floor Plan ViewData Center Planner Floor Plan View

• Detailed insight into consumed/available capacities

• Add, optimize, change by simple ´drag & drop´- operations

• The impact/changes in capacities are displayed immediately

Data Center Planner Rack ViewData Center Planner Rack View

Search for available capacities of whatever combination

such as power capacity, cooling capacity, weight, etc.

even across plans of several datacenter

Optimize Planning & Capacity UtilizationOptimize Planning & Capacity Utilization

Asset Reservation / Rack TimelineAsset Reservation / Rack Timeline

Each asset can have many user defined fields associated

Asset information is completely customizable for information such as– Asset tag– IP address– Warranty data– Business unit– Application type– Web links– …

Asset informationAsset information

It is possible to search for a particular asset across multiple floor plans and locations

Search criteria can be anything associated to an asset like IP address, host name, business owner, or model number

The racks highlighted identify where the asset is located

Searching for an AssetSearching for an Asset

Launch Out-of-Band Sessions (KVM/serial)Launch Out-of-Band Sessions (KVM/serial)

Excel- or PDF-document showing rack construction

Important for• Planning meetings• facility people• construction• documentation

Further reports via Crystal Reports

Monthly Capacity Trends by Floor Plan - Historical and Future

Data as of: m/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ssAM

Sep, 1 2008 – Feb 28, 2009

Plan - Plan 1Square Footage: 1000 Location: Atlanta, GA

Max Capacity

Heat(kW) Power(kW) Weight(lbs) Network Ports Space(ru)

Sep, 2008 40 1000 5000 50 500

Oct, 2008 60 34 3500 245 1000

Nov, 2008 45 400 2126 300 1257

Dec, 2008 40 1000 5000 50 500

Jan, 2009 80 800 3500 245 1000

Feb, 2009 90 900 2126 300 1257

Consumed

Heat(kW) Power(kW) Weight(lbs) Network Ports Space(ru)

Sep, 2008 40 1000 5000 50 500

Oct, 2008 60 34 3500 245 1000

Nov, 2008 45 400 2126 300 1257

Dec, 2008 40 1000 5000 50 500

Jan, 2009 80 800 3500 245 1000

Feb, 2009 90 900 2126 300 1257

Remaining

Heat(kW) Power(kW) Weight(lbs) Network Ports Space(ru)

Sep, 2008 40 1000 5000 50 500

Oct, 2008 60 34 3500 245 1000

Nov, 2008 45 400 2126 300 1257

Dec, 2008 40 1000 5000 50 500

Jan, 2009 80 800 3500 245 1000

Feb, 2009 90 900 2126 300 1257

Print Date/Time : m/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ssAM Page # of #

Sep, 2008

Oct, 2008

Nov, 2008

Dec, 2008

Jan, 2009

Feb, 2009

Mar, 2009

0

200

400

600

800

1000

Power (kW)

Consumed

Max Capacity

Exporting Data Center InformationExporting Data Center Information

Data Center Planner - Real-World PowerData Center Planner - Real-World Power Gain insight into actual rack

power consumption when moving, adding or changing inventory

Capacity - Understand how physical inventory impacts actual rack power

Reduce stranded capacity - Identify areas where power is available and install equipment to fully utilize capital investment

Data Center Planner Features Then and NowData Center Planner Features Then and NowFeature Data Center

Planner (V3)Data Center Planner (V4)

Simplify data center management with intuitive planning and design capabilities

X X

Visualize infrastructure from the data center to the rack

X X

Model current and future rack capacities X X

Track equipment throughout its lifecycle X X

Perform “what-if” scenarios X X

Allows access control via administrative restrictions

X

Provides real-world power usage X

Visualize end-to-end connection data X

Spanish language support X

Detailed documentation of the datacenter and the IT assets, quick identification and localization of IT-assets, queries

Allocate IT-assets and their cost to the business unitsand reporting

Efficient datacenter planning, optimum use of available capacities such as space, power, weight, cooling

Reduced operational cost by– Less physical inspections– Energy cost reduction– Higher IT staff efficiency

Higher IT availability

Efficient planning and management of datacenter changes, analysis and consideration of dependencies of IT-Assets and the implications of changes to the business

Evaluate and quantify energy efficiency strategies

“AMIE was the most intuitive data center capacity planning solution we used” – Online Auction Company

Data Center Planner SummaryData Center Planner Summary

Return on Investment in 6-12 MonthsReturn on Investment in 6-12 Months

,

Obtain significant productivity gains when: Provisioning assets Planning new racks and location space Preparing operational reports

Decrease MTTR by providing your IT staff with a realistic view of your data center Instantly locate devices by using the room and rack views Integrate with other Avocent solutions

oLog in and manage your devices (DSView management software)oPower cycle devices at the PDU level when necessary (Rack Power Manager)

Increased quality of service to the business Decommissioning old equipment Staff efficiency and productivity

Asset provisioning Cabinet/equipment planning Pre and post virtualization server management Spreadsheet and Visio/Auto-Cad elimination Operational reporting

Increased return in assetsIncrease utilization and lifespan of data center

Risk management Overheating/localized power overload risk reduction PDU infrastructure overload risk reduction

Data center migrations/changesReduced external costs in migrations and consolidations

The technology has led to tangible gains such as

savings in manpower and costs. For example,

by using Data Center Planner, Data Domain saved nearly $400,000

in one quarter by recovering unused rack space in the data center.

Case Study Case Study Critical Business Need

• Improve availability and time to market

Capability

• Gain greater manageability and visibility of data center systems, power consumption, planning and processes

How did Data Center Planner help?

• Centralized view of all data center systems

• Reduced power consumption, improving cooling by two degrees during extreme conditions

• Increased lifespan of the data center (through better planning)

• Delivered faster, more effective response to strategic projects

Increased system availability by 20 percent

Case StudyCase StudyCritical Business Need

• Improve efficiency and lower data center costs• Maintain a high level of availability with

fewer resources

Capability• Centralized documentation of data center assets,

planning tool to manage moves/adds/changes, determine capacities over time

How did Data Center Planner help?• Centralized view of data center• Reduced headcount needed to manage the data

center; staff were not lost, but could focus on larger, more complex projects

• Delivered instant and shared visibility into data center layout and configuration, capacity planning and project management

Reduced configuration administration by 50%