Recognizing the possibility for economies in datacenter design and management, Oracle has taken on the challenge of finding those economies in its datacenters worldwide. Using the two-fold approach of optimizing power and reconfiguring datacenter real estate, the company has realized reductions in datacenter space of up to 66 percent and decreases in operating expenditures of up to 30 percent. The Oracle white paper "Strategies for Solving the Datacenter Space, Power, and Cooling Crunch: Sun Server and Storage Optimization Techniques" details how this was done.

The white paper explains the meaning of "optimizing power," saying it involves the replacement of legacy equipment with more powerful and energy-efficient servers and storage, along with the use of virtualization to reduce the number of servers. Improvements in power delivery, consumption, and in cooling efficiency are also part of this strategy.

Reconfiguring datacenter space involves the use of modular, flexible, and more efficient design that lends itself to growth and to the inevitable improvements in equipment that will demand changes in hardware inventory.

The white paper cites the findings of the Uptime Institute, which state that 2.2 kW of power are delivered to the datacenter for every 1 kW delivered to the IT equipment. This means that only about 45 percent of datacenter power actually drives the IT load. Further study by American Power Conversion, the paper continues, suggests that this figure may be as low as 30 percent.

The path to improvement involves the use of energy efficient servers; installing technologically up-to-date hardware; applying a comprehensive approach to virtualization (resource management, virtualization at the OS level, using VM monitors, and employing hard partitions), the paper contends.

Efficiencies also result from increases in storage power efficiency, the white paper continues. These result from the use of various storage tiers; hybrid storage systems; high-density drives; policies that mandate the removal of copies in short order; and employing thin provisioning techniques.

Turning to datacenter design, the paper recommends making every possible reduction in power conversions; adopt multiple tier and use levels appropriate to the tasks assigned to them; remove power distribution units from the datacenter itself.

The paper also suggests a number of techniques for the improvement of cooling system efficiency that include installing servers with their own efficient cooling systems; blocking unused rack space; containing hot/cold aisles to avoid mixing airflow; installing efficient spot cooling; using innovative racks that offer such features as passive rear door heat exchangers; increasing ambient inlet air temperature; and installing variable frequency drives that enable matching cooling demands to load.

The reconfiguration of datacenter space as Oracle has approached the issue involves a number of considerations:

• Availability through a design that includes appropriate use of tier levels and the ability to support multiple tiers in the same datacenter

• Agility through a design that’s flexible and adaptable, ready to align IT resources with changing business objectives

• Efficiency that’s implemented with an emphasis on appropriately sizing IT equipment and its supporting cabling, power, and cooling infrastructures

• Future-proofing by design to escape the costs and inconvenience occasioned by the need to refresh technology

• Environmental consciousness (“going green”)

• Intelligent monitoring that enables power consumption to be monitored at every level in the power distribution hierarchy

In spite of the seeming contradiction in the use of higher-density equipment that generates more equipment in smaller spaces, the white paper argues, such a measure can actually increase efficiency since server consolidation delivers higher performance per watt, and consolidation space results in efficiencies in power consumption, cooling, and cabling costs.

More Information

Three Phases of Datacenter Management: Strategy, Design and Build

Electrical Design of Sun Datacenters

Is Raised-Floor Design Still Appropriate for Data Center Applications?

Sun Rack Cabinets [...read more...]

		fullsource
Print Email Current Profile Archive Blog Generate newsletter