Best Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) Software

Table of Contents

What is Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)?

Data Center Management or Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software helps data center managers carry out operations and customize the design and planning of data center infrastructure. DCIM software helps replace homegrown databases and bridge information gaps across domains in an organization, allowing users to manage physical and virtual systems seamlessly.

According to IBM’s reports, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated each day through social media, financial transactions, smart sensors, smartphones, and more. Most of this data needs to be processed, stored, and made available to users from across the world. Therefore, most large organizations house their data and hardware containing large datasets in repositories known as data centers. The data reserves and infrastructure serves their distributed workforce and customers in accessing information or performing tasks using their shared database. 

Large corporations co-locate their IT assets and servers to allow easy access of information to its users from different regions. While data centers offer safe data storage for assisting an organization's distributed network, firms also lose a certain amount of control by using them.

Organizations also have to regularly deal with limited asset visibility, longer response times, and power inefficiencies while accessing their remote servers. This is why most modern organizations have started utilizing data center management software to have improved transparency, easier access, and better control over their information repositories.

Key Features of DCIM Software

Though DCIM software offers a variety of features, here are the top features offered by them to help data centers:

1. Energy Monitoring:

Data centers require a high amount of energy every day throughout the year. With so much energy influx, it's only natural that servers create a lot of heat which needs to be kept in check. This also means that additional costs are incurred to ensure proper cooling.

DCIM solutions identify stranded power and idle servers and point out how you can improve their performance.

2. Workflow Handling:

DCIM software helps improve workflow by providing well-detailed work orders for data center employees, guiding them to perform critical operations without errors. It improves employee efficiency by offering task focus and status of progress. It also improves coordination between teams and manages their schedules and availability.

3. Performance Management:

Improving the performance of a data center is key to bettering its output. DCIMs offer you detailed overviews of your overall infrastructure, helping you visualize spaces, temperatures, and power capacity through dashboards. You can monitor different health parameters remotely and track the energy efficiency of each circuit, rack, and room in your data facility.

Benefits of Using DCIM

Modern data centers are managed remotely and may not house any employees. Simultaneously, multiple operations are to be carried out, such as hardware and software upgrades, contingency planning, data storage and distribution, and policy and technical support. While data centers are highly sophisticated infrastructures, they also suffer from low equipment utilization (below 10%) and low server efficiency.

Nearly 30% of remote servers perform no useful service to their companies and only consume vast amounts of electricity. Additionally, there is the frequent deployment of computing equipment, which requires spacing adjustments. With data center management tools, organizations can overcome many such challenges and get better overall control. Let us find out the main reasons why organizations need DCIM software:

1. Better Response Times:

Every IT network experiences problems like update bugs or servers being down. If not dealt with promptly, they can lead to expensive disasters. This is why most organizations have a maintenance team to offer support. However, these teams only spring into action once a problem is detected and starts bothering the organization’s services. 

With data center monitoring software, problems get detected well before they go out of hand, leading to quick ticket generation for rapid preventive action. Thus you not only save your reputation and money; you also detect minor efforts remotely, prevent slowdowns, and get them fixed before they become more complex. Moreover, DCIM software lets you stay updated about the resolution status and monitor the operations being performed remotely.

2. Greater Visibility of Assets:

Another significant advantage of using data center infrastructure management tools is that you gain real-time visibility of your assets and how they are being handled at the facility. Not only do you get to know the exact status and location of your data assets, but modern DCIM software can also help you with any changes to their environment like temperature changes, power shortages, etc. 

Datacenter management software also alerts you when your assets are shifted or accessed, allowing you to take immediate action. This enables organizations to make informed decisions for the future and minimizes the risks involved.

3. Improved Power Efficiency:

DCIM software also helps you analyze how well your systems utilize the power you are paying for and identify peak service periods. This allows you to know your average daily requirement and understands areas where power consumption can be curbed. This can help considerably in reducing IT expenses and help serve your customers better.

With improved power efficiency monitoring, you only pay for the power that your data servers have utilized and modify your power needs according to customer demands.

4. Data Security:

The prime reason why businesses use data centers is better data security. However, data centers themselves are prone to both physical and digital intrusion. DCIM software helps add a security layer to your assets and restrict access to them if necessary. Thus, you can remotely secure your IT assets, provide encryption, and create third-party authorizations to prevent cyberattacks. 

Modern data center management software also allows you to get detailed security reports and set your own security alerts criteria. This helps you track your IT assets from anywhere, check their history, and get customizable intrusion alerts.

6. Ensuring Data Compliance:

One of the key reasons why organizations move their data to repositories is compliance. Critical customer and organizational data need to comply with various national and regional laws, which is an overwhelming issue for many organizations. DCIM software assists such organizations by providing regular compliance and government reports, offering a track-record of adherence to the necessary standards.

Thus with DCIM software in place, you can rest assured that your data center's operations are according to the regulations. No matter your organization’s size and stature, data center management tools guide your operations and prevent them from straying away from the set guidelines.

7. Asset Management & Updates:

Another primary concern of companies with data centers is the frequent upkeep and asset updates. Data servers are frequently added and removed from centers. DCIM software ensures that assets change requests are processed correctly on time. They can also be used to update systems remotely and eliminate communication gaps between IT facilities.

Be it new asset commissioning or decommissioning, DCIM software lets you monitor all changes remotely and provide accurate predictions about your infrastructure's lifespan. Such software also helps you visualize spaces within your data centers, monitor cooling, network connections, storage, and power utilization. Additionally, it helps automate several tasks and coordinate activities across several departments within your organization.

8. Locating Zombie Servers:

Zombie servers quietly drain power and take up unnecessary space within a data center. They are a hindrance to organizations since they consume a lot of energy and lead to delays in information relays from data centers. With DCIM software, finding and locating such wasteful servers becomes easy. This can help you mitigate costs and deploy maintenance services quickly. You can also find out the devices that would be affected by the maintenance and plan accordingly.