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Alan Priestley

There is increased attention on the energy consumption of data centres and the amount of energy that is consumed in removing the heat generated by the IT equipment within a data centre. Upcoming legislation in the form of the UK governments Carbon Reduction Commitment will only serve to further increase the pressure on IT and facilities management to take a holistic view of their energy consumption.

One way to reduce DC energy consumption is to replace legacy server infrastructure with the latest generation power efficient servers ( more on that topic here & here). Earlier this week Intel CIO Diane Bryant took time out to talk to the press about the significant saving Intel's IT group has made by refreshing their server installed base and deploying servers based on Xeon 5500, this podcastfrom one of our financial analysts takes you thru the financial justification for maintaining a regular server refresh cycle and one of the many press reports on this topic is here

 

Server refresh is however only a part of the equation as the facilities infrastructure within the data centre also consumes power and there is a lot of debate within the industry as to whether it is possible run data centres at higher temperatures. Part of this discussion is centred around the use of external air for cooling ( free-air cooling ) as opposed to using air-conditioning units ( CRACs ) to force cool the air within the data centre.

There were reports recently that Microsoft have opened a new data centre in Dublin that uses free air cooling and also that Google's data centre in Belgium also utilises free -air cooling. BT have also been an advocate of the use of free-air cooling for some time..

For some time now the Green Grid have been evaluating the use of free-air cooling within data centres and have just made available a tool* that enables European data centre operators to easily assess the amount time they can operate their facilities with the use external air for cooling. The latest recommendations from ASHRAEas to the inlet temperatures for data centre IT equipment also facilitate the use of free-air cooling.

Intel's own IT group has also done work in this area and published a white paperthat discussed the results of running a test data centre in the Arizona desert using free-air cooling and minimal filtration on the incoming air. OK, so UK climate isn't quite as extreme as the Arizona desert ( yet ) but its still an interesting read an provides some good insight as to what the infrastructure within a DC can tolerate on the environmental front

One factor that has to be considered before taking the plunge and running your data centre with free-air cooling and at higher temperatures is that there is the risk that older IT equipment will actually consume more power as the fans within the servers will run faster and the electronics may consume more power. To counter this many OEMs are now starting to offer severs that can be safely used at extended temperatures so its worth discussing this with your equipment suppliers.

If you want more information on how to measure and improve the energy efficiency of your data centre The Green Grid are holding a Technical Forum in London on 20 October where experts from across the industry will discuss the work of the Green Grid, and the tools available to help assess your current infrastructure and plan improvements.

* The Green Grid on-line Free Air Cooling tool

0 Comments Permalink Tags: servers, data_center, energy_efficiency, the_green_grid, xeon, it, free_air_cooling
Alan Priestley

VM 09 @ Earls Court this week brings together many of the key elements driving Cloud Computing with the software and hardwrae vendors discussing their offerings to enable IT to deploy and utilise Cloud based infrastructure.

One of the major tenets of Cloud architectures is the ability to seamlessly deploy workload anywhere within the cloud and to scale available compute resources based on workload demand. Virtualisation is the key element that enables cloud providers to deliver these capabilities to their customers and it is the availability of server hardware with in-built virtualisation support that is the underpinning of these developments.

One of the key considerations when developing virtualisation software ( the hypervisor ) is how to ensure that the guest ( i.e. virtualised ) workloads do not see that they have been virtualised, to do this it is essential that the impact of the hypervisor is minimised.

For some years now Intel has been working with the hypervisor vendors to implement hardware support for virtualisation within their processors. This support is aimed at making it easier for the hypervisor vendors to implement their code and to ensure that they are able to transparently virtualize the guest or hosted workloads.

Intel’s virtualisation technology has focused on 3 key areas – the processor, the I/O subsystem and the network interfaces.

·         Processor enhancements – new instructions and protection model that enables the hypervisor to co-exist with unmodified guest operating systems and to host multiple operating systems on the same hardware. With successive generations of Intel processors new features have been added to the processor to help the hypervisor operate and to reduce its overhead.

·         I/O subsystem – one of the limiters in early virtualisation implementations was the ability to ensure adequate I/O throughput and isolation between various workloads sharing the same physical I/O devices.  Many new Intel Xeon processor based servers now have virtualisation support built into the chipsets.

·         Network interfaces – another challenge with running multiple guest environments on the same server has been the need for them to share the same physical network interfaces and for the hypervisor to manage the separation and distribution of network traffic between the various guest virtual machines. This has been addressed with the latest network interface chips that provide hardware support to manage movement of network data directly between the LAN and virtual machines

It’s also worth noting that raw CPU performance plays a significant part in determining the number of workloads a virtualised server can host. For example if the hypervisor consumes ~10% of the available compute resource, reducing the hypervisor overhead by 10% would result in ~1% more CPU resource being available to the guest workloads, whereas increasing the CPU performance by 10% provides 10% more compute resource to the guest environments – which could equate to 1 or more addition virtual machines being hosted.

When all this is hardware support is put together with the software developments that the hypervisor vendors have been making in terms of tools to dynamically provision and move workload between various physical servers we can start to see how the underpinnings of cloud computing are being put in place.

For further reading there’s lots of good stuff in the Cloud Computing and Virtualisation tracks at the recent IDF, all the materials are here.

0 Comments Permalink Tags: cloud_computing, virtualisation, xeon, idf09, intel, servers
Craig Paul Wallace

And IT Galaxy will be there...

 

 

07-09 October, 10.30am  |  Earls Court, London  |  Stand 716, IBM Theatre

 

 

VM 09 returns for it's 2nd year to exhibit the most up-to-date virtualisation technologies, and with one emphasis that we are delighted about - Server Virtualisation.

 

 

According to IP Expo "The event will include keynote presentations, a seminar programme running over both days and hands-on demonstrations, which will help visitors to address the issues currently dominating this fast-growing market." (Source: http://www.ipexpo.co.uk/IP-Expo/Virtualisation/)

 

 

Our very own Business Solutions Director, Steve Shakespeare, will be hosting a seminar in association with IBM titled 'More performance, less power: The server nirvana'.

 

Where?

 

Server Virtualisation Theatre - IBM

Synopsis: Breakthroughs in processor performance are transforming the way IT organizations utilise and improve data centre productivity and energy efficiency. Intel® Xeon® processors based on Intel® Core™ microarchitecture integrate hardware for virtualization into all key server components including Intel® Virtualization Technology helping IT organizations consolidate more applications and heavier workloads on each server to improve flexibility, reliability, and total cost of ownership (TCO). As the basis of Intel's most advanced –Intelligent- server technology, Intel Core microarchitecture improves virtualization performance across every part of the server platform

 

 

 

Malcolm Hay will also be hosting a seminar, in association with DELL - titled 'Next Generation Client Computing Models'.

 

Where?

 

Data centre Management Theatre - DELL

Synopsis: Learn how the new developments in client side virtualization will enable new levels of client manageability and security without compromise to the end user mobility and performance experience.

 

 

 

 

Our virtualisation guru, Alan Priestly, has written several blogs on cloud computing. Check one out!
Alan will also be blogging LIVE from the clouds on the day of VM 09.

 

 

 

 

If you required any further information, please visit IP Expo. We look forward to seeing you there.

 

 

Your IT Galaxy Team

0 Comments Permalink Tags: intel, tco, xeon, core, performance, power, cloud_computing, virtualisation, virtual, servers, 09, management, security, mobility, vm
Ed Groden

Ever find yourself in a new location staring hopelessly at a map, wondering where you are?  Then to make matters worse, you call someone on your cell phone and can’t describe where you are so they can help? I think we’ve all been there more than once…

Since the Intel Xeon® 5500 processors launched back in March, I’ve been getting a bunch of questions about DDR3 memory and how best to configure your server platforms to optimize performance.  Many times, folks are having a hard time just getting the conversation started, so here are a couple of tips to get you going.  The good thing is that DDR3 memory picks up where DDR2 memory leaves off in terms of speed, so you know you’ll be moving forward!

  1. Figure out how much memory you need.  With multi-core CPUs now mainstream in servers, you need enough memory to keep these compute engines fed.  One metric you might look at is “GB per CPU core” or “GB per socket” for your existing servers, and then project your memory requirements from there.

  1. Start with DDR3 1066 memory, as that will deliver a good balance of memory performance and capacity. 

ð        If you need more bandwidth (and willing to give up some capacity), use DDR3 1333

ð        If you need maximum capacity (and willing to give up some bandwidth), use DDR3 800

  1. Match your CPU to your memory speed because the faster memory does require a faster processor.  Check out page 11 of the product brief for the quick reference table.

  1. Wherever possible, fill up as many memory channels as possible, and populate all channels evenly (same type, size and number of DIMMs). 

ð        Most two-socket Xeon® 5500 platforms will have a total of 6 memory channels, so aligning your memory requirements to a multiple of 6 GB will optimize memory performance for most application environments.  

ð        However, you can mix/match memory types if your requirements call for something that is not a multiple of 6.

  1. For Server application environments, always go with ECC supported memory.  Decide between Registered (RDIMM) and Unbuffered DIMMs with ECC (UDIMM ECC).

ð        RDIMM provide greatest flexibility across DIMM sizes and availability

ð        UDIMM ECC provide a lower cost alternative if you are using 1 GB or 2 GB DIMMs

There are many, many memory configurations possible for the Xeon 5500 platforms, each offering tradeoffs for performance, power, cost, bandwidth, and RAS.  You will still want to check with your system vendor on the specifics, such as memory configurations and DIMM types and options supported for a given server, but hopefully this helps you pointed in the right direction.

If you still need some more help, ask me a question on this blog!

0 Comments Permalink Tags: ddr3, xeon_5500, xeon, nehalem, servers, memory, udimm, rdimm, dimm, unbuffered, registered
Ed Groden

When the Xeon 5500 platforms launched earlier in the year, we also introduced a server refresh ROI estimator tool to help IT managers make sense of the significant OpEx savings they can achieve by making targeted investments in new server hardware.

We know that server deployment and refresh plans vary widely from customer to customer, so we needed a robust and interactive to help you model your savings opportunity, regardless of your situation.  This tool delivers just that by taking the knowledge of Intel IT and industry leading ROI and TCO consultant Alinean and putting it into an easy-to-use tool!

We identified and were able to model eleven cost and savings categories (both pluses and minuses) in the Server Refresh ROI calculation and make these cost category assumptions able to be included, excluded or modified by you.  You can model and view scenario output real time and print/email reports to share with others.

To share some numbers from the United States, in the first 3 months, there has been nearly 4,000 users of the ROI estimator, and of those users, almost 800 users have printed reports to share with others in their organizations. Here’s some of the encouraging feedback they’ve been hearing from their customers:

·       CIO for major US hospital: “This would help my IT staff justify the financial value of the technology investment they are proposing. This has been a barrier to freeing up capital internally”

·       IT Manager for major US bank: “I used to have regular funding for technology refresh projects. It was a given for my budget.  However, with the increased constraints on capital, I now have to justify this type of spending”

·       Technology Sales Consultant: “This tool helped me work better with my customer to gain a deeper understanding of their server environment and allowed us to jointly identify high ROI investments to improve their infrastructure”

Good news is the tool has continued to evolve based on feedback from the multiple customer engagements to date, and as a result, we have just released an updated version.  Check them out:

Tool Training – How to Use: We heard that the benefits of using the Savings Refresh Estimator spanned many functional roles, making us realize that the use models for this type of tool and what users were looking for would vary dramatically from person to person.  We have a pdf training guide today that can help you get started now.

PowerPoint Output: What would we do without PowerPoint? J We received feedback on the desire to make the output of this tool more sharable inside IT organizations and with business partners in a PowerPoint format as a way to communicate the opportunity and benefits for server refresh investment.  So, we now have a PowerPoint output option in the reports section that breaks down the benefits of server refresh for a variety of audiences from executive staff to facilities to finance.  Everyone inside your business can benefit from server refresh and now you can show them how.

Secure Analysis: We received feedback that many users wanted access off-line either as a way to use in meetings when connectivity was challenged or to protect internal data from exposure online.  We now have the ability for you to run the tool on your laptop to support these use models.

More … More … More Functionality. We heard lots of requests and ideas to expand the level of functionality and analysis capabilities.  We have to balance scope, complexity Keep these requests coming.  The following changes are incorporated into today’s estimator.

·       Virtualization to Virtualization Refresh Scenario – now included

·       Virtualization Loading: Can edit and change VM/server new and old

·       Custom Performance Data – enter you own performance data to better model what you expect to see in your biz

·       Depreciation Cycle – no longer fixed at 4yrs .. can adjust

·       Memory Sizing: information added to allow user analysis

·       Processor Description: allows user to cross reference data to other more familiar terminology.

I encourage you to check out the tool and let us know how it helps you get a better handle on the benefits of server refresh.  Feel free to respond with comments and feedback here.

0 Comments Permalink Tags: xeon_5500, servers, nehalem, data_center, datacenter, energy_efficiency, intel, roi, xeon

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