HP ML150 Optimizing facility operation in high density data center environment - Page 25

Summary Data centers are approaching the point of outpacing conventional methods used to power and cool high density computing environments. Escalating energy costs and cooling requirements in existing data center facilities call for better methodology in the areas of planning and configuration, and more capable analytical and management tools to handle power and cooling demands. Data center and facility managers can use best practices to greatly reduce the heat loads. These practices include: • View data center and data center components as a completely integrated infrastructure • Assess existing facility power and cooling resources • Maximize power and cooling capabilities at the component level • Optimize facility for efficient power distribution • Institute floor plans and standard practices that maximize rack and aisle cooling • Promote highly automated and virtualized data center operation • Manage power and cooling as variable resources that dynamically respond to processing • Employ continuous and comprehensive monitoring • Choose an integrated approach to data center hardware, software, applications, network and facility To address more complex situations HP Professional Services can work directly with customers to optimize existing data centers for more efficient cooling and energy consumption. The Thermal Assessment services can also be used to confirm new data center designs or predict what will happen in a room when certain equipment fails. As long as the data center has the power and cooling resources to support the expected loads, Thermal Assessment Services can rectify cooling problems as well as enhance the overall efficiency of air conditioning resources. In most cases, the energy savings alone may pay for the cost of the service in a relatively short period. Such modeling services supply data center managers with more accurate mapping of air flow and temperature distribution in the facility. This in conjunction with solid fundamentals such as closely coupled cooling, rack geometry, cooling footprints, and rack air flow management provide a sound basis for effective power and cooling management. Dynamic Smart Cooling (DSC) is the result of HP taking a 'holistic' view of data center management, analyzing the requirements, and building an adaptive control system around that analysis. The resulting DSC technology will enable managers to prevent over-provisioning of cooling and power resources and provide the adaptive control to direct those resources where needed. 25