Avocent IT Infrastructure Management Solution

8/3/2019 Avocent IT Infrastructure Management Solution

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Infrastructure Management &Monitoring forBusiness-Critical Continuity TM

The Avocent IT Infrastructure Management Solution



“I asked our IT staff to give

me one reason why our new

Avocent solution was so

beneficial they gave me five

1) Saves time

2) Decreases response time

3) Lessens downtime

4) Reduces cable clutter

5) And meets our server

density issues”

– John Coutts, Network

Operations Supervisor,

Manitoba Hydro The Avocent solution consists of the following software and hardware products:

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE:EMR), is the

global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity™ from grid to chip

for telecommunication networks, data centers, health care and industrialfacilities. Emerson Network Power provides innovative solutions and

expertise in areas including AC and DC power and precision cooling

systems, embedded computing and power, integrated racks and

enclosures, power switching and controls, infrastructure management

and connectivity. All solutions are supported globally by local Emerson

Network Power service technicians.

Aperture and Avocent solutions from Emerson Network Power simplify

data center infrastructure management by maximizing computing

capacity and lowering costs while enabling the data center to operate

at peak performance.

•DSView™3managementsoftwareprovides

centralized management of all rack appliances

•DSView3PowerManageraddspower

monitoringcapabilitytotheDSView3

software.

•AvocentDataCenterPlanneristhesystemof

record (authoritative source) for the physical

equipment in the data center (location, space,

rack power, connectivity and network). This

core capability is the basis for all other

processes and functions within the solution

such as, data center visualization, capacity

management; project planning, inventory

management and equipment placement.

•MergePointUnity™KVMoverIPswitchfor

remote access to servers via their video/

keyboard/mouse interface

•ACS6000advancedconsoleserverforaccess

to network devices and other IT via their serial

console ports

•MergePoint™ServiceProcessorManager

(SPM) for cost-effective and uniform

monitoring and control of IPMI and numerous

service processor and blade types

•RackPowerDistributionUnits(PDU),for

switching and measuring power remotely



Data centers require high levels of IT security and availability.Their requirements include:

•Cost-effectivemanagement,includingthatofsubsidiaries/branches

•Therealizationofhighsystemavailability

•TheguaranteeofahighlevelofsecurityforvariousITplatforms

and user groups

•TheadministrationofvariousITplatforms,applications

and operating systems

•Compliancewithcurrentandfuturelawsandregulations

•Thoroughcostcontrolsystems

•Implementing“green”powermanagementstrategiestoreduce

energy consumption and environmental impact

IT Infrastructure Management with Avocent®

Figure 1: How Avocent manages a data center



Easier Administration:DSView3softwareoffersasecure,browser-baseduser

interface for central administration of the entire integrated

IT, including the following technologies:

•Rack-mountedservers(withorwithout

service processors) as well as bladeservers and chassis

•VMware®VirtualInfrastructure,

including vCenter Server, ESX Server

and virtual machines

•Citrix®XenServer™andvirtualmachines

•Networkdevicessuchasswitches,

routers, firewalls

•Storagesystems

This can be done via the MergePoint

UnityKVM-over-IPswitches,

ACS Advanced Console Servers,RackPDUs,MergePointSPM.

DSView3offersuser-definedviews,

the option to create graphic reports,

as well as tools for task automation

and a complete overview of connected

IT assets.

Avocent DSView® 3 Management Software AvocentDSView3ManagementSoftwareprovidesasecure,centralized,managementsolutionforall

connected IT assets. It enables administrators to access IT devices from anywhere, carry out diagnoses

and implement changes, regardless of the condition or status of the operating system or network.

DSView3softwareoffersthefollowingadvantagesinthedatacenterandinthebranchoffices:

Figure 2: DSView 3 Software centralizes access to rack assets



It makes it considerably easier to plan performance and cooling

capacity and offers a consolidated display as well as remote

and individual power control for every connected IT device.

Preventive alerts from power and environment sensors allow

the administrators to use the performance capacity more

efficiently and ensure better availability of IT systems.

Corresponding reports enable the power costs to be assigned

to business areas and departments, and activities to be

identified which can be carried out outside of peak times.

The more balanced power consumption achieved generates

cost savings by reducing cooling requirements.

Avocent DSView 3 Power Manager

TheDSView3PowerManageraddspowermonitoringcapabilitytothesolution.Thisadditiongives

companies the ability to monitor and measure the power consumption and the costs and trends of a single

server or of a complete data center in real time.

Figure 5: Power Manager list of available data centers Figure 6: Comparison repor t of t wo data centers



A device library covering several thousand devices, with all

relevant manufacturer information, enables efficient resource

management for heat emission/cooling, power capacity, weight,

space and network. The central, dynamic representation

of these resources helps data centers to operate more efficiently.

Sophisticated modeling and predictive analysis capabilities

(i.e. what if scenarios) are easily created using a drag and drop

interface. Data Center Planner’s intuitive interface provides

visibility into projects across organizational departments. The

project planning features help organizations stay organized and

see the impact of changes before they occur – allowing them to

prioritizing activities and reduce the risk associated with changes.

Information exchange capabilities to other enterprise systems,

such as real-time monitoring, asset management, change

management and universal configuration management.

The Data Center Planner bridges the gap between the

requirements of the data center’s IT and facilities specialists.

The latter need corresponding documentation to build up and

manage energy supply, cooling and space.

IT managers are under constant pressure to control and/or

reduce costs. To effectively manage the physical infrastructure,

organizations need a fully integrated solution that (at a

minimum) tracks the physical infrastructure configuration,

manages projects and calculates current capacity. Avocent

Data Center Planner brings increased discipline and maturity

to data center management and establishes the foundation for

data center optimization, which represents the pinnacle of data

center management.

The Avocent Data Center Planner

The Avocent Data Center Planner provides a user-friendly way to plan, document, optimize and

visualize the data center infrastructure.

DA TA C E N

T E R

A S S E T S

R E P O R T

M O D E L

D E S I G N

P LA N

D O C U M E

N T

M O N I T O R


Figure 7: Detailed insight into rack details and rack timeline Figure 8: Detailed floorplan view and visualization of capacities



Administrators can control every connected device from

anywhere they like, as if they were actually on site – even when

the server itself can no longer communicate over the network.

As a result, the response time and outage duration are shortened,

thereby improving IT management efficiency and IT availability.

WithVirtualMedia,localstoragemediacanbeassigned

to a remote server for data transfer, application patches and

operating system patches. In a similar way, a local SmartCardreading device can be made available to the remote server

and therefore be used for authentication at the server.

For simple server access and control, the switches provide

an integrated On-Board Web Interface (OBWI) which

is compatible with numerous web browsers.

ViatheDSView3ManagementSoftwaretheKVMswitches

and connected servers can be centrally managed.

MergePoint Unity™ KVM over IP switches MergePointUnityswitchesofferITpersonnelanenterpriseKVM-over-IPsolutionforremoteaccess

andadministrationofservers.MergePointUnityswitchesenableBIOS-levelcontrolandsupportanexternal

modem when the network is unavailable.

Figure 9: MergePoint Unity Switch



Its Enhanced Security Framework provides security profiles

and gives IT managers the option of creating customer-specific

security profiles in order to ensure compliance with existing

security guidelines in the network. The ACS console servers use

high-performance authentication technologies, including

RADIUS,TACACS+,LDAPandOne-TimePassword(OTP).

This ensures that only authorized users gain access to the

company resources. The ACS console servers are available as

modelswith4,8,16,32and48portsandonlytakeuponerack

unit. They help maximize the productivity of IT resources, are

scalableduetointegrationwiththeDSView3Management

Software, and reduce operating costs.

TheACS6000seriesofmodernconsoleserversoffersimproved

security and expanded functions, such as automatic host name

detection for easy identification of servers, routers, switches

or user-defined access levels for secure administration.

AdditionalcardbusandUSBinterfacesprovidevarious

expansion options.

They therefore help optimize the productivity of IT resources

whilst at the same time providing scalability and operating

cost reductions.

ACS Advanced Console Servers ACS advanced console servers provide secure and reliable remote access to serial management ports

available on servers and other IT network devices (routers, switches, firewalls etc.), rather than being

dependent on their network connections. Datalogging not only enables the speedy diagnosis of problems,

it also helps ensure compliance with important legal regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In addition,

it can be used for automatic error detection and alerts, allowing problems to be resolved even faster.


Figure 10: ACS 6000 Advanced Console Server



Depending on the server, the supported functions include

secureconsoleaccessviaSerialoverLAN(SoL),KVM,

VirtualMedial,switchingtheserveron/offincluding

graceful shutdown, server hardware monitoring (sensors)

as well as access to the service processor’s own user interface

and console.

MergePoint SPMs not only make it easier to use the service

processor’s functions, they also supplement its functionality

with additional functions such as data logging, which providesadditional security and audit options. MergePoint SPMs offer

increased security through encryption, diverse server-based

authentication and authorization, and simplify the use of service

processors through IPMI provisioning and autodiscovery

of service processors.

SMASH, Web Services for Management and CIMOM provide

a uniform command line/web interface for the simple and

interoperable administration of servers from different

manufacturers with script and automation functions.

By bringing several service processors together on one network

connection with one IP address, the SPM can also save

considerable investment and operating costs.

InconnectionwiththeDSView3Software,Avocentallowsservice processors to be incorporated into a totally consolidated

out-of-band solution.

MergePoint Service Processor Manager (SPM)

The MergePoint SPM uses a range of manufacturer-specific, inherent service processors for secure,

rationalised and consolidated remote server management.

Figure 10: MergePoint Ser vice Processor Manager (SPM)



With the switchable models, connected devices can be switched

on and off remotely at any time – which is important for every

lights-out data center, to be able to perform a reset at any time.

Withmodelsupto22kWandC13aswellasC19powersockets,

forsingleand3phase,theAvocentPMPDUsarealsoidealfor

the high rack performance densities often needed today.

AvocentPMPDUsofferprecisepowermonitoringinrealtime

for all connected devices via the On-board Web Interface,

DSView3softwareorlocallyviaadigitalLEDdisplay.

Rack Power Distribution Units Dependingonthemodel,AvocentPMRackPowerDistributionUnits(PDUs)allowtheoverallpowerofthe

PDUorofeachindividualpowersockettobemeasuredandeachindividualpowersockettobecontrolled.

This enables the person in charge of IT to control, measure, manage and reduce the ever growing energy

consumption of their equipment. Thresholds can also be set, allowing data centers to recognize problems

early enough for the downtimes caused by system overloading to be kept to an absolute minimum.


Figure 11: Avocent PM Rack Power

Distribution Units (PDUs)



Emerson,Business-CriticalContinuityandEmersonNetworkPoweraretrademarksofEmersonElectricCo.oroneofitsaffiliatedcompanies.©2010EmersonElectricCo.

0111-EMEA-INFMGMT-BRO

Emerson Network Power.The global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity TM.

AC Power

Connectivity

DC Power

Embedded Computing

Embedded Power

Infrastructure Management & Monitoring

Outside Plant

Power Switching & Controls

Precision Cooling

Racks & Integrated Cabinets

Services

Surge Protection

EmersonNetworkPower.com

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Avocent Deutschland GmbH

Lehrer-Wirth-Str. 4

81829 Munich

Germany

Phone: +49-89 42004 202

Fax: +49-89 42004-217

Avocent Switzerland

Saegematte 580

CH-5053 Staffelbach

Switzerland

Phone: +41 (0)848 90 99 90

Fax: +41 (0)848 90 99 90

Avocent IT Infrastructure Management Solution

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