How to Monitor Your

Server Room

If you’re responsible for a server room, server closet, or data cente

- no matter what your industry - you absolutely have to know when
you have a problem. You need a monitoring device that will alert you
to threats.

But you can’t just pick monitoring gear randomly. There are lots
to choose from, quality varies wildly, and the safety and security of
your servers is at stake. Version 1.0
Released August 10, 2010
This guide will teach you the most important server room monitor-
ing features to look for - and common pitfalls to avoid...
www.dpstele.com • 1-800-622-3314 US $36.95

“We protect your network like your business depends on it”TM

© Copyright 2010 DPS Telecom

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this white paper or portions thereof in any form with-
out written permission from DPS Telecom. For Information, please write to DPS Telecom 4955 E. Yale
Ave., Fresno, CA 93727-1523 • Call: 1-800-622-3314 • Email: info@dpstele.com

Printed in the U.S.A

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Server Room • DPS
• DPS
Telecom
Telecom
• 4955
• 4955
East
East
Yale
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Avenue,
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Fresno,
Fresno,
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California
93727
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622-3314
622-3314
• Fax
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Executive Summary
A re you tired of hoping that your server room is safe? If you need remote monitoring for one or more
server rooms or data closet, this guide is the best place to start. Once you’ve deployed an effective monitoring
system to protect your servers, you can respond immediately when there’s a real threat - and sleep easily when
there’s not.

This white paper exposes the secrets of researching and deploying a quality server room monitoring system.
You’ll learn how to tell the difference between reliable industrial-grade gear and cheap “bare minimum” equip-
ment.

If you are too busy with all of your other duties to start a time-consuming research project, this paper was cre-
ated for you.

After reading, you’ll also understand the dangers you face every day if you don’t monitor your server rooms. If
you simply do nothing, server downtime and increased operational expense will cost you way more than even
the most expensive monitoring system.

As you read this entire white paper, just imagine how much better you’ll feel when you know that your serv-
er room or data center is protected, every minute of every day, by a reliable monitoring system.

Contents
How Server Room Monitoring Works (Quick Overview) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

How Server Room Monitoring Devices Collect Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Reliable Server Room Monitoring Device Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Best Server Room Monitoring Gear is Based on Industrial-Grade Monitoring Systems . . . . . . . 8

How to Choose What to Monitor in Your Server Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Don’t Forget a Convenient Web Interface to Accelerate Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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Auto-Dialers
Server Room • DPS
• DPS
Telecom
Telecom
• 4955
• 4955
East
East
Yale
Yale
Avenue,
Avenue,
Fresno,
Fresno,
California
California
93727
93727
• (800)
• (800)
622-3314
622-3314
• Fax
• Fax
(559)
(559)
454-1688
454-1688
• www.dpstelecom.com
• www.dpstele.com

Email Alert
Web Browser Interface SNMP message to
SNMP Manager

Server room monitoring devices will collect alarms from your servers and various external sensors. These alarms
can be reported to you through a web interface, and email alert, or an SNMP trap message to an SNMP manager.

How Server Room Monitoring Works (Quick Overview)

Server room monitoring systems operate by detecting problems at your remote sites and reporting them to you.
Problem alerts, commonly known as “alarms”, can be sent to a central master console for aggregation if you have
a large data center. More commonly, though, you can receive alerts directly from the monitoring device you’ve
installed in your server room. This alerts are typically sent via cell phone text message, automated phone voice
messages, or email. Good server room monitors will also have a web interface you can access over the network.

If your data center grows large enough that you need a central master console to collect and manage alarms, a
server room monitoring device will support that change, but it’s not a requirement on Day 1.

So how do server room monitoring devices collect alarms? Actually, they can do it in a few different ways...

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 Server Room • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstele.com

How Server Room Monitoring Devices Collect Alarms

Before you can receive alarm notifications, you have to set up your server room monitoring device to detect problems at
your remote sites. This can take a few forms:

Contact Closure Inputs (“Discrete Alarms”)

Contact closure inputs are also called discrete alarms or digital inputs. A contact closure is a simple on/off switch that, when
activated by a server or other device in your server room, closes a path that allows electrical current to flow through the
monitoring device’s input. This current flow is detected as an alarm. Contact closures are the simplest kind of alarm input
(there’s no need for a communication protocol), so they’re often used as a kind of lowest-common-denominator means of
getting some kind of alarm from any kind of equipment. Contact closures are excellent ways to monitor things that can only
be in one of two states, like door open/closed or lights on/off.

Internal Analog Temperature Sensors

It’s important for a server room monitoring device to
accept contact closures because they’re so common,
but you need other kinds of inputs to get the
complete picture. One really easy way to do this is
to purchase monitoring gear with an internal analog
temperature sensor.

“Internal analog temperature sensor” means that

your monitoring box has an embedded sensor
that reports the real-time temperature measured
from within its own chassis. Because the sensor is
integrated inside the unit itself, there’s no wiring or
setup required. The sensor begins monitoring the
internal temperature as soon as you power it up. Monitoring devices collect alarms with several different technologies.
Monitoring temperature at your sites is critical
because high heat can destroy equipment.
Imagine what would happen if your servers were damaged by heat. That would create a ton of extra cost and downtime.

But you need to be careful when evaluating options from vendors. Some systems only simulate analog temperature
monitoring with a “threshold” alarm. With threshold alarms, you only know that the temperature is over some arbitrary value.
You might get an alarm message that the temperature is “over 90 degrees” (which could be 91 degrees or 191 degrees). You
have no way of getting an accurate, real-time temperature reading.

With a true analog sensor, you’ll be able to remotely access your monitoring system and find out that it’s 112.6 degrees and
you have an emergency air-conditioning failure. Or maybe it’s only 81.2 degrees and you don’t need to drive to the site yet.
With traditional threshold alarms, “over 80 degrees” gives you no way to tell the difference between these two scenarios.

Keep in mind that thresholds are subjective. To make sure you get phone notifications when you need them, quality server
room monitoring devices support several user-configurable thresholds (like Major Under, Minor Under, Minor Over, and
Major Over). These flexible thresholds provide provide early warning and critical alerts both above and below the ideal
temperature range. What makes these thresholds superior to the ones discussed above is this: you can access your monitoring
system at any time to find out the precise temperature reading.

External Analog Temperature Sensors

This type of temperature sensor is identical to the internal sensor discussed above, with a critical difference: you aren’t
limited to measuring temperature within the monitoring device itself.

Temperature can vary significantly at different areas within the same site. What if you have a particular piece of equipment
that “runs hot” and you want to monitor it closely? By the time that device heated the whole room enough to trigger the

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 Server Room • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstele.com

internal sensor in your monitoring gear, it would probably be seconds

from failing.
Let DPS Help You
This is when having an external temperature sensor probe on a long lead
(wire) becomes absolutely critical. A length of about seven feet is right
Assess Your Monitoring
for most applications, but a good vendor will be able to accomodate a Needs...
different length if you need it.
Determining your server monitoring
Also, make sure that the temperature sensor plugs into your monitoring
box with a single click. You don’t want to waste your time with needs can be tough. If you’ve got a
complicated installations. busy job with
a lot of respon-
General Purpose Analog Inputs sibilities, you
Since you’ve read this far, you already know how valuable it is to have
don’t have a lot
precise analog measurement and user-
configurable threshold alarms for of time to eval-
monitoring temperature. You’ve got to uate monitor-
be able to get a precise reading at any ing equipment
time, and you need to receive automatic and survey
alerts if the temperature goes beyond
your remote
your specified tolerance. Eric Storm
sites.
President
General purpose analog inputs take DPS Telecom
the same concepts to other important So why not
Analog inputs will tell
values besides the temperature. Think
you “how much?”
get help from
about your sites where you need to experts you can trust? DPS Telecom
monitor humidity, power and battery
will help you survey your remote sites
voltages, fuel levels, water levels, and
other critical values that just can’t be represented by a simple “yes” or step-by step, making sure you don’t
“no”. You need an actual, physical measurement of these conditions in miss any opportunities to make your
real time. monitoring project successful — and
easier on your budget.
This is where general purpose analog inputs become important. An analog
input itself consists of just 2 wire terminals (positive and negative). The A DPS expert consultant can help your
best inputs can be configured to monitor either the voltage from -92vdc
to +92vdc) or the current (4 to 20 mA) flowing through them.
figure out what monitoring products
will most effectively meet your needs
If you want to monitor a value that’s already in voltage or current form, without overloading your budget. Our
like the voltage from a site battery that indicates the remaining charge, goal is to give you the tools you need
you don’t need anything else. You’ll just wire it directly into your server to help keep your server room up and
room monitoring device’s analog input.
running. With an emphasis on maxi-
But if you want to monitor a different kind of value, like humidity or mizing ROI, we don’t pressure you to
a fuel tank level, you’ll purchase a small analog sensor that you can buy a particular system.
wire into your monitoring device. As far as your monitoring system
is concerned, it’s still just monitoring voltage or current. The external There’s no hard-sell sales tactics. No
sensor acts as an intermediary, converting the sensor’s measurement harassing sales calls. No pressure to
into voltage/current output. The most common sensors output 0-5vdc or buy. We won’t discuss specific equip-
4-20mA.
ment options until we’ve helped you
This conversion from “native units” like percentage humidity or fuel plan the right monitoring strategy for
remaining to “electrical units” like voltage or current does highlight one your network.
important monitoring feature. You want to find monitoring gear that will
translate the incoming voltage/current back into native units before Call 1-800-693-0351 for your no-
notifying you. Do you want to receive a phone call that says “your current obligation consultation.
site humidity is 2.7 volts”? Of course not. You want a system that will
convert “2.7 volts” to the much more relevant “65% relative humidity”.
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Server Room • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstele.com

Reliable Server Room Monitoring Device Checklist

There are quite a few server room monitoring devices to choose from. Some are good. Some aren’t so good. Use this
checklist of important features when evaluating offers from vendors:

 “Just Right” alarm capacity (don’t pay for more than you need - or suffer with less)
 Metal chassis (don’t put yourself at risk with flimsy plastic)
 Industrial temperature rating (your monitoring should always be the last thing that fails)
 Analog monitoring support (monitor continuous values like temperatures)
 Ability to notify different people for different alarms (one person can’t fix every problem)
 Escalate alarms to others if the first person doesn’t respond (no single point of failure)
 SNMP support for future-proofing (ability to transition to an alarm master station as you grow)
 Control relays (remotely operate other equipment without driving to the site)
 Easy wiring connections (minimize physical installation time)
 Multiple power options (commercial 110 VAC or reliable DC power from your battery plant))
 Money-Back guarantee (never get stuck with something that didn’t work as advertised)
 Free firmware upgrades for life (add newly developed features at no extra charge)

Featured Server Room Monitor: TempDefender IT

• Monitor Environmental Levels and Security Conditions

• Cost-Effective Design (great for even small & medium server rooms)
• 8 contact closure (discrete) inputs
• HTTP Service Monitoring to really know if your website is online (better than pings)
• Reports alarms via email, web interface, or SNMP v1/v2c
• 4 DPS Sensor Network ports for adding external sensors, such as temperature
• Telco-Grade Metal Casing for enhanced durability
• 2 Control Relays for illuminating tower lights
Easy to wire (spring-down clamp connectors, no parts to lose)
• FREE lifetime firmware upgrades
• 30-Day No-Risk Money-Back Guarantee

To learn more about this server room monitoring device, contact a DPS Telecom appli-
cations engineer at 1-800-693-0351.

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 Server Room • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstele.com

The Best Server Room Monitoring Gear is Based on Industrial-

Grade Monitoring Systems
Because monitoring a server room is much simpler than, say, monitoring a nationwide telecom network, a lot of manu-
facturers use server rooms as a starting point for their monitoring-equipment business. This is something you need to be
very careful about.

It’s not that companies who start out building server room monitoring devices are trying to cheat you. It just means that
you’re buying one of their first few attempts at delivering a quality product. Even if they’ve recently moved on to more
complex gear, they probably haven’t gone back to update their early server room monitoring equipment with new tech-
nology.

It may seem ironic, but the best server room monitoring systems come from manufacturers that started their business
by developing monitoring systems for major corporations, national governments, and militaries. To survive in these
markets for long, a vendor has to constantly improve their product designs to increase reliability in complex networks
and harsh environmental conditions.

When an industrial-grade vendor starts developing

server room monitoring tools for the first time, the
quality they’ve been honing for years gets included
automatically. They probably don’t even think about it.
For companies used to pleasing huge clients, delivering
top-notch quality every time is just business as usual.

So, which server room monitoring device would you

rather buy to protect yourself?
1. A robust, dependable box that’s a small-
scale version of industrial- and military-
grade monitoring technology, or
2. A bare minimum device that provides only
basic functionality and has no proven track
record of dependability. Find a server room monitoring system that’s been field-proven in
heavy industrial scenarios. That’s the best guarantee you can have.
Hopefully, that’s a no-brainer answer for you. So, as
you evaluate your server room monitoring options,
ask your vendors this tough question:

“What names on your client list will prove to me that your server room monitoring system
will survive at my sites?”

If a manufacturer can’t impress you with a list of previous deployments, can you really trust the reliability of their
equipment? Ask tough questions like the one above to protect yourself from gear that doesn’t perform as advertised.

How to Choose What to Monitor in Your Server Room

In the perfect monitoring system of your dreams, you’d get an alarm for every single factor that can affect your
operations, but you’d never spend extra money on alarm capacity you didn’t need. In the real world, time and budget
constraints usually mean you have to set priorities and carefully select which alarms you’re going to monitor in your
server room or data center.

Keep these 4 principles in mind when you’re choosing what to monitor in your server room:

1. Paranoia is your friend.

Think about everything that can possibly go wrong, because — guaranteed — someday it will.

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 Server Room • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstele.com

2. The more detailed and timely your monitoring, the faster your restoration time.
Precise voice alerts help you send the right tech with the right tools on the first site visit.

3. It’s OK to start small and scale up.

If you get a stand-alone monitoring device that can also report to a central master console, you give yourself
the flexibility to expand your monitoring in the future. If you ever get more monitoring devices than you can
comfortably manage individually, you can install a central computer called an “alarm master” to receive alarms
from all of your devices and report them on one screen. If you buy a server room monitor that also has SNMP
protocol support, even if you don’t plan to use SNMP for years, that gives you the flexibility to transition to an
alarm master architecture in the future. You’ll simply change your system from stand-alone reporting to SNMP/
LAN reporting.

4. Plan for your needs for the next five years.

Your network and your monitoring needs will grow, and an alarm system that can’t grow with them will be
obsolete as soon as it’s installed.

Learn About Server Room Monitoring From the Experts:

Attend DPS Telecom Factory Training
Since you’ve read this white paper, you know a thing or two about server room monitoring. If you want
to take your monitoring to the next level - where your server room monitoring includes advanced devices
reporting to a central master station - you need to come to DPS Telecom Factory Training. In this 4-day
course, you’ll learn network alarm monitoring in-depth in a totally practical and hands-on environment.
DPS training will show you the best ways to monitor your gear. It’s the easiest way to learn alarm monitor-
ing, and it’s taught by technicians who have installed hundreds of successful alarm monitoring deployments.
Plus, qualified professionals pay no tuition, receive free meals, and earn an exclusive hotel discount.

“The training at DPS has been the most hands-on training that I’ve been to in a long
time.”
— Rick S., Constant Power Tech.

“DPS Factory Training really was the best training class I’ve been to in my telecom
career.”
— Mary S., National Grid

For dates and registration information, call 1-800-693-3314 today or go to www.dpstele.com/training

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 Auto-Dialers • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstelecom.com

Don’t Forget a Convenient Web Interface to Accelerate Setup

When you’re evaluating server room monitoring
gear, make sure you consider how much time it will
take to setup. You want something that can be up and
running very quickly.

One key factor that affects setup time is the user

interface. A lot of server room devices come with a
clunky interface.

One excellent way to make your setup time as short

as possible is to purchase a server room monitoring
device with a built-in web interface. That allows you
to configure the unit on your computer screen - all
without installing any special software. In this case,
being able to see all of the configuration options is
a big help. It’s ten times better than a clunky piece A visual web interface - accessible from any PC workstation - makes
of proprietary software you have to install... setting up and using your monitoring device faster and easier.

DPS is Delivers Top-Quality Monitoring Gear and Client Service

“I feel compelled to let you know how satisfying it is to work with your staff, who were
very helpful in getting the right product options for my application.”
—Ole J.
Canadian Coast Guard

“Anytime I have an issue, I can contact DPS or I can walk into their
headquarters. I can do whatever I need to do to get it resolved, and
I think that’s awesome.”
—James G.
CC Communications

“We were impressed with the ‘Can Do’ attitude of your company. The thought of just
making one phone call to you, to help us with our needs, is outstanding. Whether it is a
sales or technical question, one phone call is all it will take.”
—Mitch S.
Ancom Communications and
Technical Center

“I just wanted to take a moment and extend my amazement at your company’s technical
capabilities. Things just seem to click so well with them. I wish all my vendors were this
savvy!”
—Dennis E.
Enventis Telecom

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Get the Facts Before You Purchase Any Monitoring Gear...

If you found the information in this white paper useful, you’ll also be interested in the other white papers in the DPS Telecom
Network Monitoring Guide series. Each paper is a complete guide to an essential aspect of network monitoring. These are the
facts you need to know to make an informed purchase of your next network monitoring system.

SCADA Tutorial: A Fast Introduction to SCADA Fundamentals and

Implementation
This white paper is a complete guide to what SCADA is and what SCADA can do for you. It includes
details about real-world SCADA applications, including how to monitor, manage, and control your facili-
ties while staying on time, staying on budget, and increasing profitability. To receive this report, visit:
http://www.dpstele.com/white-papers

SNMP Tutorial
This guidebook has been created to give you the information you need to successfully implement SNMP-
based alarm monitoring in your network. To receive this report, visit:
http://www.dpstele.com/white-papers

SNMP Troubleshooting Guide

Do you have a nagging SNMP problem that is reducing your network visibility? Do you spend hours try-
ing to find the cause because you’re not sure where to look? You’re not alone. Finding and solving prob-
lems in your SNMP implementation can be a difficult task. This White Paper is a guide to identifying and
solving SNMP issues.
http://www.dpstele.com/white-papers

Give Us Your Feedback

Send your comments to feedback@dpstele.com

This all sounds great, but where can I get product details?
If you would like to know more about the products and services mentioned in this white paper, visit www.dpstele.com and
click “Applications.” or “Products.”

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Server Room • DPS Telecom • 4955 East Yale Avenue, Fresno, California 93727 • (800) 622-3314 • Fax (559) 454-1688 • www.dpstele.com

“The monitoring system was simple to install, practically nothing to do

once you have it set up and in place. Ours has been running 24/7/365 for
over 5 years.”
—Greg Reas
Harrison County Emergency
Management

“It is hard to find companies with the intelligence and aptitude to meet
the customer’s exact needs, and I believe that is what DPS is all about.”
—Lee Wells
Pathnet

Written by Robert Berry and Andrew Erickson

About the Author

Robert Berry is founder and CEO of DPS Telecom, an industry-leading devel-
oper of network alarm management solutions. Two decades’ experience
designing remote telemetry systems have taught Berry that technology is
most powerful when it meets real-world business needs. DPS Telecom clients
have grown to appreciate Berry’s dedication to developing technology solu-
tions that lower costs and raise revenue.

www.dpstele.com
1-800-622-3314

US $36.95

“We protect your network like your business depends on it”TM