Visualizing Servers, Racks, and other DataCenter equipment

[robin850]

The ability to graphically view this equipment and the relationships is very helpful. But of course I want "just a little more".....

Or maybe this is already possible? Go ahead and "whomp the noobie" if needed.


1) The "rack" item has values for "rack units" and "units in use". How can the "units in use" be driven by data from the equipment associated to that rack?

2) We would like to not only relate the server to the rack, but also to the "position" in the rack. How can this be done?
Example: If we know the server is a "2u" and it is in OU 1, that means it uses up OU 1 and 2 (leaving OU3 through 42 available, assuming a 42U capacity rack)

3) This next part is "blue sky" and probably is best done in an external visualization tool. Can we graphically show a rack and the servers in it IN PROPER OU ORDER, along with the open spaces?

btw, has anyone done an interface to/from Visio or some other tool (perhaps an open-source visualization tool)?

cheers,

robin850

[jlindaue]

Hi Robin,

We are using Row-Rack-RMU and I have built relationships between the configuration items. It looks nice in a Business Service Map (BSM), however, I am still figuring out the best way to print out a BSM.

Row-Rack-RMU example B4-23, B4-10,11,12

[robin850]

Do you also track the position of a server within a rack and the size of the server (1u, 2u, 4u, etc) ?

This could lead to tracking capacity of a rack, which would be very useful to have.

cheers,

robin850

[gobeilc]

Hi Robin850...

did you figure this one out? I have the same need of not only establishing a relationship between rack and server but also to track which U position it is located within the rack.

thanks,

[jlindaue]

Hi Robin,

Our numbering schema for row-rack-rmu allows us to identify the various elements via a relationship or a simple query that utilizes "contains". For example:

A2-4 = Row A, Rack 2 Unit 4 (1U)
A2-5,6 = Row A Rack 2, Units 5,6 (2U)

I'm still trying to figure out how to transfer a LARGE BSM for the data center where it can display all the elements including the configuration item lines.

Hope this helps, Please feel free to call me at 303-271-8768 and we can compare Service-now notes.

Thanks,

Jim