Making a data centre more power-efficient takes more than a “one and done” approach. It needs a commitment to design and execute a coordinated, long-term approach that focuses on efficiencies at both the technological and strategic levels.

Identifying hardware inefficiences

Some efficiencies can be found in the equipment itself. These can include powerful yet more efficient CPU chips, power supplies, servers, storage devices and networking equipment. There are also software strategies, such as server virtualization, that can play a significant role in reducing overall power consumption.

Intelligent PDUs

Few solutions give you a better ability to monitor and control activity both at the server and rack level than the latest intelligent rack PDUs. These power distribution devices come equipped with features that measure power at the outlet level, as well as environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity at the rack. They also provide the IT professional with accurate, real-time data that he or she can then act on.

Server efficiency

Idle or underutilised servers waste energy needlessly, so it is productive to identify, redeploy and/or decommission those servers as soon as possible.

Since intelligent PDUs have the ability to measure power consumption at the individual outlet level, they can provide kilowatt usage data that, combined with known CPU utilization data, help determine the efficiency metric of any server in the data centre. Given this key piece of information, individual servers can be identified as candidates for additional capacity, redeployment or decommissioning, improving overall data centre efficiency.

This exercise can also assist with data centre capacity planning. By consolidating servers, additional space may be freed up for future expansion.

Reducing energy wasted on over cooling

A common mistake is overcooling IT equipment in the data centre. While it is true that excess heat can shorten the life of IT equipment or even cause it to fail, excessive cooling does not prolong equipment life and is a waste of energy.

By placing intelligent PDU temperature sensors at the bottom, midpoint and top of a rack’s cold air inlet, not only can IT administrators determine if the system is overcooling the servers, but whether the cool air is being routed efficiently to each of those levels.

Intelligent PDU technology can help provide information such as inlet temperatures at different locations within a rack over a period of time to aid in the planning of air movement and cooling, to help cut down on energy wasted on cooling.

Remote monitoring and rebooting reduces engineering time wasted in travelling

Intelligent power strips allow you to monitor and manage your power securely via an IP connection. This means that IT administrators no longer need to be physically located at their data centre to monitor reboot servers. This cuts down on time wasted travelling to site, cutting down on travel expenses and carbon footprint caused by travel.

By providing an accurate picture of data centre, or remote branch office, power consumption at the individual asset level it can help IT professionals identify consumption trends and reduce and remove unnecessary hardware. A typical server can use 50% of its peak power consumption in standby mode so identifying when servers are not required and shutting them down is potentially very beneficial.

If you would like to reduce energy costs in your data centre, call AIT on 0845 017 7017 or submit an enquiry.