Temperature monitoring software
Filed under: environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
Our data center temperature gets hot. We have loads of switches, routers and servers, and the heat produced can be substantial. We have software to report on sFlow, NetFlow, SNMP, syslogs, traps, etc., and of course we have temperature monitoring software as well.
In the palm of my hand
We obviously use our temperature monitoring probes, which also take care of humidity monitoring. Look how small these things are:
Since the one probe can do both temperature and humidity sensing, the second port can be used to detect water, smoke, or any of our other environmental monitoring sensors.
No temperature monitoring program needed
This little device has a web server built in, so you can hit it with an IE or FireFox web browser. The unit is self contained, and prices start at $250. It also supports SNMP. Check out the live environmental monitoring demos:
BitSight2 Demo – Password=”ravica”
SecurityProbe Demo – No password required
This is really cool stuff at a great value. Call ravica.com about these at (207) 324-8173.
- Mike
Humidity monitoring for a walk-in humidor
Filed under: SensorProbes, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
So maybe you haven’t already investigated how to build a walkin-humidor for storing your extensive cigar collection. Maybe you have never smoked a cigar in your life, and are totally against the practice – that’s okay. However, if you are a tobacconist, than you will definitely be able to appreciate what one of our customers did to ensure just the right level of temperature and humidity in his customized smoke lounge and walk-in humidor.
First he researched exactly what was needed to build the actual enclosure (lots of Spanish Cedar) and built it. Then, knowing that the air in the room would need to be kept moist (recommended humidity level is around 70%), he purchased a humidifier from Bemis that would match the decor. It is equally important that the room stay at, or very near, 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So, he installed a in-wall forced-air heater, to ensure that the temperature remained constant. However, neither the humidifier nor the heater should be running all of the time. So using a BitSight8, a few single port temperature and humidity sensors, placed at key areas around the room, and a sensor controlled relay, he was able to accomplish his goal. Now, the humidifier and the heater turn on automatically when the temp or humidity reach the desired thresholds. All of this was easily configured in the BitSight’s web-based user interface.
So if you are a cigar aficionado or not, it is easy to see just how many different scenarios in the home or office call for a controlled environment. All it takes to avoid potential disaster is good planning and an even better environmental monitoring system in place. That’s where we come in!
~ Jon Mills
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Yahoo powers data center using Niagara Falls; Google raises data center temperatures
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
If I received an invitation to visit the offices of Google and Yahoo, I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time snooping 
around the desk of the company founders. I’d rather spend my time checking out their data centers. Just imagine being among the machines that crunch all that search and email data zipping around the world. Just imagine what the physical security must be like at their data centers…
Yahoo last month announced plans to build its greenest data center in Lockport, N.Y. Yahoo co-founder and Chief Yahoo David Filo explains in his blog that the data center will be designed to use 100% outside air to cool the servers. And the resource used to power the data center and the servers will be the renewable hydroelectric power from the Niagara Falls. Read more
Temperature monitoring system for cold food storage
Filed under: Security Monitoring, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
Much of the time on this blog we focus on environmental monitoring in the server room, simply because that is the most common application for our hardware. However, that is not to say it is the only application for our hardware.
Today, I would like to share another customer experience from the point of view of a restaurant that needed a solution, fast. This restaurant, we’ll call it Larry’s Lobster Shack (we’re in Maine, we love lobster), had a major disaster; their walk-in cooler died. Yes, that’s the big walk-in refrigerator that stored all of their perishable goods. The pertinent issue here was that the refrigerator died just after closing time, so what happened? That’s right, the temperature continually rose all night long. So when Larry came in to open The Lobster Shack the next day, he immediately noticed the problem and called a repair man. Unfortunately, the necessary part to fix the compressor was going to take a day to get in. That means Larry was going to have to discard all of the food in his walk-in cooler. By the time everything was back up and running, the temperature had risen too much.
That’s when Larry called Ravica looking for help. He couldn’t take the chance that this would happen again. If he had known as soon as the cooler’s temperature had gone out of its normal operating range, he could have acted sooner and possible saved his stock of food. Larry didn’t only lose all of the food in his cooler, but he couldn’t open The Lobster Shack that day with no food to serve. Well, the lobsters were still alive in their tank, but it hardly seemed right to serve them with nothing else, and as the only option for customers.
The thermostat of the walk-in refrigerator at Larry’s Lobster Shack is set to 38 degrees Fahrenheit with a 3 degree differential. That means when the temp rises to 41 degrees, the thermostat closes and the compressor and condenser fan comes on. When the temp falls to 35 degrees, the reverse happens.
To set Larry up with temperature monitoring for his cooler, all he needed was a BitSight2 and a single port temperature and humidity SensorRemote (he figured when it comes to food storage, he should be aware of the moister in the cooler as well). He mounted the BitSight2 outside the cooler, then ran some cabling inside the cooler and mounted the sensor there. The process was easy enough that Larry did it himself.
From there Larry was able to configure his BitSight2 with the appropriate temperature and humidity thresholds. Now, if the temp rises to 42 degrees (remember, that is outside the cooler’s normal operating range, so the compressor and condenser fans should have turned on) and stays there for more than 20 minutes, then Larry gets a text message and an email.
Larry has since opened two new locations in different parts of the state. In each location he installed another environmental monitoring system. He even added a security sensor to the door of his walk-in coolers, so that he gets an alert if one of the employees leaves the door open for more than 5 minutes.
So you can see that the Ravica line of temperature and humidity monitoring systems are about more than just monitoring data centers. There are many industries that can take advantage of our systems. I think next time I might share a story about a customer of mine that uses the SecurityProbe-x60 in his metal fabrication plant to monitor his HVAC system.
-Jon Mills
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Water leak monitoring helps avoid mold
Filed under: Intelligent Sensors, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, water leak monitoring
Water leaks and or high humidity can lead to mildew and mold. The results after prolonged exposure can mean premature paint problems, structural issues and health problems, not to mention the stink!
We can’t depend on our noses to do your mildew monitoring because we can’t be in a dozen places at once all the time.
There is an easier way. Our water sensor can monitor for water leaks. The cable for the actual sensor can be up to 100 feet away from the BitSight. Because its unique design, it can be used to notify when water levels drop too low as well.
The humidity sensors we manufacture can be run 1,000 feet and fished through walls to measure humidity in air ducts, crawl spaces, etc. As a bonus, the same unit performs temperature monitoring and measure as well.
Ravica has a complete line of intelligent environmental monitoring solutions to help protect your business from a environmental disaster. All units support SNMP and send alerts in numerous formats.
- Mike
5 tips to protect your data center hardware
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, power monitoring, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
I work with network administrators everyday and I hear one common story. They are not buying servers. The IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker supports me on this. Server vendors are reporting that their business is off 24.5 percent from last year, falling to $9.9 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
They don’t have the budget or can’t get the budget to update their aging equipment. So, what can these admins do to extend the life of their equipment?
Just like an older automobile, maintenance and proper care of the equipment can easily extend your equipment’s life. Constant monitoring of your system inside and out can save you from loosing mission critical servers. Environmental monitors like the temperature and humidity, airflow, smoke and water sensors can be used to make sure that the environment that your systems operate in are the best they can be.
Now, I know what you are saying, “Jim’s just a salesman and wants you to buy something.” Although I might get excited about a product and preach its goodness, I am not a sales person . I might dream of being the star of a Shamtastic infomercial, but trust me, I’m not. What I do want you to know, is that there are some simple things that you can to to help save your hardware.
- Your server room is not a storage area! If it is, it really shouldn’t be. Extra stuff in the room can cause heat issues and possibly be a fire hazard. Keep the area clean and free of obstacles.
- Manage your cables properly. I had a boss who had a hang up on making sure the all cables were organized correctly. You guessed it, I didn’t think it was all that important. In hindsight, I was wrong. Keeping them organized is great for physical management, but more importantly, it makes it easier to manage airflow. Be it a cable tunnel or just pulling them together with a zip tie, making sure your servers get the correct ventilation is important.
- Have a physical maintenance window for your machines. It might bring you back to youthful A+ days, but making sure the servers are dust free and cables are in the correct place can help immensely.
- Monitor the servers health with an SNMP Trending app. Most servers can give you CPU, Server Temp, Fan Info and other valuable information, via a simple SNMP walk. A SNMP trending application, like Denika, will allow you to gather historical information on this data and alert on it.
- Monitor your environment. As I mentioned before, monitoring the room temp, humidity and airflow will make your admin life a lot easier. If you have some room in your budget, this might be the best way to spend it.
So there it is. I guess the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is correct. Even in today’s super digital world!
- Jimmy D
The future of data center design
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
I just read that the NSA is going to build a 20 acre data center in Utah. This one million square foot center will allow the NSA to decentralize its efforts and provide better security. Just imagine the amount of power it will take to operate a data center of this size? This Slashdot article points out that one of the biggest reasons why the 
government is building this compound is due to its power consumption and the current location’s inability to provide the needed electricity. The government estimates that it will use at least 65 megawatts of power or about the same amount that Salt Lake City consumes.
“The agency got a taste of the potential for trouble January 24, 2000, when an information overload, rather than a power shortage, caused the NSA’s first-ever network crash, taking the agency 3 1/2 days to resume operations. The new data center in Utah will require at least 65 megawatts of power” - Salt Lake Tribune
Another cool data center design is the one that Google is planning to build. The entire center will be built on a floating barge, and will use the waves of the ocean to help power the facility. It will also use ocean water to cool the equipment.
Last, but not least, is the underground data center in Sweden. This has to be the coolest data center ever! It is located underground, can withstand a hydrogen attack, has a waterfall and a greenhouse. It can generate its own power, and is equipped with triple redundancy Internet backbone access.
I wonder, what type of environmental monitoring sensors do they have? What type of redundancy and fail-safes? Designing a data center like these is a monumental task. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Data Center Design.
- Jimmy D
Data room temperature sensors
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
I thought a blog on data room temperature monitoring would help answer some frequently asked questions we get.
Q: What is the ideal data room temperature?
A: Some believe the temperature range for a computer room is between 55 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The ideal temperature is probably somewhere in the middle. We try to keep ours between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit.
Q: How can improper temperature adversely impact computer hardware?
A: This article in InformationWeek on why “none like it hot” is worth a read.
Q: If we keep the server temperature cooler, will it run faster?
A: The server manufacturer will tell you the ideal temperature. Generally, cooler is better to a point.
Q: How do you monitor temperature?
A: Obviously in our data room we use Ravica temperature sensors. The equipment at Ravica supports sensors to monitor almost anything.
Q: How do we control humidity if the air conditioning is always removing moisture?
A: During the summer here in Maine, enough humidity isn’t the problem. We put in a humidifier during the winter. Monitor your humidity first and trend it for 6-12 months before spending money on an expensive system.
Q: What about humidity, how do we monitor that?
A: Use a device that allows you to monitor and store via SNMP the humidity measurement over time. SNMP trending humidity is ideal.
I hope this helps.
The SensorProbe can Tweet!
Filed under: environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
I don’t want to ride on the coat tails of Jon’s post about being able to send temperature alerts via Skype, but I guess I have no choice. I quickly wanted to point out that you can also send Twitter alerts form your SensorProbe. I imagined this as a second wave alert. Kinda that last ditch effort before the ship goes down. Ok, maybe I am being a bit over dramatic but in reality, this can be a great way to do a broadcast alert.
The process is easy. Browse to TwitterMail, insert your twitter username and password to get your TwitterMail address instantly. Then go to your SensorProbe and create an email alert. Alert goes off, email is sent and Twitter is fed. Make sure that everyone that is supposed to recive these messages are followers of your Twitter account.
Server room temperature alerts via Skype
Filed under: Data Center, Security Monitoring, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
You probably already know that the SecurityProbe environmental and security monitoring system can send various types of alerts, including email, SMS, MMS, SNMP Traps and text-to-speech alerts. Heck, it can even send you a fax with the appropriate additional GSM/GPRS modem attached. But did you know that since last year the SecurityProbe (sorry BitSight users, this is a SecurityProbe only feature) has had the ability to send out notifications via a Skype account? Yup. That means Skype SMS messages or Skype phone calls.
You’ll need a dedicated Skype account for you SecurityProbe and a PC running Windows Notification, but this is a hugely helpful feature for those with SecurityProbes in off-site locations.
So no longer are users depending on email notifications alone to let them know when servers start overheating and shutting down over the weekend, because an air conditioner failure. The real beauty of the SecurityProbe’s Notification Wizard is that you can always take your chances with e-mail up to a point, but say two hours go by and no one on the email list has acknowledged the alert. At that point you can set the notifications to escalate and start calling using the Skype feature.
This is just another one of the many ways the SecurityProbe can help with event notification. Did the power go out? Is the humidity way too high? Is air not flowing to a part of the server room with known hot spots? Don’t wait until users start complaining of application unavailability before you start investigating the problem. Let Ravica temperature and environmental monitoring solutions tip you off as soon as issues crop up.
~ Jon Mills
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