Server Room Thermal Assessment

Transcription

1 PREPARED FOR CUSTOMER Server Room Thermal Assessment Analysis of Server Room COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE MAY 2011

2 Contents 1 Document Information Executive Summary Recommendation Summary Data Centre Summary Methodology Reading Thermal Analysis Thermal Analysis - 1.5m Observations Main Cooling Observations Quality Racking Racking placement Blanking Panels About Focus Group Technologies Infrastructure Solutions Data Centre Management Solutions Focus Group Technologies Page 2 of 12

3 1 Document Information Document Author Name: Phil Jones Principal Consultant Focus Group Technologies Telephone: Document Review Date Version Description Author Reviewer 5/10/2010 Version 1.0 Initial Draft Phil Jones Mark Polti Document Distribution Name Title Organisation Phil Jones Principal Consultant FGT Focus Group Technologies Page 3 of 12

4 2 Executive Summary CUSTOMER engaged Focus Group Technologies to undertake a Server Room Thermal Assessment of their current IT environment. Made up of a thermal assessment, power audit and desktop usage assessment, this report is designed to highlight areas of energy improvement within a Data Centre or Server room and desktop fleet. The onsite visit by the engineer had the following observation and recommendations: 2.1 Recommendation Summary Priority High Impact is High. Action must be taken and be addressed immediately Nil Priority Medium Action should be taken and be addressed in the next month or so. Implement blanking panels for efficient cooling and airflow Priority Low Action will result in Best Practice and can be addressed in time. Nil The CUSTOMER DC does not appear to have any issues relating to thermal characteristics. All observations were well within guidelines and best practice. Focus Group Technologies Page 4 of 12

5 3 Data Centre Summary The CUSTOMER Data centre had the following characteristics Location: CUSTOMER Offices George St Sydney Area: 63.5m2 (approx) Raised Flooring: Yes Number of Racks: 21 A/C: 3 x Emerson CRAC Aisle Arrangement: Hot Cold Date/Time of Analysis: Wednesday 1 st September 11.30am-12.30pm 4 Methodology Thermal Analysis This thermal analysis is designed to evaluate the thermal characteristics of a data centre, at a point in time, for the purposes of evaluating the current cooling capabilities. The data collection and analysis is based upon the methodology of ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Cooling, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc.) publication, Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments, Second Edition (ISBN ). The thermal analysis is conducted on site and in person by FGT personnel. Temperature data is record at various points within the data centre at a height of 1.5m (4.9ft) including front of racks, back of racks, and perimeter points. This data is then fed into software (custom written by FGT) to determine the temperature distribution within the DC. This data is then analysed for areas for both sufficient cooling as a whole and correct dispersion of cooling within the room. Focus Group Technologies Page 5 of 12

6 5 Reading Thermal Analysis The thermal analysis uses gradient colour scales to indicate different areas with different temperature characteristics. The following diagram indicates the legend for the different temperatures that the colours represent. Some notable temperature ranges are: 10ºC - 35ºC - Operating range of most server vendors 18ºC - 27ºC recommended inlet temperature of IT equipment by ASHRAE 25ºC Temperature at which server fans start working excessively to cool down equipment. This increases the energy being used by servers (at 0.9 watts per degree over 25) and also increases the wear and tear and increases the chance of early failure on server components. As such our recommended inlet temperature is a range from 18ºC to 25ºC. Location of various temperatures Inlet v Outlet IT devices typically draw air from the front of the device (inlet) through the device cooling components and push air out the back of the device (outlet). The inlet temperature should be in the range specified above (18ºC to 25ºC) with the outlet temperature being higher than this. Focus Group Technologies Page 6 of 12

7 Reading the heatmap analysis Taking the above into account, the following rules apply: Temperatures should be < 25ºC at the front of the racks (i.e. Blue green to blue) Colours of green, yellow or red are bad for inlets temperatures. Temperatures at the back of a rack are mostly irrelevant as long as they do not affect the inlet temperature of another rack. For this reason hot aisles and cold aisles are the desired arrangement. Focus Group Technologies Page 7 of 12

8 6 Thermal Analysis - 1.5m North Focus Group Technologies Page 8 of 12

9 This heat map shows the surface temperature of the front of the racks. Focus Group Technologies Page 9 of 12

10 7 Observations 7.1 Main Cooling Observations All temperature recorded is well within acceptable guidelines. Overall Cooling Capacity Overall cooling capacity as supplied appeared sufficient. Cooling Distribution (i.e. Hot or cold spots) Overall cooling distribution as supplied appeared sufficient. Recommendation Nil ` 7.2 Quality Racking Server rack cabinets are important to your business success because they provide space for vital equipment that is crucial to the survival of your organization. If you select the right server rack, you will keep your equipment cool, your power running, and your downtime minimized. Racks should be a size and quality that allow for the intended equipment and provide room for cable management and airflow. Observation Quality racks are implemented Recommendation Nil 7.3 Racking placement It was observed that the placement of racks allowed for significant gaps between rack enclosures. This limits the separation of hot air and cold air and as such has a similar effect as to not having blanking panels. Observation Rack placement is ideal Focus Group Technologies Page 10 of 12

11 Recommendation nil 7.4 Blanking Panels Unused vertical space in rack enclosures creates an unrestricted recycling of hot air that causes equipment to heat up unnecessarily. The use of blanking panels can reduce this problem. Observation Blanking Panels are not implemented Recommendation Implement blanking panels for efficient cooling Focus Group Technologies Page 11 of 12

12 8 About Focus Group Technologies Focus Group Technologies - Focus Group Technologies ( is a specialist data centre management and infrastructure solution provider combining best of breed technology with experienced design, consulting and implementation skills. Here at Focus Group Technologies (FGT), we like to do things a little different from your typical reseller or systems integrator Infrastructure Solutions FGT is a fully certified IBM Business partner providing Infrastructure solutions from the IBM Hardware portfolio (System x, Blade, POWER and Storage). Our skills and capabilities include: Personalised cost effective service and pricing Cross platform consulting, pre sales advice, architecture and guidance Consulting on real business outcomes and benefits Full certification on IBM technologies and philosophies o System x, Blade, Power and Storage o TOGAF Enterprise Architecture o ISA - Infrastructure Systems Architect o Dynamic Infrastructure Our solutions include: Server Consolidation and Virtualisation Disaster Recovery Storage Optimisation General Infrastructure supply and cost reduction Data Centre Management Solutions Our aim is to reduce cost, improve efficiency and minimise risk in your data centre. Some examples of our solutions include: Capacity and Asset Management Power Protection Precision Cooling Racking Environmental Monitoring Lights out access Power control and Power Monitoring Data Centre Services (Power, Cooling and Best Practice assessments) Focus Group Technologies Page 12 of 12