Introducing AUDIT-BUDDY

Transcription

1 Introducing AUDIT-BUDDY Optimize the Data Center with AUDIT-BUDDY Executive Summary Proper temperature and humidity for the inlet air into the servers is essential to efficient data center operation. Several factors create air flow variances in data center. Hot-spots and overcooled zones result as a consequence, leading to an energy inefficient data center. Detecting these conditions and correcting them is necessary to eliminate energy wastage. One way to detect these conditions is to install an exhaustive monitoring system. These are complex and expensive. Other techniques exist, but they do not cover the entire white space adequately. AUDIT-BUDDY is the first stand-alone temperature and humidity monitor to characterize free air flow in your facility without requiring any additional infrastructure. This paper illustrates how, in in three easy steps, AUDIT-BUDDY and its associated macros, let the data center engineer baseline the entire data hall, identify problem areas and suggest corrective actions to rectify the situation. AUDIT- BUDDY provides the engineer with a simple, inexpensive yet comprehensive method, to make the data center energy efficient without requiring external help W o r c e s t e r S t r e e t, U n i t 5, N o r t h G r a f t o n, M A w w w. p u r k a y l a b s. c o m i n f p u r k a y l a b s. c o m

2 Introduction Data centers require tightly controlled temperature and humidity levels to ensure optimal server functionality. The air going into the servers must be monitored to guarantee that it meets the equipment manufacturer s specifications or risk server failure, energy waste and increased operating expenses. Data center engineers can use AUDIT- BUDDY to capture and report real-time environmental data on inlet air quality and use this information to take corrective action to manage airflow and save on cooling costs. AUDIT-BUDDY System AUDIT-BUDDY is a portable temperature and humidity monitor that measures true air quality in Data Centers (Figure 1). Each system consists of three independent temperature and humidity (TH1) Modules and an adjustable Carbon fiber rod. Engineers can place the TH1 Modules at three different heights on the adjustable Carbon fiber rod (up to cm - 48U) to measure inlet air temperature across an entire server rack. AUDIT-BUDDY is battery powered and weighs 5.5lbs (2.5Kg). It can measure temperatures at multiple servers Figure 1 AUDIT-BUDDY collecting data simultaneously, and then be moved across an aisle to measure across multiple racks. The weighted triangular base allows the AUDIT-BUDDY to be safely placed as close as 1 inch (2.54cm) away from the server rack, allowing the patent pending fan design to draw in air and quickly adjust to the thermal ambient and report the inlet air temperature accurately. AUDIT-BUDDY is a cost-effective and intuitive tool that captures both real-time and long-term scans of the environmental conditions of a data center, without the need for any infrastructure modifications or downtime. Engineers can read data on TH1 Module screen (temp, humidity Hi/Lo) or transfer data via USB flash drive (or direct PC connect) to a PC or MAC Excel Program. Purkay Labs supplies a free Excel Macro that automates post processing of data, generates reports, plots and statistics. Four Factors in Environmental Monitoring The core function of environmental monitoring is to ensure that optimal temperature and humidity levels exist throughout the data hall. This involves several factors described below, some of which are often overlooked : Server: The air going into the servers must be monitored to guarantee that it meets the equipment manufacturer s specifications or risk server failure, energy waste and increase operating expenses. One should ideally measure both the server intake and the exhaust. Rack Height: Every server rack contains multiple servers, and the temperature will vary greatly across the rack profile. One must measure at different heights of a rack to account for variances across the different servers. Aisle Composition: Temperature will also vary from rack to rack across an aisle. The inlet air temperature at the one end of an aisle will not necessarily be the same at the other end. This is further complicated by the mix of Purkay Laboratories Public Information WP Page 1

3 new/old servers and partially populated racks. One must measure at different racks to account for variations across an aisle. Time: IT Loads vary throughout the day in an active data center. The IT Load in a financial services firm may be much higher during the trading day than at night. The thermal characteristics can change due to server loading, cooling algorithms, virtualization and airflow variances. One must measure over an extended period of time to account of load variations to get a true picture of the temperature and humidity variance. These four factors make the task of comprehensive environmental monitoring a challenging prospect. Several methods exist to monitor the facility. These are discussed below. Option 1 : Comprehensive and Permanent Monitoring System One method involves equipping every single server in every rack with protruding sensors that measure the server intake and exhaust. Such a monitoring system would cover tens of thousands of points in a single data hall and can yield many gigabytes worth of data every day. This requires a sophisticated central system to process and parse the volumes of data in an intelligent manner, and trigger alarms when conditions are deemed unfavorable for a particular server for the engineer to take corrective action. Although this approach is comprehensive, the complexity dictates a long, involved set-up process, system downtime during installation, extensive vetting process to prevent false alarms, and the training and hiring of operators who can monitor the control station 24X7. Moreover, these systems require significant investment, upwards of a million dollars, plus the expense of hiring skilled personnel to operate them. As a result, these systems are often found exclusively in the Tier 4 and higher facilities. Option 2: Non-Permanent Monitors It is difficult for most data centers to justify such an investment for a permanent, centralized monitoring. Typically, these facilities have permanent sensors every couple of racks to get a feel for the environment. Engineers walk around the facility with a hygrometer or wireless sensors to sample suspected problem areas. These methods of monitoring are inadequate since they are subject to human element, coupled with inconsistent monitoring, compromising the accuracy of the results in the white space. Wireless sensors are also an option. They however require a fairly complex installation to be operational, require additional gateways, and contribute to RF clutter in the white space. In addition, they bring their own logistics issue, namely the need to keeping track of them for battery replacement and interference problems. Infrared (IR) guns have been considered as an option but these only measure the surface temperature of the server and not the true air temperature. Accuracy is strongly influenced by the surface color. Since minor changes to the temperature can dramatically affect the operating efficiency and budget, data centers need accurate measurements and IR guns are not a viable option. The larger problem with these non-permanent solutions is that they are only meant to sample suspected problems at a single location. They capture the temperature and humidity at a single server, but cannot easily account for the thermal differences across the rack height, across the aisle, across the server or how the thermal conditions change over time. Purkay Laboratories Public Information WP Page 2

4 Option 3: AUDIT-BUDDY AUDIT-BUDDY is designed to allow the Data Center Engineer with limited budgets to monitor the data center environment without requiring the installation of a complicated monitoring system and the associated overhead of processing gigabytes worth of collected data. This is achieved in three easy steps. Step 1: Baseline the Facility using QuickScan The first step in using the AUDIT-BUDDY system is to baseline the Data Center using the QuickScan mode. Each QuickScan takes 20 seconds scans, collecting six temperature and humidity measurements per single location. The Engineer places AUDIT-BUDDY in front of the first server rack in the aisle, takes a 20 second QuickScan, and moves to the next server rack (Figure 2). The process is continued until measurements have been taken at every server rack across every aisle. The QuickScan data is then fed into Purkay Labs Contour Map Macro to generate a Thermal Contour Map of the Air Profile for each aisle. A data hall with 40 aisles will have 40 contour maps representing the state of the Data Center at that time. The whole exercise would be completed in a couple of hours by a single operator. Figure 2 Conducting QuickScan across an aisle The elegance in this technique is the collection of maps represents the 3 dimensional view of the air profile temperature of all the aisles of the data center. It is equivalent to having six Hygrometers hanging outside the each rack for every aisle in the data hall and looking at the data from all of them (Figure 3). The Contour Map is much simple way to so. It will point out to the data center engineer specific zones where there might be hot spots or over cooled zones that warrant attention. The arrow in Figure 4 indicates the presence of a hot spot emanating across several racks. Using the QuickScan mode to baseline the facility and creating contour maps to characterize the air profile of the aisle is much simpler, than the enormous investment associated with the complex data collection and processing system. Purkay Laboratories Public Information WP Page 3

5 Figure 3 Hygrometers over Servers Racks Figure 4 Thermal Contour Map for an Aisle Step 2: Isolate and Track Problem Areas (LongScan) The Contour Maps represent a snapshot in time, and do not account for any temperature and humidity changes over time. The engineer should use the information from the QuickScans and the Contour Maps to isolate and focus on the suspect areas. This involves using AUDIT-BUDDY in the LongScan mode to confirm that the issue spotted is not a transient one. Simply place the AUDIT-BUDDY system in front of the suspect rack and collect the temperature (and humidity) over a period of time (typically a day). The Purkay Labs Base Excel Macro will analyze the collected sample and indicate through Trend Graphs that the problem is of a permanent or transient in nature. Figure 5 shows an AUDIT-BUDDY system collecting LongScan data in front of a rack. The combination of QuickScan/Contour Maps and LongScan allows the engineers to quickly and inexpensively assess the state of the data center taking into account the four factors mentioned above. Do note that AUDIT-BUDDY design allows the engineer to really measure the true air temperature accurately (±0.9 F/0.5 C) accuracy. The portable design (5.5 lbs. /2.5 Kg) allow it to be transported throughout the data center easily, leaving no footprints after the data collection has been completed. Figure 5 Conducting LongScan Step 3: Diagnose Problems (Delta-T) measurement Once the problem zone has been identified and confirmed to warrant corrective action, AUDIT-BUDDY offers a pathway to solve the issue. Most Data Center thermal issues such as hot spots or overcooling stem from poor airflow management. A substantial amount of cold air does not reach the server due to the presence of recirculation and/or bypass airflow. One can make the data center and energy efficient by measuring the extent of recirculation and bypass air flow present for a particular server/rack and correcting the root cause. Purkay Laboratories Public Information WP Page 4

6 ΔT Server Server Intake Server Exhaust Figure 6 Server Delta-T Measurements with AUDIT-BUDDY AUDIT-BUDDY server delta-t measurement technology provides a way to measure and generate metrics to indicate the degree of recirculation and reflow present, and what to do about it. This is achieved by placing one AUDIT-BUDDY system at the inlet and one at the outlet of the server, and collecting LongScan data (typically a day) (Figure 6). The collected data is processed using the Delta-T macro. The output indicates the degree of recirculation and bypass airflow present. The macro also suggests certain corrective actions for the engineer to implement. The engineer can implement one or more of the suggestions and repeat the process to make sure the problem has indeed been addressed. SUMMARY: In three easy steps, the engineer can quickly to pinpoint, diagnose, and fix airflow issues. Step 1: Use AUDIT-BUDDY s QuickScan mode to take 20 second scans of the aisle to baseline the facility with Thermal Contour Maps to isolate problem areas. Step 2: Use the LongScan mode to confirm or deny the extent of the problem over time Step 3: Use two AUDIT-BUDDY systems to get targeted metrics to diagnose the amount of cold air waste and address airflow problems AUDIT-BUDDY provides a cost effective solution to the Data Center Engineer with limited resources to optimize the data center on an ongoing basis. Data Centers are dynamic entities and the configurations do change. We recommend the engineer repeat the process every quarter, to insure no new problems have been created. Once a new issue is detected, the above process may be repeated to address them, just as easily. Purkay Labs offer an Optimize Data Center Package (PLMG1) that includes Two AUDIT-BUDDY systems, Base, Contour Map and Delta-T Macros to provide the engineer with the complete capability to optimize the air flow and run the data hall in an energy efficient manner. Purkay Laboratories Public Information WP Page 5

7 ADVANTAGES OF AUDIT-BUDDY Completely Standalone: AUDIT-BUDDY is a completely independent monitor. It is battery operated and does not require a separate computer program to run or read data. Moreover, it does not need to integrate into the facility infrastructure. AUDIT-BUDDY is an important tool that engineers can take out when they have a problem or want to run a routine maintenance check, and then put away in storage. It is not meant to be a part of the system. It leaves no footprint or affects the existing infrastructure in any way. Yields ready-to-use information: Unlike most data loggers or wireless sensors, you do not get volumes of data. Engineers select what they want to sample, how long they want to collect data for, and how often to collect the data. Contour Maps are an efficient way to baseline the data center aisles. Setting these parameters ensures that engineers get the data the need to suit their needs. If a Colocation owner wants to prove their SLA, they can select a LongScan to sample every 10 minutes for 24 hours and prove that they are providing their SLA metrics. Accurate: AUDIT-BUDDY s unique design provides engineers with information on the air going into the server. The TH1 module does not need to reach the ambient being measured. The inlet air is measured with two stable stolid-state sensors with ± 0.9 F [0.5 C] temperature accuracy and ± 3% RH humidity accuracy. The solid state sensors design guarantee accuracy and long-term stability. The calibration is guaranteed for 2 years. Tool to improve Optimize the Data Center: AUDIT-BUDDY with the Delta-T Measurement technology provides a simple, inexpensive way to improve the energy efficiency of the Data Center without a big investment by eliminating cold air waste. It is a perfect complement to facilities with BAS or DCIM systems. It provides the engineer a way to measure air quality in areas with little to no coverage because the sensors in those locations were not specified. AUDIT-BUDDY is a simple first step for a facility electing to invest in a sophisticated monitoring system. About Purkay Labs Founded in 2012, Purkay Labs specializes in temperature and humidity monitoring devices. Our flagship product AUDIT-BUDDY is a revolutionary standalone monitor that measures free air in the white space. Use this inexpensive tool to spot check air quality, measure non-bas covered zones, prove SLA and generate real-time CFD. Make data-driven decisions with AUDIT-BUDDY to control energy costs and increase operational efficiency. Ideal for telecom closet, server room, colocation and mission critical facilities, AUDIT-BUDDY is designed with the simplicity and portability in mind. The Optimize Data Center Package (PLMG1) is the latest offering for our customer base. We proudly provide personalized and knowledgeable customer service for our products. Purkay Laboratories Public Information WP Page 6