power distribution in a DC

[bell]

Hello,
Can somebody help me with the power consumption breakup in terms of percentage in a data center? i want to know which sections of the data center consume the most power and which consumes the least.

[thecommis]

In datacenter facility Airconditioning takes major part of power.

In Equipments, Most of times Servers are consuming most of power. 1U servers with dual supply have more numbers per rack and some times you run out of power outlets per rack.

•Start by having realistic expectations for how many servers you will be able to put in each rack. Do your calculations.
•Realise that just because your rack is 42 RU and your servers are 1 RU each, does not mean that you can put 42 servers in it.
•Get an idea of how much power your equipment uses. Cheap devices are available to do this from your local electronics stores.
•Look for low power variants of CPUs if purchasing new equipment.
•Consider virtualisation to generate more efficient utilisation of server hardware.
•On larger rack deployments consider doing high levels of per-rack utilisation, but deploying one-third or one-quarter fewer racks. You can save significantly on your infrastructure spend.
•If you expect to have high power load deployments, pay careful attention to your choice of server racks.

[KenB]

You may be interested in James Hamilton's slides on data center power usage:
http://www.mvdirona.com/jrh/TalksAndPapers/JamesHamilton_AFCOM2009.pdf


Ken

[bell]

thank you Ken, that was very helpful. I have one question though.
when he talks of mechanical systems, is he referring tyo the cooling systems alone?

[bell]

thank you thecommis.

this is all new to me, so I am terribly lost. could you direct me with more details about the number of servers per rack calculations? what are the factors to be considered? do i also take in the supposed heat generated by each server?

when you say pay attention to server racks, is it wrt to the power it can support? or perforated racks to limit heating?

[KenB]

thank you Ken, that was very helpful. I have one question though.
when he talks of mechanical systems, is he referring tyo the cooling systems alone?

Yes, chillers, compressors, fans -- anything to do with cooling.


Ken