operational energy management: From the datacenter through facilities

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER Energy, Carbon & Sustainability, July 2010 operational energy management: From the datacenter through facilities Dhesikan Ananchaperumal ECOSOFTWARE we can

2 table of contents executive summary About the author 09 SECTION 1 Influence of technology trends 04 Power use is doubling Cooling as a major consumer High-Density IT equipment racks and ghost servers SECTION 2 Operational energy management a five step process 06 Step 1: Data collection (Poll and Store) Step 2: Analyze Step 3: Report Step 4: Alert Step 5: Control SECTION 3 What are the benefits? 08 Increased availability, reduced costs and carbon emissions Sustainability Public perception and reputation Conclusions 09 About CA ecosoftware 09

3 executive summary Challenge Rising global energy costs are causing facilities and datacenter IT managers to pay closer attention to their energy use. A typical datacenter can use 30 times more energy per square foot than ordinary office space. Energy has also become a limiting factor for IT capacity within datacenters as many shift to using the latest infrastructure technology such as virtualization, high-density computing and storage environments. The result is an increase in the power needed to run these high-density racks of IT equipment and an increase in the heat generated by IT equipment within the datacenter, which leads to greater cooling needs. Without proper cooling and power capacity, availability of IT services are at risk. Can technology be used to optimize energy utilization and get this precious operational cost once and for all under control while increasing availability? Opportunity Historically, most organizations were not overly concerned with the cost and availability of energy because energy was abundant and inexpensive. Today, this has changed and facility owners and managers are looking to technology to help them get a grip on spiraling energy costs. Opportunities exist for innovative technologies, such as pervasive monitoring and wide-area controls integration, to bring a new level of insight and control to operational energy management that will lead to increased availability of IT services and lower operational costs. Benefits The benefits of this new approach to energy management are lower operational costs, increased availability and sustainability. With cost improvements, organizations can become more competitive and profitable, especially in intensive energy-use industries, such as IT. Improving energy consumption is just as important, as global demand will soon outpace supply. The most prevalent energy source is carbon-based fuel. Reducing consumption is required for businesses to stay competitive, and technology plays a key role. 03

4 Influence of technology trends Despite great strides in lower-power equipment, power use is doubling Manufacturers of refrigeration systems to HVAC systems, and computer chips to circuit boards, have been diligent about increasing their efficiency, but our appetite for more computational horsepower outpaces these improvements. Specifically, within today s datacenters, power consumption is growing at an alarming rate of 20 percent per year, which means doubling the use of energy within 5 years. Why? Virtualization minimizes the number of physical servers needed for an application or service, but because of these new high-density servers and smaller form factors, the power per rack and heat generated per rack increases significantly. With the explosive growth of IT facilities, coupled with Asian expansion, there is an unprecedented need for managing and controlling energy consumption. Even within a datacenter, the sheer quantity of hardware, devices and services consuming power is at a scale that the IT industry could not have even anticipated. It is clear that something must be done to rein in rampant power use, and the first step is to identify the main components of energy consumption. Cooling is a major and often poorly managed consumer Let s start with examining cooling within the datacenter. Upwards of 25 percent of all power used in the datacenter is for cooling. Despite equipment running more efficiently each year, heat output is still growing because of the need for higher computational and storage devices, as well as high-density IT equipment racks used for virtualization. Overall, heat generated by IT equipment is directly proportional to the power consumption, which in turn is linear with the utilization of these devices. Let s start with a simple question: Why do we need cooling in datacenters? The primary need is to remove the heat generated by IT equipment within the datacenter, so that we maintain the necessary operational temperature for higher availability. Ranges can vary widely for IT equipment; for example, a Dell PowerEdge M605 has an operational temperature range of 50 degrees Fahrenheit to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and an operating relative humidity range from 8% to 80% non-condensing. As a result, most of today s datacenters simply use a temperature set value, which in practice is often set significantly below the recommended value by ASHRAE (American Society for Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers) and other similar organizations. Based on ASHRAE s Thermal Guideline book, the recommended operational temperature range for 2009 is 64.4 degrees to 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit (18 to 27 degrees Celsius). Most of today s datacenters run at an operational temperature in the lower to mid range of the recommended range. There are even cases where this temperature is way below the minimum value of the recommended range as datacenter owners do not want to risk the lack of cooling as a cause of IT equipment failure. A higher supply temperature increases the energy efficiency of CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioning) units with a proper design in place. CRAC units are always set at a threshold temperature for cooling needs. The energy consumption for CRAC units will be either set at maximum when they are running, or zero when they are not running. 04

5 High-Density IT equipment racks and ghost servers Today, servers consume 50 percent of the power within datacenters. Improving cooling practices such as minimizing over-cooling could ultimately increase that percentage to 75 percent or above. In general, this should be seen as a positive servers should be the main power consumer within the datacenter, since they are responsible for doing the work to provide services to end users. However, in most datacenters today, there is huge waste in computational horsepower, making this 75 percent energy use a prominent foe. Close to one-fifth of the servers in a datacenter are no longer used and should be removed but are still plugged in and consuming resources. Often this is a result of decommissioning that somehow misses the final step of power-off and remove or an elongated decommissioning process that has no definite end. IT owners of these ghost servers unintentionally forget about defunct application processes, or owners believe that someday they will rediscover a purpose for this equipment. Even more alarming, 85 to 87 percent of all computing horsepower in a datacenter is not actively being used. Datacenters are far more over-provisioned than previously thought, which happens for a number of reasons. First, application owners add more powerful servers without fully releasing the original servers. Second, general concern about headroom for end-of-quarter or holiday seasons the need to over-prepare for bumps in capacity needs--causes a significant over-buy of servers. Third, IT and application owners often plan for future uses that either do not occur or occur too far in the future when job functions or technologies have changed again. The result is 12 to 15 percent total computer utilization, translating to potentially 85 percent waste of the 75 percent of power and energy spending. Therefore, approximately 50 percent of energy costs in the datacenter are pure waste and could be completely avoided. Said differently, datacenter and IT facilities managers could double their computing needs with a zero change in energy cost, if this cost was better managed and controlled through proper monitoring and operational energy management tools. 05

6 Operational Energy Management (5 step process) Step One: Data collection (poll and store) Organizations with single or multiple geographical locations, multiple data and building management systems, various IT and energy devices, and different types of communications for these devices face a big challenge in gathering timely and consistent data. Without it, IT and facilities teams have a bigger challenge in making the necessary decisions to optimize operational management. In the end, poor operational management can lead to higher operational costs and lower availability of services. Tackling the data gathering and storage problem is a critical element in overcoming this hurdle. There are energy management tools available today to help meet these needs collecting data across a range of geographies and devices and storing them in a centralized repository. It s also important for the tool to communicate with different systems and devices via various protocols such as SNMP, Modbus, BACnet, and others, allowing the devices and associated meters or sensors to provide the necessary data. With this information captured and then made accessible from a single dashboard, IT and facilities managers can better understand energy consumption and utilization, and attain a baseline to evaluate the effectiveness of future energy efficiency projects. Depending on the level of granularity of the data being gathered, the performance and impact of these available tools may vary. Some companies may also want to pull in data collected from existing systems such as Building Management Systems (BMS) helping to get an even more extensive view of overall energy consumption patterns. Most importantly though, data collection is not only the first step in an operational energy management process, but it is also a key step for the overall program to succeed. Step Two: Analyze Now that the necessary data is collected and stored, the second step in the process is to analyze these data points. For energy analysis, it is best to leverage both standard and custom metrics. Standard metrics such as PUE, DCiE, SIEER, IT-PEW, etc are a good starting point, but they may not be sufficient to achieve the goal of improving energy efficiency. This requires differentiation between two types of data points, one polled and the other calculated leading to the development of custom metrics. Polled data is received directly from devices, meters, systems and sensors, while calculated data is derived from the polled data, collating or extrapolating from single or multiple devices, meters, etc. A significant advantage of the calculated data is not only in identifying real-time metrics, and but also in identifying the instantaneous energy consumption on various IT infrastructure devices based on a calculation that can be used for modeling and capacity planning. Enhanced analysis can also lead to automated controls for optimizing energy utilization. Step Three: Report Once data gathering and analysis is complete, the next step is reporting those metrics. First, it is critical to identify the type of reports that will be useful for the organization s business needs. Then, reports will either need to be generated manually, or scheduled to be sent via or uploaded to a corporate portal automatically. Organizations should develop a variety of trending reports, including energy consumption, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, energy utilization across IT and non IT infrastructures, energy costs, availability and top offenders of energy consumption. These reports can be generated at different levels of granularity, including facility level or device/element level, as needed. 06

7 Step Four: Alert Most datacenter managers have been using alerts for years to identify problems with equipment and to avoid downtime but false alarms are often frequent. This is generally a common best practice to help organizations meet service level agreements. But most of yesterday s alerting capabilities have been fairly rudimentary. With real-time energy data points, alerts can be finely tuned, down to the breaker or device level. This allows identification of mission critical devices and the related thresholds or variables such as time over threshold or deviation from normal, significantly reducing false alarms. For example, with a time over threshold alert, the alert can be configured to trigger only if the power consumption on a specific breaker or rack exceeds a set Kilowatt threshold continuously for15 minutes in an hour window. Deviation from normal can identify device and system problems in an efficient way by comparing the normal operating behavior of those devices and systems to its current state over a pre-defined time period. In another example, if a server rack that usually consumes two kilowatts of power (a baseline value with advanced calculations) is now consuming four kilowatts of power, then an alert condition is created. Alerts can be sent in the form of s, can trigger external commands, or even create a service desk ticket that automatically sends traps to other systems as needed. These types of alerting techniques will definitely increase the quality of operational energy management, thereby leading to optimized energy use. Step Five: Control If implemented correctly, controls can save both energy and money for an organization. Datacenter and IT facilities managers can establish manual and automated controls as needed and supported by various devices and systems. For example, if an organization monitors the demand kilowatt for a facility in real time, and also has prioritized groups of loads (e.g. lighting in certain areas has lower priority) a trigger can be set to switch off the lower priority lighting load automatically based on an alert definition using demand kilowatts as the monitored variable. This will bring down the consumption during peak hours of operation, helping to save energy costs. Within datacenters, if managers can measure the heat generated by the IT load and automatically control the CRAC units to remove only the necessary heat being produced at a given time, this can save money on unnecessary cooling. There are many ways to implement controls that can lead to cost/expense savings, but this varies from organization to organization depending upon the organization s needs. A proper operational energy management solution with control capabilities can help put energy utilization on cruise control, saving time and money. 07

8 What are the benefits? Increased availability, reduced operational costs and carbon emissions Controlling energy use in datacenters and facilities will have a direct positive impact on bottom-line operational costs. With the escalating costs of energy today, cost reduction is the primary driver for most energy conservation programs. Effective energy management also drives increased availability. Unplanned downtime due to the lack of proper power and cooling required to support the latest technology trends, such as dense form factor servers and virtualized server environments, can be avoided with proper energy management. Finally, the use of monitoring tools will help prove that an organization s anticipated ROI was achieved. In today s business environment, datacenter and IT facilities managers cannot effectively perform energy saving tactics without continual measurement of outcomes. Saving money is good for the organization s bottom line, and many energy saving approaches can applied to reduce total energy spending by 20 to 50 percent a significant savings for any size organization. Sustainability Conserving our natural resources for future generations is at the heart of many energy management initiatives. For too long, our society has been careless in its use of natural resources, and now in the face of both higher costs and limited global supply, we have to adjust our behaviors. Working in a sustainable environment and endorsing sustainable operations is paramount today, and operational energy management can provide key data points toward improving sustainability performance. Public perception and reputation From the buyer in a supermarket to the company shareholder, everyone is watching how companies and people behave regarding sustainability and energy conservation. Organizations need to be sure that they are not seen as negligent or wasteful, and where possible, need to provide evidence of their sustainability initiatives. With the help of a centralized operational energy management solution, metrics, data, charts, and reports that can go a long way in helping the public understand the organization s sustainability actions and progress. 08

9 Conclusions There is no doubt that energy costs are climbing and will continue to be volatile, affecting the bottom line profitability of many companies. Today, a wide variety of energy management tools can easily monitor all of the energy devices within an organization. Thousands of points can now be monitored in real time and brought into tools for trending and analysis. About CA ecosoftware CA ecosoftware can help organizations meet corporate energy and sustainability goals such as reducing carbon emissions, managing consumption and cutting energy costs. They can become more efficient when using power and natural resources by providing valuable up-to-date information captured from its environment and by supporting its efforts with a systematic governed approach. This information can be communicated to stakeholders and used to drive continuous improvement. CA ecosoftware offers a broad range of sustainability management capabilities to help manage an organization s sustainability program from strategy to execution. It also includes a robust suite of carbon and natural resource management to measure, calculate and report on energy use, water, waste and the associated GHG emissions across the enterprise. One can measure the environmental performance of sites, facilities and suppliers through assessments, which provide a method and process for capturing the information more efficiently via web-based questionnaires. With operational energy management, organizations can gain greater visibility into energy and other environmental resources in the datacenter and across the enterprise to visualize, monitor and better manage the use of energy. To learn more about CA ecosoftware, visit About the author Dhesikan Ananchaperumal is a Vice President of CA s ecosoftware business unit focusing on energy and sustainability management. He is responsible for the overall strategy and approach, product management, development, quality assurance, customer implementations, and supporting engineering. He began his career in the IT industry over 21 years ago, developing an expertise in IT Operations and Management. Prior to his current role, Dhesikan was involved with Emerging Technologies, Business Relationship Management and M&A activities for CA. Prior to joining CA, Dhesikan held various management and technology positions at Netegrity, Affinnova, AMS and Infosys Technologies. Dhesikan holds a Bachelor s degree in Electronics Engineering, a Master s degree in Computer Science and a Master s degree in Electronics Design Technology from the Center for Electronics Design Technology, India. Dhesikan also has ISC2-CISSP, Six Sigma and ITIL certifications. 09

10 About CA CA Technologies is an IT management software and solutions company with expertise across all IT environments from mainframe and physical to virtual and cloud. CA Technologies manages and secures IT environments, enabling our customers to deliver more flexible IT services. Copyright 2010 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is for your informational purposes only. CA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document as is without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. In no event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document, including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill, or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised in advance of the possibility of such damages