In the first post in this 3-part series, we went over the basic structure of netTerrain and looked at the top questions asked about netTerrain Logical, for network diagrams and automated network documentation. In the second post, we discussed the most commonly asked questions about netTerrain OSP (Outside Plant).
For this the final post in the series, we’ll go ahead and answer the most common questions we get about netTerrain DCIM, our data center infrastructure management solution.
Question:
Does netTerrain DCIM include a network discovery engine to automate the population of my network devices and connections?
Yes! The netTerrain Collector and Integration Toolkit is included in netTerrain DCIM
The Collector houses our SNMP network discovery engine, which uses SNMP, LLDP, CDP, WMI, and other protocols to go out and discover your devices and connections and show them in a logical, topology type web diagrams. With the Layer 2 discovery, you can see the IP Address, MAC Address, and from port number to port number (and, you can establish a polling interval to schedule the discovery).
In addition to network discovery, netTerrain DCIM also provides adapters to leading management systems, using Rest APIs, such as: Rest APIs, such as: Solarwinds Orion NPM, CA Spectrum, AWS, Azure, ServiceNow, and others.
Question:
Can we see real-time information about the power?
Yes, there are several ways to capture data in real-time. As mentioned above, with the SNMP discovery, if the smart PDU’s, sensors, and other equipment are SNMP enabled, data will be displayed and captured in real-time.
Along with the SNMP discovery, netTerrain’s Environmental Monitoring Module captures power information through IPMI, SNMP, WS-MAN, SSH protocols. You can find low-utilization servers to either decommission or reuse them, cooling analysis, and advanced power modeling features. With the netTerrain Environmental Monitoring module, you can improve the thermal profile in your Data Center.
Question:
Do we offer 3D views?
No, we do not offer 3D views. Why? I will point you to an article my colleague wrote about: just click here to read it. Now, I can see the reason to see front and back cabinet views. This is something we do offer. When viewing the racks in the netTerrain Catalog, make sure the option of Coupled Front/Back mounting is turned on. With this turned on, you can see the equipment in the rack in both a front and back view.
Question:
Are management reports included?
Yes, with netTerrain DCIM, you can create custom dashboard views in addition to the standard data center capacity reports (assets, rack capacity, power capacity). In addition to the dashboard reports, reports that can generate spreadsheet outputs are also included.
Question:
Does netTerrain DCIM offer a cable management solution?
Yes, netTerrain was built from the ground up — with networking in our bones. When we say we were documenting racks and cables before the acronym DCIM was created, we really mean it!
It’s this experience, along with our obsession with usability, that makes us stand us apart from other DCIM vendors — in my opinion.
With netTerrain, you can identify, track and report all power and data cables, all of your point-to-point connectivity and their endpoint details (including termination ports, connectors, parent interfaces, cards and devices).
Some highlights include:
- Track copper, fiber or any other cable type by any attribute, such as user, tag #, connector, etc.
- Filter cables by data or power and view connectivity at the floor plan or cabinet level
- Aggregate and report on port availability, fiber and copper usage and other capacity planning measures
- You can also manage circuits of any type (layer 1 to layer 7), create custom fields, and create Circuit layout Records (End-to-end circuit traces) on demand.
Question:
I need to add a device object that is not in the catalog. How can this be done?
There are two ways in adding a device object. You can go to the catalog and click on new device. You can model your own devices in netTerrain. If this sounds too painful or tedious, just request it from Customer Support. The turnaround time is usually 24-48 hours — really! How is that for a fast turnaround!?
Question:
How is netTerrain DCIM priced?
Just count the number of devices (patch panels, servers, routers, switches, PDUs, circuit breakers) and racks and add a few more node objects to build the hierarchy (site, building, floor, and room objects). You can get a pricing quote by clicking here.
We’ve now gone over some of the most commonly asked questions about netTerrain DCIM, netTerrain Logical, and netTerrain OSP. If you have specific questions, we are always happy to hear from you and get your questions answered. Just shoot us an email here or give us a call at +1-240-912-6223. You can also sign up for a demo/15 minute discovery call here.
We hope to hear from you soon!