System and method for managing configurations of NCPI devices

A system comprising:

• a first network critical physical infrastructure (NCPI) device in data communication with a network, the first NCPI device being a first functional type that supplies either power or cooling to equipment in a data center;
• a second NCPI device in data communication with the network, the second NCPI device being of a second functional type that supplies either power or cooling to the equipment in the data center, the second functional type being different from the first functional type;
• and
• a data center management appliance for configuring NCPI devices, the appliance comprising:
• a storage medium;
• a network interface in data communication with the network;
• and
• a controller coupled to the storage medium and the network interface and configured to:
• gather at least one device configuration from the first NCPI device via the network interface;
• modify the at least one device configuration;
• provide the modified at least one device configuration to the first NCPI device via the network interface;
• and
• provide the modified at least one device configuration to the second NCPI device via the network interface,
• wherein the second NCPI device includes a computer room air conditioner and the first NCPI device includes an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

A method for automatically configuring a network critical physical infrastructure (NCPI) device using a data center management appliance, the method comprising:

• defining a configuration policy, the configuration policy having an associated NCPI device configuration;
• determining, by the data center management appliance, at least one NCPI device subject to the NCPI device configuration policy, the at least one NCPI device being of a first functional type that supplies either power or cooling to equipment in a data center;
• providing the associated NCPI device configuration to the at least one NCPI device subject to the NCPI device configuration policy;
• and
• providing the associated NCPI device configuration to another NCPI device subject to the NCPI device configuration policy and being of a second functional type that supplies either power or cooling to the equipment in the data center, the second functional type being different from the first functional type,
• wherein providing the associated NCPI device configuration to the at least one NCPI device includes providing the associated NCPI device configuration to a uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and providing the associated NCPI device configuration to the another NCPI device includes providing the associated NCPI device configuration to a computer room air conditioner.