Server Room Management

INTRODUCTION

Server rooms, which are essential components of any major organization, require medium level of temperature and humidity to prevent damage to the circuitry of the devices within the room. Extreme heat and humidity will overheat systems and result in exponential levels of rust and decay along with other problems. Server rooms require cooling systems to avoid such casualties. However, these must run all year, and the strain on the cooling system may even lead to failure within these unmanned data centers. Our client, who is a leading Communications Group in Asia, offering data communication and Internet services faced similar challenges: despite having managers in charge of the invaluable machinery, it was difficult for them to report on multiple cases across their organization's three server rooms.

BUSINESS CASE

The client requested a remote system that would allow them to monitor the data centre’s environment in real-time. Sensors should be installed in strategic locations throughout the room to detect temperature and humidity levels, and the data collected should be easily accessible via a platform. In the event of physical parameter fluctuations, they should be notified as to what the values are and from which room they originate, allowing the maintenance team to locate the issue immediately, as time is of the essence in such scenarios.

SOLUTION

As per the client’s request, Polar made the arrangements for a complete data-center monitoring solution. The client and our Polar team collaborated closely to install Room Polar, Polar’s flagship product, with an adequate combination of sensors. The devices were calibrated with the room’s conditions provided by the company’s headquarters, and later installed within the data center.

Under normal conditions, the buzzer would not be triggered. However, in an instance where an anomaly is detected within the readings, the buzzer would immediately sound and alert the staff — who in turn would check their monitor displaying the room’s statistics. Depending on the result, the maintenance staff could respond appropriately whilst being able to trace its source.

RESULTS

The maintenance staff saved a lot of time and effort by being able to remotely view the status of the data centers and their vital equipment across the entire company in real-time using Polar’s mobile application. New users could be easily added, allowing the team to be transparent with new members and outside contractors by sharing visibility of Room Alert’s sensor status as needed. To identify trends in how the rooms could potentially be damaged, the conditions of the headquarters and their branch offices could be compared over selected time periods using appropriate graphing and reporting tools within the map, allowing the client to identify and mitigate certain risk factors before the risk begins. The client was very pleased with how efficient and effective the process was, and Polar will continue to improve the system through data collection in order to provide the best smart solutions for our clients in the future.