NetApp offers 10 tips on making a data center more efficient

This is an interesting article published in Network World where NetApp shares 10 tips they used in their data centers to make them more efficient.

10 ways to make your data center more efficient
By Laura Pickering, NetApp, Network World
http://tinyurl.com/n37bgp

A couple tips worth highlighting are:

• Tip 1. Measure to control
• Tip 10. Constantly monitor and tune

In order to control or reduce power consumption, there must be tools and equipment in place to monitor and to trend energy usage to establish efficiency metrics such as PUE or DCiE from The Green Grid, or some other standard. Depending on how much detail is desired Server Technology offers three approaches to monitoring power.

1. Power drop to the cabinet
   The Smart PDUs measure input current (amp) and provides power (watt) values for monitoring at a the rack level
2. Power monitoring and control
   The Switched PDUs offer the same capabilities as the Smart PDU but with the addition of individual outlet control to power down servers and devices when sitting idle to reduce power consumption
3. Power monitoring at the device-level and control
   For device-level monitoring, the Switched POPS PDU used in conjunction with the Sentry Power Manager (SPM), provides current (amp), power (watt and VA) and power consumption (kW-h) measurements for a detailed understanding of each device's usage. The power control features allow for individual outlet control so users may power down underutilized or dormant devices, while SPM delivers trending and reporting tools to help monitor power usage.

For more information, visit www.servertech.com.