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6SigmaFM is a software tool specifically designed to take the concept of the Virtual Facility from design into operational management.
Modern data centers can often have hundreds of
equipment racks or cabinets and thousands of servers, with daily changes
occurring. This large number of changes, combined with the increasing
power densities, can represent a risk of thermal failure as a result
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6SigmaFM allows the facility manager to test proposed future configurations to predict and minimise the risk of failure.
In addition, a history of changes, including the environment impact and performance of the data hall, is stored so past decisions can be revisited as well as decisions for the future being made.
Principal Uses:
1 - IT Demand Management
- Import changes from asset management tools (equipment installation, movement,
decommissioning) and use simulation to assess the plans before deployment.2 - Capacity Management
- Use thermal simulations to re-set cooling limits on cabinets as the IT layout deviates from original
design loads.
- Export these updated cooling limits back to IT asset management tools.3 - Modifying the layout of a data hall
- Add or remove rows of racks and floor tiles.
- Test the effectiveness of proposed changes such as hot or cold aisle containment or cabinet-level
cooling before deployment.
- Test the impact of new cable routes on airflow management before deployment.4 - Plan changes to cooling systems
- Assess the impact of taking an ACU down for maintenance, or simulate an ACU failure scenario.
- Assess the effects of different control strategies such as group control, control on supply or
pressure control.
- Test the performance of a new ACU design, such as EC fans in the floor void or variable speed
drives.5 - Trouble shooting
- Diagnose the cause of overheating equipment and test potential fixes before deployment.
- Identify bypass air and ACU short-circuiting and test potential fixes before deployment.6 - Identifying Potential Energy Savings
- As 6SigmaFM is used to improve resilience and reduce hotspots, it is important to periodically
assess using the software whether the facility is being overcooled.
- Use simulation to test whether the cooling set points can be turned up to make the cooling system
more efficient without compromising resilience.
Integrating Products:
6SigmaFM works in conjunction with other parts of the 6SigmaDC suite enabling the simulation and assessment of various aspects of the facility before the changes are implemented.
6SigmaCooling module - CFD solver for prediction of thermal conditions and airflow paths.
6SigmaRack - to pre-test IT layout inside a cabinet.
6SigmaPower - for power configuration and SPOF analysis.
6SigmaWeight - to check the loading on the raised floor.
6SigmaRoom – for major design changes to the infrastructure of the facility.
6SigmaITM - designed to
be used primarily by IT managers, whose purpose is to view rooms being
managed by 6SigmaFM and to raise “Change Requests” (CRs) in
order to service those rooms. Typical change request actions are for adding
and removing items from the Store Room, installing, decommissioning
or moving equipment around a facility, or even changing one item for another,
as well as for General maintenance.