Green Notes

It seems like the most simple logical solution to energy conservation-powering down servers not in use. After all not all servers are used all the time. For example servers that perform only a single predictable function such as for calculating the employee pay are used only on certain days in a month. Or those used for special testing or running backups and so on. It makes sense that they power themselves down when not in use just like in commonplace electronic gadgets.

The Alliance to Save Energy, Kelton Research and 1E, a software IT company, found through surveys of server managers and analysis of industry data that out of the world’s 44 million servers, roughly 4.7 million of them are idle and not doing necessary work.

“Contrary to popular belief, one of the largest causes of energy and IT operational waste in data centers are servers that are simply not being used. The savings from decommissioning non-productive servers cannot be ignored. Organisations need better information on server efficiency and more effective ongoing server energy management,” comments Sumir Karayi, CEO, 1E.

The key problem highlighted in the study is that over eight in ten (83%) of IT managers admit that they do not have an adequate grasp of server utilization . That is they have no idea which of the servers are actually in use and which are not at a given point of time. So to be on the safe side and avoid any unwanted interruptions while running applications, they supply power to all servers uniformly even those that are not working.

But not all IT managers approve of powering down servers. The old school of thought seems to be that servers should run 24/7 for fear of ruining the hardware and also of getting a bad rap sheet from clients. Others dread the difficulty of getting a server back to an operational state once it’s turned back on after powering down.

Ted Samson in infoworld interviewed several experts on this issue:

Infrastructure technologist at HP, said powering down servers is completely safe. “It’s not at all bad for the server. It’s something we do to electronic devices all the time. It can handle it from a hardware perspective,” said Baker.

But Brad McCredie, an IBM fellow for the Systems and Technology Group, wasn’t quite so sanguine. He explained that, technically speaking, powering off and on any kind of computer can have a detrimental effect over time.

“[Temperature cycling] is a well-established failure mechanism and a stress on components,” McCredie pointed out. “What it really comes down to is all these things — chips soldered on modules, soldered on boards and connectors — that expand and contract when they heat and cool…. When they all contract and expand at different rates, they can fail. That’s ultimately the bad thing with power cycling,” he said.

Mark Monroe, director of sustainable computing at Sun, suggested that machines can handle being shut down a finite number of times. Arguably, the number is large enough for regular power cycling over an extended period of time. “Most server vendors today say they’ll support a certain number of cycles of powering things on and off,” Monroe said. “I believe most of the server vendors would say [the number] is in the hundreds as opposed to the thousands.”

From the above survey it is safe to assume that for the most part , datacenters armed with the burden of reducing power costs are willing to at least take a look at this controversial method in moderation.

There have been a host of products in the market recently to tackle efficient power downs without mess-ups. IE launched its power management software for servers that use smart algorithms to figure out which servers are doing work and the energy they are using. According to IE its “NightWatchman Server Edition” can power down servers into a drowsy state, cutting their energy use by 12 percent. IBM has a product called Active Energy Manager that features advanced energy control options designed to boost performance per watt by slowing processor clock speed or even putting processors in “nap” mode when not in use. There are numerous others following the same trend including VMware that offers a functionality in VMware Infrastructure 3.5 called Distributed Power Management that powers servers on and off according to demand level.

Not all servers are automatic candidates for shutdowns however. Servers dedicated to specific scheduled computing that occurs only at certain times of the month or wanes at certain pinpointed times during the day are ideal targets for powering down. For more expert consultation on powering down processes and other methods of energy saves for your data center, contact us at GreenRack Sysems/408-2138144.

There is a huge initiative among companies like Google, IBM, Cisco and so many other smaller smart grid players to make the grid more modernized using cutting edge digital technology and tackle environmental issues, cost reduction and energy conservation. We employ integrated communications, sensing and measurement technologies, enhanced interfaces and control methods to optimize our electricity transmission.The common smart grid components incorporating network, wireless and IT technology consist of smart meters, data concentrators, system monitoring software, increase in transmission lines etc. They help oversee the precise location of electricity consumption and predict potential blackout areas. Consumers can also monitor more clearly where and how the electricity is being absorbed which will provide them with more leverage to effectively save on energy.

When President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill on Feb. 17 , 2009 , a large part of his strategy focuses on renewable alternative energy to gain energy independence but one of he largest investments, about $11 billion dollars has been dedicated to in smart grids.So it is no surprise that smart grids are being touted left, right and center by VCs and technocrats alike and promises to have a huge impact in the immediate direction of high tech and energy industry.

What does all this mean to data centers? Well according to CNetnews, this data overload due to smartgrid implementation will lead to increased demands on data center . The article cites the case of Duke Energy which has contracted with Cisco to build an “information architecture” to handle an anticipated flood of data from its smart-grid programs where it will be installing hundreds of thousands of smart meters in the next two years. Duke Chief Technology Officer anticipates that gathering data from sensors on cables, people’s appliances, and substations could add up to a millions of nodes on the network.

“Once utilities put in smart meters, their data processing and storage needs explode. Instead of sending a person to read meters once a month, information for billing or other applications can be sent back once a day, once an hour, or even every few minutes. If utilities are regulated to reduce peak time usage, their IT needs shoot up even higher. Demand response where a utility can turn down energy use at participating customer sites, requires utilities to poll information regularly from a potential large number of locations. “

Mark Weiner director of Data Center Solutions and a member of a Cisco smart-grid team is quoted in CNet news article:

“The requirements are for huge amounts of data to be involved when you have these more advanced pricing models where the goal is to mitigate power generation,” said Weiner. “The catcher’s mitt for that data is the data center.”

It is logical to conclude from the above that now more than ever there is an even more increased pressure to make your data center technology as energy efficient and cost effective as possible in anticipation of future requirements. For specialized software and hardware deployments that would help you in this effort, contact us at GreenRack Systems.

At Green Rack Systems, there is an expression that we use a lot and that we are very fond of - “Putting Green in your pocket”. We make it a point to stress to our customers that our primary concern remains saving money for them. It is just that we go about doing it by using green principles and green technology. When greener means using less resources and therefore less money, what is the wisdom in downloading huge amounts of cash in the name of sustainability? It often comes as a surprise to many of our clients who have had previous experiences with other green businesses that had them convinced that going green would entail excessive initial investments. They are even more taken aback when they see tangible savings within a reasonable amount of time after engaging our services. We put a lot of thought and knowhow to optimize the efficiency and cost of the solutions we offer. Our low powered CPUs combined with alternative cooling methods can guarantee a minimum of 30% reduction in your power requirements and a 50% decrease in heat emissions. If we say that we can guarantee, we are indeed that sure. Moreover our servers and storage devices are structured to be fully upgradable to avert the need to make additional future expenses in infrastructure. We also make sure we get extra change by working the tax rebates and sales rebates to our advantage. So green does make good business sense, especially the pocket kind…

So, is there a way of measuring the exact efficiency of a Data center, you may ask… Green Grid, an association of IT professionals committed to proposing ways to increase the efficiency of Data centers, have come up with a metric called PUE, Power Usage Effectiveness. It is derived from the following:

PUE=Total Facility Power/IT Equipment Power

Total facility power is the total power supplied to the data center in question and IT Equipment Power is the power used by the equipment dedicated to manage, process, store, or route data within the data center such as storage, and network equipment, KVM switches, monitors etc. An ideal PUE value would be a 1 indicating that all power supplied is absorbed solely for the IT equipment. According to Green Grid, most Data Centers have a PUE value of 3 or more. But with proper design a value of around 1.6 is achievable. A 2007 study conducted by analyst firm Gartner revealed that the intense power requirements needed to run and cool data centers account for almost a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions from information and communications technology. It also identified the main causes of inefficiency as lack of floor space, a failure to house high-density servers, and increased power consumption and heat generation.

At Green Rack Systems, here’s how we address these issues. Our data centers use high density blade solutions and low power options to consolidate space. To reduce our power consumption we opt for high efficiency power supplies and low voltage processors. In addition, we go for passive cooling options whenever possible to reduce the massive cooling costs. We reduce heat further by using higher efficiency, low wattage CPUs. We even go a step further and provide an optional solar powered server co-location to lower dependency on fossil fuels. To make it even more environmentally friendly, we use only RoHS compliant components, which restricts the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and try to incorporate recycled materials as much as possible. At Green Rack, there are two things we care about above all else-One is the quality of our technology, which our R & D team works diligently to constantly upgrade and the second is our tireless customer support to make sure you are nothing less than 100 percent satisfied. For further information, please contact us at sales@GreenRackSystems.com / 408-213-8144 .