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.

This sensor probe works with every intelligent sensor in the Ravica family.  You can connect any of our sensors in any combination to monitor temperature, humidity, water leakage, and airflow including long term graphing, security, detect AC Power Line Voltage, Measure Digital Voltmeter, control relays, and many more.  Our sensors include an integrated data collection and graphing package to spot trends in the airflow, temperature, and humidity.

Dry contacts and drivers are available for monitoring UPS status, security systems, and air conditioning status.

Every sensor comes with our unique autosense feature. Whenever a new type of sensor is plugged in, the autosense will recognize it and reconfigure the BS2 to begin monitoring it. In the event of an alarm or temperature / humidity threshold being exceeded, it has the ability to send alert notifications using Email, SMS (via an email-to-SMS gateway) and SNMP Traps.

From anywhere in the world, you can view your data center’s status via the web interface.  Also, view your data center with the integrated security cameras.

You can map the location of the probes in your data center or facility.  You can integrate this map into your own management applications.

The Ravica line of environmental sensors and products is versatile and reliable.  Feel free to play with the online demo to see some of the available features.  If you have further questions, give us a call any time.

~Angela
207-324-8173
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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. 

Instead, today’s tests are designed for more extreme environments, like those our customers may have when monitoring remote locations, such as observatories and storage facilities.

Today, our device is set to alarm when temperatures drop much lower than standard office temperatures.  And by “much lower,” I mean it feels like it’s near 0 Kelvin in here. 

It is insanely, ridiculously cold in the office.

Soon enough, we will be readjusting the sensors to alarm at more office-friendly temperatures.  But until then, I’ll wear two sweaters and a scarf and drink hot chocolate.

Even with all the shivers, we know that our experience is not in vain because it confirms again that our products work the way they are supposed to work.  We stand behind our products and know that we offer quality. 

If you’d like more information about any of our products and services, feel free to give us a call.

~Angela
207-324-8173
www.Ravica.com 
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From these two examples, it’s clear that there are options out there for designing sustainable HVAC systems that can meet the massive demand for cooling in data centers and server rooms. There is still a long way to go for data centers to be completely environmentally sustainable, but the industry is moving in leaps and bounds in that direction.

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

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

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

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

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 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.    
Filo writes that the data center design will have an annualized average PUE (power usage effectiveness) of 1.1 or better. The company’s other facilities in Washington are powered by wind and hydroelectric sources. Outside air (or what the industry terms “free cooling”) is used for cooling most of the year, helping Yahoo to reduce energy consumption by 40% to 50%.

Search rival Google uses free cooling almost year round in its data center in Belgium, where the average summer temperature is between 66°F and 71°F (19°C and 22°C), writes Data Center Knowledge. That temperature range falls way below the 80°F (27°C) temperature that Google maintains for its data centers, adds Data Center Knowledge.

You’ll recall last week in this blog that our friend, Chuck Cahoon, solutions architect at CDW, recommended that the ambient temperature range in data centers should be between 68°F to 75°F (20°C to 24°C). Companies that have set the temperature higher than 75°F say they see savings spent on air conditioning as a result, according a separate Data Center Knowledge article. That article cites Mark Monroe of Sun Microsystems as saying that data centers can save 4% in energy costs for every increased degree in baseline temperature.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in its 2008 ASHRAE Environmental Guidelines for Datacom Equipment expanded its recommended operating envelope. The low-end and high-end temperatures in its 2008 guidelines are 64.4°F (18°C) and 80.6° (27°C), respectively. This differs from its 2004 guidelines for low-end and high-end temperatures of 68°F and 77°F, respectively.

However, Data Center Knowledge warns that raising the temperature could leave companies with less time to recover from a cooling failure. Operating at a higher temperature should only be done by customers that have a high understanding of the cooling conditions in their facility, Data Center Knowledge adds.

The ASHRAE guidelines also note other issues for data centers operating at higher temperatures:

• Gains in energy efficiency could be offset by the data center equipment having to work harder to compensate for the higher inlet air temperatures.
• The higher temperatures could cause condensation on the refrigerated coils of refrigerated cooling systems, requiring data centers to humidify to replace the lost moisture in the air. (This is where humidity monitoring is essential.)
• Higher temperatures could result in noisier data centers.

For data centers operating at higher temperatures, environmental monitoring that encompasses temperature monitoring, humidity monitoring, and water leaks is key.

I was in a planning meeting with my manager 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