Is an environmentally sustainable data center possible?
One of the biggest concerns for IT facility managers is monitoring the temperature in data centers and server rooms to make sure that the excessive heat produced by hardware is not accumulating to dangerous levels that can overheat the servers. This is an important task for the obvious reason that overheated equipment can lead to expensive hardware damage and loss of data. However, conventional HVAC systems that use chilled forced air to cool data centers are highly inefficient with regards to energy consumption and therefore indirectly effect CO2 emissions. Being a bit of a green building geek, I looked up some examples of data centers that are using new (and old) technology for lower impact cooling. Read more
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter
SNMP Temperature Monitoring
Filed under: Data Center, SensorProbes, airflow monitoring, environmental monitoring, temperature monitoring
Whenever we buy anything for the company, I always ask if it can be connected to the network and monitored with SNMP. For example, when a new HVAC system was installed in our building, I asked if it was going to be SNMP manageable. The contractor looked at me like I was speaking Greek. Out of curiosity, I decided to search on the idea and found this company called Chipkin that makes an SNMP gateway, as does the s4group.
Why do I care about SNMP?
I care about SNMP because I want to manage everything from a central location. We use MyView in Scrutinizer. From a central location, we can monitor the network, the call center and, if we wanted to, the coffee pot.
BTW: Fugoo is considering a marketing plan for their network connected coffee maker, however, it lacks support for SNMP and the Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol.
Event monitoring systems make understaffed data centers run smoother
According to Symantec’s latest “State of the Data Center” report, which was released early last week, half of all IT executives say their data centers are extremely understaffed. With the economy still struggling to get moving again, it is no wonder that network engineers and facility managers are having to find new ways to get the most out of their stagnant or shrinking staff and resources.
Less staff means more remote monitoring for many organizations. Having a remote monitoring system, like the SecurityProbe, can help lighten the load of working with less. With a price point that usually falls below $2,000 for a complete system, it can mean a considerable savings over staffing each location, or even worse, not monitoring it all. In this scenario, one person can monitor the well-being of several locations.
Physical Security for Data Centers
Data centers house some of the most valuable and irreplaceable assets for any organization. For this reason, physical security is of the utmost importance when designing a data center. Depending on the size and budget of the organization, physical security measures can include everything from solid floor-to-deck concrete partitions to biometrics screening.
There should also be a number of sensors in place that can detect when anyone, authorized or unauthorized, accesses the data center. The following 5 tips show how Ravica can offer effective solutions for that final line of defense. Read more
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter
Security monitoring – camera applications
Our customers that are looking to take environmental monitoring to another level often ask about our camera monitoring support. I thought a short article on the applications would be useful to some of our regular readers.
Sometimes it’s fun to brainstorm about SensorProbes
Yesterday, Jon came over to me and said, “Jim you are going to like this one!” Jon knows that I am a geek at heart and love to find new and exciting ways to integrate technology into the real world. I was intrigued.
A customer called Jon and had an interesting idea. His goal was to detect traffic coming in and out of a hall way with our motion detection probes. The server room was in the middle of the two entrances. This means you could have two points of entry. He wanted to use our motion sensors to feed his soon to be written application.
At this point my mind started to race. I was amazed at what I thought was a simple, yet practical, application of these probes. I was dazed by the logic in the condition statements that would have to be created to eliminate false positives. Yes, in those few minutes, I felt that I was part of that project.
Sadly, this Nirvanic state did not last long. I needed to attend to a few of my other customer’s issues. When the day settled down, I started to think more about this request.
The first question I had was, “Why would you want to do this?” Jon gave a few reasons, but I forgot what they were. So I came up with my own theory. He wanted to see when someone came in and when someone came out of a room. In this case, the two data points would be needed.
The second question would be, “Can we detect this?” Sure, that wouldn’t be an issue. We would be able to detect when a person goes past a motion sensor. We would then wait until that sensor is triggered again, meaning they went back the same way. Or until the other sensor was triggered, meaning they went back via the other hall. 
The third question’s answer is still in progress, “What logic will be used?” We have to have logic that will eliminate false positives, people just walking down the hall and failing to detect an entry.
I suggested adding a dry contact to the door. This would add a third data point and make detection a lot easier. When the door opens or closes, we would know when some one has passed through it’s threshold.
I don’t know what the outcome will be for this project, but I did see the purchase order come in. I will update the blog when we get the final results!
- JimmyD
Minimize network downtime by monitoring temperature in the data room
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
Infrastructure stability is constantly at the forefront of network planning and management. A good data center needs to be well organized and structured for clean operations, but it also needs to be appropriately optimized to guard against environmental disasters. Now, when I say disasters, I don’t necessarily mean typhoons and earthquakes. Even something as simple as an air conditioner losing power and the temperature rising to dangerous levels could be a disaster.
While a building management system can help optimize air flow and lower temperatures, they are not fail proof. That’s where Ravica comes in. Ravica provides some of the largest companies, with the most complex data centers, with solutions that ensure the integrity of environmental conditions within the data room. Not only can our intelligent temperature and humidity sensors tell you when conditions have become hazardous to your equipment, but our SensorProbes can take action as well.
How to monitor data room temperature
Data room temperature monitoring can can involve more than just hanging a thermometer on the wall. Measurements should be taken from at least two locations
Isn’t as simple as a thermometer. There a little issue called airflow monitoring that needs to be in places as well. If you already own a BitSight or SensorProbe, you probably have a spare port.
Why not add another temperature sensor for across the room or an airflow sensor so that you have a more ambient environmental monitoring solution for very little money?
- Mike
How to reduce false positives and frequent temperature alerts
Filed under: Data Center, SensorProbes, environmental monitoring, temperature monitoring
Previously, I wrote about managing the sensitivity of your motion detector to prevent or reduce false positives from normal environmental motion, while maintaining the security that the motion detector sensor provides. I thought I would elaborate on the subject by providing some tips on how to limit frequent alerts and false positives for any environmental monitoring sensor, like temperature.
As I mentioned before, the “continuous time to report,” or “rearm” as it is called on the SecurityProbe, are an excellent way to say, “Don’t alert me as soon as a sensor goes into a ‘warning’ or ‘critical’ status. However, if it has been in a ‘warning’ state for 30 seconds, let me know.”
Another way to limit how often – or how easily – your BitSight2 or SecurityProbe sends you Skype alerts or emails is to adjust the “reading offset” field, which can be found under each sensor’s advanced settings. The “reading offset” forces the sensor’s reading to move over or under a certainly value before generating an alarm. So basically, if your temperature upper “warning” threshold is set to 80 degrees and your “reading offset” is set to 2, and the current temperature is 79 degrees, then your SensorProbe will not alarm until the temperature drops another degree.
This prohibits the sensor from being right on the verge of a threshold and consistently bouncing between two statuses. You don’t want 20 emails in your inbox because the temperature in your data center is exactly on your threshold and wobbling back forth between “normal” and “warning.”
Another way of limiting alerts during off hours, maintenance windows or times when you are not really concerned with the readings breaching a threshold is to use the calendar feature. Please note that the calendar feature is available only on the SecurityProbe line of SensorProbes.
Block off times that you do not wish to receive alerts and the SecurityProbe will ignore the breached thresholds during those time frames. Perhaps you don’t want to receive alerts during the day, because people are always present and aware of the environmental conditions in the locations you are monitoring. However, maybe you want the temperature of your walk-in cooler monitored at night, when no one is in the building.
Whatever the reason, these are two great tips for better managing your alarms. This ensures that your alarms are more meaningful and so when you or you staff see an alert from your BitSight2 or SecurityProbe, you know it is time to act.
~ Jon Mills
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Ravica’s Sensor Controlled Relay – The Rosetta Stone?
Filed under: Data Center, airflow monitoring, environmental monitoring
A few weeks ago I talked about using the sensor controlled relay to turn on lights once an alarm had been triggered. In this blog I wanted to give another example of how versatile these units can be.
Solutions . . .
A great example is the solution that I found for a local amusement park. One of their outdoor venues was having an 
issue with their digital photography equipment overheating. It wasn’t economical to add air condition to the unit, so they needed to find a way to turn on multiple overhead fans automatically.
The management of this unit fell under the IT department, and the admin wanted to remotely monitor the data from his office (or any other portable device). The end solution was to monitor multiple environmental variables with the Ravica Sensor Probe and use the Sensor Controlled Relay to switch on the fan when the room temperature rises beyond the threshold level.
Since the sensor control unit has a user friendly web interface and an autosense feature, setting up the Sensor Controlled Relay is easy. The Sensor Controlled Relay can also be controlled via external computers, using the included SNMP command line utilities either interactively or programmatically.
From the unit itself, you can monitor the status of the Sensor Controlled Relay by four LEDs on the board. You can also monitor the unit remotely by using SNMP traps or the web interface, as well as e-mail and SMS alerts.
Implementation . . .
“The Sensor Controlled Relay provides 1 high-power SPDT 5V relay, with the maximum load up to 15A at 220 VAC. It includes Metal Oxide Varistors (MOVs) and Snubber circuits to protect the open contacts of the relays from high voltage spikes or noise transients. It monitors the power and load, and accepts a control signal, which is sent from the SensorProbe.”
We outsourced a local contractor to do the electrical work and the end result was better then we expected. Not only did we eliminate the equipment from overheating, but we are also able to trend the temp of the units over a given amount of time. This gave the admin a better picture of demand and heat generation.
Another thing to remember is the inlaid protection of this sensor. The Sensor Controlled Relay, it has a built in 16Amp circuit breaker and a 15Amp fuse (380 VAC, 125 VDC) giving it double protection for the external devices and possible damages by electrical fault. This assures protection for your sensor and your investment.
Conclusion . . .
As you can see, the Ravica Sensor Controlled Relay has many uses. It’s ability to control an array of analog devices makes it a versatile solution. It’s ability to monitor and protect itself make it a smart investment. That is why I recommend it every chance that I get.
- JimmyD