Temperature sensors are a type of data center environment sensor that measure the temperature of the environment and convert the input into data. ASHRAE recommends installing at least six temperature sensors in each rack: three in the front (top, middle, and bottom) and three in the back (top, middle, and bottom) to monitor the temperature of air at the intake and exhaust. Temperature sensors are often used with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software to collect sensor data in real-time and trend and report on it over time to provide actionable insights to improve data center health and efficiency.
The benefits of temperature sensors plus DCIM software include:
- Saving money. Cooling costs are one of the largest concerns for data center managers as around half the power used in a data center goes towards keeping the equipment cool. Deploying temperature sensors and monitoring the temperature with DCIM software allows you to know when you can raise temperatures to save energy and prevent overcooling while being confident you aren’t overheating equipment.
- Improving uptime. Uptime is a top priority for data center managers and equipment failure is a leading cause of downtime. Temperature monitoring helps prevent undercooling, a serious threat to valuable devices.
- Identifying issues before they become large problems. Knowing before bad things happen or become catastrophes is invaluable to a data center manager. DCIM software lets you set thresholds on data collected from temperature sensors to receive real-time alerts for critical and warning conditions.
- Maximizing energy and resource efficiency. Temperature sensor monitoring allows you to be as efficient as possible with energy and resources. Being able to monitor and maintain the right temperature lets you save energy costs and extend the lifespan of your equipment.
- Monitoring the environment you can’t control. Tenants of colocation data centers should be just as aware of their equipment’s environment as their enterprise counterparts. By monitoring for changes in temperature and other threats of downtime, you can be alerted to a problem that your colocation provider may not be monitoring for you.
- Get actionable insights about your environment. Make smarter, data-driven decisions with temperature sensors and DCIM software. Data from your sensors can be analyzed in real-time with zero-configuration dashboards and reports to make strategic decisions to maintain the health of your data center.
Want to see how Sunbird’s world-leading DCIM software makes it easy for you to monitor all of your temperature sensors? Get your free test drive now!
