Data Center Solutions: APC NetBotz 450 Environmental Management System

We continue to introduce you to the APC by Schneider Electric showroom. In the previous report, we briefly described the main elements of the test bench, and now we’ll dwell on some of them in a little more detail.


One of the main nodes controlling the operation of the entire complex is the NetBotz Environmental Parameter Monitoring System. It is designed to monitor key environmental parameters: humidity, temperature, air smoke, fluid leakage, as well as provide the necessary security measures, such as access control, organized with a video camera and electronic locks that block access to the rack units.


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The NetBotz 450 module installed in the APC brand rack acts as the head unit. Up to six different sensors and two expansion devices can be connected to each NetBotz 450. The older version, NetBotz 550, supports more sensors and expansion devices.
As a rule, temperature and humidity sensors are installed on the front of the rack in the “cold” corridor (since it does not make sense to monitor the “hot” corridor).


A sensor that monitors the change in both humidity and temperature, mounted inside the rack and connected to NetBotz 450


Temperature sensor mounted on the inner wall of the door closing the rack

The main ports and connectors are located on the front panel of the NetBotz 450: a pair of USB ports, a Console Port, six ports for connecting sensors, and an ALink port that allow you to connect two Sensor Pods to the head unit.


The NetBotz 450 model is extended by two Sensor Pods, and the older NetBotz 550 is twelve


Sensor Pod 150 connected to a NetBotz 450 head unit. At the bottom you can see the connectors for connecting sensors

All elements of the control system are connected to each other using the proprietary A-Link bus and are assembled in a sequence resembling a garland. At the same time, the digital indicator Sensor Pod-a displays the number corresponding to the ordinal number of the device in the general sequence.

Up to six different sensors can be connected to the Sensor Pod 150, as well as to the NetBotz 450 head unit. Thus, the total number of sensors monitored by a single NetBotz 450 is eighteen.


A video camera that can be connected to the NetBotz 450 to provide control of access to equipment in the rack

In addition to monitoring the environment, NetBotz also allows you to control access to rack units. For example, if you put a special sensor on the door of the rack, then when you open the door, the camera automatically turns on, which monitors access to the racks. When installing electronic locks and door control unit, the attendants access is carried out using a special magnetic card.




Lock, locking door rack. When it is installed, only specialists with a certain level of access can open the rack.


Key card for opening the electronic lock

The device controls the door both from the front and from the rear and can work autonomously or with NetBotz. Using a set of electronic locks, a camera and a NetBotz head unit, a technician can program the system to alert you when an event occurs, such as a temperature increase in a cold corridor, room smoke, or an attempt to open a rack with an access card. The response to any of the permissible events will be the turning on of the camera, or a special emergency beacon.

Based on information received from sensors connected to NetBotz, the system allows personnel to be notified of a change in the environment or an attempted illegal access. For example, you can set a certain temperature range in the “cold corridor”, when exiting from it, the system will notify technical personnel of the changes. Alert can be organized by sending SMS-messages or e-mail, in addition, you can activate an emergency beacon, notifying personnel of an emergency situation.


Emergency beacon, informing staff about an emergency situation

In addition, NetBotz can control a number of external relays connected through special connectors (dry contacts) and, upon the occurrence of a specific event, switch them. The older Netbotz 550 series has an interface for connecting analog 4-20 mA sensors.



NetBotz Advanced View is supplied with the device. With its help, the operator can remotely see the current status of all sensors on the object and configure the device operation.


Center console

The Graph View tab displays changes in environmental parameters over time.


Indoor temperature graph for the last 8 hours. The temperature during this time increased from 23.5 to 26.2 degrees

And, of course, record the movement of personnel in an IT facility and save images from the device’s video camera to a video file.



We limited ourselves to observing the fish in an aquarium with APC by Schneider Electric system engineers.



NetBotz is a flexible and scalable complex for organizing control and response to virtually any event that can only be provided by the customer during the installation process. The NetBotz control unit is a complete combat unit, but for optimal performance, the control system is most often used in tandem with StruxureWare Central.

It is about her that we will describe in our next review.