Data Center Geeks Hub

Running a data center business is a tough challenge as it is. Why complicate it even more by designing a control panel that is overflowing with features, but features arranged so poorly that you do not know where to start? During the creation and ongoing development of EasyDCIM we were always guided by three golden rules: intuitiveness, simplicity and purposefulness. Today we are both excited and proud to announce that we pushed this idea much further ahead with our freshly released 1.6.1 version! Buckle up, we are going for a ride through all the most important attractions of this game-changing new update! Modernized design of main dashboard Are you the kind of person who likes to grasp all the details of a situation with just a single glance? You will definitely enjoy the whole new look and feel of our control panel then. Especially noticeable in the two most vital areas – main dashboard and server summary, this massive interface redesign is meant to guarantee even smoother interaction with the application. Thanks to the more comprehensive information about your locations and devices gathered in one place, you no longer need to switch between the tabs to keep your data center under control 24/7. Let us have a quick overview of the new dashboard layout: 1. Locations - here you can see the list of your locations along with such specifics as traffic from last hour, rack cabinets occupancy, power usage from last hour as well as the number of currently active and inactive servers. Moreover, using the handy widget to the right you can easily view the traffic and usage statistics from a chosen time period, for each location individually. 2. Recent Activity - no operations on your devices will slip your attention ever again since all system notifications will be nicely archived and organized in this section. 3. Top Servers - this widget was designed to let you instantly see your top six servers, additionally sorting them out according to used transfer for the last day as well as uptime. 4. Selected Reports - would you like to keep a sharp eye on the specific statistics at all times? In this area of the dashboard you can gain quick insight into the reports that interest you the most. Network ports traffic from the past five minutes? There it is, right at your fingertips! 5. EasyDCIM License - the last piece of information that you may want to have always at hand. It will inform you on such details of your license as, for example, type of the chosen pricing model and billing status, number of owned devices or current system version. Overhauled server summary view The second section of the system which was rebuilt for enhanced convenience is the summary view of a server. 1. Device Details - the most basic information about the server presented in a compact form. One click on the neighboring, built-in tab and you can preview some more specific parameters or even initiate the installation of a new operating system. This section also contains fully editable notes and comments on the servers. 2. Connections - from here you can check really quick your server’s connection with IPMI, switches and PDU devices. 3. Traffic Aggregation - a practical graph illustrating traffic aggregation from the selected time frame. 4. Assigned Metadata - considering the importance of this particular widget to users, we rearranged it a little bit and grouped metadata into categories. This should make the information even more easily accessible than before. 5. Important Notifications - just like in the dashboard, all notifications on servers appearing in the system will be logged here as well. ACL – extended set of user permissions ACL (Access Control List) has become an integral part of EasyDCIM as with the release of 1.5.2 version. It allows you to greatly increase the security of your infrastructure by creating custom user groups and defining their access to various parts of the system. The scope of available permissions has been further widened up with plenty of new options revolving around: 1. Devices Management: Device Bays, Monitors, Power Usage, VLANs Notifications Graphs 2. Orders Management: Activate, Suspend, Unsuspend, Terminate Service Delete, Create, Edit, Accept, Reject Order 3. API: Devices, Racks, Floors Users Inventory Of course this is just a snapshot of the areas that you will have full control over. For the rest of them, feel free to see the official changelog. Assorted improvements and other features Optimizing the transparency of the interface was our primary, but not the only focus in the 1.6.1 release. We have compiled a series of other upgrades as well, including the following: Quick Search Tool - look up with a single click the desired IP address or subnet whenever you need it and no matter in which section of EasyDCIM you currently are Location Power Consumption report - display power consumption from one of four available time intervals Location Usage (GB) report – trace the changes in your transfer usage from any available time frame Possibility to filter servers based on the IP address and subnet address in CIDR notation Added means to create a graph with traffic statistics generated from all devices assigned to a specific user From overhauled UI interface giving your control panel a modern and fresh look to almost doubled set of ACL permissions now at your disposal. These are still just the highlights of features that make the new EasyDCIM v1.6.1. Which ones are your personal saviors? Be sure to see the complete record of changes available in the changelog right below! Reveal More! Using EasyDCIM version prior to 1.6.0? EasyDCIM 1.6.0 is the first version that officially supports the newest Debian 9 "Stretch" only. All new installations of EasyDCIM as well as updates from the 1.6.0 version will be fully automated thanks to the dedicated installer and application updater. No worries there. As for the older systems (from v1.6.0 down), it is advised to contact our Support Team so as to carry out the update in the most safe and comprehensive manner. Lots of our clients have already got in touch with us and switched to the 1.6.0 version. If you do not want any of the new opportunities pass you by, be sure to follow their footsteps and perform each system update easily on your own after that. Open a new support ticket with "EasyDCIM v1.6.0 update" as its title. Provide access data to the SSH server on which your current EasyDCIM version is installed (account with root privileges required). Provide access data to the SSH server you want to migrate to (account with root privileges and Debian 9 system required). Please kindly stand by as we perform a back-up of your EasyDCIM and migrate the data. Switch the application to live after verifying the correctness of the 1.6.1 version. We look forward to lending you a helpful hand in updating your EasyDCIM!

While today’s exciting release of EasyDCIM v1.6.0 may not come entirely as a surprise, its scope and significance certainly will. In our previous Blog article we shed a bit of light on the upcoming, performance-oriented improvements already, but why not delve into some further details? This way, you will have all the background needed to find your way around this milestone EasyDCIM update real quick. Let’s get started! Dispersed architecture model It goes without saying that the construction of modern network devices monitoring systems poses a lot of challenges to the administrators. One of them is round-the-clock accumulation of large amounts of data such as transfer and power consumption, or current device load. In EasyDCIM the speed with which this data is fetched depends mainly on the total number of devices managed. That is why it is crucial for the information gathering system to be maximally scalable. In the 1.5.5 version, this task was assigned to a single server - the very same one on which EasyDCIM was installed. The single-threaded architecture had certain limitations however as it allowed to send only one request at a time, which might have caused tangible delays while handling large numbers of devices. EasyDCIM v1.6.0 approaches the data collection process in a slightly different way, empowering the administrator to share out this task between many external servers via remote agents. The biggest advantage of dispersed architecture model is that it allows to effectively distribute the load, which ultimately leads to much reduced response time of the system. Being able to switch from one server to a more powerful one whenever needed and without interfering with the main server on which EasyDCIM is installed ensures greater scalability of the application as well. Data collecting agents based on a multi-threaded architecture and closer to end devices are much faster in fetching the information, and more optimal with more devices. Summing up, the newly introduced solution allows you to run many threads at a given time, thanks to which the number of completed tasks increases even a few times, successfully resolving the problem of network latency. NETCONF protocol support The basic network protocol EasyDCIM relies on is SNMP. It allows you to remotely disable and enable network ports for most of network devices such as switches or routers. But some devices, like those provided by Juniper and Cisco brands, are not supported by SNMP. To let administrators remotely manage the devices of those manufacturers in the same manner, we then implemented the integration with NETCONF. NETCONF management protocol is an XML-based protocol used by client applications to request and change configuration information about network devices. The way it works is that a NETCONF server sends a request to the appropriate software modules of the device, encrypts the response and returns it to the client application. Briefly speaking, NETCONF provides a robust API for interacting with network nodes and can be easily used to insert or download structured data from the device, thus facilitating the automation of everyday device management. A solid package of new gear Let us also have a quick overview of some other utilities that may capture your interest: IP Address Management For EasyDCIM v1.6.0 – streamlined management of VLANs, subnets, IP addresses, and orders OS Installation For EasyDCIM v1.5.0 - added post installation scripts for Debian "Jessie" and Debbie "Stretch" plus new VMware ESXi 6.5 U1 OS installation template More advanced support for remote agents Means to export QR codes for devices and items Possibility to easily create and update device types through API Since the list of total changes is too long to squeeze them in here, make sure to visit the official changelog of EasyDCIM v1.6.0 just under the below link! Explore More! The final major change - Debian 9 support In its previous versions, EasyDCIM offered support for two operating systems: Debian 8 "Jessie" and Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS (Xenial Xerus). Since both have grown slightly out of date, soon the support for their most important service updates as well as security improvements will be ceased. In light of this fact, the only operating system that EasyDCIM v1.6.0 can be installed on is Debian 9 "Stretch". Why Debian? First off, it is one of the oldest Linux distributions prized for its stability, security as well as excellent package management system that automatically solves dependency issues. Another fact that acts in favor of this operating system are regular releases of new stable versions and full 3-year client support for every following release plus 2-year support for previous versions as part of the Long Term Support project. Further steps Specially for the release of 1.6.0 version we have created a dedicated installer and application updater that will automatically detect the current operating system at the time of EasyDCIM set-up. New installations will require then no extra effort on your part. However, if you want to update your application from the previous versions (regardless of the OS EasyDCIM was installed on), we strongly encourage you to follow the below instructions in order to perform the update in the most secure manner. Open a new support ticket with "EasyDCIM v1.6.0 update" as its title. Provide access data to the SSH server on which your current EasyDCIM version is installed (account with root privileges required) Provide access data to the SSH server you want to migrate to (account with root privileges and Debian 9 system required) Please kindly stand by as we perform a back-up of your EasyDCIM and migrate the data. Switch the application to live after verifying the correctness of the 1.6.0 version. As you can see, you are only a few steps away from delving into all ingenious tools this revolutionized EasyDCIM edition has to offer. Ready to make the first one? Get In Touch!

For the past few weeks we have been really busy, with our focus set on the soon-to-be-released EasyDCIM v1.6.0. But before it is ready for the official arrival, would you like to hear some spicy details about the variety of novel tools we prepared for you guys? If so, be sure to read on! Along with the increase in number of devices added to EasyDCIM, the amount of resources needed to collect all information about these devices significantly rises as well. As you can easily figure out, this in turn may lead to network latency and unwelcome delays in data fetching. To counteract this problem, EasyDCIM v1.6.0 will rely on the dispersed architecture model where the data collection process will be distributed to external servers via multiple remote agents, capable of performing many more queries in a given time interval. Speaking of remote agents, if you ever installed OS in several separate data center locations via EasyDCIM, you might be quite familiar with this term already. Given their sheer practicality, we extended support for remote agents in the 1.6.0 version even further, securing their integration with the IP Address Management For EasyDCIM module, enabling Post Installation Scripts for Debian 8 and Debian 9, and adding an extra OS installation template: VMware ESXi 6.5 U1. Next on our list of scheduled implementations is support for a completely new protocol type – NETCONF. Its main purpose will be the remote management of those network devices that the current SNMP protocol does not support. This includes mainly switches of Juniper and Cisco brands. Summing up this brief features overview, we can safely say that the 1.6.0 release of EasyDCIM will have much to offer in terms of improved performance across virtually every section of the application. But, so as not to lose the element of surprise and spoil the fun of first-hand exploration for you, that is about as much early details as we can share for now. As soon as the EasyDCIM update becomes officially available, we will release a follow-up article so keep your eyes peeled! Stay Tuned! See also our latest Case Study articles on LibyanSpider and Blazing SEO.

Do you know what links a data center without a proper device monitoring system and a car with a faulty engine? They are both doomed to fail – and rather sooner than later. Luckily, EasyDCIM supplies you with all the tools you need to keep your inventory well-organized and easily accessible. The 1.5.5 release we have the pleasure of announcing today, makes this process even more automated and time-effective that ever before! Quick device and user overview Our very latest edition of EasyDCIM all gravitated toward more intuitive forms navigation enabled by useful helpers and placeholders. Wanting to push this idea some further, we now added equally handy tooltips for at least several different device types in EasyDCIM. Owing to this, every time you hover over a certain device from your inventory, a pop up notification will appear with all crucial details on the given item. Of course, the tooltip contents will vary depending on the device kind, including always the most essential information you may need on the fly. For example, the tooltip of the server on the below screen includes such data as location, assigned client, status and bandwidth usage. While here you may quickly pick such specifics of the chosen PDU like its label, model, location, number of outlets, or power usage from the set interval. The complete list of supported device types includes: Server Blade Server Network (Switches & Routers) PDU Colocation CPU, RAM and HDD Items But that is not all. In the same manner you will be able to preview summary of each user and with a single glance access the list of their devices along with specific location plus aggregated traffic from last month. Extended QR codes support Another area of focus in EasyDCIM v1.5.5 are QR codes. Each data center consists of multiple interconnected appliances which most of the time are handled remotely, ensuring maximum administrative supervision. But what if you need physical access to a certain device? Unless you have your equipment properly systematized, finding the right item to work on may take more of your time than you can probably spare. For this very purpose, we introduced the possibility to label each hardware component with designated QR codes that contain the most vital information on the device and can be easily printed out from the EasyDCIM panel. To best illustrate how this simple function can optimize the management of your entire physical inventory, let us walk you through a real-life scenario: The administrator prints out the QR code for a device (a server in our case). Then, the QR code in a paper form is placed on the corresponding physical device in the server room. The data center technician scans the QR code using his smartphone. After clicking the link, a window opens up with all specifications about the device. The technician is able to quickly check which parts are to be manually added to the server, without even having to log in to the application. And here is how the entire process looks like in a live demonstration: Numerous other novelties and improvements In addition to the already mentioned cornerstones, the toolkit of EasyDCIM has been further boosted with some other practical features as well. Assigning metadata for such items like CPU, RAM or HDD Possibility to define bulk metadata values for SNMP Settings and IPMI Settings Power to block certain actions within a particular device (boot device, install operating system, activate service and more) Maintaining order in your data center inventory is one of the chores that we cannot get rid of entirely. Just yet at least. But we definitely can make it as automated, effortless, and labor-saving as possible. As always, we would love to hear what you think about the type of Admin Experience we are striving towards with each next release of EasyDCIM. If there is anything you feel like sharing with our team, the comments section is all yours! Oh, and do not forget to follow up on the remaining points of our 1.5.5 update! View The Changelog!

For the past few years we have been really busy collecting ideas and implementing new features to make your experience with our software not only maximally beneficial, but enjoyable as well. Recently we came to the realization that the more options we pack into our system, the greater the need to keep things simple. Otherwise, what would be the point of having tons of functionalities stacked one on top of the other if you had to waste precious minutes every time when trying to find something? Finally, after a series of readjustments and tune-ups we managed to reconcile the expanding arsenal of server-related instruments with the ability to navigate through them in a still intuitive and swift manner. Get ready for an intense gust of refreshment triggered by the release of EasyDCIM v1.5.4! The first wave of a sweeping change has affected several forms that you use on an everyday basis to regulate all bits and pieces of your data center operations. What we did was add practical placeholders and helpers in suitable places so that you could know instantly what the given field is responsible for, and what type of information is supposed to be provided within. No need to worry any more that you may misunderstand a vital setting and be forced to start the configuration all over again. Among the forms that were immensely simplified you will find: Add/Edit Device Form Add/Edit Item Form Mass Create Form Auto Discovering Form SNMP Device Settings Form IPMI Device Settings Form Traffic Aggregation Settings Form Base Settings Form Having all details on your clients stored in one place proves of invaluable service when you wish to monitor the status and usage of their key resources in real time. From this day on you will have the opportunity to benefit from one more type of statistics and that is the traffic aggregated on each device assigned to a specific user. Another novel feature that we just could not help but to push into motion is the automated installation of Windows Server 2019 via the Remote Provisioning Module. Care to have a look at some of the other optimizations as well? Possibility to start the noVNC session in a new window, plus stop the active noVNC session directly in the active session window. Added support for HP iLO4 and Dell iDrac 8 console Capability to paginate the API results for a series of specific endpoints Smoother device-to-rack assignment A new popup informing about the termination of a service Enhancing admin experience has been the primary guideline for further development of EasyDCIM since the get-go, and always more of a feedback-reaction kind of process for us rather than a pursuit of some arbitrarily set standards. We hope our newly born 1.5.4 update to bring your way all the flexibility needed to exploiting your company’s potential to maximum. But enough from us. Let’s now hear in the comments your thoughts on the progress we have made and all those things that you like the most about EasyDCIM v1.5.4! Tap into the full changelog!

Starting today’s post with a little trip into the past, we believe our several previous releases to be the best testament to the completely fresh approach we have taken towards the continued development of our control panel. The direction of which we are immensely proud because it is dictated in large part by the people having most experience with EasyDCIM, that is you dear customers! And so, per your special request, we are back with the release of EasyDCIM v1.5.3 that makes remote OS installation in dispersed and separate locations your new real! Automated OS installation in multiple locations While benefits derived from fully automated OS installation have been already discussed in one of our previous articles, the possibility to remotely set up a desired operating system in other independent locations and subnets through EasyDCIM is a brand-new feature and thus deserves a more detailed mention. As from the 1.5.3 version, EasyDCIM guarantees flawless support for remote applications (called slaves) that can be installed in selected locations around the world to carry out the exact tasks issued by the master application (EasyDCIM in our case). Following the freshly implemented Remote Provisioning Module, end-to-end OS installation on a server located in another country and operating within a totally different subnet than EasyDCIM, is now one of those processes that can be easily ordered from the EasyDCIM panel, sparing you the hassle of advanced switch or router configuration. Loving your newly gained powers already? Hang on in there – the list of improvement continues on! Raising the bar of Admin Experience Among the most crucial aspects directly affecting Admin Experience in any piece of software is always the integrity of its interface – how well various functions are organized, how accessible and intuitive they are, and how much time you need to spend on navigating through its different sections. Bearing this mind, we have done a thorough refreshment of our tool so that it could serve your needs even better on so many different levels. Apart from numerous adjustments focused around UI, we have also smoothed the working of several forms such as SNMP Device Settings, IPMI Device Settings, Quick Create Device, or Quick Create Item. Other components that made it on the list of our extras include: Capability to start a new noVNC session for the JAVA KVM console from the client area Widget with informative statistics on particular reports BMC Cold Reset option using the IPMI protocol now available to the client A list of practical shortcuts leading to official video guides available on our YouTube channel that will vary depending on the EasyDCIM section you are at the moment. With each new EasyDCIM update, we do our best not to fall into such traps where we focus on the big picture so much that smaller, but no less important details slip our attention completely. Hopefully, we have managed to pinpoint at least a portion of the elements that still needed some tweaks done here and there, and successfully make them an integral part of the 1.5.3 release. Be sure to expect more in the future updates as well! View The Changelog! Eager to broaden your knowledge on the ever-so-exciting topic of automated OS installation through slave applications? Keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming article where all the secrets will be revealed! UPDATE (Dec 13th): The article describing our new master/slave architecture model is ready! See also: Unattended OS Installation and Windows Servers OS Installation in EasyDCIM!

Since the last major release of EasyDCIM, we have been working on a new version with all our dedication, carefully weighing what its cornerstone should be. What essential functionality EasyDCIM users would most want to get access to next. And now that we have finally figured it out, we are proud to announce that EasyDCIM v1.5.2 is officially out in the open, armed and ready to facilitate your server management process! Without dragging things out any more than necessary, let us see what novel features this vital new update presents at your disposal. IPMI protocol with Proxy server integration It is a well-known fact now that remote supervision of modern servers would be greatly obstructed, if not impossible, without such management processors as IPMI. But what is less obvious to the public is that this seemingly brilliant solution has quite a few drawbacks too, posing a serious security risk to all systems using this very protocol and connected to the Internet. To address and deal with this looming threat, the 1.5.2 version of our control panel provides administrators with the possibility to configure servers that will serve as proxy servers for all IPMI commands and KVM consoles. If you would like to read all about this specific function and how it works in practical terms, our dedicated article which is already scheduled for release will put you in the picture very shortly. ACL model for managing permissions among user groups No matter if you are currently working on the production environment or web app. You need rules defining to which parts of the system each particular user should be granted access so that your team could carry out their individual tasks effectively, but without compromising the safety of the entire infrastructure – either willingly or by accident. ACL model is one way to approach this problem. It not only shields your system against potential security breaches through advanced access control but also enables you to manage permissions on groups of users (not only each user separately) which turns out to be a huge time-saver when you need to define access to particular departments to multiple employees. EasyDCIM v1.5.2 is all about safety – our spotlight features, each briefly outlined above, are the best example of that. But a sharp eye will momentarily notice that our changelog accommodates a handful of other improvements and adjustments as well, all worthy of your close investigation. Here is a sample of some of them: Open two simultaneous login sessions separate for the administrator and the user Advanced device search tool based on the previously set filters Possibility to switch off such options as "Activate", "Suspend", "Unsuspend" per device A new bootloader in OS installation which supports booting of the older device types with network boot support Learn more about the new EasyDCIM v1.5.2 and stay tuned for the upcoming articles elaborating some more on our two keystone features! View The Changelog!   UPDATE: Two promised articles are now ready. Learn more about IPMI proxy integration and ACL in EasyDCIM v1.5.2!

After much blood, sweat and tears, we are only too ready to let this innovative beast out. Give a round of rapturous applause to the tide-turning EasyDCIM v1.5.1 which is about to add whole new layers of automated OS installation! Although we have already spilled the beans on what the centerpiece of this momentous release is, uttering those words even the second time will feel no less amazing - all the finishing touches are now complete to welcome the one and only Automatic Windows Server OS Installer! Since our previous Blog article covers pretty much everything there is to know about this keenly requested group of operating systems, we encourage you to engross yourself in this pleasurable reading straight away (if you have not done that already). Among the many useful pieces on information included in the latest publication, you will find an outline of major perks that unattended installation supplies data center admins with, list of supported Windows systems and a comprehensive guide through the entire installation process. After the long-awaited delivery of mass OS installation, it is time for the next load of big guns. Time for Windows, time for EasyDCIM v1.5.1! View The Changelog! Oh, and one more thing. Don't forget to check out our amazing EasyDCIM 3rd Anniversary offer where you will get a 30% discount for 3 months!

The road so far... It was exactly on 25th June 2015 that a team of software geeks looked at their work with satisfaction and concluded: our all-embracing control panel is officially ready to launch and change the life of data center owners forever. And this is how the legend of EasyDCIM was born! It is to hard to believe that 3 years have passed since that very moment! We came a long way. Not always smooth and not always paved with spectacular victories, but definitely fruitful in the end. Was it worth it? Looking back at what we have achieved, I think we can all unanimously agree that EasyDCIM was the best thing that happened to us. And, hopefully, to all data centers using our software which is setting ever new trends in the market. EasyDCIM has been continuously evolving throughout these 3 years and will surely keep doing that for many, many more days to come. We are strongly driven to action when seeing how many businesses are already using our tool, and how massive feedback we receive from you. It means a whole world to us because with your help we do not have to wander in the dark. We listen, deliberate on each and every one of your suggestions, assess their feasibility, and when possible – we implement them. One of the most game-changing functionalities which settled in EasyDCIM for good as per your request was the Automatic OS Installer built in our recently released 1.5.0 version. To you, it is a great opportunity to set up a series of operating systems in one fell swoop and without the need to use any third-party software. To us – a wonderful tribute to our hard three-year work. Another noteworthy features added in response to your growing needs include Network Auto Discovering which lets you save considerable amounts of time by automatically detecting all devices within a given network through the SNMP protocol, and Revision History section storing all kinds of device-related information conveniently in one place. Some other prodigious additions comprise: Remote KVM console for HP iLO3 devices Remote KVM console for American Megatrends devices Power Control Settings - definining scope of remote control over the device status, choosing primary and secondary method of device restart (IPMI or PDU) PDU Drivers - support for Enlogic & Cyberpower ATS devices Added capability to export parts assigned to a device Possibility to upload files for each element from the inventory Means to export all items at once As you can see, we have done so much already with your support. And there is still a lot up our sleeve, so stay tuned – this second part of the year will be really exciting! Let's make a toast for future to come! An anniversary party without presents is no party at all so let′s see what we have got here! Are you our long-established customer seeking to upgrade your pricing plan? When in touch with us, use the "<3 EasyDCIM" slogan, and we will arrange some exclusive deal specially for you! Still not one of the EasyDCIM happy users? Contact us and use "<3 EasyDCIM" in your message's subject to pay 30% less for any pricing plan for the first three months! Our success is your success so join the celebration and make it one for the books! Let′s get this party started! Needless to say, we simply rejoice great parties. That is why our buoyant promotion is going to last not for a couple of days, but until 31st August inclusively! See also new EasyDCIM v1.5.1 with the  Automatic Windows Server OS Installer!