Network monitoring is definitely needed so that all the components in it can run better. Even if there is a problem, it can be detected earlier with the help of network monitoring. That way, the problem can be solved quickly. The handling will take place quickly, before the problem becomes too big.
Network monitoring systems can also be done in data centers. One of the goals is to realize energy efficiency. Before finding out what network monitoring does in a data center, let’s first understand what a data center and energy efficiency are.
What is a Data Center?
A data center is a physical space that houses the Information Technology infrastructure for building, running, and delivering applications and services, as well as for storing and managing the data associated with those applications and services.
Over the years, data centers have evolved from privately owned facilities that are tightly controlled to house traditional IT infrastructure for the exclusive use of a single company, to remote facilities or networks of facilities owned by cloud service providers, where IT infrastructure is housed for shared use by multiple companies and customers.
What is Energy Efficiency?
Basically, energy efficiency is the use of less energy for the same task or the same result. For data centers, this means lower power consumption for the same computing power. Improving energy efficiency in data centers can reduce energy costs and improve environmental sustainability.
What does Energy Efficiency have to do with Data Centers?
Data centers are known to require huge amounts of energy. The high energy consumption is due to the operation of IT equipment as well as cooling systems and other environmental parameters that ensure stable operations. Especially in the current era, sustainability through energy efficiency plays an increasingly important role for many companies.
Many IT professionals don’t even know how much power is being consumed in their data centers and are trying to find solutions to measure it. This is where network monitoring is needed to determine energy availability and also help reduce power consumption.
Energy Efficiency Optimization
Power supply and power consumption efficiency are two of the most important issues in operating a data center, especially in large enterprises. The power supply for IT and its equipment must be guaranteed at all times. When energy prices are on the rise, the operational costs will automatically increase. Of course, the total expenditure of the company will be greatly affected.
However, there is also a lot of potential to optimize resource consumption. The main focus is to have a holistic view of the infrastructure in the data center and the related IT systems. A comprehensive and transparent analysis of network monitoring is required to reduce power consumption.
With the above, IT workloads, excessive backups, redundancy, or unnecessary backups can be easily identified. After that, they can be optimized to help save energy in the data center and within the company as a whole. Network monitoring is indispensable to achieve this goal.
Impact of Network Monitoring on Energy Efficiency
By implementing network monitoring in the data center, the data center will become approximately 35% cooler. Network monitoring provides many opportunities to improve cooling efficiency. With monitoring, there will be more precise control of the air temperature entering the servers. In addition, there is increased coordination between cooling systems enabled by intelligent control.
Another noticeable impact of network monitoring on energy efficiency in data centers is that the cost for cooling energy can be reduced by a significant amount. Power monitoring and control will also reduce energy usage. If there are devices that use energy but do not support business services, then these devices can be considered for removal. That way, energy consumption can be saved.
Finally, of course, by implementing monitoring in the data center with the aim of energy efficiency, it becomes easier to find potential problems. If there is a problem that might occur, it can be responded to more quickly and found a solution. That way, the recovery process does not have to wait long.
The form of alerts in a monitoring system may vary. They range from those that can clearly alert you of what is happening in the data center, centralized alarm management, and battery monitoring. All of them are monitoring infrastructures that eliminate most of the causes of data center downtime. In most cases, these systems are easy to implement. Once installed, visibility and control in the data center can be optimized immediately.
The following is a description of proven strategies to improve data center efficiency by saving energy:
| Monitoring Type | Impact on Availability | Impact on Efficiency |
| Temperature sensing | Prevents equipment from overheating | More precise airflow control and optimized cooling capacity and efficiency |
| Monitoring strength | Prevent circuit overload | Find and eliminate excess capacity and improve quantity efficiency |
| Monitoring rack condition | Prevents unsafe conditions in the rack, provides quick response to problems | Prevent organizational inefficiencies that occur due to server and application downtime |
| Detect fluid leaks | Prevent outages due to water leakage | Reduce wasted energy due to leaking equipment |
| Intelligent control of the cooling system | Improve cooling system maintenance | Reduce cooling system repair costs and optimize multiple unit operations |
| Intelligent control of power system | Improves the ability to resolve faults | Gain 3 – 5% efficiency from energy optimization mode and 1 – 6% savings from intelligent paralleling |
| Set warnings and alarms | Faster and more proactive response to system maintenance | Automate operations so that human resources can focus on handling problems |
| Monitor battery | Reduce battery malfunctions by half | Reduce the risk of downtime so you can stay productive |
| Remote monitoring | Improved data analysis and reduced downtime especially caused by battery issues | Create an efficient use of human resources that allows personnel to pay attention to more strategic issues. |
The network monitoring function in business is very important, therefore make sure to use reliable applications and software to get the results as expected. Therefore, Netmonk is here as a reputable network monitoring service provider. The Netmonk system has been trusted by many large companies, such as IndiHome, Commuter, Pelita Air Service, and many more.
Netmonk comes with its product, Netmonk Prime, which supports the use of Indonesian language for easier access. Users can customize the service that can be tailored to the needs of the company. In addition, the service is relatively affordable. Even Netmonk Prime can be tried for free!
Reference:
https://www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/ext/resources/ MC/Home/Files/PDFs/Emerson-Ten_Steps.pdf
