Energy Saving and Cooling Systems in ProLiant DL G7 Servers: A Response to Consolidation Growth

The development of server and telecom technologies today is outpacing, and, in addition to a significant increase in productivity, new functions and optimization of well-known processes, it also brings questions. First of all, this is a sharply increased density of computing power per standard unit of the server rack. And where there is high productivity - there is also high heat generation along with energy consumption. And it turns out that in a familiar rack with cooling levels and power supply quite acceptable yesterday, you can now install fewer servers than before.

It doesn’t matter, a person who is far from reality will exclaim - take a second stance! But the place in the data centers is not rubbery, and in those countries where the computing resources of our planet are concentrated more densely, there is some deficit. In addition, not all organizations that use serious servers host them in commercial data centers, and the rapid expansion of their own data center often becomes an impossible or impossible task. That is why, developing its own servers, routers and other equipment, the manufacturer is simply obliged to pay close attention to cooling technologies and optimizing energy consumption. HP’s

new seventh generation ProLiant serverApplied a technology package collectively called Thermal Logic for cooling control and an energy management system called Intelligent Power Discovery. Some of these technologies were run on the previous generation of servers, G6, so it will be especially interesting to see how HP has advanced along the optimization path. Unfortunately, while there is no way to physically compare G6 and G7, we can only predict a real increase in the performance and reliability of the subsystems, however we tried to consult with those who really use the G6 in high-density environments and find out what a new generation of servers can give them.

But first, about technology. In a press release accompanying the launch of a new generation of servers, it says a figure of 96% savings. But here we are discussing non-marketing tools and spherical horses in a vacuum, so we will start from the fact that real savings are not so crushing, but still visible to the naked eye. The basis of savings is the Sea of ​​Sensors network of temperature sensors, which monitors the temperature in various elements of the server.

The loaded areas are cooled more intensively, and the idle ones are minimized. As a result, instead of blowing the entire case, we get point cooling using dedicated fans. Other proprietary technologies, Dynamic Power Capping and Power Advisor, improve monitoring and configuration, but ultimately work with the same point cooling tools. Another of their functions is to reduce the role of the human factor in hardware failures - it will not work to configure something so that the server “crashes” or critically overheats. Disclaimer from the author: most likely, this should be understood as “will not work in most cases”, because the strength and power of well-aimed playful pens can not be measured. Of the practical solutions, one can also note unified power supplies with hot swapping. Happen that



Those who work intensively with a large number of HP servers expect from the seventh generation, on the one hand, better cooling than their predecessor, and on the other, they rub their hands in anticipation of the huge amounts of RAM. For example, in the DL580 G7, you can put up to a terabyte of memory. The server occupies four units, decently cools and has a good level of performance. It remains to connect a disk “shelf” quicker to it and an excellent tandem is ready for virtualization and serious business applications. This position is held, in particular, by the technical director of Oversan-Skalaxi Alexander Titov: “For our company, new machines are interesting in that they can be used to provide services to the most demanding customers who need a large amount of memory and computing resources,

After careful consideration of the new servers and the systems implemented in them, it cannot be said that they are revolutionary. Development takes place in an evolutionary manner, but it is very important to take into account that the loads are growing spasmodically, data centers are clogged up, and the amount of transmitted data doubles almost every year. And here it’s like Carroll’s: “in order to at least stay in place, you need to run very fast.” And HP with its G7 runs even faster.