Success Story

Data Center Infrastructure Management

Audit-proof documentation for the Darmstadt data center

Audit-proof documentation for the Darmstadt data center

Data Center Infrastructure Management

Where Hesse's gold reserves were once safely stored, the network cabinets (racks) of the Darmstadt data center (DARZ) now stand, housing an equally valuable asset: the data of DARZ customers. As a colocation provider, the IT full-service provider attaches great importance to precise documentation of the IT infrastructure. DARZ opted for the DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) VM.7 solution from AT+C EDV GmbH - for several reasons.

Since July 2014, the Green-IT high-security center DARZ has been offering its own IT services such as cloud computing, connectivity, secure storage, dual data centers and managed services for banks and insurance companies as well as startups, enterprises and medium-sized companies on 2,500 square meters in the former vault building of the Hessian state bank. In a colocation data center such as DARZ, customers rent space or individual racks to operate their own hardware. Since customers can make changes to their hardware themselves, with the help of an intermediary service provider or via DARZ staff, particularly high demands are placed on the documentation of the entire IT infrastructure. The configuration of the network cabinets and their installations, the individual cable connections between the racks and the data network are often documented in Excel. Apart from the enormous effort, this also has the disadvantage that the data is not stored centrally in a database. When changes are made, there is a risk that relationships between tables or entire workbooks will be dissolved and errors will creep into the documentation unnoticed.

Visualization of the IT infrastructure

In order to meet the requirements of its customers in terms of documentation, from room plans to building technology and cabinet equipment, DARZ relies on the DCIM solution VM.7 from AT+C EDV GmbH. As a colocation data center, the Darmstadt-based company particularly benefits from VM.7's comprehensive multi-client capability. This means that the data center's customers only have access to their own hardware via the web portal, without being able to access other customers' systems. AT+C has developed a new web front end to increase user-friendliness.

Hubertus Schott, responsible for buildings and technology at DARZ, sees another advantage in the interaction with CAD applications: We create our technical and customer plans in CAD, explains Schott. Normally he would first have to convert a CAD drawing into a pixel file in order to then build the database objects based on this file. With VM.7 I can skip this step, says Mr. Schott. Changes in CAD or the database are permanently synchronized.

VM.7 visualizes the entire IT infrastructure. Changes can be made in just a few steps using simple drag and drop. The rule-based control of permitted tasks prevents illogical data from occurring. The user can also read status information such as energy consumption or utilization from the rack view. When calculating cable routes, the automatic routing also takes gradients and inclines into account. VM.7 is also audit-proof by keeping a history of all changes made. From everything we have seen on the market so far, this functionality is the combination of a user-friendly web portal and multi-client capability with a limited customer view - unique, explains Michael Brüning, Head of Sales and Business Development at AT+C.

Higher data consistency, lower costs

With the software, we achieve a high level of data quality and consistency for our documentation, says Hubertus Schott. With VM.7, DARZ can differentiate itself from other competitors in the colocation provider market by offering its customers the special service of displaying their own IT cabinets, including equipment and connections, at any time and from any location, as well as displaying current sensor data and requesting changes directly in the system.

In the future, DARZ wants to make more intensive use of mobile access to the central VM.7 database, for example to send work orders directly to an employee's tablet, who can find all the important information on the mobile device, such as the floor plan of the data center, the rack view or the ports to be changed.

Author: Marc Hankmann
Image source: Darmstadt Data Center DARZ