Metering Energy Consumption in Data Centres - Chris Rudge and Rob Elder

Energy efficiency, monitoring and metering

Rob Elder, Keysource

Dr Chris Rudge, University of Leicester

• University of Leicester Project Brief

• DCIM explained

• Industry focus and research

• Our DCIM offering

• Core functionality

• Virtualization!

• Closing notes and next actions

Agenda

• Centralisation of High Performance Computing

(HPC) across the University

• Creation of Research Computing Team to

support the new service

• Construction of new Data Centre to

accommodate consolidated hardware

• 30 racks with up to 30kW per rack position

• Scalable from 150kW to 300kW IT load

• N+1 resilience

• Modular high efficiency UPS

The Project

“The university recognised

the importance of

efficiency, so wanted a

facility with an annualised

Power Usage Effectiveness

(PUE) of less than 1.5.”

Data Centre Solution

Keysource

Haven’t we come far…

… and now we understand so much more

Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM)

Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) covers the integration of the physical M&E

infrastructure (Facilities) with the technology infrastructure (IT), to centralise monitoring,

management and intelligent capacity planning of a data centre’s critical systems.

Act Optimize for

efficiency Fix expected

failures Build or

buy capacity

Collect data

Report

Analyze

• Monitor everything

• Design it that way – you’ll never add it later

• Monitor for function / failure / alerting

• Monitor for performance / optimisation

• Monitor to understand what it’s doing

• Monitor for service cost

University of Leicester – what to monitor and why?

A single solution for all monitoring?

• Not yet…..

– A single product won’t do all of this

• Data centre infrastructure - APC ISX Central

– Proprietary, easy to use, access for Keysource

• General server, network monitoring – OpenNMS

– Free, network & server, customisable

• Specialist HPC - Bright Cluster Manager

– Proprietary, monitoring & management

Bespoke views – a better at a glance snapshot

IT activity and Data Centre Power

Cooling loop tuning

Power monitoring at all levels

UPS Loadings Rack Loadings Facility Loadings

Proving correct operation

IT Load

Supply

air temp

Pressure

Differential

Control

AHU Fan

speed

Fans adjust

to match IT

air volume

Product development

DCIM – the next step

Virtual machine manager Operations

COMPUTE

management

Moving VMs

for best productivity

Keeping watch on power and cooling

PHYSICAL

management

Trouble

OK, taking action!

Everything, everywhere

• We can demonstrate what’s possible

– PUE of <= 1.2 without need for new build

– Rack density of >20KW without water to racks!

– Rack densities do not need to be predetermined

• We have better data to inform decisions

– Power saving features in blades are better than servers

– Investment in an efficient data centre is worthwhile

How does it help others?

• Key to securing the University’s position as a

leading research institution

• HPC service has high utilisation with users from

nearly 20 departments from astrophysics, through

genetics to economics

• Has changed the view of researchers demonstrating

that centrally provided services can benefit them

• PUE for last 30 days just 1.17

• Electricity saving, compared to old efficiency, of

approximately £140,000 per year

A successful IT project

What does it REALLY mean?

“This will strengthen

Leicester's position as an

international leader in

computational

astrophysics.”

Justin Read, Lecturer in

Astrophysics

Dr. Chris Rudge

Research Computing Services Manager

University of Leicester

cmr9@leicester.ac.uk

0116 252 2223

Rob Elder

Associate Director

Keysource Ltd

Rob.elder@keysource.co.uk

0845 204 3333