DSCP or ToS in Flexible NetFlow Configurations
Filed under: environmental monitoring, General, IPFIX, nBox, NetFlow, NetFlow probes
Do you want to export ToS or DSCP in your Flexible NetFlow export? This is an interesting question and I’ll do my best to answer it. The NetFlow RFC 3954 makes reference to ToS as the 5th field and makes NO reference to DSCP. The IPFIX standard information elements outlined in RFC 5102 lists both ToS (5) and ipDiffServCodePoint (195). Why duplicate efforts, aren’t they the same thing? NO!
Why have Both?
ToS is an 8 bit field that includes DSCP which is a 6 bit field. This being said, I could not find a Flexible NetFlow document that would make reference to both however, I know Cisco sometimes supports both in the same export.
Be aware that Cisco NetFlow v5 and traditional NetFlow v9 only export ToS. I’m sure you are aware that FnF is an extension of NetFlow v9 and supports both ToS and / or DSCP depending on the implementation.
* Cisco NBAR (requires FnF) for example, it will export both ToS = ipClassOfService (5) and DSCP ipDiffServCodePoint (195). See below.
- Cisco nBar Exports ToS & DSCP
Using maps to keep an eye on your sensors
Filed under: environmental monitoring, General, Intelligent Sensors
I’ve wrote a lot lately about the expandability of the SecurityProbe line of products and getting the most out of your environmental monitoring system, but with the idea of virtually unlimited expandability comes the problem of keeping track of the hundreds of dry contacts and sensors that are integrated into your monitoring system. When you get a critical alert on temperature sensor 018, do you know where that is located? This can be a be an especially big problem for larger facilities, like college campuses, where the sensors are gathering information from multiple buildings spread out over a large area. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see at a quick glance where individual sensors are located and if there is a problem. That is exactly what the mapping feature on the SecurityProbe is designed to do. Read more
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter
Raising the Temperature Bar
On the heels of the Earth Hour campaign that occurred this past Sunday, I’d like to give a shout out to the Green IT website. The website was launched last week and is in preparation for International Green IT Awareness Week, scheduled for June 1-7. Check out the site for some great tips for making data centers, and IT in general, more energy efficient. Almost all of the 100 ideas will end up saving a company some money, some require an initial investment in more efficient equipment, but some are just simple changes in behavior and require little more than a shift in thinking to make a sizable dent in energy costs. Read more
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter
The benefits of a Ravica smoke detector
Filed under: environmental monitoring, General, SensorProbes, smoke detector
Everyone knows how important it is to keep facility smoke detectors in good working order. Smoke
detectors are a vital part of the life/safety plan in all residential and commercial buildings. In many situations a standard, battery-operated smoke detector is all you need. It’s reliable, it’s loud, and it gets the job done. However, in some situations the stand alone alarm might not be enough. If the smoke detector is located in an area that is not regularly occupied, like a storage warehouse, there might not be anyone around to hear that loud alarm. Or, what if the emergency occurs after business hours? It is the proverbial tree falling in the forest, but in the case of a fire, the damage will ring loud and clear, even if no one was around to hear the initial alarm. For these kinds of situations, a smoke alarm that ties into a web-based environmental monitoring system is a smart idea.
Read more
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Virtually unlimited expandability for the SecurityProbe . . . connect up to 600 sensors to one unit!
Filed under: environmental monitoring, General, Ravica News, SensorProbes
The majority of Ravica customers that I talk with are looking to monitor a small number of specific environmental conditions—sometimes that is monitoring the temperature and humidity in the data center or detecting water leaks in a second home. For these applications, the BitSight2 and BitSight8 sensor probe models are great environmental monitoring solutions at an affordable price. However, there are times when a customer has a need to monitor many, many more conditions and input devices. For these customers, I’d like to cover the expandability features of the newest SecurityProbe model.
In the past, some of the SecurityProbe advantages included; advanced notification options, great video capabilities and the ability to connect up to 8 sensor probes per unit. The newest SecurityProbe retains all of these great features and adds four RJ-45 expansion ports to the front of the box which allows the connection of up to four expansion units. There are two expansion units options available: the E-opto16 and the E-sensor8.
With the E-opto16, you get 16 isolated dry contact inputs. A typical application for this expansion module would be to connect the dry contact to alarm panels and create custom alerts for each of the alarms. For example, one could have a dry contact connected to the fire alarm, another to the security alarm, and another to the AED cabinet. Each dry contact could then be set up to automatically call the respective emergency operator, in these cases the fire department, police, or paramedics. An unlimited number of E-opto16’s can be daisy-chained to accommodate up to 600 different dry contact inputs.
If you are more interested in increasing the number of intelligent sensors that can be monitored, there is the E-sensor8 that adds 8 sensor ports. Like the E-opto16, the E-sensor8 can be daisy-chained to allow the monitoring of up to 600 sensors through a single SecurityProbe. The two expansion units are also compatible with each other , giving the user complete control in designing the combination of dry contacts and sensors that works for their unique needs.
If you’d like more information on these new expansion modules, give us a call at 207.324.8173. We’d love to help you design an environmental monitoring system that does just what you need it to do.
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter
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
Setting up voice/SMS notifications with Skype
One of the great things about a web-based environmental monitoring system is the ability to set-up notifications in a wide variety of ways to make sure that emergency situations do not go un-noticed. This saves on the response time that can easily be the difference between averting a disaster and having to face substantial losses of data or property. The SecurityProbe’s user friendly web-interface provides a number of options for setting up notifications for every sensor available in the Ravica line. One of the newest features is the ability to set up voice and SMS text notifications using Skype.
~Jessica
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Security solutions for car dealership lots
Continuing on my recent security kick—it is an unfortunate side effect of being both a news junkie and obsessed with TV detective shows—today, I dive headlong into the problem of securing dealership lots. This problem came to my attention as I was researching motion detectors for last week’s post on data center security.
Most car dealerships have the unique problem of needing to store very expensive inventory in outdoor lots, therefore theft and vandalism are major security concerns. Some larger dealerships can contract outside security firms to remotely monitor their lots, but what about small, local dealerships? With new car dealerships all over the country being hit hard by the financial problems of the major car makers, an affordable security option that can be monitored successfully by existing dealership staff is in order. Read more
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter
Temperature and humidity monitoring in storage facilities
Filed under: General, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
In college, I was enrolled in a program that rotated academic quarters with work quarters. I took advantage of my work quarters to do a little traveling around the country and as a result I ended up moving all my stuff in and out of storage units quite a bit. Of course as a college student, I didn’t really have many valuable items that needed to be protected from temperature fluctuations. However, a lot of people do use storage facilities during transitional periods to store valuable items like furniture, electronics, and musical instruments that are highly sensitive to temperature and humidity fluctuations. Even papers and books can be damaged in a high humidity environment. This problem came to my attention today when a customer called seeking a solution for monitoring the temperature and humidity in some of the units at the mini-storage he owned. Read more
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Happy Holidays from Ravica!
Happy Holidays everyone! As I was trying to come up with some way to tie-in Christmas Eve with environmental monitoring, I discovered that it was a completely futile activity. I mean, it’s Christmas Eve for goodness sakes. I’m sure you all ha
ve more important things to think about, like picking out those last minute gifts, partaking of a little eggnog, and gathering with co-workers, friends, and family.
So, instead of touting the virtues of our SensorProbes, I would just like to thank all of our wonderful customers for your business over the past year. We look forward to providing you with quality products and service in the upcoming year! And remember, the entire Ravica line of products come with unlimited lifetime support. That is our holiday (and everyday) gift to you!
So Happy Holidays from all of us here at Ravica! We wish you a very joyous and prosperous New Year!
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter