Subscriber Discussion

Do You Have A Camera In Your Server Closet?

U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 19, 2015
IPVMU Certified

What's easier than putting a camera in the wiring closet, pointed at the rack? Does anyone do it?

You get real-time status of switches, routers, ups, power consumption, console performance monitor / errors. You can have a digital thermometer in the FOV as well.

Also handy if you are concerned about people messing with with your s*t.

i know y'all have managed switches, but trying to put together a timeline of what happened from several different logs is tedious at best. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to replay a failure from the server closet's perspective?

And what about those times when the switch says x, but you don't believe it?

Everyone has a old camera and a port they leave open for maintenence, right?

So why not?

SM
Steve Mitchell
Feb 19, 2015

Yes. The APC NetBotz is designed for server rooms, and integrates some other sensors. I don't know if there are other purpose built sensors like this on the market. The various sensors might be a bit much (thus the price). Any fixed IP camera should do better than nothing.

It's also a good application for motion alarms. Since a wiring closet should be rarely accessed, assuming there are no automated lights that might provide false positives, a motion alert could tell you who's in the closet without too many false alarms.

NetBotz Room Monitor 355 - environment monitoring device - with 120/240V Po - NBWL0356A - Network Security - CDW.com

(1)
KL
Keefe Lovgren
Feb 20, 2015
IPVMU Certified

We have a camera that faces our rack... I have noticed lately on several jobs that many of the customers racks have a camera on it or at least watching the doorway into the room... I have been seeing mostly ubiquiti cameras...

(1)
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Jon Dillabaugh
Feb 20, 2015
Pro Focus LLC

I need one to view my PoE budget...

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Feb 20, 2015
IPVMU Certified

You are correct, that POE readout switch was indeed the inspiration for the post. And if you have a free I/O port and a solenoid you could have a poor man's 'managed' switch, very poor...

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