Viewing external system data

IT Advisor integrates with monitoring and virtualization systems. Once integration has been set up in System Setup>External System Configuration and the systems start communicating, the data from the other systems will appear in IT Advisor. Monitored devices from external systems, for example Data Center Expert, Data Center: IT Power Control or Data Center: IT Optimize, appear in Discovered Devices, available in Planning>Device Association. Viewing monitoring system data Integration with monitoring systems, such as Data Center Expert servers, allows for associating devices (UPS or rack PDUs) to physical locations in the layout and for retrieving actual measured data and alarm data. The devices will appear in device groups according to the setup in the external system, including any sub devices, for example monitoring equipment with multiple pods and cameras. A monitored device appears as unassigned in the pane (gray icon) until it has been associated with the device representing it in the layout (blue icon), for example a UPS or rack PDU, (or if you selected to unassociate it again after that). When it has been associated, it appears in Navigation (with the name from the external system in parenthesis). Viewing virtualization management system data Integration with virtualization management systems, such as VMware vCenter Server or Microsoft System Center Operations Manager and Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager allows for associating virtual machine hosts to physical locations in the layout and managing and migrating virtual machines running on devices connected to failing physical equipment to healthy hosts in order to prevent impact. The virtual machine hosts will appear according to the setup in the external system. A host will appear as unassigned in the pane (gray icon) until it has been associated with the server representing it in the layout (blue icon). When it has been associated, it appears in Navigation (with the name from the external system in parenthesis). Any alarm on a device will show up to help you locate the problem in the physical infrastructure and determine the nature of the problem. Alarm icons will appear in the Status Bar and equipment with an alarm will be marked in the layout and in the Unassociated Devices pane. Performing dynamic search In the dynamic Search box above the Unassociated Devices pane, start typing some characters of the devices you want to see. As you type, the pane shows all items that contain the typed characters. Locating an associated device in the layout Right-click the device in the Unassociated Devices pane and select Show in Layout to locate and select the device in its physical location in the floor or rack layout. Right-click the device in the Unassociated Devices pane and select Show in Navigation to locate and select the device in the Navigation pane. Launching to a device Right-click the device in the Unassociated Devices pane and select Launch to Device for direct access to launch the device in the external system. Viewing properties Right-click the monitored device or virtual machine host in the Unassociated Devices pane and select Properties to access read-only information provided by the external system. The information may vary based on the type of equipment.

When you have configured system integration correctly, IT Advisor retrieves accurate and up-to-date power measurements from the external system, such as Data Center Expert.   The IT Advisor and Data Center Expert servers can be physically positioned in different time zones. The system integration handles the time difference. However, both servers must be configured to synchronize time with the same NTP server:   Server Time Synchronization Settings IT Advisor In the server's Webmin interface, IT Advisor > Setup Data Center Expert In System > Server Administration Settings > Time Settings    Otherwise, the retrieved power measurements may be out of sync:   Server Time Consequence IT Advisor ahead of Data Center Expert No measured peak data retrieved IT Advisor behind Data Center Expert Incorrect measured peak data retrieved (out of sync)   For further instructions on how to configure system time synchronization for the Data Center Expert server, see the Data Center Expert documentation for Time settings.

IT Advisor operates with these power values when calculating the most accurate values based on the data retrieval from external systems and product specifications. In the application, power values are highlighted based on the accuracy levels: Green Advanced Yellow Nameplate and Basic Red No genome match Advanced Server Centric (Identical Match) A power profile where the discovered server matches a server we have measured and the CPUs in the machine discovered matches the CPUs of the machine we have measured. This gives a non-linear power curve. CPU Centric (Component Based Model) A power profile where the discovered server matches a server we have measured, but the CPUs in the machine discovered do not match the CPUs of the machine we have measured. However, the CPUs in the discovered machine do match a CPU we have measured. This gives a non-linear power curve. Soft Profile (Identical non-measured Model) A power profile where the discovered server matches a server for which we have vendor calculator information. This gives a non-linear power curve. Basic CPU Centric Auto-Derated Nameplate (Component Based Model) A power profile where the discovered server matches a server we have measured, but the CPUs in the machine discovered do not match the CPUs of the machine we have measured. However, unlike the CPU Centric case we have not measured the CPUs in the discovered server, but have a TDP nameplate value for the CPUs in the discovered server. This gives a flat power line much better than a spec nameplate value for the server. Nameplate A power profile where the discovered server does not match a server we have measured. This gives a flat power line representing the vendor provided spec value.

You can access the device ITA web interface directly from the Launch to Device right-click option. Right-click a device, in the Unassociated Devices pane, for example, and select Launch to Device. An error will occur if the HTTP/HTTPS protocol or port definitions defined for this device at the external system server do not match the protocol and port definitions required by that device. If an error occurs, refer to the external system's documentation for instructions on how to check or set the HTTP/HTTPS settings.

If the system has been set up to collect live data from an external system, peak power values that occur in a configurable time period (10, 20 or 30 days) are used for power calculations. This data is more accurate than if the system only has estimated values. However, when removing a server from a rack, the power peak values from that server are still included in the measured data for the rack the next 30* days.To avoid this, the time period for measuring the data from the rack PDUs in the rack has been automatically reduced: When was the server removed from the rack? Measured data collected in time period: Time From To Less than 24 hours ago Present time - 24 hours Present time Less than 30* days but more than 24 hours ago Deletion time Present time More than 30* days ago Present time - 30* days Present time *30 days is the default value set in the external system configuration settings; this value can also be 10, or 20 days. Note The power peak measurements might still contain data from the deleted server up to one day after a server has been removed; recommendations and capacity calculations for that rack can be less accurate. It can take several days for the capacity calculations to stabilize because of changes in the server load over the following days.

Monitored devices from external systems, for example Data Center Expert, Data Center: IT Power Control or Data Center: IT Optimize, appear in Discovered Devices, available in Planning>Device Association. They also appear in the Unassociated Devices pane. When the monitored devices are associated with the corresponding items representing them in the application, the device data supports the capacity planning process. In the Unassociated Devices pane, a colored number indicates the number of matches found in the system for that item based on its properties. The color corresponds to the likeliness the device matches one or more items in the layout. For example, if a Data Center: IT Optimize asset matches the IP address of one server and the manufacturer of 100 servers, the number 1 will show in green; if the IP address does not match but the manufacturer does, the number 100 will show in yellow. Associating individual items (Figure 1) To associate any of the items one by one with the item that represents it in the layout, drag-and-drop the item from the Unassociated Devices pane into position over the corresponding items in the Navigation pane or Layout pane. For example, drag a UPS on top of a UPS in the floor layout (Data Center Expert), drag an IT asset on top of a server in the rack layout (Data Center: IT Optimize), or drag a blade enclosure and its blades on top of a blade enclosure and blades in the rack layout (Cisco integration). To ensure downloaded values for the monitored devices from the external systems are reliable and based on the correct data, verify the integration configuration in System Setup>External System Configuration. For example, make sure you have set the correct date range for collecting measured data. Live data is shown for associated monitored devices, optimizing the planning when identifying how much maximum kW power is in use for each device or how much the CPU is utilized. To remove the association between an item and the item representing it in the data center layout, right-click the device or IT asset in the layout and select Unassociate from equipment. Figure 1 102239851_360037994534.png Associating multiple items (Figure 2) To associate multiple assets at the same time, select an external system in Unassociated Devices, for example a Cisco UCS Manager or Data Center: IT Optimize server. If there are perfect matches for items in that system, a Multi Associate icon will be enabled. Click Multi Associate. Select which associations to make and carry them out. Multiple devices can be associated to one server in the layout, for example a server discovered through an ITO server, and a VMware host. Figure 2 102239783_360037994534.png Configuring association match interval (Figure 3) You can configure how often the system counts the association matches in Tools>Preferences>External Systems>Association Suggestions. Continuous counting whenever a change occurs, for example if properties change on items (default). Only count on request. This is recommended for large setups. If the system has been configured to only count association matches on request, an icon appears in the Association Details pane. Click this icon to initiate another count. 102239779_360037994534.png Figure 3 102239777_360037994534.png

In Data Center Expert (DCE) devices, e.g. Rack PDUs, must provide measured values through power sensors in Watts. In IT Advisor(ITA), all power measurements are assumed to be in Watts. ITA includes measured power values from any device, supporting real power measurements in Watts, regardless of make and model (including 3rd party devices). The power sensor value is assumed to be real power, as opposed to apparent power VA, but the actual value is defined by the individual device and how DCE retrieves the value. This could be done as a calculation in the DDF. In System Setup>External systems configuration>Update power information every ITA retrieves the peak power values from DCE at the specified power information retrieval interval. The default value is 300 seconds and average values once each day. In System Setup>External systems configuration>Calculate power data based on the last, the peak and average power values are calculated for the time period specified. The default value is 30 days. The peak power value is the highest value ITA receives from DCE in the specified time period. The collected data is summarized on a daily base. The summarization in done once a day at a time specified by when the server has been booted. The summarization time can be seen in the server log file using the server configuration interface. Look for entries like: Computing performance figures...  The retrieval of data between DCE and the device (rack PDU) is configured in DCE. 126163760_700x400_360038495233.png