Storage Systems: Savings and Optimization
One extra watt of power consumption - is it a lot or a little?
If we are talking about a single disk installed in a stationary computer, powered from the network, then, perhaps, there is nothing to talk about.
If we are considering a data center for collective use, where there are 25,000 servers with 12 disks each, then over 5 years the difference in electricity consumption will be more than 13 gigawatt hours. With the cost of one megawatt-hour of 1,000 rubles, excess costs will exceed 13 million rubles!
We at HGST are well aware of how important these watts are and are developing solutions that save money without saving on performance — in short, we work to optimize the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) factor. So, for example, HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 SAS disks consume 7.6 W of power in the absence of input-output and 10.9 W when reading / writing. Power consumption does not depend on disk capacity. Thus, the use of high-capacity disks (for example, 4-terabyte instead of 2-terabyte) in large computer centers provides significant savings on electricity, but not only: by reducing the number of disk systems, the footprint is reduced, the number of network equipment is reduced, and cooling costs are reduced and backup power.
The following example may be very simple, but at the same time very obvious. Suppose you want to organize a storage system with a capacity of about 3 Pbytes. When using terabyte disks in double height servers (12 pieces per server), 12 racks will be required, a total of 240 servers. If the disk capacity is increased fourfold, the number of racks will decrease to 3, and the servers to 60.
In the future, it will be possible to use drives filled with helium, which should be released this year. Due to the lower resistance of the medium, they can reduce the power consumed by the disk by almost a quarter (to be precise, by 23%). And the ability to fit seven disk plates with an increased recording density in the case instead of five conventional ones provides almost a half reduction in the specific (in terms of capacity) energy consumption!
In addition, the operating temperature of a helium-filled storage ring is approximately 4 ° lower. HGST calculations show that the total cost of building and commissioning a super-large data center (taking into account savings on the number of servers, power consumption, cooling and floor space) when using 7-disk drives with helium will be 22 - 33 percent less.
Other advantages of helium disk drives are increased durability (due to the greater purity of the medium in which the mechanics work) and reduced noise (due to the reduced resistance of the medium).
Another important saving factor is equipment durability. The latest HGST drive models have a mean time between failures of up to 2 million hours (compared with the previous figure of 1.2 million hours). Thanks to this, a number of advantages are achieved right away: system performance is improved due to a reduction in the number of failures and subsequent recovery procedures; increased uptime and availability of the information infrastructure; Total cost of ownership is reduced.
* * *
Against the background of an increase in the growth of data volumes and an increase in the importance of data storage facilities as part of information systems, the role of the supplier of hard drives is changing. Now customers are asked to optimize their drives based on the tasks they solve, so that the HGST engineering departments work closely with users. Moreover, when it comes to data storage systems, the competencies of HGST can cover almost the entire range of aspects affecting speed and efficient operation, including tuning application programs, file systems, drivers and hardware, including disk controllers; if it is necessary to improve the operation of the storage network, then in this case HGST specialists can give recommendations or participate in deep optimization of applications, file system, operating system and drivers, as well as fine-tuning the equipment. In this way, HGST is transformed from a simple equipment supplier into a trusted customer assistant.
If we are talking about a single disk installed in a stationary computer, powered from the network, then, perhaps, there is nothing to talk about.
If we are considering a data center for collective use, where there are 25,000 servers with 12 disks each, then over 5 years the difference in electricity consumption will be more than 13 gigawatt hours. With the cost of one megawatt-hour of 1,000 rubles, excess costs will exceed 13 million rubles!
We at HGST are well aware of how important these watts are and are developing solutions that save money without saving on performance — in short, we work to optimize the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) factor. So, for example, HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 SAS disks consume 7.6 W of power in the absence of input-output and 10.9 W when reading / writing. Power consumption does not depend on disk capacity. Thus, the use of high-capacity disks (for example, 4-terabyte instead of 2-terabyte) in large computer centers provides significant savings on electricity, but not only: by reducing the number of disk systems, the footprint is reduced, the number of network equipment is reduced, and cooling costs are reduced and backup power.
The following example may be very simple, but at the same time very obvious. Suppose you want to organize a storage system with a capacity of about 3 Pbytes. When using terabyte disks in double height servers (12 pieces per server), 12 racks will be required, a total of 240 servers. If the disk capacity is increased fourfold, the number of racks will decrease to 3, and the servers to 60.
In the future, it will be possible to use drives filled with helium, which should be released this year. Due to the lower resistance of the medium, they can reduce the power consumed by the disk by almost a quarter (to be precise, by 23%). And the ability to fit seven disk plates with an increased recording density in the case instead of five conventional ones provides almost a half reduction in the specific (in terms of capacity) energy consumption!
In addition, the operating temperature of a helium-filled storage ring is approximately 4 ° lower. HGST calculations show that the total cost of building and commissioning a super-large data center (taking into account savings on the number of servers, power consumption, cooling and floor space) when using 7-disk drives with helium will be 22 - 33 percent less.
Other advantages of helium disk drives are increased durability (due to the greater purity of the medium in which the mechanics work) and reduced noise (due to the reduced resistance of the medium).
Another important saving factor is equipment durability. The latest HGST drive models have a mean time between failures of up to 2 million hours (compared with the previous figure of 1.2 million hours). Thanks to this, a number of advantages are achieved right away: system performance is improved due to a reduction in the number of failures and subsequent recovery procedures; increased uptime and availability of the information infrastructure; Total cost of ownership is reduced.
* * *
Against the background of an increase in the growth of data volumes and an increase in the importance of data storage facilities as part of information systems, the role of the supplier of hard drives is changing. Now customers are asked to optimize their drives based on the tasks they solve, so that the HGST engineering departments work closely with users. Moreover, when it comes to data storage systems, the competencies of HGST can cover almost the entire range of aspects affecting speed and efficient operation, including tuning application programs, file systems, drivers and hardware, including disk controllers; if it is necessary to improve the operation of the storage network, then in this case HGST specialists can give recommendations or participate in deep optimization of applications, file system, operating system and drivers, as well as fine-tuning the equipment. In this way, HGST is transformed from a simple equipment supplier into a trusted customer assistant.