Equinix Smart View Release Notes

Smart View 2023.2 is available June 2023.

Product Name Change

IBX SmartView is now Equinix Smart View.

System Alert Enhancements

Smart View's enhanced System Alert features allow for easier use of the alert interface, faster notifications, better visibility into the data, and a reduction in the number of false alerts:

• Improved User Interface – The new System Alert interface provides robust features for filtering, sorting, and searching the alert data.

• Better Organization of Active & Historical System Alerts – The new interface offers two separate displays for system alerts:

  • The Active view shows all the system alerts that are currently active.

  • The History view shows deactivated alerts.

  Once a system alert is no longer active, it moves from the Active view to the History view.

Expand to read more

• Auto-Refresh of System Alerts Screen – In prior versions, you had to manually refresh the screen to see newly generated system alerts. On the new Active screen, you can click Enable live feed to see system alert updates in real time.

• Notifications for Deactivated System Alerts – In prior versions, system alert recipients were notified only when the condition was activated. With the new version, recipients can also be notified when the condition is deactivated. On the Settings tab of the System Alerts screen, use the following options to specify the types of notifications to send:

  • Enable Notification on Alert Activation and Deactivation – Notifications are sent when a system alert is activated, and also when a system alert is deactivated.

  • Enable Notification on Alert Activation Only – (Default) Notifications are sent when a system alert is activated, but not when a system alert is deactivated.

  Note: By default, notifications are disabled for deactivated system alerts. To turn them on:

  1. Go to the System Alerts screen.

  2. Click the Settings tab.

  3. Select one or more alerts (or use the Select all option).

  4. Select Enable Notification on Alert Activation and Deactivation from the bulk actions menu.

• Banner Notifications – When the live feed is enabled, you can also enable pop-up "toast" notifications. This feature displays system alert messages in the top-right corner of your Active alerts screen. Once enabled, you'll receive banner notifications for all system alerts related to your colocation footprint. Banner notifications tell you when an alert activates and also when an alert deactivates.

• Near Real-time System Alerts – With the new version, 99.9% of all system alert notifications are delivered within 60 seconds after the alarmable reading is collected from a sensor in the data center. These near real-time updates can be seen:

  • via the new "live feed" feature on the System Alerts screen

  • via the new banner notifications

  • via email/SMS/voice notifications

• System Alerts During Maintenance – A new Maintenance Status column indicates whether the alert was activated during maintenance work on the asset (Yes or No).

• Easier Bulk Actions on All System Alerts – In prior versions, on the Settings tab, you were permitted to perform bulk actions (such as adding recipients or enabling notifications) for 20 rows at a time. With the new version, you can use the Select all option to apply an action to all system alerts at once.

• Additional Data Provided – The new interface shows additional data for each system alert, such as a list of assets affected by the alert condition, and up to one year of recent activity for the alert (which shows how many times the alert has activated and deactivated during that time).

• Fewer False System Alerts – The system now performs improved calculations, and stricter evaluation of Data Quality Indicators (DQI), resulting in a reduction in the number of false system alerts.

• System Alert Exports – You can now save alert data to a .CSV file. You can export up to one year of active or historical system alerts.

• Termination of System Alerts for Prior Assets – If you’re no longer supported by a particular asset, you will no longer receive system alerts for that asset. For example, if you uninstall a power circuit that was supported by a certain UPS, Smart View will no longer send you system alerts for that UPS.

Tip: For full information, see System Alerts.

Smart View Pricing Changes

• Smart View pricing has been revised based on the Q1 2023 currency exchange rate set by the Equinix Finance department.

• New Smart View subscriptions no longer incur a one-time/non-recurring installation fee. (Previously, there was an installation fee of $1,000 USD per IBX.)

API Enhancements

• System Alerts v2 – New endpoint to replace the Alarms endpoint.

• Subscriptions v2 – Added metered power readings.

For details, see the API Release Notes on the Equinix Developer Platform.

IBX SmartView 2023.1 is available in March 2023.

New Event Conditions for Custom Alerts

For custom alerts, two new event conditions have been added:

To learn how to create alerts for these conditions, see Custom Alerts.

Expand to read more

New Columns on the Cage-Level Power Draw Report

When you run the Power Draw report for a cage, you will see several new columns:

Metering Type (Column D)

Indicates how circuits within the cage are metered — by AMPS, KWH, or AMPS/KWH. (AMPS/KWH means some circuits are metered in amps and some circuits are metered in kWh.)

Average Power Factor (Column J)

Indicates the average power factor collected from the circuits or power meters within the cage.

Average Draw (kW) (Column K)

Indicates the daily average kW collected from the circuits and power meters within the cage.

Total kWh % (Column L)

Indicates the total kWh consumed for the cage. This value can be used to help you reconcile your invoices.

Also, the following column names were changed:

Column	Prior Name	New Name
G	Draw (kVA)	Average Draw (kVA)
H	Draw Cap	Draw Cap / PEC Cap [PEC=Provisioned Electrical Capacity]
I	Total Draw-to-Draw Cap %	Total Draw-to-Draw Cap/PEC Cap %

Tip: Column I is calculated as: Average Draw kVA (Column G) ÷ Draw Cap/PEC Cap (Column H) * 100

Note: To run this report from the Reports menu in SmartView:

1. Click Reports, then click Create a Report.

2. Choose an Account from the list.

3. From the Category list, choose Power Draw.

4. Choose an IBX.

5. Select one or more assets to include in the report.

6. For Report Type, select Cage.

7. Select the date/time options for your report.

8. Enter a name for your report, then click Generate Report.

9. Once the report is generated, click the report name to download the CSV file.

To run this report from the SmartView dashboard:

1. From your dashboard, locate an IBX and click the Power Draw tile.

2. In the Graph View, click New Report from This View.

   –or–

   Under Reports (near the bottom), click Create a Report.

3. Select one or more assets to include in the report.

4. For Report Type, select Cage.

5. Select the date/time options for your report.

6. Enter a name for your report, then click Generate Report.

7. Once the report is generated, click the report name to download the CSV file.

IBX SmartView 2022.6 is available December 12, 2022.

Manage Your Free Trial Online

Equinix offers a free trial of SmartView (for details, see Free Trial). Previously, if you wanted to cancel your free trial, you had to contact us. Now you can cancel your free trial online:

1. Go to edgeservices.equinix.com.

2. Click the My Subscriptions tab.

3. Locate the subscription you want to cancel, then click Cancel Trial.

4. Click terms & conditions to read the terms, then click Accept.

5. Click Cancel Trial.

Your cancel request is sent to Equinix. You can continue to use your free trial until the “Valid Until” date. When this date is reached, your subscription is automatically canceled.

Data Retention Period

SmartView data is retained for a maximum of 12 months. Beginning December 1, 2022, the reports and charts in SmartView no longer allow you to select a time range longer than 12 months. You can contact us if you need to access data older than 12 months.

IBX SmartView 2022.5 is available as of October 10, 2022.

This release includes enhancements to the Cabinet-Level Power Draw Report.

New Columns on the Cabinet-Level Power Draw Report

When you run the Power Draw report for a cabinet, two additional columns are included:

Usable kVA Installed (column F)

This new column shows the maximum kVA (kilo-volt-amperes) provisioned for the cabinet. It is an aggregated total of the usable kVA for all the primary circuits installed in the cabinet.

Expand to read more

Total Draw-to-Usable kVA Installed % (column K)

This column indicates how much of your Usable kVA is being used. It is calculated as:

Total Draw kVA (column I) ÷ Usable kVA Installed (column F) * 100

Example: If your Usable kVA Installed is 40 kVA, and your Total Draw is 10 kVA, you are using 25% of your usable kVA.

Note: To run this report from the Reports menu in SmartView:

1. Click Reports, then click Create a Report.

2. Choose an Account from the list.

3. From the Category list, choose Power Draw.

4. Choose an IBX.

5. Select one or more assets to include in the report.

6. For Report Type, select Cabinet.

7. Select the date/time options for your report.

8. Enter a name for your report, then click Generate Report.

9. Once the report is generated, click the report name to download the CSV file.

To run this report from the SmartView dashboard:

1. From your dashboard, locate an IBX and click the Power Draw tile.

2. In the Graph View, click New Report from This View.

   –or–

   Under Reports (near the bottom), click Create a Report.

3. Select one or more assets to include in the report.

4. For Report Type, select Cabinet.

5. Select the date/time options for your report.

6. Enter a name for your report, then click Generate Report.

7. Once the report is generated, click the report name to download the CSV file.

IBX SmartView 2022.4 is available as of August 8, 2022.

This release includes an update to system alert notifications.

Updated Timezone in Alert Notifications

Previously, when a system alert notification was sent via email or SMS, the alert's Date and Time of Occurrence was shown in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). To make alert notifications more useful, the Date and Time of Occurrence now shows the local IBX timezone.

Expand to read more

Sample email notification:

 

The Equinix Data Center Site Staff reports the following IBX SmartView Alert:

 

Location: DA1

 

During Maintenance: No

 

Alert Description: mechanical/Fire, Smoke Detection:DA1.Fire/Trouble:Alarm

 

Current Reading: Trouble:Alarm

 

Date and Time of Occurrence: 25-July-2022 12:11 Central Standard Time

 

To get more information on this Alert, please visit the IBX SmartView Portal:

https://ibxsmartview.equinix.com

 

IBX SmartView allows users to customize Alert settings for various data center infrastructure assets relevant to your specific cage, cabinet, or circuit.

 

Sincerely,

Equinix Service Desk

 

IBX SmartView 2022.1 is available as of February 14, 2022.

This release introduces support for Azure Event Hubs in the API Plus service.

IBX SmartView release delivers enhancements to our API Plus service for streaming operational data.

Microsoft Azure IoT support in Equinix Smart View API Plus

This release introduces Equinix Smart View streaming data integration with Microsoft Azure IoT Event Hubs to support IoT devices and equipment for Data Center applications through API Plus. The integrated solution pushes Equinix Smart View streamin data to Azure Event Hubs, and makes it convenient for users with Microsoft Azure presence to retrieve and consume the streamed colocation data as needed.