December 2007 Archives

Many of us are acutely aware of the costs associated with the operation of a data center. Not to mention the exponential demand for more processing power and even MORE storage.

Just returned from a "Green Data Center" briefing with my OPP colleague Ian Salada.

What many are not considering are the strategies around taking advantage of opportunities to be more green and energy efficient in current installations.

At the briefing there was a great deal of emphasis on virtualization rather than just simply adding an additional server to our never ending collection. By virtualizing our current server farms we can essentially cut energy costs nearly in half. This holds true a bit more on the wintel side of the fence because of the proliferation of a singe server for each application. This produces typical processor loads in the less than 10% range thus wasting a subsequent energy load. If for example 5 or 10 machines are virtualized; There would be a need for a more powerful server but only two power supplies are required instead of 10 or 20 and this may be accomplished with less than half the processing power than the original configuration. There may be a fallout savings in database or other per processor licensing too. Nothing new just restating to underscore the importance of thinking about it as we grow.

Here's some stats:
* Between 2000-2010 there will be a 6X server growth, 69X storage growth
* The per square foot energy cost is up 10 - 30%
* Data centers have doubled their energy consumption in the past 5 years.

Where does the energy go?
* 30% is typically used by the IT equipment
* The rest is used by chillers, UPS, CRAC units and power distribution

There was an EPA Report to Congress August 2, 2007 where EPA lists 3 areas or types of improvement: (executive summary worth reading)
* Improved efficiency (low hanging fruit, moderate energy conservation)
* Best Practices (aggressive server consolidation and all of the above)
* State of the Art (aggressive virtualization with cutting edge cooling)

This underscores the need to look at the entire infrastructure of the physical plant and not just what's in the data center.

There was some really cool stuff (literally) regarding techniques of stored cooling. The most interesting was the "Cool Battery". This is a device that uses a synthetic phase change material (don't ask me what it is) that freezes at up to 43 degrees F. Basically a big honkin ice cube. Up to 3000 ton/hr units are available. The material can be frozen by your chillers during off peak times and the chillers can be turned off at peak times thus saving on energy costs or credits the institution would be in line to receive.

There are also techniques of utilizing waste heat that is generated constantly by the IT equipment. This could be used to heat offices around the data center.

There are some very compelling reasons to keep this in front of us but we have to be very careful in our selection criteria. As improvements in IT equipment continue there will be a point where techniques to further heat or cool the areas may no longer be cost effective to implement.

Lots to think about!

After many meetings and quite a bit of work from many dedicated team members the Data Center RFP hit the street Tuesday. If you don't follow this blog, (I know not much to follow), we've been working on an RFP that will bring in a consulting firm to study the data centers and server rooms at Penn State.

The team members are: Ian Salada, Co-Chair, Mark Saussure, Co-Chair, Vijay Agarwala, Lisa Berkey, Dave Beyerle, Deborah Blythe, Ron Dodson, Ken Forstmeier, Ben Grissinger, Tom Irwin, Mike Kauffman, Mark Miller, Kevin Morooney, J. Daniel Morris, Neal Vines, Jeff Wolfe, Jeff Kuhns, Meg Harpster, Monica Reed

The current plan is to have a pre-bid conference in a couple of weeks to allow potential bidders to ask questions and for us to answer as best we can regarding the scope of the project and deliverables among other things. Meg Harpster from purchasing has been a tremendous help in getting this document together and advising on what we can and can't say. Now and in the future while working through the process.

I've been on several RFP committees but never as co-chair. There are many logistical issues that you can imagine that must be handled, none greater than getting Kevin and Jeff in the same room at the same time! At any rate once we have our pre-bid conference at UP we will be traveling to Altoona to allow the potential bidders to get a flavor for one of our campuses. Of course Altoona being one of the largest we'll explain some of the challenges as well as the efficiencies of those smaller.

All of IT at Penn State will be involved in this process. The survey that I alluded to in last months blog will be just a guideline. There will be many site visits required by the winning bidder to best understand the parameters of each server space at Penn State. I believe the range of server spaces described in the RFP echo what we all know as good raised floor areas to closets that most likely shouldn't be used for servers at all. Of course it doesn't say it like that but we want the best spaces evaluated along with the worst to be sure we have the proper picture.

I'm not sure if I've said this publicly but I truly believe this is one of the single most important projects that will shape the future of IT at Penn State. If I can speculate on the results, and subsequent building projects, this will allow us to be more flexible, responsive, and collaborative than ever before.

I have many thoughts, aside from the money it will take to make this come true. Stay tuned!