Holistically (including economics and environment), Moore's Law could be failing

TalkBack 1 of 2:

Next »

• Thread View
• Flat View

There are several methods of solution available.

1 - Thermal storage. Use the chilllers at night to store cooling medium for use during the day. Demands on electrical are low AND the fact that it's cooler at night means less energy needed to cool the medium.

2 - Solar or wind augmentation during the day for power. Many businesses have enough real-estate for a decent solar array or small wind turbine to provide power for the data center. No I am not saying make it primary power either, but to augment what is being brought in via the utility company.

3 - Modify not only the server rooms, but server lay-out to allow more efficient air flow. Utilize vari-drive fan systems. They an adjust based on demand. When load demands are low they can shut down. Modify the ventilation to allow for more convective flow and try to reduce the need for forced ventilation.

4 - Increase insulation around the server room. By doing this and using an "air-lock" style of doors, the loss of cooling is minimized and efficiency is increased. Also the insulation will reduce loads due to a reduction of radiant thermal loss via doors, floors and walls. It also assists with acoustic transference around the server room.

5 - Set servers up to power up as demand requires it. Kind of like a series of generators, same principle. If the load demand on a server maintains a pre-specified level then bring a standby server online. This can be applied to CPU and cooling systems logic as well. If there is no need for 8 CPUs to be functional, "power down" the ones not needed to maintain the load. This may actually be more hardware focused in that Intel and AMD may need to design systems with this capacity. Same thing applies with cooling fans. If they aren't needed power them off.

I have more ideas but these are just a few off the top of my head.

Posted by: Linux User 147560   Posted on: 08/14/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Dell on OpenManage Dell Dell Computer Corporation runs its business on thousands of Dell PowerEdge ... Download Now
• Improving Server Security Through DRAC 4 User Role-Based Permissions Dell The Dell Remote Access Controller 4 (DRAC 4), introduced in ... Download Now
• SpotLight on Active Directory ScriptLogic Spotlight on Active Directory Pack is a real-time diagnostic tool for ... Download Now