Most data rooms are kept between 68-72.  Did you know that data center managers could save 4 percent in energy costs for every degree of upward change in the set point? This is according to Mark Monroe of Sun Microsystems.

Data Room Airflow
The data center airflow had also better be kept in check.  Many IT centers have air conditioners for the data rooms but, what about the cabinet temperature of each rack?

A single humidity sensor can provide decent ambient temperature for the entire room.  The same is not true for temperature and especially not airflow. Placing a temperature and air flow sensor in each computer cabinet will help ensure proper data cabinet ventilation.

With proper airflow design, air moves evenly through the data center.  If you are using our data room security solution, you can consider adding a few cameras as well.

If you have questions or would like a demonstration, contact our data room and environmental monitoring  specialists.

We got ours setup and attached a few cameras that we had laying around the office.  The web dashboard allowed me the select the most important cameras as well as view the log of environmental events that may end up triggering notifications.  All of this functionality in a single appliance.

One securityProbe can be used to connect several different cameras and at the same time provide ports for environmental sensors such as water leaks, temperature, humidity, smoke, power outages and more. This hardware provides one of the best low cost environmental, power and security monitoring solutions available on the net.

The picture that looks like a car vending machine is Volkswagen’s new car storage facility in Wolfsburg, Germany. I bet they must have to make sure the whole facility is kept at an optimal temperature and humidity level at all time. They must have some way to be notified if said temperature and humidity drops below a certain threshold. Now you can do that too.

You  can use a temperature and humidity monitoring sensor to keep tabs of the environment in a local car storage facilities or even your own garage. This way when the temperature and humidity reaches a certain threshold you can be notified via SNMP.

For an added measure you can even put a water sensor in your storage facility to ensure that cherished vehicles are not water damaged. The water sensor is a rope that is placed throughout a facility. When water is detected along it’s length you can also be notifies via SNMP.

As we see the future of cars evolve so must the methods of storing them.

After the strike Amazon lost power and their backup generators did not kick on, it didn’t take long for the reserve battery to quickly deplete. You may not lose your power from something as monumental as a lightening strike, but being preventative is imperative. Losing data due to environmental catastrophes should not be “occasionally expected”. These things can be prevented.

Environmental sensors can be a huge investment for the future of your data center. With a water sensor you can detect any water leaks in the length of the rope. With a temperature and humidity sensor you can prevent both overheating of the servers and condensation. With an airflow sensor you can also prevent overheating of your hardware. The list goes on and on.

The most amazing thing about these sensors is that they are all network capable. You can connect all of these to sensor probes and start to track events through SNMP. With a centralized log management tool you can set notifications through email and SMS to stay on top of any disaster. Now you are ready to tackle the world of databases.

Last week was the Summer Solstice which means the first day of summer. This is the official date of tourists, beaches, and hot weather. Temperature monitoring of a room doesn’t always give the best overall representation of the environmental conditions. With the temperature rising, you need airflow in your data centers to be at peak efficiency. Without good airflow your servers will gather dust and overheat.  An air flow sensor can save your data room from disaster. It can tell you if there is airflow through critical parts of the room that require cool air to function at optimal levels. So this coupled with Temperature, Humidity, and Water leak monitors you can create a power packed team of proactive environmental monitors. But you’re still not done yet!

If you have an industrial environment for your data center you are going to need some dry contact sensors. These will not only help with security detection but for your industrial air conditioning status as well. Dry contacts are a simple on/off switch that sends current to your sensor, which can easily detect if your air conditioning is simply running. This is a great way to be practically omnipotent in your data center.

I have only scratched the surface of what you can do to insure your data center from summer damage by proactively monitoring them. Stay tuned for Part 3 of this riveting series.

The first thing to monitor is, of course, the temperature. Our company sells accurate Temperature Sensors that connect to any of our sensor probes. This ensures your servers will not overheat from the hot summer days. According to Data Center Knowledge, Data Center temperature can run hotter than you expect. If you are trying immitate companies such as Google(TM) who has already implemented this energy saving strategy,  A good Temperature Sensor can save you even more money.

Humidity as explained in Angela’s post about data center environment can wreak havoc on your hardware investments. Too much humidity can cause condensation and short out the electronics. Not enough humidity could lead to electrostatic charges which could shut down electronics. Translation:  added financial expense. Try our dual sensor, it can save you big bucks.

It is hard to stay cool during the summer months without air conditioning, data centers are no exception. But having air conditioning units can run the risk of leaking and drippy units can cause water damage to your electronics. Pick up a rope sensor as it can detect any form of water throughout its length.

We are only scratching the surface of the disasters we can help you prevent in your Data Centers. Don’t forget to catch Part 2 for this ongoing series.

Although I think there are a few engineering flaws in the post, the design and concept are stable.

Using natural resources to cool your server room is clearly the next logical step in making server rooms green.

Now, I am not suggesting that you go and implement this type of hack in your company’s server room.  At the very least, this action would get you demoted and sent to the basement where you could display your very own red stapler.  At the worst, you could find your self celebrating the beginning of 2011 looking for new career opportunities.

What you should take from this in the near future is that the design and implementation of server rooms heating and cooling system will be using natural resources like the cold air from outside.  What will make this achievable and- more importantly- practical is the ability to monitor and react to environmental changes.  That is where the technology used in today’s temperature probes will shine.

So, until the future comes, I suggest using your very own Ravica environmental sensor probes to monitor the temperature and humidity in your server room, and to follow these five steps to protect hardware in your data center.

- Jimmy D

If you have more specific questions, we would love to hear from you.

Q:  What kind of web browser is required to operate the securityProbe?
A:  The securityProbe is platform independent.  It works with standard web browsers from host machines running any type of operating system.

Q:  What is the default IP address of the device when I receive it?
A:  The default IP assigned at the factory is: 192.168.0.100.

Q:  Is there some way I can find out the IP address of my unit?
A:  Yes, you can simply press the red reset button on the back of the unit once, and the unit will announce the IP address through the speaker.

Q:  Where can I find the MAC address of the device?
A:  The MAC address of the device can be found on the bottom cover of the device.

Q:  What are the temperature and humidity monitoring ranges for environmental monitoring with the securityProbe?
A:   The device monitors temperature from -31F to 176F, and for humidity from 20% to 80% (non-condensing).

Q: Are warranty and support available?
A:  Absolutely.  securityProbes have a one year warranty and an options two year warranty.  Also, you receive lifetime support for the product.

As always, if you have any questions beyond these about environmental monitoring solutions, you are always welcome to contact us directly.

~Angela
207-324-8173
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The securityProbe 5E device is a versatile and complete environmental and security monitoring solution, and the recent updates and improvements have provided even greater flexibility and performance.  Additional enhancements include ease of set-up and updates to the interface. 

SecurityProbe 5E security set-up and update
There are already advanced security options in the securityProbe.  Simply navigate to the System Administrator >> Services and Security page in the web interface in order to lock down the unit by closing services and applications including Telnet, Secure Shell, HTTP, etc. and limit to using HTTPS.  Ports can be closed using the SNMPv3 encryption, and access can be locked down with the NAC (Network Access Control) security feature restricting access to only certain individual IP addresses.

A new feature has been added that will allow you to turn the IP address announcement off during the boot-up process, giving added security.  This will be included in the next firmware release.

SecurityProbe 5E interface update
The settings tabs on the securityProbe 5E interface have been updated.  This simple but effective change allows users to more easily locate the proper place to change settings for the sensors.

For more information about the securityProbe 5E or any other Ravica products, please feel free to contact us.

~Angela
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The SecurityProbe 5E works with every intelligent sensor in the Ravica family.  Connect up to 8 of our autoSense sensors in any combination to create your customized environmental monitoring solution which can monitor temperature, humidity, water leakage, airflow, security, detection of AC power line voltage, measurement of Digital Voltmeter, control relays, and much more.  The Ravica range of sensors also includes an integrated data collection and graphing package which is especially useful in trend and information analysis.

Recent updates and improvements to the securityProbe 5E have provided greater flexibility and performance.

It is now possible to control a Relay Over IP through the security Probe 5E from a sensor placed at a remote location. The local securityProbe is connected to relays using dry contacts via a Ravica relay control device.  At the remote site, a sensor connected to a securityProbe can send instructions over IP to the local securityProbe via the securityServer application.  This instruction can be used to trigger a relay.

For more information about the securityProbe 5E’s interface updates, visit our blog.

For more information about the securityProbe 5E or any other Ravica products, please feel free to contact us.

~Angela
207-324-8173
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