Reducing Power and Cooling Consumption in Datacenters - Best Practices

Recommendations for Reducing Power and Cooling Consumption in Datacenters

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Question

A company has 700 servers installed in 50 server racks in the datacenter.

The Chief Technology Officer issued a memorandum to the IT department with a directive to reduce power and cooling consumptions by 50% in the datacenters.

Which of the following should the system administrators recommend?

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Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

C.

The chief technology officer has directed the IT department to reduce power and cooling consumption by 50% in the datacenter, which houses 700 servers installed in 50 server racks. To achieve this goal, the system administrators can recommend the following options:

A. Implement 208V 3-phase servers: This option refers to the use of servers that operate on a 208V 3-phase power supply. This approach can help reduce power consumption because 208V 3-phase power is more efficient than standard 120V power. However, this option may not necessarily reduce cooling consumption. In addition, implementing new servers can be costly and time-consuming.

B. Implement hot aisle/cold aisle: This option refers to organizing the datacenter so that hot air from servers is separated from cool air. Servers are arranged in rows with alternating hot and cold aisles, and cooling equipment is placed to direct cold air into the cold aisles and hot air out of the hot aisles. This approach can significantly reduce cooling consumption and may also improve server reliability by maintaining consistent temperatures. However, this option does not directly reduce power consumption.

C. Virtualize the servers in the datacenter: This option refers to the use of virtualization technology to consolidate multiple physical servers onto fewer physical servers. Virtualization can reduce power consumption because fewer physical servers are needed to support the same workload. This approach can also reduce cooling consumption because fewer servers are generating heat. However, virtualization can also introduce complexity and may require significant changes to the existing infrastructure.

D. Replace each server with a blade server: This option refers to the use of blade servers, which are compact, high-density servers that can be installed in a blade chassis. Blade servers can reduce power consumption and cooling consumption because they require less physical space and generate less heat than traditional servers. However, this option can be costly because blade servers require a specialized chassis and may not be compatible with existing infrastructure.

In conclusion, option B (implementing hot aisle/cold aisle) is the most direct and effective way to reduce cooling consumption in the datacenter. Option C (virtualizing the servers) can also reduce power and cooling consumption but may require significant changes to the infrastructure. Option D (replacing each server with a blade server) can also reduce power and cooling consumption but may be costly. Option A (implementing 208V 3-phase servers) can reduce power consumption but may not necessarily reduce cooling consumption.