Piloting NightWatchman Enterprise

In this example, we show how to install NightWatchman Management Center on a representative group of pilot computers to enable 1E NightWatchman Agents to report power consumption behavior from their respective hosts. We then show you how to create reports detailing the savings that can be made when rolling out NightWatchman Management Center across all computers on the network.

Once the environment is set up, expect your pilot to take up to a month to complete – it depends on how much information you want to collect for your analysis. The longer the pilot, the more accurate the figures are likely to be.

Selecting computers for the pilot

For the pilot, select a cross-section of computers (desktops and laptops) that are representative of those for roll-out. Also include a server hosting the NightWatchman Management Center components and database.

The server hosting the NightWatchman Management Center must not be a domain controller, though it must be a member of a domain. Set it up as follows:

To ensure a wide representation of your pilot computers, you should consider the following:

The simplest way to install is to run the installer with a domain account that has local administration privileges and then use this account as the Console service account.

The local administrator should have the following:

• Full rights to the SQL database.

• Log on as service enabled.

Installing NightWatchman Management Center

Install NightWatchman Management Center and NightWatchman Management Center Analysis Reports Wizard on a suitable server. The agents are installed on all client computers in the pilot group.

For the purpose of this pilot, you need two .MSI installers:

• NightWatchmanManagementCenter.msi

• 1ENightWatchmanAgent.msi or 1ENightWatchmanAgent-X64.msi

For the pilot, you can make a default NightWatchman Management Center installation by running NightWatchmanManagementCenter.msi .

Select the defaults values except for:

• License agreement screen: Accept the terms in the license agreement.

• Service account information: Set the details for the account that is used to run the NightWatchman Management Center Console service. Set this to a domain account with local administration privileges, full rights to the SQL database and is able to log on as a service.

• Environment setup: Select the size appropriate to the pilot group. In most cases, choose Very Small (between 10 and 50 client computers).

On each of the pilot client computers, install the 1E NightWatchman Agent using a command-line, for example:

msiexec /i 1ENightWatchmanAgent.msi REPORTINGSERVER=<RepServ> REPORTING=ON /qn 

where <RepServ> is the FQDN (recommended) or NetBIOS name of the server where NightWatchman Management Center Web Service is installed (the local server for your pilot).

Gathering data

At this point, NightWatchman Management Center is installed and the agents are configured. They will now be reporting power state and other client information back from their host computers. Leave them for a period of time, long enough to gather sufficient behavioral information to accurately calculate the power savings that can be managed using NightWatchman.

The first two days or so will not be useful for reporting purposes as there will be a lead time between installing the clients and getting the data returned to the NightWatchman Management Center. The last two days of the pilot are also likely to have only partial results. For example, laptops that have been disconnected from the network may not yet have had a chance to send back their data.

The core set of data should be a minimum of a week, ensure that one weekend is included. So, a minimum start-to-end is eleven days. Two, at the beginning to disregard, seven days covering the week's worth of data and two days at the end to enable all the computers in the pilot to have returned their data for the central week.

The NightWatchman Management Center Analysis Reports Wizard initially searches for 28 successive days where the majority of computers in the pilot have returned data. So an optimal period would be thirty two days to allow for the four days at the start and end that may be disregarded.

Running the NightWatchman analysis reports wizard

This report uses data returned by the agents to generate the report for savings that can be made by implementing an automated nightly power-down routine on the pilot computers. It then extends these findings to cover all the computers in the network.

To run the wizard:

1. On the Start Menu, click the Analysis Reports under the NightWatchman Management Center menu item.

2. On the Welcome screen, enter the name of your organization. If you want to save the report in a different location, click Browse and choose a new location. If you want to open the report after saving it, check the Open the report after saving box. Click Next.

   

3. On the Select Report Range screen, select a sample of data representing where the majority of computers on the network reported in with data and with minimal variation on the number of computers reporting. This forms the basis for the savings report. By default, the wizard searches a period of 28 days; if it cannot find anything that meets the criteria it will search for a period of 21 days. If that fails, 14 days and finally 7 days. If no suitable data set is found, you will need to manually choose the reporting period.

   

   If you want to report on a particular date range, choose Custom and enter the start and end dates for it and click Analyze. In our example, the data is mostly suitable except for a dip in the number of computers reporting in towards the end of the selected period – the commentary (to the right of the graph) provides tips on the charting. Click Next.

4. On the Data Input screen, set the context for the report for the:

   • Projected total number of PCs: The number of computers in your organization

   • Proposed wake-up time

   • Proposed power down time

   • Percentage of desktop PCs:The percentage of computers in your network that are desktop computers compared to laptop computers

   • Cost of electricity per kWh: The cost in your locality - this will be marked using the local currency of the computer where the report is being generated

   • Carbon conversion factor: For your locality and units for carbon conversion - either kg/kWh or lb/kWh

     The report generator uses these values to calculate the savings made and extrapolates them to the network as a whole. In our example, we have a network with 10,000 computers running NightWatchman. The wake up and power down times are 8am and 6pm respectively. 44% of the computers are desktops. The cost of electricity is 10cents/kWh and the carbon conversion factor is 0.72kg/kWh.

     

     The default value that appears for the projected total number of computers is the total number of computers that reported into NightWatchman during the report date range. The graph in the report will show the percentage of computers which reported in each day during that period. The example below shows a network where there are 10,000 computers running NightWatchman. The wake up and power down times are 8 AM and 6 PM respectively. 44% of computers are desktops. The cost of electricity is 10 cents per kWh and the carbon conversion factor is 0.72 kg/kWh. Click Next.

5. On the Windows Power Scheme screen, include periods where an aggressive Windows power scheme is set during working hours. Give this careful consideration as there is a trade-off between saving extra energy and potential impact on user productivity through having computers powered down during working hours during periods of inactivity.

   

   If you check the option and set a timeout for the power scheme, an additional heading appears in the generated report detailing the savings to be made from implementing the scheme. Click Generate.

6. A progress bar is displayed while the report is being generated.

Viewing the NightWatchman Analysis Report

The NightWatchman Analysis Report contains a number of sections that provide a detailed level of analysis for the sample data and the predicted savings, including descriptions of its content so the report is completely self-contained. The main section is the Management Summary that provides the baseline figures on energy, cost and CO2 emissions savings.

The report shows the potential savings that can be made by implementing a NightWatchman power down policy across a network. If you checked the Open the report after saving checkbox on the Welcome screen, the report automatically displayed after creation. Otherwise, you will need to browse to the directory where it is saved to open it.

This example shows the head of the report generated for the ACME company:

An overview of the basic information provided under each heading is outlined in the following sections:

• Management summary.

• Baseline analysis.

• Potential savings.

• Further data analysis.

Management summary

This is the foundation of the report, providing bottom-line figures on savings that can be expected. It details the number of clients in the sample and the duration for the sample data, and describes the electricity and cost savings and effective reduction in CO2 emissions that can be made by implementing NightWatchman across the entire network.

Baseline analysis

Provides details of computer behaviors and power scheme compliance for the baseline. The User Behavior heading shows an average of the percentage of hardware (desktops, laptops and desktop monitors) in the sample that were on during weekday and weekend hours. The Power Scheme Settings heading shows the monitor timeout and sleep timeout settings for the computers in the sample, split into desktops and laptops.

Potential savings

Identifies the main areas where savings would be made:

Further data analysis