ITA temp sensor capture

[NF-London]

Hello,

I am running ITA 9.4.4 and a recently upgraded DCE 8.2.0.

I have noticed today that although all the devices captured via DCE are ok from before upgrading to DCE 8.2, there are some PDU models that are not showing their sensors in the available 'unassociated devices' list.  I remember having to rediscover all of these devices involved because I discovered they had specific IP addresses in them for the DCE server which changed when we upgraded.

The lack of the sensors showing in ITA seems unusual when the sensors (temp and humidity) are captured in DCE and can be seen in the 'view sensors' option.  I have tried deleting a device, waiting for it to disappear from ITA then recapturing it again in DCE and seeing if the sensors return to the list but they do not.  This situation is puzzling me and I haven't seen it before.  Is there anything I am missing or have forgotten so that these sensors can be captured and added to the list of unassociated devices (under their parent devices)?

Thanks

[ATrabert]

I would recommend checking for first checking searching for "Lost Associations" in your navigation menu in ITA.  You may need to be in the Device Association view to see them.   It's possible that if you had to rediscover devices in DCE, that the corresponding temperature sensor in ITA is still tied to the old device.

Also make sure you're in the cooling overlay to see temperature sensors on racks/floor in ITA

What is the make/model of the rack pdus in question?  In order for ITA to see temp/humidity sensors from DCE devices, it requires either the DDF to be formated a specific way or a sensor context file so that DCE's sensor ids match known sensor types in ITA.  If you haven't already, you may need to open a DDF request to confirm that this is the case https://app.ecostruxureit.com/request/ 

[NF-London]

Thanks for this, but most of these things I have tried.  I have lots of 'lost associations' in the device association view.  Basically all the sensors I am looking for.  I have tried completely unassociating the lost sensors - shown as (N/A) in the racks - deleting the old devices from DCE, waiting for the device to disappear from ITA then, rediscovering it again in DCE and bringing it back to ITA but they return again without sensors.  BTW, I am also checking in the cooling and the "Association Map" views for the sensors, but to be fair once the devices are deleted and recaptured the sensors are unlikely to appear in the racks again.

It seems strange to me that the sensors are visible in DCE (View Device Sensors) but are not coming through to ITA.  These devices have been captured before and are not new.  We first installed them 11 years ago with the DCO/DCE installation.  I don't think the DDF is the problem as the sensors are essentially captured by DCE but do not appear to be visible in ITA.  I am sure I recaptured these fully after the 8.2 upgrade and placed all the sensors in the racks using the Unassociated Devices tab.  This affects the same device type on 4 different DCE servers linked to our ITA instance.  Power is still coming through ok.

[Jef · Accepted solution]

You mentioned 'This affects the same device type on 4 different DCE servers linked to our ITA instance.  Power is still coming through ok.'

The communication between the servers (ITA and the integrated servers) appears to be okay, since the power data being reported. But since the issue with the same device type from 4 different DCE servers, then the issue most likely related to DDF or sensor context.

You might want to capture a device walk file (for the problem unit(s)):

https://community.se.com/t5/DCE-FAQ/How-to-create-a-device-walk-file-for-Data-Center-Expert/ta-p/446...

and then include it to your ddf request:

https://app.ecostruxureit.com/request/

Kind regards,

Jef

[ATrabert]

if you have lost associations, you should clear them by searching for them in navigation view, shift or ctrl click all, and right click "clear lost association" as they are most likely tied to the old DCE device id that was being used before deleting/re-adding the device..  They will not clear on their own

As Jef mentioned, if it's happening on the same device, it could be DDF related, especially if it's a 3rd party device.  The DDF has to be written a specific way for ITA to see it's power, current, temp, and humidity sensors and it's a pretty easy thing to miss, especially if it's using an older ddf.

[NF-London]

Thanks Jef and for the associated email on this thread which made me search through my archives.  As you had suggested this device type did indeed have a 'supplementary' file which was appended to it using the http://<server_ip>/nbc/status/SensorContexts method.  I had last uploaded this file back in 2021 and had completely forgotten about that episode.