DCIM Software Racks: Custom Modeling
By Jan Durnhofer - September 2, 2021In the previous three blogs in this series on racks in DCIM software, you learned rack basics such as rack mounting, how to set rack capacity visual overrides, and rack changes plus capacity planning. What’s next? All the features for rack management, rack capacity management, and so on are nice, but the question is: “how…
Learn MoreDCIM Software Racks: Changes and Capacity Planning
By Jan Durnhofer - August 31, 2021In the previous two blogs in this five-part series, we covered rack basics such as rack mounting, as well as visual overrides for racks. In this, the third blog in this series (and corresponding video, which begins at 9:55 and ends at 12:55), we’ll look at capacity management for racks in netTerrain DCIM software. When…
Learn MoreDCIM Software Racks: Capacity Visual Overrides
By Jan Durnhofer - August 30, 2021In the first blog in this series, we discussed the basics of racks in netTerrain DCIM — and you also learned how to mount equipment to racks. What’s next in this, the second part of this five-part series? In this blog (and video, which begins at 6:57 and ends at 9:54), we’ll explore some of…
Learn MoreDCIM Software Racks: Basics
By Jan Durnhofer - August 26, 2021In this blog series all about racks, we’ll dive into using racks in netTerrain and explore some of the capabilities in terms of: ease of rack mounting, modeling, the different kinds of racks or cabinets that you can create, and some of the capacity planning features. In this blog, the first in a five part…
Learn MoreNeed to Replace Your DCIM Software?
By Fred Koh - July 14, 2021Using a Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution? Whether it’s something free (like OpenDCIM) or something you paid for, there may come a time when you decide you need something that your current DCIM solution doesn’t offer, or if your DCIM vendor has moved on to focus on other products and is not supporting its…
Learn MoreOutdated Hardware/Software Headaches? Network Diagrams/DCIM Can Help
By Fred Koh - July 9, 2021In 2016, Dimension Data released their then-annual Network Barometer Report which showed that 42% of network devices were either outdated or aging. While this statistic is a few years old, I doubt the numbers have radically changed since then. It’s all too easy for software and hardware to become outdated…but the price you pay for…
Learn More1000 DCIM Canned Reports is Not Enough: Design Your Own Dashboards
By Jan Durnhofer - July 7, 2021Having all of the data center and network documentation in place in a system is not always the end game: we also gain insight from the data, gain a better understanding of how the data’s aggregated and, perhaps, take action. Usually these insights come in the form of reports (which may look like, as shown…
Learn MoreSecure your OSP, DCIM & Network Documentation with Granular Permissions
By Jan Durnhofer - June 28, 2021Security is top of mind within IT departments…especially lately. We’ve seen many headlines about breaches happening across corporate America and we just heard about the Solarwinds breach — one of the most sophisticated hacks in the history of IT hacks. Despite IT security making the headlines again and again, one often overlooked aspect of security…
Learn MoreIf Your DCIM Needs a User Guide, it’s Flawed
By Jan Durnhofer -Some folks say, “if a software needs a user guide, it’s already flawed.” While this statement may be extreme, there is a point here. At Graphical Networks, we strive to make software that’s as easy-to-use as possible (so it doesn’t become an obstacle between the user and the task at hand). In this blog and…
Learn MoreDCIM’s Impact on Data Center Efficiency: 2010 vs. 2021
By Fred Koh -Lately, we’ve written a few blogs about how data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software helps data centers achieve greater efficiency which made me think, it would be interesting to look at where we started over a decade ago and where we are today. Did you work in data centers ten years ago? What changes have…
Learn MoreLimited Custom Fields in DCIM Software? Run for the Hills!
By Jan Durnhofer -We’ve said it in the past, we’ll say it now, and we’ll say it again in the future: good DCIM software needs to be flexible. In this blog (and video), we’ll check out some use cases that show why it’s important to have flexibility in creating custom fields as well as how they work in…
Learn More2021’s IT Hardware Shortage: How DCIM Software Can Help
By Fred Koh - June 16, 2021It’s been a difficult year and a half….well, that’s an understatement. The explosion in demand for new tech to accommodate the sudden shift to remote work, the shuttering of factories, and the process of restarting these factories and opening up the supply chain again has led to the current silicon chip shortage. Now, as the…
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