Intelligent power distribution unit (iPDU) monitoring
The importance of iPDU monitoring and the benefits it offers
Monitoring specialists
Spook's award winning remote monitoring service called OmniWatch monitors iPDU units. Measuring key iPDU metrics across many different assets and areas; OmniWatch presents realtime readings in an easy to use real-time digital dashboard.
Spook and OmniWatch was voted Specialist Technology Company of the Year and Most Innovative Solution of the Year at the annual UK CIR Business Continuity Awards.
Popular iPDU monitoring
Any iPDU power metric can be monitored however the most common metrics are:
Climate monitoring
Most iPDU units also include onboard climate monitoring, this is often expandable to room related environmental monitoring by installing sensors connected to the iPDU units onboard interface.
Total Amps
6.9A
Stranded Power
9.1A
Volts
230V
kWh
29.7
| # | Name | Status | Amps | Wh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rack Switch | On | 1.6 | 4733 |
| 2 | Mail Server | On | 0.4 | 1448 |
| 3 | Server 01 | On | 0.1 | 2383 |
| 4 | Server 02 | On | 0.8 | 1825 |
| 5 | Security Server | On | 1.2 | 4001 |
| 6 | Firewall | On | 0.9 | 1950 |
| 7 | Backup Server | On | 1.2 | 4005 |
| 8 | Rack UPS | On | 0.7 | 1783 |
iPDU Global and socket level monitoring
Power management is crucial within server rooms and data centers. For the best financial and computing results, the modern data center manager needs an efficient power monitoring strategy in order to avoid server downtime and optimise power usage.
With this in mind, iPDU units are crucial. Rack mounted iPDU units provide energy from the utility or UPS power supply to servers and other electronic assets, and monitoring the power metrics at global or individual socket level can be a revelation.
By monitoring iPDU power metrics in realtime means potential problems can be detected before they have negative consequences.
Load balancing
By measuring the power consumption of an iPDU over time the trend data of its power metrics becomes a valuable commodity. Not only can any patterns in power spikes be identified but identification of how high they reach when servers are at maximum stress levels can prove invaluable for building in power related latency.
Ensuring efficient load balancing reduces these stresses and helps power managers to intelligently plan for load balancing it order to spread the consumption of assets across the iPDU estate.
Temperature
Servers in general consume power and release it as heat, but when there are large variances in consumption because of workloads, the heat released from IT equipment also rises.
Fluctuations in server power consumption can cause dangerous increases in temperature, creating unplanned heat spots. While data centres have cooling systems, they may not be designed to handle specific localised hot spots. As temperature rises, equipment is likely to auto-shut down or act abnormally.
iPDU units usually have onboard temperature sensors, this is perfect to monitor for localised, hard to find, hot spots.
Stranded power
Stranded power is the spare power available but not used on a power strip. This may be small on a single unit but extrapolating this across hundreds of power strips in an installation can provide valuable spare power for new projects before having to extend/expand the installation with more PDUs.
Stranded power can be calculated by monitoring the global power consumption of an iPDU versus the nameplate power (16amp/32amp) of the device.
Spook Smart Sensors calculate stranded power in realtime.
Billing grade energy usage
By pairing a Spook smart sensor with a cost per kWh; users are able to get a cost of power usage within their installation per iPDU or if monitoring down to socket level, per connected asset.
OmniWatch can also apply peak and off-peak hourly charges when generating the billing cost.
This is ideal for allocating costs across departments, users and customers.
OmniWatch key features
Cloud based
OmniWatch is cloud based and is accessed via any internet enabled device.
Digital dashboards
OmniWatch dashboards provide interactive and intuitive access to sensor readings 24/7.
Scaleable installations
Totally scaleable from a handful of sensors to a global solution monitoring 1000s of devices.
Trend analysis
Sensor readings are held in perpetuity; providing accurate historical trend analysis.
Automated reporting
Comprehensive reports can be scheduled to be auto emailed daily, weekly and monthly.
Following a potential disaster when an entire switch chassis shared an overloaded Power Distribution Unit (PDU), we had a new requirement to monitor mains and UPS power consumption at Power Distribution Unit level for each of our IT racks in head office. Spook OmniWatch monitors the power metrics of each PDU. We now centrally manage our required power metrics. We can also plan in advance any preventative maintenance in a well informed manner by reviewing the trend data provided by OmniWatch's on-demand reports.
Henry Schein - A Fortune 500 Worlds Most Admired Company.
Spook monitors a wide range of power devices
New to monitoring
We help organisations start monitoring projects from scratch. We have a wealth of experience that is free and helpful in creating an informed approach to monitoring.
We are also resellers to industry leading sensor and equipment manufacturers and can recommend the most appropriate hardware and sensors to fit any size monitoring project.
We had been considering monitoring for a while but did not have the resource or the knowledge to fully understand how to go about doing things from scratch.
We approached Spook as they have lots of experience in looking independently at monitoring projects. They recommended and provided the most appropriate hardware and sensors for us.
The sensors arrived pre-configured and were implemented on OmniWatch by Spook before we installed them.
Additional monitoring
Many of our customers have tried monitoring for themselves.
This ranges from institutions that rely on equipment onboard data loggers and communications cards; to organisations that have started monitoring projects but need help to extend monitoring to new areas and/or implement a central monitoring solution.
We needed a remote monitoring service that did not require an on premise PC and was independent of our network.
Spook provided pre-configured cellular routers for each of our five locations across the UK. The whole project was a simple plug-and-play solution with no involvement from us.
We had been considering monitoring for a while but did not have the resource or the knowledge to fully understand how to go about doing things.
When we Googled the various areas of interest we got more confused.
We approached Spook as they have a different outlook to simply buying hardware and sensors. Thankfully we now have a fully installed, joined up monitoring solution.
We had a series of climate monitors installed in our server rooms. Due to a change in our security policy we needed a remote monitoring service that did not require an on premise PC and was independent of our network.
Spook suggested a technology upgrade and provided pre-configured cellular routers for each of our five server locations across the UK. The whole project was a simple plug-and-play solution with no involvement from us.
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Get in touch with Spook
Please contact us if you wish for further information on how Spook can help with your environmental and power monitoring needs.