Cons 1
Storage is optimized only across connected controllers. Replication and migration are only possible across connected controllers and may only be possible in homogeneous environments. Higher latency. The primary storage controller must issue a secondary downstream I O request for content not in the cache. Higher bandwidth consumption. The primary storage controller needs the same amount of bandwidth as the secondary storage controllers to maintain the same level of throughput. The preceding...
Incipient Network Storage Platform iNSP Software
The iNSP platform is targeted at customers who have ongoing data mobility needs, but can't have any downtime. iNSP combines storage virtualization tools with powerful management tools, which allows customers to move data across the SAN with no downtime. iNSP is located on a director-class SAN switch and provides a suite of network-based storage services that can be deployed SAN-wide or across heterogeneous storage arrays. These services provide iNSP allows you to migrate data with no disruption...
Thin Provisioning
Compellent's thin-provisioning software is called Dynamic Capacity, and it helps increase storage utilization, thus lowering the overall number of drives required for a SAN. Dynamic Capacity allocates storage only when the data is written to the disk, instead of preallocating storage capacity to volumes before they are used. The result is that administrators don't have to overprovision capacity to plan for future growth. By purchasing and operating fewer disk drives, companies significantly...
North America
North America is home to two countries that seem to be struggling with implementing e-waste programs. The United States and Canada have both been trying to get national laws on the books, but it hasn't happened yet. Not to be deterred, several states and provinces have taken up the issue at the local level and have developed their own e-waste laws. This section examines what's going on in the U.S. and Canada. It looks at the issue of e-waste at the national level and also drills down to...
CPU Utilization
This measurement examines the percentage of utilization of your servers' CPUs. This can be measured with a number of commercially available performance measurement tools. For instance, you can track CPU utilization through System Monitor on Windows Server, as shown in Figure 13-1. If your server is running just one task, as the one in Figure 13-1 is, utilization is very low, and not very efficient. As you add virtualized tasks to your server, utilization will increase. Optimally, you want...
History
HP has a long commitment to environmental responsibility and has been a few degrees ahead of the curve for a long time. True, it didn't start recycling efforts and energy conservation efforts from the get go, but in a lot of cases it was the first company to have started such initiatives. Table 9-1 shows a timeline summary of HP's environmental efforts. HP's eco-friendly business practices don't seem to be slowing down, either. The company has set a goal to reduce its overall global energy use...
HewlettPackard
In the previous section, we talked about Dell. Not even 25 years old, the company started in its founder's dorm room has made it a mission to be the tops when it comes to environmental responsibility. But while that young whippersnapper Dell has been at this green thing for just a few years, Hewlett-Packard HP has been doing the heavy lifting for half a century. A jaded onlooker might consider the HP of today and say, Oh, it's just jumping on the bandwagon, but they'd be wrong. HP has been a...
Plant a Tree for Me
Your computer is still going to use electricity, and it will still make some sort of impact on the environment. In an effort to offset the CO2 emissions generated by a new Dell computer, the company has started its Plant a Tree for Me program. The program a joint effort among Dell, The Conservation Fund, and Carbonfund.org allows customers to donate a fee that will be used to plant a tree. The idea is that the tree will allow consumers to offset the carbon emissions that their Dell computer...
Education
Dell's enviro-responsibility doesn't take place in a vacuum. The company actively communicates with customers and other stakeholders. Dell has a number of customer communications programs, the idea being to educate them about energy efficiency as well as other environmental issues, such as climate change and pollution. That educational process starts when a computer is purchased online. When a customer configures a computer, the website walks them through the process, helping them make...
Facilities
Although Dell is trying to lessen its carbon footprint, it still makes a mark. Dell's biggest source of impact is from electricity consumption. In 2007, Dell's U.S. electricity usage accounted for 97.8 percent of its carbon emission. To reduce the amount of electricity it uses, Dell has implemented several changes, including A power management program that turns off machines when not in use. That saved 13 million kWh of electricity, which equates to 8500 tons of CO2 and US 1.8 million in...
Supply Chain
Along with other electronics industry members, Dell helped develop the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct EICC to create a standardized industry code of conduct. Within the EICC, rather than punish noncompliance, the goal is to improve citizenship and operational efficiencies throughout the world. NOTE The EICC's website address is www.eicc.info and can also be found at Link 9-3. Dell also uses it business process improvement BPI program to help suppliers improve their operations. In the...
Transportation
It isn't just what goes on behind Dell's front door that is making an impact. The company has also retooled its transportation operations to cut costs. Dell has undertaken several measures to lessen its greenhouse gas emissions Figure 9-2 Dell's Energy Smart calculator can help illustrate how much money you'll save and what your environmental impact will be. Figure 9-2 Dell's Energy Smart calculator can help illustrate how much money you'll save and what your environmental impact will be.
Energy Smart
Dell has its own certification for eco-friendly equipment Energy Smart. Dell Energy Smart combines energy-optimized hardware and software, energy-optimized professional services, and partnerships with regulatory bodies and standards organizations to help drive future innovation around energy-efficient products. Dell's Energy Smart workstations, desktops, and notebooks can reduce power consumption by as much as 78 percent. That reduction, as we've said before, helps the environment as well as...
Designing for the Environment
Dell has met the requirements of the European Union's restriction on the use of hazardous substances the RoHS directive globally. Dell changed its chemical use policy by committing to eliminate the use of brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride from product designs by 2009. Though Dell is a tech company, it still uses paper. To reduce impact there, Dell developed its Forest Products Stewardship program. Dell's marketing publications use on average 50 percent recycled content paper,...
Packaging 1
When we think of environmental responsibility, we immediately think about reduced toxins in the devices or we think of recycling programs. Although these are important issues that must be tended to, there are other places where environmental impact needs to be considered. An area we may not think of is packaging. NOTE Packaging waste accounts for more than 30 percent of U.S. solid waste. Dell has made efforts to reduce the sheer amount of packaging it uses to ship its products. The company...
Partnerships
Dell also utilizes partnerships with other companies to improve datacenter efficiencies. The company uses its Dell Power and Thermal Lab in Austin, Texas to study and address cooling issues that arise as datacenter densities increase. The lab, which is 875 square feet, allows engineers to simulate the following Model customer server loads The facility even has a smoke generator that can be used to study recirculating air patterns. Dell is also working with various industry bodies to develop...
Technology
Dell's PowerEdge line of servers were engineered to balance energy efficiency, performance, and cost. Efficiency has been enhanced through a number of technological improvements, including temperature-sensitive fan technology, more efficient power supplies, smaller form-factor hard drives, and low-voltage processor options. The 40-watt Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor models consume up to 40 percent less energy than a standard dual-core processor running at the same frequency. NOTE Dell is also...
Customer Programs
Whereas businesses have to pay Dell for its recycling and repurposing services, consumers get free recycling. Dell will recycle any Dell machine ever built for free. If you have another brand of computer and buy a Dell, the company will dispose of your old machine for free. The process is fairly straightforward. You can bring equipment in to be disposed, or you can arrange with Dell to have it picked up, though some small fees apply. If you have late-model equipment, it may be eligible for a...
Businesses
Getting rid of the family computer is straightforward enough. Load it into the minivan, drive it to a responsible recycler, and be done with it. But what do you do when you have hundreds or thousands of computers Dell helps organizations remove old IT equipment as well as offers a number of different services to handle the removal, including erasing the hard drives. Using Dell's program, your organization can elect to recycle or sell the old equipment. Dell will accept equipment including...
Nonprofit Partnerships
Dell has partnered with organizations such as Goodwill Industries and the National Cristina Foundation to match consumer donations. Further, if a consumer brings a computer to be recycled into a Goodwill store, Dell will pick it up, refurbish it, sell it, and give those profits to Goodwill. Dell refurbishes and sells the computer, sending the profits to Goodwill. A customer donates his computer to Goodwill. A customer donates his computer to Goodwill. Goodwill gives the computer to Dell....
Recycling Programs
Dell offers a number of recycling opportunities to its customers. Even though they have been advocates of recycling, as legislation becomes more pronounced for mandating product recycling, Dell is ratcheting up its efforts. Dell was the first technology company to establish a product recycling goal in 2004 and then completed its global consumer recycling program in 2006. In July 2007, Dell announced that it had exceeded its targets in working toward its multiyear goal of recovering more than...
Technology Businesses
Although the focus of this book is on the impacts of technology on the environment, we don't mean to paint technology companies as evil entities, intent on wrecking the planet. Quite the contrary. The fact of the matter is that many technology companies are leading the charge toward environmentally responsible, cost-conscious equipment. In this chapter, we'll look at three companies that are being socially responsible Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Rackspace. These companies are leading the way in...
SWaP
When considering purchasing new servers, there's more to consider than just overall performance. Sun Microsystems has developed a metric that calculates such issues as floor space and power used, along with performance. The metric, known as Space, Watts, and Performance SWaP , is expressed as SWaP Performance Space x Power Consumption On its own, the metric doesn't mean a lot. For instance, let's consider a server with the following characteristics Figure 13-1 System Monitor is one of many...
Reducing Operating Costs
According to a study performed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the servers in a datacenter account for about 55 percent of the electricity costs. The remaining power is spent to support that equipment Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2007. So when you consolidate your equipment, you also need fewer pieces of equipment to play support roles, so there's more cost savings there. Consolidating can save you about US 560 per year per server. So let's use the simple math example of...
China 1
The tales of e-waste in China have made headlines in recent years. It's no surprise that the stories have been newsworthy, but it is a surprise that we hadn't heard them earlier. America ships to China up to 80 percent of its e-waste. In addition to the U.S., Canada, Japan, and South Korea send their e-waste to Guiyu, China. In 2006, the U.S. exported enough e-waste to cover a football field and rise a mile into the sky. Most of the waste winds up in the small port city of Guiyu. It's a town 4...
Embracing a New Idea
Rackspace ventured into the realm of efficiency because their United Kingdom and European datacenters were mandated to be more efficient. While adhering to European Union laws, Rackspace decided to implement better efficiency company-wide. Green awareness has certainly been up recently, but two years ago when we started, there really was none, said Enright. Soon, customers were asking for greener solutions. It took on a life of its own, remembered Enright. At one point, Rackspace hosted a Green...
Economizers
You can save a lot of money if you are able to put Mother Nature to work for you. In a lot of the country, winter provides you with an opportunity to enhance your cooling system by using the cold outside air to cool things down. But it isn't as simple as opening a window to accomplish this. To do so, you need to employ what is called an economizer. There are two types air-side economizers and waterside economizers. An air-side economizer regulates the use of outside air for cooling a room or a...
Incipient Automated Data Migration iADM Software
iADM is targeted at customers who need to move their data with very little planning. Data migration includes Nondisruptive data migration iADM boasts an intelligent automation of end-to-end migration processes, and it supports heterogeneous SAN environments as well as various storage vendors including 3PAR, EMC, IBM, and Sun . Further, the software can run on off-the-shelf servers and is designed to automate end-to-end workflow and provisioning tasks that occur with migration projects. iADM...
Dynamic Smart Cooling
We talked about it a bit in Chapter 4, but HP's Dynamic Smart Cooling bears inclusion here. The system is designed to deliver 20- to 45-percent savings in cooling energy costs, or allow additional equipment to be added to the datacenter while keeping costs steady. The system uses an intelligent control node to continually adjust air conditioning settings based on real-time air temperature measurements, which are based on feedback from sensors positioned on IT racks. HP is implementing this...
BI Tools
In order to measure and track your data, you can use business intelligence BI tools, such as the following Digital dashboards These are also known as business intelligence dashboards, enterprise dashboards, or executive dashboards. They give you a visual summary of the data you want to track as well as an at-a-glance understanding of business conditions. Online Analytical Processing OLAP This feature allows some information systems to analyze data from different perspectives and give you the...
Repurposing Servers
As part of your green datacenter design process, you should also look at the equipment you have and evaluate its worth. You might have a systems life cycle that dictates that O IT Equipment O Power Distribution Unit UPS Figure 11-6 Servers generate a lot of heat, but it's the equipment supporting them that adds up to create more heat. the equipment needs to be phased out and replaced with new stuff. However, you might be able to save a few thousand dollars by simply repurposing the equipment....
Floor Vent Tiles
Vented floor tiles don't just look cool, they're designed to facilitate airflow. In many datacenters, however, vented tiles are either incorrectly placed or an insufficient or excessive number of vented tiles are installed. If you use Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD an analysis of airflow patterns in your datacenter, you can optimize datacenter cool-airflow. This allows you to fine-tune the center's cooling by placing vented floor tiles in their optimal locations. Some vendors will even help...
Practicing What They Preach
Kelly Cain, professor of environmental science and management, said that the facility also grew out of the need to put into practice what students were learning. Although the students were learning important lessons about environmental responsibility, the college wasn't doing what it was teaching. We are not walking the talk, in terms of what we were teaching in the classroom, said Cain. A number of years ago, Earth Consciousness Organization ECO club members and 2001 graduates Rusty Callier...
Rackspace
Rackspace, a Houston, Texas-based IT hosting company, realizes that it can't be all things to all people. While the company wants its customers to take advantage of the computational power in its servers, it also wants to be a responsible company. To do both, Rackspace allows its customers to meet in the middle. When buying a server, customers can select either one with basic specs, or they can choose a server that has been built with green IT in mind. A visit to their website...
Total Cooling Requirement
Now, just add up all these numbers and you'll get the total amount of cooling you'll need for your datacenter, as follows Total Heat Load Room Area BTU Windows BTU Total Occupant BTU Equipment BTU Lighting BTU You can take this number with you when you go air conditioning shopping. Small air conditioning units have a cooling capacity of between 5000 and 10,000 BTUs. Larger units use a measurement in tons of cooling. One ton of cooling is about the same as 12,000 BTUs. U.S. estimated annual cost...
Remote Desktop Server
When configuring a Remote Desktop server, you will be indicating which user accounts will be authorized access. These user accounts must have passwords. If the computer the client will be accessing does not normally utilize a password, you will have to create one for Remote Desktop. When you configure your server for Remote Desktop, you enter the user account name when Windows Vista asks for the object name in the Select Users dialog box. To configure a Remote Desktop server, follow these steps...
Your Costs
Handling paper can account for 30 percent of your organization s overhead. This number takes into account the average number of hours workers spend on tasks such as filing, distributing, creating, retrieving, and destroying documents. Further, a report from Gartner indicates that the average document is copied 9 to 11 times at a cost of about US 23. To file a document, it cost US 25. Even worse, the cost to retrieve a misfiled document is US 153 Gartner, 1997. Maintaining a paperless office isn...
Problems
Chances are this isn t the first time you ve heard about the need to go green as it relates to your IT infrastructure. But even though the message is out there, not enough organizations are acting on it. Symantec Corp. released a study that revealed almost 75 percent of datacenter managers do, in fact, have an interest in adopting a strategic green center initiative, but only one in seven has actually done so Symantec, October 2007. The reason is obvious money. Although datacenter managers want...