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Ralph’s DCIM module helps you manage and track your data center infrastructure including servers, racks, network equipment, and their physical locations.

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Overview

The DCIM module allows you to:
  • Track data center assets with detailed specifications
  • Manage rack layouts and equipment placement
  • Organize assets by data center, server room, and rack
  • Configure configuration management paths for automation tools
  • Maintain asset relationships and dependencies

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Managing Data Center Assets

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Adding a New Asset

1

Navigate to Asset Creation

Go to Data Center → Hardware → Add data center asset
2

Fill Required Fields

At minimum, you need to provide:
  • Model - The hardware model (create new if needed)
  • Barcode or Serial Number - Unique identifier
  • Service Environment - The service and environment this asset belongs to
3

Specify Location

Define where the asset is located:
  • Rack - The physical rack where it’s installed
  • Position - U-level position in the rack (use 0 for back-mounted equipment)
  • Slot - For blade systems that occupy the same U position
4

Save the Asset

Click Save to create the asset. It will now appear in your data center visualization.

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Asset Models

Models help you organize devices of the same type. When creating a model:
  1. Click the + button in the Model field
  2. Enter the model name (e.g., “PowerEdge R620”)
  3. Select a category from the tree menu
  4. Set Type to “data center” for DCIM use
  5. Optionally specify layout dimensions for visualization

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Configuration Management Integration

Ralph supports integration with configuration management tools like Puppet and Ansible through configuration paths.

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Setting Up Configuration Modules

1

Create Configuration Module

Navigate to /assets/configurationmodule/ and create a new module.Configuration modules can be organized in a tree structure to reflect your directory layout.
2

Add Configuration Classes

Go to /assets/configurationclass/ to add classes that will mark hosts with specific configurations.
  • For Puppet: These map directly to Puppet classes
  • For Ansible: These can be mapped to Playbooks
3

Assign to Assets

On your Data Center Asset, use the configuration path field to attach the configuration.

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Using Configuration Variables

Custom fields can be exposed as configuration variables:
  1. Create a custom field (see Custom Fields)
  2. Enable “use as configuration variable” in its settings
  3. The field will appear under configuration_variables in the REST API
Example API response: 
{
  "configuration_path": "ralph/www",
  "configuration_variables": {
    "monitoring": "zabbix",
    "environment": "production"
  }
}

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Asset Organization

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Service Environments

Service Environments group assets by their purpose and deployment stage:
  • Service - The business purpose (e.g., “Load Balancing”, “Database Cluster”)
  • Environment - Deployment stage (e.g., “production”, “testing”, “development”)
This information is critical for:
  • Patch management decisions
  • Deployment automation
  • Upgrade planning
  • Change management

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Physical Location Hierarchy

Data Center
└── Server Room
    └── Rack
        └── Asset (at specific U position)

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Asset Relationships

Use the parent field to establish asset hierarchies:
  • Blade server → Blade chassis
  • Virtual machine → Hypervisor
  • OpenStack VM → OpenStack tenant

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Rack Accessories

Ralph tracks various rack-mounted accessories:
  • Brush panels
  • Fiber channel patch panels
  • UTP patch panels
  • Cable organizers
  • Power sockets

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REST API Integration

Fetch configuration data programmatically: 
# Get asset with configuration
curl https://<YOUR-RALPH-URL>/api/data-center-assets/1234/ \
  -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_TOKEN"
The response includes configuration_path and configuration_variables fields for automation.

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Tips and Best Practices

Configuration Module Hierarchy: Use parent-child relationships in configuration modules to mirror your actual file/directory structure in Puppet or Ansible.
Position Zero: Use position 0 for equipment mounted on the back of racks, like power supplies or cable management.
Blade Systems: For blade chassis, set the number of slots in the Model configuration under “layout of front/back size” fields.

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