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

This company just added a new international sales department. The work hours for the new employee were going to be 4:00am to 1:00pm. They wanted to know if they could utilize the picture log to record when people go in and out of the front door. They also wanted to limit the time frame for these pictures.

I did a bit of research and found out the answer was yes! You can set a time frame on the camera motion sensor and you can have the picture emailed or stored on the FTP server.  Now, they would get an alert and a picture when someone came through the door.

At this point, they could figure out who came through the door. They then wanted to know if too many people were going through the door during the early morning hours. To do this, we used a Syslog/Eventlog application that allows you to set a threshold. Each time an image was taken with the camera, an alert would be sent to the Syslog/Eventlog manager. If a threshold was met, let say five, then an email would be sent to the security office.

The customer was excited and wanted to implement this in the coming weeks. I can’t wait to see how it comes out.

-Jimmy D

Joe, the Admin for an ISP,  had purchased multiple water sensors and temperature sensors for his six data rooms. Around 3:20am on a Sunday he got an alert from his SensorProbe. Apparently, the temp in one of the server rooms was rising. Since he was on call, he decided to get into his truck and see what was going on. On his way to the building, he received another page. The water sensor had triggered. He was now very concerned.

Once he reached the data center, it was obvious to him what had happened. One of the valves of the heating system started to reached its limit. This quickly caused the temp of the pipes to rise, which is what triggered the temperature sensor.

The relief vales reached their breaking point and started to spray water all over the first data room. He was quick to let me know that he shut down the water and saved the other data rooms from being soaked, since they were in line and showed signs of having the same behavior.

That means the investment in the temperature monitoring probes saved them thousands of dollars. If that isn’t the best reason to buy then I don’t know one that is!

- Jimmy D

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

The problem is that the grant they received would fund the weather monitoring equipment, but not the equipment that would run the unmanned station. The good news is that their technology budget would cover the BitSight8 and the required sensors.

They needed to be able to monitor temperature, humidity, airflow  and security. The customer explained to me that since this was an unmanned station, knowing if anyone has opened the server room door was extremely important.

We spent some time talking about the various environmental conditions and how they can affect the servers. He was surprised how the environmental conditions would effect the station’s performance.

The environmental conditions of the area can change throughout the year. The winters can drop below zero, while the  temperature during the summer months is in the 90′s with high humidity. Monitoring for humidity is vital; condensation on a circuit board can kill a machine. Having a monitor in place is absolutely vital.

We then went over the alerting and reporting ability of  the probe and how this unmanned station’s IT center would be fully monitored. I also spent some time explaining the SecurityProbe and how it would alert them when someone opened the door. I am looking forward to the install date. I hope that it is in the summer. I hate snow!

- JimmyD

Being able to log in and monitor the environment is something you can do with the Ravica line of SensorProbes. I would suggest getting one of the temperature and humidity probes to start with. From my research, high humidity plays a big role in the cost and operation of your air conditioning units. Being able to trend and be alerted during these times can be beneficial.

Next, I would use the airflow probe to tell me when the unit is on. I know, it is an odd way to detect the air conditioners state, but trust me, it’s logical. You can use an airflow sensor on any type of unit. Like the one in the above picture or built-in industrial type. With an airflow sensor, you are not limited to testing current flow or temperature.

Last, but not least, I would use the Sensor Controlled Relay to be able to turn off the unit, if you needed to, in an emergency situation.

So the good news is that you can implement Ravica’s environmental probes in various ways to help monitor your environment. What’s even better is that this technology is available to every one.

- JimmyD

“Mount Wilson is in danger from the Station fire burning near L.A. Their servers have gone offline, but there’s a temporary mirror cam. It doesn’t look good. Picture twenty-four on the L.A. Times photo gallery shows the observatory from the air. If anyone has any inside news on the condition of the facility, I’m sure there are lots of people on Slashdot that would love to hear it.”

It got me wondering about what type of SensorProbes they have. Most companies will never see this size of fire, but even a tiny fire can put a server room out of commission. That is why it is so important to use sensor probe technology to monitor our environment and alert us when something is wrong.

Anyway, I don’t want to use this as a sales pitch. So, let’s use the fire in California to remind us to check our home and office fire detection systems.

My prayers go out to all of the fire fighters, the people who have lost their homes and the people who’s homes are in danger.

- JimmyD

Last week I was working with a road construction company who was just awarded a contract to pave two runways at a local airport. Over all, this was a good size project and it had a few unique compliance requirements.

The company had to make sure that the outside temperature and humidity of the paving units was always below 89 degrees. If the temp went up above 89, an audible alarm and a flashing light would go off.

To be honest with you, I didn’t think we were going to be able to retrofit the paving units to supply this data. I mean, it’s not the most hospitable environment. Reluctantly, I conveyed my feelings to the customer. To my surprise, he informed me that each one of the paving units had a small building that managed the team. Each one of these buildings were fully equipped to handle the SensorProbes!

So, we spent an hour going over the requirements and hashing out the details. In the end, I recommend that they purchase a BitSight2, a Single Port Temperature and Humidity Sensor and  a Siren/ Strobe Light sensor for each management trailer. Since this is a hostile environment, we decided to go with the weather proof option for the Single Port Temperature and Humidity Sensor.

The compliance specifications required them to store this data for review. I recommended that they use Denika  to store historical data for reporting. With Denika they would be able to trend the temperature and humidity over time. They would also have the ability to set a threshold. In this example, it would be 90 degrees. Once that threshold has been violated, a syslog would be send to Logalot. This would provide all the needed data for the required compliance reports.

With Logalot they would be able to perform multi-level alarms. With this solution, they would be able to trigger the visual alarm and email or page multiple people instantly. In addition to the alerting, they would be able to search and report on the syslog data sent from the probes. I was able to show him how script could be triggered to do just about anything. In this case, we would be playing an audio file over an amplified speaker.

The client liked the solution and said that he would present it to the decision maker. I just heard from them and they are going to go with our solution!

JimmyD

Like I said, today is hot. So to help deal with the heat, I decided to write about a light subject, something easy to swallow. Today’s blog is about my peeps and their SmartPhones.

Jon has an iPhone. I nag Jon everyday for being an Apple lemming. My issue with Apple goes back a long time and is purely personal. I was a eight years old and I really wanted a Macintosh. My parents couldn’t afford a Mac, it was only for the better off people. This divide made me bitter.

As far as a phone goes, it is one of the best. The double touch screen is slick, over all he doesn’t seem to have any complaints. The software selection is good but regulated. If Apple doesn’t want you to build a program for their phone, then you can’t sell it. Again, I’m kinda bitter about this.

I have the AT&T Tilt. This is a Windows Mobile phone that has its good and bad points. The best thing about my phone is that it is NOT an iPhone.

Since the Windows Mobile environment stretches across multiple platforms and has been around for quite a while, the software selection is abundant. In general it is an open environment and has a vibrant community.

The screen isn’t as responsive as I would like and sometimes you can really mess up your phone if you install the wrong piece of untested software. Can you say “Bricked!”?

Dale just got a Google phone. Dale was one of those people who always said, “I don’t need a phone like yours. I only make calls.”  It has been a few days, and he has clearly changed his song. He is now a disciple of the goodness that is SmartPhone technology. Dale is installing apps, using GPS, texting and making calls. He is a happy camper.

So why am I telling you about my peeps and their different phones? Simply put, we  have three different camps of people, with three different ways of thinking.

You have your iPhone people, who want their provider to make sure every app works on your phone, protects you from any bad application and distributes their apps via one common provider. You get a good, safe and friendly phone.

You have the Windows Mobile camp, who believe that any app, no matter how bad or untested it is, should be available. They want choice, multiple phones, multiple options and freedom. The Windows Mobile world has its ups and downs. If you are not careful, you can get more then you bargained for.

The GPhone has a large community. Their software is built on an open source environment. They are safe, regulated by the users, tested by the users and over all crunchy.

Even though all of these phones are different, they still can easily communicate with each other. Maybe our politicians should learn a lesson from the ups and downs of the SmartPhone market? Maybe they could learn to communicate with each other in one common protocol and have the luxury of error checking?

What a wonderful world we live in? I wonder what technology my daughter will use when she is my age?

- JimmyD

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