INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT TIPS
Addressing power and thermal challenges in the data center
By Charles Rego and Dave Wagner
10.12.2005
Rating: -4.20- (out of 5)
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Rising utility rates and escalating computing requirements are creating new power and thermal challenges for data center managers. Today's high-density rack and blade servers bring these issues into especially sharp focus. Since these architectures are inherently more scalable, adaptable and manageable than traditional platforms, they deliver much-needed relief in complex, crowded data centers. Yet they also introduce power and thermal loads that are substantially higher than those of the systems they replace. In some cases, they may even push the cooling infrastructures of older design facilities beyond their limits.
A long-term solution to these challenges will require broad industry innovation and collaboration. The most important enhancement is a shift toward multi-core architectures that incorporate two or more processing units on a single chip. This will deliver major performance improvements while helping to maintain power usage.
Moving toward integrated data center management -- performance planning
The goal of data center integration is to enable IT facilities managers to automate and optimize performance, power and cooling management across the data center, and to monitor and control all relevant variables at the component, system, rack and data center level. In the short term, companies can move toward this environment through an integrated data center approach. The goal of this integrated approach is to ensure that IT planning factors their performance or capacity requirements to sustain appropriate business service levels with the implications of underlying IT resource decisions beyond simple "price/performance" ratios. Today, ISVs provide performance and prediction software that enables companies to plan for the balancing of workloads, response times and system resource utilization with business and IT hardware resource changes. Those plans can then be factored into power and thermal planning activities, which fall out from re
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source technology decisions and timelines. The components of such a performance/capacity plan include:
Moving toward integrated data center management -- power and thermal planning
Once you have the right mix of servers that can meet your business service performance, response-time and throughput requirements, then you must consider their physical placement in the data center. Companies should consider both rack-level optimization and data center-level optimization scenarios.
Rack-level optimizations
Most system-, rack- and room-level cooling issues are created by insufficient airflow or inadvertent mixing of hot and cold air. The need for sufficient airflow is obvious, but is often overlooked by IT personnel who are focused on other concerns. The mixing of hot and cold air is a more subtle issue, but equally problematic, since it can dramatically reduce the efficiency of a cooling system and may also impact airflow.
Data center-level optimizations
- Understand data center airflow: The locations of cooling systems and ductwork are obviously critical, but so are the locations of the racks, cable trays, firewalls and other infrastructure elements. Blank off any floor opening that allows access air to escape the plenum. Software tools are now available that greatly simplify airflow and thermal analysis. Consider consulting with facilities cooling specialists for complex implementations.
- Optimize room temperature settings: Consider increasing the Delta T of your cooling system to more closely match IT equipment specifications. This may allow you to reduce total airflow, while meeting the same cooling capacity and reducing operational costs. (For example, Intel IT has found it beneficial to lower supply air temperatures to between 55 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit while increasing Delta T values to 2 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Pay attention to infrastructure efficiency: It is generally worthwhile to spend more on infrastructure components that run efficiently at anticipated loads. Power loss in uninterruptible power supplies, power distribution units, cooling systems and the like just add to the thermal load.
- Perform regular power and thermal audits: New systems, upgrades, and room changes can have unintended consequences, so it is important to monitor airflow, temperature and other environmental factors on a regular basis.
- Avoid over-design: Right-sizing power and cooling infrastructure is one of the most effective ways to reduce capital and operational costs in the data center. Work to understand lifecycle requirements and size infrastructure accordingly. Track vendor innovations, and, whenever possible, move toward more modular, flexible, and standardized solutions that improve agility and scalability. Right-sizing has obvious ties with the benefits of having a long-term performance capacity plan and ongoing performance optimization methodology.
- Establish policies and educate personnel: Best practices for power and thermal management must become an integral component of data center operations. Everything from temperature and humidity settings to new system deployments should follow well-understood guidelines that optimize cooling efficiency and minimize airflow obstructions and hot/cold air mixing.
- For new data centers, establish a master plan based on usage: Different usage models require different layout and capacities to enable optimized cooling.
According to a recent reader survey conducted by Intelligent Enterprise, the majority of companies want to make the most of what they have by simply maintaining and improving their existing technologies. With these steps you can create a next generation data center and begin to reap significant ROI from your investment.
Charles Rego, Senior Practice Principal, is from Intel Solution Services, Intel Corporation's worldwide professional services organization which helps enterprise companies capitalize on the full value of Intel architecture through consulting focused on architecture transitions. Intel Corporation is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information about Intel Solution Services, visit www.intel.com/go/intelsolutionservices/
David Wagner is director of product management, Enterprise Performance Assurance (EPA) solutions for BMC Software, Inc. BMC Software, a leading provider of enterprise management solutions that empower companies to manage their IT infrastructure from a business perspective, is headquartered in Houston, Texas. For more information about BMC Software's expertise in the EPA area, please visit www.bmc.com/capacityplanning.
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