The networkmanager’seyes andears

B rand-Rex technical consultantMartyn Davies believes IntelligentInfrastructure Management (IIM)

was launched way ahead of its time and isonly now beginning to gain popularity asIT managers look to increase the efficiencyof their day-to-day network operations.

“For far too many years in the majorityof organisations and data centres,managers have either deliberately notused IIM (perhaps through a misguidedbelief they were saving costs), or havediscounted it by not truly understandingthe real costs of not having it. This hasresulted in a bizarre situation. Everyaspect of their network is fully managedand visible at the network operationscentre with one shocking exception: thephysical layer. Layer 1 is the foundationof every network. For whatever reason,the essential cabling that connects all ofthis high-value IT equipment (which inturn serves even higher value businessservices) has been left unmanaged,

needing the efforts of technicians toperform old-fashioned cable-tracingwhenever a physical layer fault occurs.

“And with recent research from theUptime Institute and DCD Intelligencepointing to upwards of 70 per cent ofdata centre downtime being due to humanerror, it seems a strange paradox thatalthough the solution to this problem hasbeen around for a dozen or more years, it hasn’t found major uptake until now.

“Before the advent of IIM systems,network managers had to rely ontraditional methods of maintainingdocumentation. These often took the formof handwritten records or Excelspreadsheets. Apart from the sheer amountof time it takes to perform such actions,this process is not in real-time and isprone to human error. It takes just oneinaccurate or omitted record for the wholesystem to soon find itself in a state ofchaos. For large companies, or those withmultiple network sites, this can prove tobe a major administrative challenge.

“Indeed, research has found that 80 percent of organisations admit their recordsare inaccurate. This can result in extendedperiods of unplanned downtime, high levelsof asset wastage, reduced productivity, andless value from an already constrained ITbudget. An IIM system will streamlinedocumentation processes and substantiallyreduce the operational costs of networkownership – bringing a much needed focusto quality service provision.

“According to BCS, The CharteredInstitute of IT, in instances where qualifyingthe physical layer is part of the incidentmanagement process, IIM can reduce themean-time to resolution by over 40 per cent,providing the potential for huge savings inIT resources and lost business output.

“Of course, in businesses where highvalues are being transacted – such asairline reservations, financial trading

and in links connecting the combinedtraffic of multiple virtual servers – theopportunity cost of those lost businessoutputs can often be measured in millionsof pounds per minute. Which puts the‘cost-savings’ of having an unmanagedphysical payer into stark contrast.”

Cost effective?“In the early days, vendors would makeelaborate but compelling ROI argumentsfor the adoption of IIM. When closelyexamined, these figures would oftenindicate that a network needed to be above a certain size to prove cost effective.

“Some adoption issues have been downto determining where IIM fits into theoverall infrastructure. In some cases it hasbeen the cabling installation company thathas had to promote the IIM concept to theend user, and when the subject comes roundto money, it has often been rejected due tothe additional cost of implementation.

“IIM should be addressed as a separatenetwork issue and purchased and deployedwith a clear strategic objective. Assumingthe customer is the right ‘fit’ for IIM, thepremium paid for the technology on dayone is easily offset by the savings achievedthrough process improvements and greateroperational efficiency (let alone the businessinterruptions mentioned above). The returnof investment really depends on the degreeto which the system is deployed and how itis aligned to, and utilised by, relatedprocesses and applications. Installed andused correctly, it is feasible for the initial outlay to be recouped after 12-24 months.

“But it’s vital to be able to demonstratethe ways in which savings will be made inaddition to having a comprehensivelogistical argument. Using IIM forproactive rather than reactive infrastructuremanagement can actually extend the life ofan organisation’s investment in its network.”

Changing timesDavies points out that while IIM hastypically operated on a cross-connect basis (which remains an importanttopology), recent developments haveenabled an inter-connect topology which isthe preferred method in the zone areas ofmany data centre. (Also see Bringing IIMto the inter-connect environment, right.)

“Being able to now deploy IIM in inter-connect and mixed interconnect/cross-connect topologies helps to minimise thedeployed hardware. It allows moreflexibility in design and enables optimaluse of available rack space. These systemscan be installed on Category 6 and 6Acabling systems, in either unshielded orshielded variants, as well as on fibre in allcurrent standard fibre types up to 40/100Gwith SC, LC and MPO/MTP connectivity.“For instance, the software used on Brand-Rex’s SmartPatch technologies is based ona client/server application on top of anSQL relational database. It works viastandard SNMP with a network topologyof intelligent hardware in order to control,map and monitor both the physical layerand active LAN equipment. A uniquefeature called P-LET (Proactive LANEquipment Topology) tracks end-to-endnetwork connectivity from PCs, IP phones,printers, etc, through the connectinghardware to the network equipment.

“In the UK, the development of the IIMmarket is showing year-on-year growth,with the financial market having been thefirst sector to fully utilise its benefits. Morerecently a range of other markets, such as petroleum and communications, havebegun to recognise the benefits of IIM,while organisations that perform a largenumber of moves and changes (MACs)and have immature processes, or whichhave multiple locations to manage, areoften good candidates for its adoption.

IIM register online @ www.networkingplus.co.uk to receive your free monthly copy

While Intelligent Infrastructure Management is not new, many have been reluctant to adoptit as a way to boost IT performance and efficiency. BRAND-REX and RiT TECHNOLOGIESdiscuss why it’s take-up has been slow and explain what the key benefits are.

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The networkmanager’seyes andears

Martyn Davies, Technical consultant, Brand-Rex

IIM was developed to enable real-time infrastructure management

through the use of self-awarenetwork components, a central datarepository, and intelligent processes.

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IIMregister online @ www.networkingplus.co.uk to receive your free monthly copy

“Energy efficiency is a high-priority areaorganisations have to pay close attention toand IIM can help them to understand andact upon the information provided throughperformance metrics and environmentalmonitoring, and access control tools. The latest generation IIM software offers amore holistic approach to data centremanagement, incorporating the ability tointerface directly with environmental andpower systems, allowing a greater degreeof visibility and control to further enhancethe green capabilities of the DC operator.”

Compliance“IIM should be considered by companiesthat, as well as requiring greater controland visibility of their infrastructure, haveto comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel IIand other regulatory requirements. It isalso a highly complementary tool fororganisations adopting best practices forprocess optimisation and servicemanagement. These disciplines includeprocesses for configuration management,capacity management, changemanagement, and problem management.

“The ability to improve mean time torespond and root cause analysis, andprovide automatic population of the data-base with real-time, reliable connectivityinformation are among the manysynergies between the features of IIMand the disciplines set out in theInformation Technology InfrastructureLibrary (ITIL), ISO20000, EN50174,EN6701, ISO14763 and TIA606.

“IIM can also make a difference toservice provisioning efficiency, whichcan be massively improved in terms ofbetter response, reduced planning time,and more accurate deployments anddocumentation by utilising the system’sautomatic provisioning capability. Thiscan be customised by an end user toguarantee compliance with corporatesecurity policies, while further enhancingITIL compliance.”

A ll aspects of the IT infrastructuremust be meticulously planned andexecuted, says RiT Technologies’

Julia Geva. She warns that human errorof any sort leads to wasted resourceutilisation in the best case scenario andnetwork downtime in the worst.

“With the goal of streamlining anderror-proofing network infrastructureoperations, RiT Technologies pioneeredthe IIM concept some two decades ago.The idea was simple but powerful: toenable real-time infrastructuremanagement through the use of self-aware network components, a centraldata repository, and intelligent processes.In fact, research from Gartner (DCIM

Going Beyond IT, March 2010) hasrepeatedly shown that more rigorousmanagement can save as much as 20-30per cent of an organisation’s overalloperating costs.

“Such massive savings become evenmore compelling when you consider theemergence of new industrycommunications standards which aremandating the implementation ofautomatic infrastructure managementsystems as a best-practice foundation.”

“Today’s IIM solutions manage all thecomponents of an IT environment,including the full range of equipment,power and cabling infrastructure, cabinetsand supporting equipment, cooling andenvironment monitoring elements, andsecurity. Amongst its many functions,IIM brings new efficiency to thefollowing IT routines:

Provisioning and servicedeployment: An IIM solution canstreamline and automate the planning andimplementation of flawless MACs,shifting the focus from ‘how toprovision’ to ‘what to provision’. Inplanning the MAC, the system considersthe status of the entire networkinfrastructure together with all the rulesyou have established, calculates theoptimal resource allocation, produces amulti-team work order and then tracks ituntil it is complete. The result is reduceddowntime and human error, and anincrease in productivity.

Fault management: The best systemscontinuously monitor all connections atthe patching level, and provide animmediate alert when they sense anyfaults or disconnections. The IT staff,armed with the exact location of the faultin real-time, is able to correct the problemimmediately, thus minimising downtime.

Asset management: As IT equipmentbecomes more mobile, it becomes harderto track. The sheer cost of the kit,together with the growing scrutiny ofgovernmental watchdogs, dictates theestablishment of better asset trackingmechanisms. IIM automates the process,continuously monitoring the status,attributes and physical locations andmovements of all network assets,including automatic discovery of movesor changes of servers, PCs and IP phones.For many, the ‘re-discovery’ of ‘lost’ ororphaned equipment more than justifiesthe cost of the system.

Power management: Escalatingpower consumption costs and newenvironmental legislation is making itmore important than ever to automate themanagement of environment and powerelements of today’s crowded data centresand comms rooms. RiT’s IIM solutionenables organisations to obtain a holistic‘green’ view of their infrastructure,providing critical baselines for use indisaster recovery, provisioning, and more.

Security: IIM acts as an‘invisible agent’that automatically seeks out suspiciousactivities related to the networkinfrastructure. Its real-time monitoringcapabilities enable the system to identifyillegal or unscheduled connections ordisconnections,and more. The alerts canbe delivered and handled remotely.

“All infrastructure is a challenge tomanage but never has the challenge been as evident as in today’s resource-constrained IT departments and datacentres. With significant space, power, and environmental issues, data centresand communications rooms must bedesigned with utmost care, and continualmaintenance,” concludes Geva. Andthat’s where Intelligent InfrastructureManagement comes in. �

Julia Geva, Assistant vice president for marketing, RiT Technologies

RiT Technologies claims that PatchView+is the first range of hardware componentsfor more complex cross-connect to inter-connect network environments.

The firm says all the components havebeen designed to allow easy growth,control and management of an unlimitednumber of ports in real-time, whilesupporting copper, fibre or combinationenvironments with speeds up to40/100Gbps. It adds that as PatchView+features fewer components and uses lesselectricity, it also enhances anorganisation’s ‘green profile’.

To maximise design flexibility, thesystem’s hardware supports both inter-connect and cross-connect networktopologies, whether for copper or fibreinfrastructure. The product rangeincludes Cat6A copper patch cords, aswell as LC-LC and MPO-MPO patchcords to support both topologies invarious applications.

It also features the PatchView+ Card –a pluggable device that supports physicalnetwork identification on inter-connectand cross-connect topologies. RiT saysthe card automatically detects and readsup to 24 SMART ID devices present oneach copper frame or fibre tray and onpatch cords. The PatchView+ Collectorcontinuously gathers connectivity datafrom the card and routes it to a specifiedagent on request. It can be installed ineither a zero U configuration for rackspace optimisation or as 1U configuration.

“By abstracting the connectionbetween active equipment and copperframes or fibre trays, PatchView+

enables cords to be connected anddisconnected without losing theirindividual IDs,” explains the firm. “Thistransparency allows PatchView+ to bringultimate design flexibility and agilitywithout sacrificing space, control orefficiency – no matter how frequentlyyou add copper frames, fibre trays and/ornetwork devices, or how continuouslyyou need to carry out MACs.”

In addition, it offers automaticmanagement of environment sensors,sending out alerts in real time wheneverpre-defined limits are compromised.

Meanwhile, Brand-Rex says there arenow IIM systems available which meetthe needs of enterprises of all sizes. Forinstance, it offers the EPV CableManagement Solution from RiTTechnologies but with Brand-Rexconnectivity. It is a standalone solutionthat requires no additional software orservers, allowing all types of businesses,from SMEs to larger organisations, toexperience the benefits of IIM.

EPV has been designed to offer the key elements of a traditional enterprisemonitoring system without thecomplexity. Similar to RiT’s PatchView+Collector, it gathers information frompatch panels and communications racksand detects any changes in connectivity.

The system notifies designated staff ofany unauthorised changes by email andthey can then access specific detailsfrom a permission-based GUI via a webbrowser. According to Brand-Rex, thisprocess makes network monitoringsimple and effective. �

Bringing IIM to the inter-connect environment

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