Data Center Geeks Hub

Have you ever thought how modern data networks, given their continual growth in complexity, consist of hardware coming from more and more different providers? Over time, this ever-stronger trend has made it crucial for the administrators to invest in an automatic instrument that will be not only convenient to the max, but equally resource-friendly at once. This has, in turn, translated into a considerable gain in popularity of the SNMP protocol. Since 1988, when the management capability has been brought into the TCP/IP based network, the SNMP protocol has become a quality standard most frequently used to handle the networks effectively. Nearly all network equipment providers ensure the SNMP support as an inherent part of their services. The central advantage of this very protocol is no doubt its simplicity – SNMP delivers a set of essential functionalities that are both quick to install and easy to use later on. In all probability, most data center owners have faced the trauma of adding network devices at least once in their career. The mechanism is no easy task, considering its arduous and time-consuming nature. The configuration of the SNMP protocol on each device might take several hours, and then there is the hassle of adding every single device to EasyDCIM. *Sigh* Happily, we have recently rolled out a grand new EasyDCIM v1.4.2 that will save you the headache of manual device addition once and for all – time to put Automatic Network Devices Discovery into a high-powered effect! To realize the power of this new functionality in full measure, imagine that you have several dozens of network devices with the same SNMP configuration. All devices work under the single subnetwork 10.10.10.0/24. The network contains 256 hosts, each to be added separately. While this process would not be probably a tricky business to do, it most certainly would be labor-intensive. And there is nothing that does more wonders for the Admin Experience than a feature greatly reducing the work time and effort needed to complete a vital task. Automatic Network Devices Discovery has been implemented to EasyDCIM for the sake of, as its name implies, letting you detect devices in the entire subnetwork with no sweat. All you have to do is fill in the first field of a form with the subnetwork address in the CIDR structure (e.g. 10.10.10.0/24), and specify the data required to connect with the SNMP protocol. Easy as pie! Your system will then be able to automatically detect all the IP addresses in a given network and add the relevant Discovery Jobs. Owing to precise statistics accessible in the upper right corner of the screen, you will trace the progress in the execution of each task in a completely hassle-free way. Any single detected device will be added to your application in an instant, enabling you to proceed with its configuration within mere minutes. Every new release of EasyDCIM is oriented towards the ultimate objective of further enhancing the widely understood Admin Experience. In the 1.4.2 version, we have implemented quick access to such installed system addons as IP Address Management, DNS Management or OS Installation. With it, you can enter any addon activated in EasyDCIM in a split second, using the Modules section available in the side menu. Nothing better reveals how much new potential your business is yet to unlock by welcoming the processes automation than Automatic Network Devices Discovery. With it, you can banish the disturbing thought of any grueling processes from your mind completely! Surely it will not surprise us now, if this clever new feature has whetted your appetite for more thrilling opportunities brought by EasyDCIM v1.4.2. Do not think twice and satisfy your innovation cravings up to the hilt! Explore the full changelog!

Differences between EasyDCIM v1.3.1 and v1.4.0 are clearly visible to the naked eye. While many of them expand the functionalities of the system, the most important ones are oriented towards your daily experience with our system. The latest EasyDCIM will let you fine-tune its behavior to your needs and achieve the same goals with little to none effort. See for yourself! One of the most vivid examples of change is the feature used on a daily basis by many administrators. So far, adding a completely new device to EasyDCIM required you to go through multiple sections and tabs related to e.g. model and type. The whole process was quite time-consuming. Now, you can do everything in a simple form without the necessity to set up a dozen of parameters in many sections. Define the type, choose/create the model, name your device, set the IP address and you are ready to go. The whole operation is 3 times less time than before! Another novelty worth mentioning is dynamic table columns. Before EasyDCIM v1.4.0, you were allowed to display only a previously predefined set of columns. You were not able to modify this set or display numerous data columns, as simply there was not enough space on the screen to show them so we presented you only a small piece of all available information. This state of affairs has been thoroughly changed. Now you can decide which information should be displayed on the screen in each section and choose from over a hundred options! For instance, you can enjoy easy access to the new server data like: Last Day Traffic Last Month Traffic Serial Number Manufacturer Position ...and many more! [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHVaqnW4UNw[/embed] What else has changed in the latest EasyDCIM? Honestly, every single section! Keep your eyes wide open and do not forget to let us know what you think about the direction into which our system is currently developing. Learn more about EasyDCIM v1.4.0 - the evolution of revolution! EasyDCIM then and now - see the comparison between v1.3.1 and v1.4.0

EasyDCIM has undergone radical changes over the past few months - not only in its very core, but also in the offered functionalities and the UI, of course. All these alterations have a common factor which is the constant striving to improve our system and thereby let you manage your data center with the utmost ease. If we can change EasyDCIM to help you save even a couple of minutes a day, we will! Since actions speak louder than words do, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. We would like to show you why and how the latest EasyDCIM v1.4.0 has changed in the comparison to the previous version 1.3.1, as well as the way it affects Admin Experience and the business results you achieve at the end of the day. Our menu will have the first fire. We have changed it because it was too small, hard to navigate and not working fast enough. It has been redesigned to be easier to use and much faster. We have also added the list of quick actions, allowing you to perform frequently used operations with no hassle. [easyrotator]erc_49_1504105742[/easyrotator] Next, the forms which have been basically rewritten. They are now optimized, much more transparent and include examples. Time-saving effect during daily activities guaranteed! [easyrotator]erc_81_1504107546[/easyrotator] We have created a completely new, fully responsive design for EasyDCIM. Regardless of what mobile device you currently hold in your hands, our fresh UI will assure effortless navigation and your comfort of use. [easyrotator]erc_94_1504107962[/easyrotator] The differences are really impressive, aren't they? [easyrotator]erc_10_1504108695[/easyrotator] While the entire system has been redesigned, we would like to bring the new dashboard and fonts to your attention. Now your single pane of glass is not only well organized, but also very clear thanks to changing the font from Open Sans to Roboto. [easyrotator]erc_17_1504108293[/easyrotator] The admin area in EasyDCIM is based on fully customizable widgets. We have relocated their action menu to the upper right corner and enhanced widgets' behavior. You will no longer miss anything! [easyrotator]erc_30_1504108529[/easyrotator] Last but not least, the breadcrumbs. We have standardized their presence in EasyDCIM and adjusted their display to clearly inform you about your current position in our control panel. These are just the highlights of some of the changes introduced in new EasyDCIM v1.4.0. Hope you find them really useful. One thing is certain. Now, you will spend much less time to achieve the same results. This is what we call a great boost in Admin Experience! What do you think about the recent enhancements? Do you have any idea of what we could improve in the next versions? Let us know in the comment section below! Have not heard about EasyDCIM v1.4.0 yet? Time to catch up with the novelties!

Nearly two weeks have passed since we released the latest version of EasyDCIM. How time flies! V1.3.0 is featured with tons of amazing changes, among which full support for PHP 7 is definitely one of the most interesting ones. Heading towards improving Admin Experience in our system, we have begun with a tremendous performance boost. Not to leave that seemingly bold statement in limbo, we have prepared a detailed comparison of various loading times between the current version and the previous one. Grab a cup of hot tea, coffee or anything you like and take a look at hard facts on how much time you will save with new EasyDCIM v1.3.0. Our tests have been carried out on an identical machine with the same measuring methods: DOMContentLoaded and load by MDN. OVH Machine: KVM OpenStack 1 vCore 2,4 GHz 2 GB RAM SSD 10 GB Local Raid 10 Testing Environments: Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS + PHP 5.5.9 | 100 servers + 10 switches (all with SNMP support) Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS + PHP 7.0.15 | 100 servers + 10 switches (all with SNMP support)   Table for DOMContentLoadedTable for load Seconds Per Page Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS + PHP 5.5.9 Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS + PHP 7.0.15 Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS + PHP 5.5.9 Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS + PHP 7.0.15 Servers List (10 per page) 5.52 2.08 6.51 3.20 Servers List (20 per page) 6.51 3.54 10.56 5.42 Servers List (50 per page) 14.33 4.12 33.94 9.25 Server Summary Page 2.29 2.18 3.13 2.57 Server Network Interfaces 2.35 1.90 2.90 1.94 Network Devices List (10 per page) 2.57 1.96 6.88 3.34 Dashboard 3.67 2.20 4.12 2.23 Now let's take a glance at the charts below to visualize the magnitude of changes. It is apparent that new EasyDCIM v1.3.0, which fully utilizes the potential of PHP 7, works much faster than its predecessor - v1.2.3. As you can see, in several instances the loading time of pages is even more than two times shorter! What will you do with that extra time saved each day? From now on it is totally up to you!

EasyDCIM, a golden opportunity to empower your data center, is the system with a vast number of functionalities. It is not an easy task to thoroughly document every single functionality and usage scenario - but why not give it a shot? A good way to start will be a step-by-step guide on how to capably add device and IPMI configuration in your system. Let's get going right away! If you want to quickly add a device in EasyDCIM then the best choice would be to use the Auto Discovering form. You will find it in the left side menu, unfolding successively 'Services & Devices' → 'Servers' → 'Auto Discovering' tabs. Remember that before adding a device you have to configure SNMP properly on the specific server, so EasyDCIM will be able to connect remotely to the device and download all the necessary information about it. Filling in the form is not something to be done the hard way – you only need to give some details. The first thing to provide is hostname or IP address of the device. Then you select the version of SNMP that is configured on the server and complete the SNMP Public Community field for v1 and v2c. If you are using SNMP v3, the other fields must be filled in as well. After clicking ‘Save Changes’ button, the system will automatically try to connect to a device using SNMP. When the whole process is successful, you will be automatically redirected to a page with a summary of the device: Auto Discovering automatically detects not only basic information about the device but also information about installed parts such as hard drives, RAM or processor. During this process all the network interfaces of the device are also added. Thanks to that the administrator does not have to bind them manually: After a few minutes the system, in the process of pooling, will automatically retrieve additional information about the device, traffic of individual ports and other useful data. All that using SNMP. The server has been added in just a few seconds and the only thing left to do now is the IPMI settings configuration. IPMI protocol allows us to remotely manage a device by performing actions like boot/reboot/shutdown. If the device is of Supermicro or Dell Drac (from version 6) type, we can additionally use the KVM console which is retrieved while using the CURL protocol. To set up a connection to the IPMI, choose ‘Settings’ from the top ‘Actions’ menu: Then, go to the ‘IPMI Settings’ tab and fill the appropriate fields such as IPMI IP Address, IPMI Username, IPMI Password and IPMI Protocol Version. After saving changes, use the ‘Test IPMI Connection’ button to check the connection. And that is basically all. Within a few moments we have added and pre-configured our device. So now we can manage it remotely using IPMI protocol, and also, using SNMP, monitor usage of transfer on specific server ports. Voila! One of the hundreds of EasyDCIM nooks has been just exposed to make your daily experience with our control panel much easier. We hope that you find this little tutorial useful. Shall we do more of these? Feel free to leave a comment below!