Assets can be commonly referred as inventory, however, when it comes to managing assets in data centers, the major point of consideration is to maintain network availability and server uptime, ensuring uninterrupted business continuity. Data Center asset management helps in optimizing the capacity and accordingly managing the assets.
It is essential to figure out all the available assets in the data center, such as hardware assets, network assets, space in racks, network configuration and how are they inter connected. Even the smallest equipment in the data center which directly or indirectly impacts the functioning of the facility is counted as asset for data centers.
There are few points that play key role in an effective management of data center assets both logical as well as physical. Firstly, focus on the space layout for aisles, grid, racks and floor space. Also, the connectivity devices and cables should be planned under the space layout model. Secondly, taking up some proactive steps to test and measure the workload management in a difficult environment, say if an outage knocks in. So, it is also important to check the power resources, fire control equipment, cooling system and all such components.
It can be quoted as an irony that the technological advancements have resulted in development of hardware resources, smart racks, virtualization and hypervisor to save time, but when it comes to tracking and managing valuable data center assets, many facility managers still run to the lengthy spreadsheets.
There are so many automated solutions available for data center asset management which will efficiently cut down manpower costs of managing the assets as well as optimize workflow and workload management.
Innovative technologies that may help in data center asset management are
- Asset tags - the simplest one
- RFID for asset tags for further management
- Socket strips can be used at the bottom of side of the rack, it will connect to the tag on server
For new generation data centers, there are many innovative and effective asset management solutions available, which greatly help facility managers in efficiently dealing with rising data center inventory issues.