1. Energy efficiency, monitoring and metering
Rob Elder, Keysource
Dr Chris Rudge, University of Leicester

2. Agenda
• University of Leicester Project Brief
• DCIM explained
• Industry focus and research
• Our DCIM offering
• Core functionality
• Virtualization!
• Closing notes and next actions

3. The Project
• Centralisation of High Performance Computing
(HPC) across the University
• Creation of Research Computing Team to
support the new service “The university recognised
the importance of
• Construction of new Data Centre to efficiency, so wanted a
accommodate consolidated hardware facility with an annualised
Power Usage Effectiveness
• 30 racks with up to 30kW per rack position (PUE) of less than 1.5.”
• Scalable from 150kW to 300kW IT load
• N+1 resilience
• Modular high efficiency UPS

4. Data Centre Solution

5. Keysource

6. Haven’t we come far…

7. … and now we understand so much more

8. Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM)
Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) covers the integration of the physical M&E
infrastructure (Facilities) with the technology infrastructure (IT), to centralise monitoring,
management and intelligent capacity planning of a data centre’s critical systems.

9. Optimize for Fix expected Build or
Act efficiency failures buy capacity
Analyze
Report
Collect
data

10. University of Leicester – what to monitor and why?
• Monitor everything
• Design it that way – you’ll never add it later
• Monitor for function / failure / alerting
• Monitor for performance / optimisation
• Monitor to understand what it’s doing
• Monitor for service cost

11. A single solution for all monitoring?
• Not yet…..
– A single product won’t do all of this
• Data centre infrastructure - APC ISX Central
– Proprietary, easy to use, access for Keysource
• General server, network monitoring – OpenNMS
– Free, network & server, customisable
• Specialist HPC - Bright Cluster Manager
– Proprietary, monitoring & management

12. Bespoke views – a better at a glance snapshot

13. IT activity and Data Centre Power

14. Cooling loop tuning

15. Power monitoring at all levels
Facility Loadings UPS Loadings Rack Loadings

16. Proving correct operation
Supply
air temp Fans adjust
to match IT
AHU Fan air volume
speed
IT Load
Pressure
Differential
Control

17. Product development

18. DCIM – the next step
COMPUTE PHYSICAL
management management
Virtual machine manager
Operations
Trouble
OK, taking action!
Moving VMs Keeping watch
for best productivity on power and cooling

19. Everything, everywhere

20. How does it help others?
• We can demonstrate what’s possible
– PUE of <= 1.2 without need for new build
– Rack density of >20KW without water to racks!
– Rack densities do not need to be predetermined
• We have better data to inform decisions
– Power saving features in blades are better than servers
– Investment in an efficient data centre is worthwhile

21. A successful IT project
What does it REALLY mean?
“This will strengthen
• Key to securing the University’s position as a Leicester's position as an
leading research institution international leader in
computational
• HPC service has high utilisation with users from astrophysics.”
nearly 20 departments from astrophysics, through Justin Read, Lecturer in
genetics to economics Astrophysics
• Has changed the view of researchers demonstrating
that centrally provided services can benefit them
• PUE for last 30 days just 1.17
• Electricity saving, compared to old efficiency, of
approximately £140,000 per year

22. Dr. Chris Rudge Rob Elder
Research Computing Services Manager Associate Director
University of Leicester Keysource Ltd
cmr9@leicester.ac.uk Rob.elder@keysource.co.uk
0116 252 2223 0845 204 3333