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Server Technology Helps Media Company Monitor and Reduce Data Center Power
By Susan J. Campbell TMCnet Contributing Editor
The consumption of power within the data center is of primary concern for IT managers and business owners alike as data capture and storage is increasing at astounding rates, putting increased pressure on servers and cooling systems. This increased power consumption is straining budgets and forcing IT departments to take a closer look at their use of power to determine where efficiency gains can be realized.
In one Server Technology (News - Alert) success story, a media company was able to streamline operations and enable remote management of their web servers. The company turned to Server Technology, a leading provider of data center power monitoring technology, to find a solution that would enable the installation of 48 single corded HP DL350s into the APC (News - Alert) Net Shelter server cabinets with one power in-feed per cabinet.
In addition to remote capabilities, the company also wanted to minimize data center power by controlling all the PDUs in their data center from a central location without logging in to each individual PDU’s network interface.
To meet the needs of this specific client, Server Technology suggested the Switched CW-24VDX454A1. This platform offers a 60Amp, 3-Phase Delta, 208V PDU with (18) IEC (News - Alert) C13 and (6) IEC C19 outlets. The company also implemented the Sentry Power Manager Software solution to ensure the most efficient use of data center power.
The high density intelligent PDU provides the media company with complete visibility to see the load on the circuits to ensure devices can be properly installed and capacity is maximized. This solution also delivers the ability to cycle data center power and reboot individual or groups of outlets through remote capabilities that are built into the network interface.
The Switched PDU also provides support for two temperature and humidity probes, offering data that can be read through the Web interface. User defined thresholds for power and environmental conditions can determine e-mail alerts and SNMP traps. The PDU also offers a middle entry for the environmental, network and serial connections, making it easy to invest the device when installation in an overhead data center power environment is necessary.
To optimize on data center power, the media company also connected two HP DL350 servers through a Y cable to the PDU’s outlet. As the company is running all web servers, it does not present an issue when they need to reboot two servers when cycling power to an outlet.
The Sentry Power Manager (SPM), which was also deployed as part of this data center power efficiency solution, is a software appliance designed to give users a central interface to access multiple networked sentry power distribution units. This includes a global view of all PDUs, as well as the ability to view devices based on humidity, temperature, current and the status of the device.
The SPM will continuously poll the PDUs and store the accumulated data, which can be used to generate various power and environmental condition reports, provide kW and kW-per hour information for power monitoring, billing, trending and power reports. This data can also be used to streamline data center power by determining a company’s Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).
The media company is now enjoying its new deployment, taking centralized control over all data center power consumption and remote monitoring to save time and money.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Rich Steeves
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