Solutions for data centers: StruxureWare Central software and hardware

In our previous reviews of the APC by Schneider Electric showroom, we looked at the most interesting elements of the test bench, as well as the APC NetBotz 450 environmental monitoring system. As a rule, at large sites, the environmental monitoring system consists of several hundreds of sensors transmitting information to several dozen NetBotz devices. To control and monitor such a complex structure, the hardware and software complex StruxureWare Central is used.



This system allows not only to monitor a huge number of environmental parameters, but also to save all the information received for further analysis.





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StruxureWare Central (formerly InfraStruxure Central) is a server that has a unique software package installed that allows you to monitor and configure the APC NetBotz environmental monitoring system, as well as analyze information from it and respond to events that have occurred according to a previously defined scenario.





By itself, the solution StruxureWare Central is a software and hardware complex, consisting of a classic server and the same software.







StruxureWare Central is available in three layouts — Basic, Standard, and Enterprise. Functional modifications are identical and differ only in the number of serviced devices: Basic allows you to connect up to 525 devices and 15 cameras, and Enterprise already up to 4025 devices and 250 cameras. As a rule, large data centers use one or two Enterprise class devices, and Basic models are installed on small and medium-sized enterprises. Quite often, StruxureWare Central works with several NetBotz devices, but you can also connect other engineering infrastructure equipment to it: UPS, air conditioners, power distribution boards, ATS, DGI, chillers and other devices (this is due to the support of protocols such as SNMP and Modbus TCP ).







Typically, the control system deployed in large enterprises consists of a large number of different sensors connected to several dozen NetBotz, which in turn are connected to one or two StruxureWare Central devices.



Theoretically, NetBotz can act as a device for collecting and processing information on the state of the environment, but it has two significant drawbacks: a small amount of memory that allows you to store events for only the last 24 hours and a limited number of monitored sensors. In turn, StruxureWare Central is devoid of these shortcomings and can not only receive data from several tens and hundreds of NetBotz (or several hundred sensors at the same time), but also save almost any amount of incoming information. The main storage of information is either high-capacity hard drives (either combined into a RAID array as in the Enterprise series model, or external data storage systems built using NFS technology). Overflow protection is implemented as follows: when the memory is full, the device erases the old entries and writes new ones in their place. For complete memory cleansing, a deep cleaning procedure is provided, but using it, the operator will permanently lose all the information stored in the system.





Hard disks combined in RAID are used as storage media.



The capacity of the RAID array is enough to store the archive for several years. For example, the control system installed at one of the largest cellular communication operators in Russia has been collecting data for more than 5 years.



StruxureWare Central is a bit like NetBotz in its work, it collects all the information coming to it, analyzes it and reacts to a specific scenario when an event occurs. Reactions to events completely coincide with the reaction of a simpler NetBotz control system. At its core, the StruxureWare Central system is the “big brother” of NetBotz solutions with a similar building ideology and an identical event response scheme.



For example, StruxureWare Central allows you to monitor the status of racks (or other data center objects) that can be divided into groups. When you open the doors of some racks, the system will send out warning messages to one group of specialists responsible for the performance of the systems assigned to them, and when opening other racks, to other specialists. Thus, StruxureWare Central allows you to set up a very flexible incident escalation policy, and also provides a high level of security.





Network Management Interface a network card connecting all devices of a system on an Ethernet network



StruxureWare Central software allows you to monitor all engineering infrastructure objects that support the SNMP and Modbus standard monitoring platforms, as well as configure the system to work remotely from anywhere in the world. Also, using the StruxureWare Central software, an operator can view images from surveillance cameras in real time, track all alarms from NetBotz devices and respond to these events, and also save all the information in StruxureWare Central for further analysis. Based on the data obtained, the operator can build graphs or tables that demonstrate the state of the system at a certain point in time.





Image from surveillance cameras installed on monitored sites



For example, NetBotz Room Monitor 455 can measure air movement, dew point, humidity, temperature, presence of movement in the camera, operation of the Ethernet port, quality of the A-Link bus, and if a microphone is connected, it can capture sound. The collected data is sent to StruxureWare Central, where it is analyzed, and then using the StruxureWare Central software, you can present it in graphical format or as digital values ​​that can be entered into an Excel spreadsheet.



In addition to presenting data, StruxureWare Central also allows flexible configuration of the entire monitoring system.



In the following overview of the infrastructure solutions for data centers from APC by Schneider Electric, we will discuss setting up and working with the StruxureWare Central software.