Why do you need to monitor power usage in a server room?

A server room will typically have a sub-distribution board supplying the electrical circuits within the room. The circuits are protected by circuit breakers which will trip when overloaded or presented with a short-circuit. Monitoring power usage in a server room allows for capacity planning and to determine whether there is a risk of any of the circuits being overloaded. Power monitoring can be at the room, rack or even the individual socket on a power distribution unit (PDU) or socket strip.