Rack Monitoring / Cabinet Monitoring

In the event of operational disruptions and critical (physical) incidents, precise IT monitoring - such as IT cabinet monitoring, server room monitoring, or rack monitoring - not only enables proactive and targeted action, but also ensures that your data center operates as efficiently as possible, right down to the cabinet level. By using server temperature sensors, server room IT security, and IT environmental monitoring, risks can be identified and minimized at an early stage.

A rack monitoring solution typically includes the following elements:

• Environmental monitoring of temperature, humidity, and air circulation (e.g., server room humidity sensor, server temperature sensor)
• Access control for the server cabinet (access monitoring / access control)
• Power monitoring (power switching)
• UPS battery monitoring
• Server rack alarm and server room data logger for comprehensive monitoring

Thermal Monitoring of the Rack

For thermal monitoring of IT racks, we offer suitable sensors for temperature and humidity monitoring. Measure and monitor the temperature at the top, middle, and bottom of the IT server cabinet. This allows you to reliably detect issues such as hot spots. We believe that a single temperature measurement point in the IT rack is not sufficient to determine whether the installed network, storage, and server systems are being cooled efficiently. Therefore, temperature sensors should be installed on both the front and rear of the IT cabinet. This allows you to check whether the air supplied to the air inlet of the IT cabinet is sufficiently cool. Installing temperature sensors on the rear of the IT cabinet provides important information about whether the exhaust air temperature is too high. The collected measurement data - such as from a server room data logger - can be used to determine whether the essential cooling air in the server cabinet is being obstructed by network cables, power cables, or similar.

Access Control and Management of IT Racks

In our opinion, physical access to server cabinets in the data center is not sufficiently monitored. It is an open secret that security breaches, sabotage, and data theft can occur directly on-site in the data center or location. Very few cases become public knowledge. By installing an RFID-based swing handle, physical access to the sensitive 19-inch server cabinet can be effectively controlled and managed. At the same time, the lid, side panels, and rear panel of the 19" server cabinet should be protected against unauthorized opening by installing magnetic contact sensors. An infrared sensor for access monitoring informs you whether the server cabinet door is open or closed. Here too, comprehensive server room security helps minimize risks.

Video Surveillance in the Server Room / Data Center

By installing suitable video surveillance cameras in the server room or data center, risks such as tampering, sabotage, or data theft can be reduced.

Editorial Note:

The installation of a video security solution in the data center should be closely coordinated with the works council or staff council and carried out in strict compliance with the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and current legal requirements. It is well known that a data center requires a very high level of protection, so there should be no obstacles to a works agreement ("A data center/server room is not a social space").

Monitoring Power Consumption of IT Racks (Power Monitoring)

Monitoring the power consumption of 19-inch server cabinets is an important aspect of data center management. By knowing the power consumption of each IT rack, overloads and tripping of circuit breakers can be prevented. The measured power consumption can be used for cost accounting and for measures to increase energy efficiency in the data center (keyword "Green IT"). The UPS system installed in the server cabinet can also be monitored around the clock as part of rack monitoring. Measure and monitor the battery charge status and battery performance of the UPS and receive proactive notifications via SNMP monitoring or SNMP traps, email, or SMS. Automated actions, such as the orderly shutdown of physical or virtual servers in the event of a power failure or battery operation, can also be implemented with the offered rack monitoring solutions.

Notifications and Alarms

The rack monitoring solutions offered support a wide range of notifications and alarms. In addition to support for email and SMS alarms, solutions are also available in the form of phone/mobile calls with individual voice messages. A server rack alarm can thus be triggered individually and reliably.

Integration with Network Monitoring Software and DCIM Solutions

As part of rack monitoring/cabinet monitoring, we rely on the widely used SNMP monitoring network protocol. Physical environmental influences (temperature, humidity, airflow, etc.), errors, and status messages are transmitted via SNMP traps to network monitoring software (including CA UIM, HP OpenView, Nagios, check_MK, OpenNMS, PRTG, Solarwinds, Zabbix) and DCIM software. Using the Snmpget command, sensor data can also be queried remotely via LAN/WAN and monitored directly by the monitoring software.

A modern IT cabinet monitoring system with server temperature sensors, server room humidity sensors, server rack alarm, server room data logger, and comprehensive server room security is the foundation for a reliable, efficient, and secure data center.