OK. Well, this is actually a Webinar that will show you how to take an inventory list and view that list as a Rack elevation. We will provide the following information:
Overview
Purpose -
The purpose for creating Rack Elevations in Excel are to make sure that we have a visual representation of our equipment that lives in our rack space within a row and room. This is a Visual representation based upon our detail data within our server list. The key for this is that it is produced from the list of devices we have in our inventory, preferably on another tab within the same spread sheet.
Expected results -
We want to (on a basic level) be able to produce a “picture” of each of our racks within a row of our datacenter. Also to filter on Building, Floor and Row.
The idea is to produce elevations with equipment that is not yet racked so we can make sure we want to put the equipment in that rack…
Assumptions -
In order for this to work, you will need to have consistent data and naming conventions for your data. As an example, In the sample I provide all of the rack names are 2 digit “Text” numbers starting with a 01 – 99 this allows for consistency in sorting as well as looks. Excel tends to try an manipulate numbers so I keep them Text….You should think about that when dealing with anything that you will be reporting on.
Functions Used
VLOOKUP(), CONCATENATE(), ISNA()
Other Tools
Pivot Tables
Multiple Sheet Reference
Provide Hands On Demo….
Thanks to user feedback, I’ve added a colorful view that shows Power usage by Rack:
Meter View:
It would be cool if you could incorporate some graphing into the spreadsheet as well. A visual of physical and power capacity per rack would be great for reporting on available data center capacity.
I’ll actually be showing that in the Pivot Table example I do on the same spreadsheet. But yes, there are lots of things you can add to this. I could even see bringing some hidden columns over and them summarizing them above or below each rack that way the filters still work and you could see the total power connections, Wattage, Etc…
Good suggestion Jeff. I think you can even put a picture of a Rack in the background and have the cells overlay it
Awesome post . Thank you for, writing on this blog dude! I shall email you some time! I didnt know that.
No Problem. Glad it was useful to you. We will be posting another blog on Tables next week. (well Blog/videoblog) …
this is exactly what I need, it possible to share your data sheet template?
Send me your contact information. We don’t give it out as is, however we can have an altered/scrubbed version that you can use to get started with.
Thanks,
Darrell
Could I get a copy of a scrubbed rack inventory excel spreadsheet?
I would be appreciated.
Kind Regards,
John Mealey
I was reviewing this information and was hoping that I could get a copy of a scrubbed rack inventory excel spreadsheet?
Darrel,
Can you please send me a copy of the scrubbed version of this spreadsheet?
Luke
Here is the link to receive the file.
Thanks,
Darrell
http://bit.ly/RW8eTI