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Corporate America is more dependent than ever on computing resources to handle everything from mission-critical financial transaction applications to storing vast amounts of patient information. Data center facilities are under increasing pressure to flawlessly add significant, reliable computing power whether the data center is experiencing rapid growth, consolidating from multiple locations or trying to extract more capacity out of an existing space. While blade servers have addressed some of the challenges placed on IT staff, such as cramming more computational power into a limited amount of space, this new technology has also created its own set of problems. Today, both IT administrators and facilities managers are addressing questions like, “Am I getting enough power to the blades?” “Are there racks with excess capacity?” and “Am I getting enough cooling to those racks?” The fact is, HVAC systems are now being routinely pushed to their operational limits. The amount of power required at the rack is increasing dramatically – in some cases growing by an order of magnitude from 2kW to 20kW per rack. Plus, the sheer number of server units in a data center is making it more difficult for limited IT staff to manage – much less improve – uptime.
This white paper explores the challenges of increasing computing power in both an inflexible and resource-constrained physical space, as well as centers that are experiencing high growth. We also explore how companies can employ emerging support technology – like intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) – to help manage server uptime and capacity planning.
How We Got Here: The data center as the nerve center of a company Over the past five years, the pressure to expand computing resources has led to an explosion in the demand for data center servers. This, in turn, has driven the development of new technology, most notably blade servers.
While it’s a welcome development for most IT professionals, because it means more resources can be shoehorned into an existing space, there is also a significant downside. As components, like server microprocessors, become more powerful, they consume more power and generate more heat. This has put a strain on the power and cooling infrastructure that supports them. In fact, according to HP, data center power densities have grown from 2.1 kWh/rack in 1992 to 14 kWh/rack in 2006.
This requires both facilities and IT operations to take a closer look at cooling systems and how they can better deal with local "hot spots" within the computer room.
Understanding how to move and cool air in a high density dynamic data center is very important to maintaining uptime. Left unchecked, hot spots could lead – and have led – to unexpected server shutdowns and, over time, premature server failure. This, of course, results in unacceptable downtime, strain on your staff’s time and added pressure on your budget.
With the growing importance on the “greening of corporate America,” more top-level executives are noticing the effect that power consumption is having on the world around them. They are witnessing:
_ Increased emissions, e.g., greenhouse gases, from electric generation
_ Increased strain on the existing power grid to meet the increased demand
_ Increased cost as a result of growing data center power consumption
The data support this trend. A Ziff-Davis Survey conducted in November 2005 found that a full 71 percent of IT decision makers are now dealing with or tracking issues related to power consumption and cooling, while 63 percent are increasing electrical power capacity or expanding the size of the data center. A similar survey by IDC in May 2006 discovered that power provisioning and power consumption are among the top three management concerns in the data center. In the past couple of years, these concerns have become even more important and topical.
For these reasons and more, there has been mounting interest in developing opportunities for improving power capacity planning, uptime and energy efficiency.
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