The only reliable way for data center teams to troubleshoot and optimize data center performance is to gather massive amounts of data from right across the facility – with no sampling. This removes the risk of visibility gaps, but also introduces a new challenge in terms of the sheer volume of real-time data that is being collected.

ASHRAE still only advocates measuring just one out of every three racks. While this will lower the monitoring hardware costs, it introduces risks. Assuming that close proximity ensures that you have a directly-correlated relationship between different racks does is unwise. Each rack is a contained thermal environment, and as such, each has its own thermal reality.

For true cooling optimization it’s essential to monitor and report temperature and cooling loads much more granularly. To achieve this probably requires around 10x more sensors than are currently deployed in today’s typical data center.