Innovations in Intelligent Power Management
Abstract
Intelligent power solutions allow administrators
to remotely power cycle servers and devices and
troubleshoot problems, reducing server downtime by
providing direct access to power control. Several
important aspects of intelligent power management
products can help promote uptime and allow for more
effective power management. These features include smart
load shedding, centralized management
capability, branch circuit protection, and three-phase
power.
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Power management is a top
concern for
data center managers.(1) To efficiently
and effectively manage power, data center managers are
increasingly implementing remote or “intelligent” power
management solutions, which leverage hardware and/or
software to monitor and control server-level power state
and condition. Intelligent power can be used in
environments of varying sizes, with solutions available
for a wide range of applications—from control of a few
outlets in a small office/home office (SOHO) environment
or standalone kiosk to integrated vertically mounted
solutions for medium to large-sized datacenters.
Intelligent Power Management
Intelligent power solutions allow administrators to
remotely power cycle servers and devices and
troubleshoot problems, reducing server downtime by
providing direct access to power control. In a
2005 survey conducted by
Cyclades,
organizations that used intelligent power products
reported an average recovery time of 10-30 minutes for
remotely managed devices, compared to 1-2 hours for
devices that were not remotely managed. (2)
In addition to reducing downtime and shortening the mean
time to repair, intelligent power products offer several
significant benefits including: providing administrators
with the ability to proactively monitor and protect
mission-critical equipment with onboard or third-party
environmental monitoring
devices, eliminating or
reducing late night trips to the datacenter and reducing
third-party service calls for server reboots, and
allowing the implementation of cost-effective
“lights-out” operation at remote offices and branch
locations.
Intelligent Power Control/Remote Reboot
Innovative Features of Intelligent Power Management
Several important features of intelligent power
management products can help promote uptime and allow
for more effective power management. These features
include:
-
Smart load shedding
capability
-
Centralized management
capability
-
Branch circuit protection
-
Three-phase power
Smart Load Shedding
This feature, which is embedded in firmware already in
many Server
Technology intelligent power products, allows
administrators to automatically “shed”, or perform a
graceful shutdown of designated non-essential devices
when certain pre-defined conditions occur, helping to
avoid equipment damage and downtime when problems arise.
(3) For example, administrators can specify
that non-critical devices are automatically shed when an
intelligent power device is notified (via SNMP) that a
UPS is on battery-power status. In addition, load
shedding can also be set to take place when probes
within 10 feet of an intelligent power device measure
temperatures that exceed predefined thresholds, or when
true RMS (root-mean-squared) current levels are greater than set thresholds.
In addition, administrators can configure the system to
restore power through autorecovery to shed devices if
adverse conditions have been reversed (i.e., UPS is on
main power and/or temperature and current load are
normal). (4)
Integrated Management
Integrated management platforms aggregate access to
multiple devices, including power, making management more
efficient and allowing administrators to access,
troubleshoot, and power cycle devices quickly if
problems occur. Server Technology’s
Enterprise View PDU manager provides centralized
access to Sentry CDUs,
Sentry Power Tower products, and Sentry Commander
devices. While Server Technology products can be
centrally managed, each device has its own IP address
for individual access if necessary. The Enterprise View
PDU manager also allows administrators to leverage their
existing investments by supporting
Netbotz
and APC environmental monitoring equipment, as well as
environmental monitoring appliances by other
manufacturers.
Other vendors also offer products for integrated
management. For example, Avocent’s DSView3 software can
be used to manage the Avocent Cyclades PM family, which
integrates with Cyclades ACS console servers and
KVM switches,
allowing power control and console management from the
same interface. Avocent’s
DSView3 software can also be used to manage Sentry
remote power management products. Raritan’s remote power
control solutions integrate with
Raritan's
Paragon,
IP-Reach, and
Dominion
products and can be managed through the
CommandCenter Secure Gateway appliance.
Branch Circuit Protection
Branch circuit protection can help prevent outages and
losses, as each branch of grouped outlets has its own
fuse or circuit breaker to isolate power anomalies and
issues. Branch circuit protected devices typically fall
into two categories, molded case circuit breakers listed
to
the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) 489 standard, or fuses listed to
the UL 248 standard. (5)
Server Technology products use fuses for branch circuit
protection;
APC products use circuit breakers. Server
Technology’s
Sentry CDU family offers built-in branch circuit
protection for single-phase 110V, 208V, and 240V
circuits and three-phase 208V circuits.
Three-Phase Power
Recently, because of the rise in the use of blade servers
and high-density computing clusters, power has become an
even greater issue. Newer equipment often requires
significantly more power for the same footprint, with
demands as high as 40 kW per cabinet. (6)
This high-power trend is expected to continue, with
estimates that blade servers will be the fastest growing
server form factor through 2009.(7) Due to
this increased power demand, most of today’s
high-density server environments require, at a minimum,
single-phase 208V power. To help mitigate this increased
demand for power, particularly for applications that
require 24-48 outlets, many administrators are choosing
to implement 208V three-phase power, because compared to
single-phase power, 3-Phase power uses fewer circuits,
provides a more balanced power load, reduces the overall
number of PDUs needed to power equipment, and
significantly increases available amperage into the
server rack. While three-phase power technology is not
exclusive to remote power management products, many
solutions can accommodate or incorporate it. To meet the
demand of high-density servers, Server Technology offers
several three-phase power options, including 208 V 60A 3
Phase power. For planning purposes, datacenter managers
need to be aware of the existing circuitry in their
datacenters, and at a minimum, should plan on
incorporating 208V 30A single phase circuits or 208 V
30A 3-phase circuits into IT infrastructure to meet the
current and future power demands of high-density
environments.
Choose the Right Intelligent Power Solution
42U provides complete
datacenter management solutions, including intelligent
power, KVM
over IP, environmental monitoring, server rack
cooling, and
rackmount solutions. A 42U sales engineer can help
you sort through potential intelligent power management
solutions and select the one most appropriate for your
organization’s particular needs and environment,
allowing you to take advantage of all the innovative
features that remote power management offers. The team
at 42U specializes in assessing needs, creating
solutions, and supporting clients, to ensure that IT
professionals maximize their use of current technologies
to improve overall business performance.
References
(1) Millard, Elizabeth, “The Right Power & Cooling
Products”, Processor
http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?Article=articles/p2905/20p05/20p05.asp
(2) Miller, Sandra Kay Miller “ Remote Power Management
These Options Can Save You Energy & Money,” Processor.
http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/p2742/07p42/07p42.asp&guid=&searchType=&WordList=&bJumpto=True
(3) “Smart Load Shedding Ensure Uptime,” Server
Technology Whitepaper.
http://www.servertech.com/downloads/White%20papers/load_shed_white_paper_final.pdf
(4) “Smart Load Shedding Ensure Uptime,” Server
Technology Whitepaper.
http://www.servertech.com/downloads/White%20papers/load_shed_white_paper_final.pdf
(5) “Circuit Breaker—Are you Protected?” Server
Technology Whitepaper.
http://www.servertech.com/downloads/White%20Papers/Article%20Are%20you%20protected.pdf
(6) “Blade Server Power Solutions: “Cabinet Level Power
Distribution Solutions for High Density Cabinets”,
Server Technology Whitepaper.
http://www.datacentres.com/papers/papers/BladeServerSolution.pdf
(7) “Blade Server Power Solutions: “Cabinet Level Power
Distribution Solutions for High Density Cabinets”,
Server Technology Whitepaper, citing materials from
“Data Center User’s Group Conference, The adaptive Data
Center: Managing Dynamic Technologies (2005).”
http://www.datacentres.com/papers/papers/BladeServerSolution.pdf
This article was written by Lauren Nowenstein, Technical
Writer, with guidance and input from DirectNET’s team of
Solutions Sales Engineers. If you would like to send us
feedback about this article, or have any questions, please
write to
us.
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