DATA CENTRE PREDICTIONS
However , modern data centres are highly complex and distributed , and data centre teams often struggle with unintegrated management platforms that block them from accurately tracking and managing all their physical infrastructure , IT assets , software and applications .
Common pain points of unintegrated systems include :
• Disparate data sources that impede analytics and datadriven decision-making .
• Information silos that lead to functional blockages that prevent each team from making the most informed decisions .
• Security and compliance issues stemming from user permissions needing to be managed separately for each database leading to users having incorrect privileges and increasing the chance of security breaches .
According to PwC , 45 % of executives don ’ t think their company has the right technology to implement a Digital Transformation . Without the proper tools that integrate and drive automation , the data centre will fail to support the business and the business will , in turn , fail to compete .
Configuration Management Database ( CMDB ) integration is one critical example of what leading data centre teams are doing to help modern businesses successfully navigate a Digital Transformation .
What is a traditional IT CMDB ?
Most organisations leverage a CMDB to help them more efficiently deliver IT services and make better business decisions . A traditional IT CMDB stores information on the hardware , software , systems , facilities and personnel within an organisation to help IT professionals understand and manage these assets ( typically referred to as Configuration Items or CIs ) and their relationships .
Traditional IT CMDBs are used for change management and ticketing , impact analysis , root cause analysis , legal compliance and incident management . Traditional IT CMDBs have their uses , but they are not the complete solution required by today ’ s businesses .
What is a Data Centre CMDB ?
A Data Centre CMDB – part of Data Centre Infrastructure Management ( DCIM ) software – expands upon what is typically tracked in a traditional IT CMDB to include other important information about physical data centre infrastructure . A Data Centre CMDB maintains an accurate representation of all IT equipment residing in the data centre ( i . e ., servers , network and storage equipment ) and supporting infrastructure assets ( i . e ., racks , rack PDUs , patch panels , structured cabling , patch cabling , UPSs , busways and branch circuits ) with relationship mapping down to the physical port level and up to the virtual machine and application levels .
A Data Centre CMDB provides a holistic view of all data centre resources and capacity , and its information can be shared across organisational functions in a single pane of glass . The data tracked in a Data Centre CMDB supports a wide range of use cases including asset management , power and environment monitoring , space capacity planning , connectivity and port management , and 2D / 3D visualisation and modelling .
Herman Chan , President , Sunbird Software
How does a traditional IT CMDB compare to a Data Centre CMDB ?
Traditional IT CMDBs allow IT teams to track all corporate IT assets and their configurations as logical objects to align IT with the business throughout the product or service delivery life cycle .
In comparison , Data Centre CMDBs track the physical infrastructure relied upon by IT systems and enable agility through real-time capacity and change management to optimise the availability , utilisation and efficiency of the data centre infrastructure to meet the demands of IT .
Further , a Data Centre CMDB allows you to visually track and manage information in a manner that is simply not possible with a traditional IT CMDB .
A Data Centre CMDB can be leveraged to provide rich 3D models of the physical infrastructure with detailed asset information such as cabinet and U position , port information and dimensions , while a traditional IT CMDB is just a database of fields .
With a traditional IT CMDB , it is impossible to remotely
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