What does an IDC management system do? 10 questions to ask before you buy
"IDC management system" covers a lot of ground: to some it means data center asset management, to others a sales and billing platform. This guide splits it into its two parts, then lists the questions worth asking one by one.
The two halves of an IDC management system
For providers renting out servers, colocation, bandwidth and IPs, daily work follows two lines:
| Part | Responsible for | Typical features |
|---|---|---|
| Data center management (DCIM) | Where resources are, their status, how they are delivered | Racks and rack units, server inventory, IP addresses, switches, remote console, OS reinstall, tickets and audit |
| Billing | Who buys, how much they pay, when they renew | Products and plans, orders, recurring billing, payments, invoices, agents and revenue sharing, client area |
The two lines meet at provisioning: once a customer pays, someone has to find a suitable server, assign IPs, configure the switch port and install the OS before handing it over. How much of this step is automated directly determines delivery speed and staffing costs.
Core features on the data center side
- Asset inventory: data centers, racks, rack units, servers, switches and PDUs in one place, ideally with automatic hardware discovery;
- IP address management: IPv4/IPv6 blocks, automatic assignment and reclaiming, utilization statistics;
- Network control: remote configuration of switch ports, VLANs and rate limits, with ARP binding against IP theft;
- Remote operations: power control, OS installation and consoles through IPMI/BMC;
- Traffic and billing data: port traffic collection, 95th percentile statistics, over-quota handling;
- Customer self-service: customers reboot, reinstall and rescue on their own, reducing tickets;
- Security and audit: permission groups, two-factor authentication, session recording and operation logs.
Core features on the billing side
- Products and plans: priced by configuration, carrier line and billing cycle;
- Orders and provisioning: payment triggers provisioning automatically;
- Recurring billing: monthly, yearly, traffic and 95th percentile, with automatic invoicing and renewal reminders;
- Overdue handling: suspend when overdue, restore on renewal;
- Payments and invoices: major payment gateways, invoice management, multiple currencies;
- Agents and reselling: multi-level agent rebates, supplier reselling and revenue sharing;
- Tickets and reports: closed-loop customer service and business data.
10 questions to ask
- Scale: how many servers will you manage, and is licensing priced by scale or by feature?
- Hardware compatibility: which server brands do you use, and can every BMC model be controlled remotely?
- Switch compatibility: which vendors and series do you run, and can configuration be pushed automatically?
- Multiple sites: do you have several data centers, and can one system manage them all?
- Provisioning: from payment to delivery, which steps are automated?
- Billing models: do you need traffic or 95th percentile billing, and what happens over quota?
- Existing systems: are you already on WHMCS or another billing platform, and can the new system connect to it?
- Self-service: what can customers do themselves, and do risky actions require a second factor?
- Security and compliance: are permission groups, two-factor authentication and audit logs supported?
- Languages: will you serve international customers, and do the admin panel and client area support multiple languages?
How Toplink approaches it
Toplink builds the two halves as two products that work alone or together: Toplink DCIM handles resources and operations, and the CloudFinance IDC billing system handles orders, billing and revenue sharing. Teams already using Mofang Finance or WHMCS can add DCIM alone and get provisioning on payment through the integration plugins.
FAQ
Is an IDC management system the same as DCIM?
Not quite. DCIM handles data center resources and operations, the back office of an IDC management system. The billing system handles orders, invoices and customers, the front office. A complete IDC management system usually has both.
Does a small data center need a management system?
Once you run more than a hundred or two servers and provision and reclaim resources often, spreadsheets start causing mistakes, and a proper system pays off quickly.
Can I replace just one part?
Yes. Choose systems that integrate through an API or plugins, and you can replace data center management first and adjust billing later, or the other way round.