Temperature and Humidity Monitor Demo from Ravica
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, Security Monitoring, SensorProbes, temperature monitoring
You’ve heard about temperature and environmental monitoring, and you understand its value. But have you seen one in action?
Check out our online demo to see some features of the BitSight2 environmental monitoring system. See the parameters we have selected for use in our own data room. These parameters are easily customizable to accommodate your specific environmental needs. Read more
Environmental Monitoring Makes Us Freeze
Filed under: environmental monitoring, Notifications, SensorProbes
To ensure that Ravica’s products are of high quality, we test the equipment. We want to confirm that our environmental monitoring sensors will work properly within the environments and requirements that our customers may have.
At present, we are testing the alarming features and the threshold parameters for our device’s temperature monitoring function. We want to ensure the device will alarm and send notifications when our office temperature drops below the set parameters.
However, we didn’t set the parameters for customary office temperatures. That would be too easy. Read more
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
Data center in hot water
Filed under: environmental monitoring, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
So here I was, thinking about what today’s blog would be, and my buddy Mitch gave me today’s title. Although a corny title, it describes an issue that happened with a customer of mine. The good news is that Ravica’s probes helped save the day.
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
The future of airconditioning and how the rest of the world can monitor temperature
I just found an entry on Slashdot about a deal between IBM & Carrier to create and market a web enabled air conditioner. Apparently you are able to gain complete control of the unit via the simple web interface. Being a geek, this intrigued me. What about everyone else who cannot obtain one of these units?
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
The winding road – Ravica probes used in road construction.
Everyday I find new use for our Ravica Sensor probes!
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
Ravica’s Sensor Controlled Relay – The Rosetta Stone?
Filed under: airflow monitoring, Data Center, 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
Airflow in data centers requires careful monitoring
Monitoring the temperature of a room from a single location sometimes does not provide a good overall representation of the ambient environmental conditions. I asked around and found out about Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD can provide 3-D analysis of how air is moving through a data center and identify potential warm areas where equipment is likely suffering from too little airflow.
I think it would be cool if our solution could provide a diagram as shown below:
I found the above image from a company called inres.com. They make a product called TileFlow. TileFlow is a powerful three-dimensional software tool for simulating cooling performance of data centers. It uses the state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques, and is applicable to both raised-floor and non-raised-floor data centers.
If you don’t have unlimited resources, you could use our gear to create a map that looks like this:
The above is web based and the LEDs representing temperature, humidity and airflow change color based on thresholds. Notifications can be sent, and visual trends are provided, as well. It is a low cost solution, starting at $325.00 for temperature and humidity monitoring, and an airflow sensor can be added for another $125.00. That is tough to beat.
Contact us for a live demonstration of this capability.
- Mike
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
The not so funny side of Network Management
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, temperature monitoring
Something odd happened today.
I was in a planning meeting with my manage
r and my AT&T Tilt started to vibrate. I find this very annoying. Of all things to happen during this super exciting meeting, this had to take the cake. Yes, I am being sarcastic and a bit over dramatic. The issue is still the same, I hate being annoyed.
The real point to this rant is to point out the subject of the alert. It was a SMS page from my Ravica tempature probe. It had been violated.
This issue raised multiple questions. The first, and most important, would be how to politely excuse myself from the meeting. In general, this wouldn’t be a hard thing to do, but my manager was excited about the new data room expansion project. By excited, I mean elated, and by elated, I mean that he expected everyone to have the same level of passion or face the most harsh punishment executed on mere mortals.
Knowing that I could lose my admin privileges, I forged on. I told Jon that something is happening in the sever room and had to leave. He said “ok” and went on with his conversation.
Puzzled, I quickly went into the server room and found the issue. Brandon, our new, green intern had placed his super hot cup of coffee next to the temp sensor. He was in the process of cleaning up cables and listening to the Ramones on his headset.
The heat from his coffee cup quickly raised the temp around the sensor.
From this I have learned two things. The first is that you should never leave your interns unattended. They can cause way too much damage. The second is to not locate your temperature sensor where someone can obstruct it in any way.
Now I have to explain this to my boss. Wish me luck.
- JimmyD