Comments on: The Challenges of Data Center Virtualization http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/04/21/the-challenges-of-data-center-virtualization/ News and analysis about data centers, cloud computing, managed hosting and disaster recovery Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:07:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Erica http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/04/21/the-challenges-of-data-center-virtualization/comment-page-1/#comment-23372 Erica Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:32:20 +0000 http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/?p=9442#comment-23372 Data center convergence is definitely going to be the next big thing as the processing speed increase and true network & storage convergence & virtualization are realized. One such solution I came across was the "All-in-One" server, storage, switch & router convergence and virtualization by a company called Fractioned. I thought it might be interesting route down the road to data center convergence. (http://fractioned.net). Data center convergence is definitely going to be the next big thing as the processing speed increase and true network & storage convergence & virtualization are realized. One such solution I came across was the “All-in-One” server, storage, switch & router convergence and virtualization by a company called Fractioned.

I thought it might be interesting route down the road to data center convergence. (http://fractioned.net).

]]> By: Glen Seimetz http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/04/21/the-challenges-of-data-center-virtualization/comment-page-1/#comment-6654 Glen Seimetz Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:44:43 +0000 http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/?p=9442#comment-6654 Virtualization can deliver impressive cost savings, especially virtualized environments hosted on new blade server technology. But to sustain expected savings, proper maintenance of your operating environment is imperative. Data centers were built with a life cycle of 10+ years without the knowledge of high density IT equipment (such as blade servers) that consume more power per square foot and generate more heat. With virtualization, savings of 40-80 percent are possible. But you need to ensure that you have the infrastructure ready to support high density IT equipment. We recommend a number of steps to improve power and cooling efficiency for highly dense blade servers: • Organize the IT equipment into a hot and cold aisle floor design • Position it so that you can control the airflow between the hot and cold aisles and prevent hot air from re-circulating back to the IT equipment cooling intakes • Leverage low-cost supplemental cooling options— such as water or refrigerant heat exchangers • Improve rack cooling efficiency by employing a rear door heat exchanger or an enclosed racking system to dissipate heat from high-density computer systems before it enters the room • Ensure that floor openings match the equipment thermal load by adding or removing perforated tiles at the equipment air intakes • Consider adding ducted returns Ultimately, you should consider organizing your Data Center into thermal zones. Assign a defined set of IT equipment and floor space to specific Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units. This type of space and thermal planning will eliminate hot spots that challenge cooling systems and will enhance system reliability by helping to avoid heat-related hardware failures to your blade servers. Virtualization can deliver impressive cost savings, especially virtualized environments hosted on new blade server technology. But to sustain expected savings, proper maintenance of your operating environment is imperative. Data centers were built with a life cycle of 10+ years without the knowledge of high density IT equipment (such as blade servers) that consume more power per square foot and generate more heat. With virtualization, savings of 40-80 percent are possible. But you need to ensure that you have the infrastructure ready to support high density IT equipment. We recommend a number of steps to improve power and cooling efficiency for highly dense blade servers:
• Organize the IT equipment into a hot and cold aisle floor design
• Position it so that you can control the airflow between the hot and cold
aisles and prevent hot air from re-circulating back to the IT equipment
cooling intakes
• Leverage low-cost supplemental cooling options— such as water or
refrigerant heat exchangers
• Improve rack cooling efficiency by employing a rear door heat
exchanger or an enclosed racking system to dissipate heat from
high-density computer systems before it enters the room
• Ensure that floor openings match the equipment thermal load by
adding or removing perforated tiles at the equipment air intakes
• Consider adding ducted returns

Ultimately, you should consider organizing your Data Center into thermal zones. Assign a defined set of IT equipment and floor space to specific Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units. This type of space and thermal planning will eliminate hot spots that challenge cooling systems and will enhance system reliability by helping to avoid heat-related hardware failures to your blade servers.

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