Liam Newcombe BCS Data Centre Specialist Group Secretary Modelling Data Centre Energy Efficiency and Cost

BCS Data Centre Simulator Background Overview of Tools Structure of the BCS Simulator Input Data Sample Output Development Path

Background

Power Loss Chain – Fossil Fuel – CPU Used

“For each £ or Watt my Data Centre consumes what output do I get?” vs. “For each Service I deliver what is the financial and energy cost?” Data Centre Cost and Energy

Overview of Tools

Tool Coverage Existing tools –Computational Fluid Dynamics –Server benchmarking –Chiller technology comparisons –Carbon ‘calculators’ –Device specific comparators

Tool Problem When the only tool you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail 1 1) Abraham Maslow

Tool Problem The data centre is not a set of independent components that can be individually tuned The data centre is a complex and interdependent system Only a holistic tool can give useful answers

Framework Tool One tool to cover the entire system, allowing the simulation of components in a realistic context. No need to develop more partial tools, you can now contribute to the open, trusted tool instead.

Framework Tool Designed to facilitate the incorporation of new or enhanced component models and data Publish performance data in standard formats that we can use to compare devices

Structure of the BCS Simulator

BCS Data Centre Model IT Workload IT Device Load to Power Function Data Centre Power Transfer Function

IT Device

IT Device Costs

IT Device in a Data Centre

Energy Costs

Per Device Costs

Input Data

Fully Representative Data

Open XML Formats

Sample Output

Example Scenario Simulator Output Same Computing Workload 100 One App Per Server Servers 15 Virtualised Servers 10 HPC Grid Servers Old N+1 Data Centre, Nameplate Provisioning

Simulator Output Old N+1 Data Centre, Nameplate

Simulator Output

Example Scenario Same Computing Workload 100 One App Per Server Servers 15 Virtualised Servers 10 HPC Grid Servers New N+1 Data Centre, Free Cooling Simulator Output

New N+1 Data Centre, Free Cooling 19°C Simulator Output

New N+1 Data Centre, Free Cooling 25°C Simulator Output

New N+1 Data Centre, Free Cooling 25°C Simulator Output

New N+1 Data Centre, Free Cooling 25°C Simulator Output

Development Path

Data Centre energy use and cost is a complex problem that we are only starting to understand Deliver marginal and fair share, per business service energy and financial costs to enable holistic carbon management

Development Path Individual component ‘calculators’ are ineffective without the context of a holistic model Device level A-G style simple labelling is not effective in a data centre environment

Development Path As our understanding of the data centre grows we will be able to use the more complex capabilities of the simulator

Development Path Opportunities for Further Research and Development IT Device Performance –Configuration –Workload –Generalised Metrics ( Performance / Energy ) –Networking –Storage

Development Path Opportunities for Further Research and Development Application Performance –Hardware interaction –Impact of the working data set –Optimisation

Development Path Opportunities for Further Research and Development Economics ( Cost and Energy ) –Intelligent task deployment –Per task accounting –Automated in-source / out-source decisions –Real time cost management and reporting –Policy based management

Development Path Opportunities for Further Research and Development Physics –Integrated Computational Fluid Dynamics –Chiller plant behaviour and management –Workload assignment

Development Path Opportunities for Further Research and Development Electrical / Electronic Engineering –Power infrastructure performance and loss characteristics –Dynamic self provisioning electrical infrastructure