Server Room Monitoring

Server room monitoring is the active monitoring of your critical IT spaces, to ensure your systems that your organisation relies on, continue safely and efficiently. This is predominantly environmental monitoring but also covers power monitoring, intruder detection and camera surveillance.

Business premises require effective real-time monitoring systems to make sure that all of the support systems are running efficiently. Early warnings of potential issues are essential to ensure that the business can operate both efficiently and effectively.

Real-time monitoring solutions can detect a range of environmental factors which otherwise could cause disruption for your business. For example, IT equipment overheating, fluids or leaks, high humidity or fire or smoke. This real-time monitoring is recommended by hardware manufacturers to ensure your IT systems are not disrupted.

With the development of the cloud for data storage there are now more large data centres filled with servers.

Although Ecl-ips has installed APC Netbotz devices in data centres, the remote sites and smaller comms rooms are the places that really benefit and should not be ignored. We have been to various sites to install security devices and been able to offer APC Netbotz devices because we can demonstrate the value that server room monitoring will provide. For example, a server or a critical switch, may have been located in a cupboard that has become used for other purposes, creating a sub-optimal environment.

The access control risks for a server room could be related to staff accidentally leaving doors open either to the server room itself or to rack enclosures, or IT equipment becoming unplugged. There is also the risk of unwanted intruders or intentional damage to the IT spaces.

Ecl-ips is a specialist in the solutions from APC NetBotz and would recommend its products for effective server room monitoring. Their appliances offer an active, scalable monitoring solution designed to protect against physical threats, environmental or human, that can cause disruption to IT assets. To help you obtain the right monitoring equipment we have put together cost-effective APC Comms Room Monitoring packages.

If  you want to ensure that your existing monitoring infrastructure is meeting your current needs Ecl-ips can provide a full server room audit. Our experienced highly qualified engineers will attend your site to carry out the thorough inspection to ensure that you have the right monitoring systems for your business. We will provide you with a written report that will recommend the right monitoring solutions for you. Contact us now if you would like to discuss this.

The APC Netbotz devices can monitor environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, smoke and fluid. Sensors can also detect access to IT racks to enable monitoring of people.

The company Netbotz was founded in 1999, by a private group of individuals and investors in Austin, Texas. Netbotz Inc. was a privately-held company and was a provider of web-based monitoring solutions that closed the gap between traditional physical security and cyber-security.

Netbotz developed environmental monitoring appliances and its web-based physical infrastructure management platform, Netbotz Central to provide physical and environmental monitoring of data centes, comms and server rooms. The company also developed a range of sensors to detect environmental factors like temperature changes, water leaks, power fluctuations and humidity.

In 2005 APC, which had been founded in 1981 and had developed a range of power management appliances, bought Netbotz for $31 million. At the time of the sale Netbotz said over 2,700 organizations worldwide used its solutions for active monitoring, early detection and instant alerts to protect critical assets from damaging physical and environmental conditions. Just two years later, in 2007, APC itself was taken over by European multinational, Schneider Electric, which had global recognition for its expertise in energy management and automation.

Over the years the main developments have been the expansion of the number of types of Netbotz monitors, the introduction of wireless sensors and the expansion of Netbotz Central to become Schneider Electric’s Data Center Expert software.

You can group the Netbotz appliances together and offer a completely scalable solution. As the software is installed through a web browser it is easy to set up and use.

APC Netbotz monitoring appliances offer flexibility and the alerting mechanism can be escalated in various ways. You can use it to monitor third party devices such as air conditioning units, UPS devices, tank flow levels, leak detection and many other third-party sensors.

The IT equipment in comms rooms work best if they are kept at a constant temperature and ideally you want to increase the set points for that temperature so that the air conditioning units are not working too hard to retain that level. In an inefficient system the air conditioning unit is likely to be switching on and off constantly as it works to maintain a temperature but if the system is working efficiently you save the energy as the air conditioning units can have a higher set point. By monitoring temperature, you will be able to manage your energy use and boost your energy efficiency, which will save you money over time.

The Netbotz 250 is the entry level appliance for businesses, which although it does not have a camera still offers a comprehensive and flexible solution and is ideal for organisations with a single comms room that has a good access control system so that people going in and out are still monitored.

Server room monitoring will benefit organisations in the education, finance, healthcare, banking and insurance sectors as well as businesses with multiple branches such as pharmacies that may have one remote IT team. Ecl-ips has been involved in providing APC Netbotz systems for several companies including AON, the BBC, Network Rail, the London Underground, Birmingham City Council, JLT, Wychavon District Council and BT.

Power spikes or outages can cause costly downtime for your business and mean data is lost.

Power distribution units and UPS (uninterruptible power supply) systems can ensure power is managed efficiently across your IT equipment and there is a back-up if power is lost.