Green Nook : Greening The Datacenter

Primarily known as a 'server farm' since the days of its inception, a
datacenter is a facility to house computer systems and associated components,
such as telecommunications and storage systems. Normally comprised of data
communications connections, back-up power supplies and related ancillary
environmental controls comprising of air conditioning systems and fire combat
equipments, the facility also houses security devices much in vogue nowadays.

A Background

Datacenters have their roots in the huge computer rooms of the preliminary
stages of the computing industry. Earlier, computer systems based on DOS were
complex to operate and required huge maintenance costs bringing up the opex of
an organization, and also required a special environment to operate requiring
huge cooling systems and an array of network cables to connect multiple ports.

During the 1990s, with the advent of client-server computing microcomputers,
now known as 'servers' started to find their places in the 'server farms'. It
was then that the hierarchical design came up with dedicated server rooms as
availability of inexpensive networking equipment increased, coupled with new
standards for network cabling. It was at this point of time that the term
'datacenter' started to gain popular recognition.

The Consolidation Phase

During the era of the dot-com bubble, datacenters around the developed
nations registered a boom. As the big enterprises needed fast internet
connectivity and hysterically operation cycle to deploy systems and establish a
presence, many of the firms started building large facilities, called Internet
datacenters (IDCs), which provide businesses with a range of solutions for
systems deployment and operation. Soon, new technologies and practices were
designed to handle the scale and the operational requirements of such
large-scale operations. These practices eventually migrated toward the private
datacenters, and were adopted largely because of their practical results.

However, it was later towards the dawn of the new millennium that CIOs
actually thought of deploying 'greener' solutions and focus on using green
technologies. With the advent of the concept of global warming and the 'iceberg
melting on the North Pole', IT companies started to develop eco-friendly servers
using non-hazardous materials. Norms were laid down soon with the West leading
the pack. The ground was all set to implement green datacenter solutions to cut
down emissions and also cut opex.

Green Datacenter Defined

A green datacenter is a depot for the storage, management, and distribution
of data in which the mechanical, lighting, electrical and computer systems are
designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact. The
construction and operation of a green datacenter includes advanced technologies
and strategies.

Initial investment is higher in 'green datacenters', but it has been proven
that it cuts down capex as green datacenters costs little over maintenance and
related operations. Another advantage of the Green technology keeping in mind
lesser environmental hazards is the fact that these datacenters offer employees
a healthy, comfortable work environment.

“Datacenter efficiency is critical to business needs as computer requirements
grow, density increases, and power and cooling demands climb. Intel is helping
the industry address areas where datacenters consume power including power
conversion and distribution, cooling, and even lighting. Intel products are
designed with the environment in mind. We continue to increase the energy
efficiency of our products through innovation and incorporate more
environmentally sensitive materials into our design process”, said Sandeep
Aurora, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel South Asia.

There is growing pressure from environmentalists, particularly in the USA,
Canada, Australia, West Europe and parts of Latin America to opt for greener
technologies and, increasingly, even in the public domain, governments are fast
enough enacting laws and are using green datacenter technologies themselves.

Going Green

“Energy consumption has become a critical issue for organizations over the
last few years, whether the goal is to reduce cost, save the environment or keep
their datacenter running. Energy costs, now about 10 percent of the average IT
budget, could rise to 50 percent in a matter of years unless companies take some
radical measures and CIO's are well aware of this”, opined Ganesh Mahabala,
Regional Director, VMware, India and SAARC.

Green datacenters are also reducing the need for expensive infrastructure
upgrades to deal with increased power and cooling demands. Some organizations
are also starting to take the next step and are looking at the entire datacenter
from an environmental perspective.

“Green IT is a growing concern even for SMB despite the fact that they
already have their plates full with day to day business operations. While large
corporations are introducing several initiatives like expanded recycling with
increased telecommuting opportunities, SMBs can make a decent start with basic
things like lower power consumption. SMBs can make a conscious effort to lower
power consumption and also using good quality computing products”, Aurora added.

Opining the same as above, A K Nathan, MD, Rittal India, said, “With the
growing emphasis on maintaining environmental norms and the governments
initiatives to drive industry to abide by latest technological advances to
comply with global standards we see demand for green datacenter products
definitely growing in India over the next four years”.

“We have found that the acceptance for green datacenter is slow but it would
improve in the near future. Every additional investment in green datacenter
products is being thoroughly evaluated and the RoI calculations are being doubly
checked before they are approved by end users”, he added.

Steps To Ensure A Green Datacenter

As the CIOs nowadays seems to be taking the notion of green datacenters in a
serious note, emphasis needs to be given to ensure that correct steps are
followed to implement the noble notion of the green 'server farm'.

In the first place, care needs to be taken to document all running servers
within the datacenter, determine their business purpose and measure their power
consumption.

“Organizations do not currently measure power consumption on a per server
basis. However, it is possible to generate estimates without too much
difficulty. However, the latest generation of servers features built-in power
monitoring via their out-of-band management capabilities. Therefore, the vast
majority of currently installed servers do not have this ability”, said Mahabala.

The next step is to ensure energy-efficient power system to cut electricity
costs. Maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing environmental impact by
reducing carbon emissions is one of the primary features that needs to be taken
care of.

One has to ensure that the processor power saving features in the servers.

“x86 server processors have begun to incorporate the power saving
architectures that have been common in both desktop and laptop computers.
Enabling this feature can result in overall system power savings of up to 20
percent”, Mahabala emphasized.

Designing energy-efficient cooling systems is another criteria to be kept in
mind while opting for a green datacenter. A watt saved in datacenter power
consumption saves at least a watt in cooling. Due to increasing density in the
datacenter, a trend towards closely looped liquid cooling solutions has become
very essential. Close loop liquid cooling targets specific areas where cooling
is needed; such as an individual row, rack, or server as opposed to a large open
space; such as the datacenter room. In addition, closed looped cooling can
result in shorter air paths that require less fan power. Close looped heat
removal minimizes and almost eliminates the mixing of cool and hot air, since
the airflow is completely contained in the row or rack. Liquid based cooling
facilitates cooling of high density blade servers and increases energy
efficiency. By using cold aisle partitioning and the Liquid Cooling Package (LCP)
high/performance air-water heat exchanger, cooling costs can be reduced by as
much as half.

“IT managers who take the long view are already paying attention to the RoI
associated with acquiring more energy-efficient equipment. Heat problems in
datacenters can only be avoided through the implementation of new modular and
intelligent climate control concepts”, Nathan opined.

Monitoring software to improve efficiency of systems is a new concept in this
field. Monitoring and controlling all IT infrastructure components is required
for the reliable operation of the servers, storage systems, routers and
switches. The tasks include; power supply monitoring and power backup, cooling
production and distribution, room and enclosure monitoring, datacenter security,
temperature control with adequate humidity for the servers to function at full
productivity and measuring PUE levels to increase efficiency. The key feature is
to ensure maximum uptime by providing user definable control circuits that
automatically take over in the event of an issue.

Often one tends to exaggerate while estimating the right size of the servers
as well as the space required running the 'server farms'. In recent years, Web
services have driven the growth of 'server farms' in datacenters. In many cases
these datacenters are vastly over-provisioned. Analysis of server farm usage
patterns using tools specific for the analysis is crucial for arriving at the
conclusive potential for the right size.

Recently, the concept of virtualization has gained much momentum. Use of
Blade servers in combination with virtualization, consolidates existing and
expected future system loads. This reduces the number of physical servers
required, thereby reducing floor space, cooling, and capital costs. It also
increases the utilization of servers to improve energy efficiency. Furthermore,
virtualization can also serve as an effective means for placing additional
compute capability into use.

IT infrastructure consolidation is highly recommended in the process of
virtualisation. A key benefit of virtualization technology is the ability to
contain and consolidate the number of servers in a datacenter. This allows
businesses to run multiple application and OS workloads on the same server.

“10 server workloads running on a single physical server is typical, but some
companies are consolidating as many as 30 or 40 workloads onto one server. As
you might expect, dramatically reducing server count will have a
transformational impact on IT energy consumption”, Mahabala said.

Suggesting to power down the servers when not in use seems to sound
hypothetical in the initial phase. However, the case is not so.

“Not all servers need to be operational all the time. Individual servers may
be powered down for certain period of the day. For example, servers executing
backup software are normally only required at night and branch-based servers are
normally only used during the day. SPs can plan this accordingly”, Mahabala
suggested.

However, just focusing on the servers and the cooling systems is not just
enough. One needs to pay heed to the other ancillary features in the datacenter.
Hence, in the last phase to ensure the 'proper Green datacenter', usage of Green
products in the entire process of the datacenter is crucial. Considering Green
products for any component or product addition or replacement is a viable option
to gain long term RoI.

The Road Ahead

Although the West has picked up the notion of Green technologies fast with
many governments opting for Green technologies and enacting state laws to
encourage Green products, the concept is quite in a nascent stage in the
country. With the government mum over emission laws and on its way to reject the
'Australia Proposal', it seems that the scenario is not much encouraging.

“Green IT is definitely top of the mind in Indian CIOs and CTOs.
Organizations are looking at this holistically across products/solutions and the
policies they need to implement within their organizations. Awareness is
definitely on the rise, a case in point is the fact that the Indian Chapter of
Climate Savers Computing Initiative was launched couple of weeks back in Delhi
and several companies and Industry bodies have joined this bandwagon”, Aurora
concluded.

However, significant contribution has already been made in the realm of IT
and IT infrastructure with CIOs and civil engineeres focusing on green products
and technologies.

Sounding optimistic about the notion of green, Nathan said, “Indian
enterprises are ready to accept green datacenter solutions provided the RoI
calculation on Green IT investments prove to be adequately attractive. Prior to
the global economic downturn, large organizations may have been content with
payback periods over three to five years. Today, organizations are more likely
to demand an RoI on green IT investments within the first 12 to 18 months”.

In this regard, to facilitate shorter RoI cycles, organizations must first
determine the actual efficiency of their datacenter as a whole. Typically,
organizations deploy operational measurement tools in a manner, which makes it
more challenging to determine whether or not datacenter resources are being
utilized fully. It would be more advantageous to deploy measurement tools as a
connected group for all assets within a datacenter. This will enable green IT
efficiencies across the datacenter and in turn, shorter RoIs. In order for
vendors to demonstrate a RoI of less than two years, they must provide
technologies that deliver significant savings via dramatic reductions in costly
energy usage. The upshot is that green IT is being forced to become greener.

“It is likely just a matter of time before green IT becomes synonymous with
cost-effective IT”, he concluded.

AVISHEK RAKSHIT

avishekr@cybermedia.co.in