photo: sun
Two weeks after the U.S Environmental Protection Agency warned that server farms could double their energy consumption over the next five years, Sun Microsystems today unveils a green data center that has resulted in a dramatic decline in electricity use. Deploying new server technology and state-of-the-art cooling systems, Sun (SUNW) consolidated its Silicon Valley data centers, halving the square footage while cutting power consumption nearly 61 percent. Although Sun reduced the number of servers from 2,177 to 1,240, computing power increased 456 percent, according to the company.
Last week Sun gave Green Wombat a sneak peak at its Santa Clara campus’s next-generation data center. Through virtualization – enabling one server to do the work of multiple machines – Sun slashed the number of computers in the data center and the heat they generate. Sun has invested in smart cooling technology to reduce the considerable energy the typically goes to cool hot-running servers. For instance, in one data center room on the Santa Clara campus, servers are arrayed in long black pods called hot aisles. Hot air from the machines blows into the interior of the closed pod where it is captured by heat exchangers. (The visual effect of the stark white room and rows of black server pods is something of a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Borg.) In a traditional data center, each server rack might consume much as 2,000 watts and produce a lot of heat, says Dean Nelson, Sun’s director of global lab and data center design services. The hot aisle server racks in contrast need just a fraction of that power. He points to displays in each rack that monitor the temperature of individual servers, allowing the network to distribute cooling where it’s needed. As we head toward the exit, the noise level drops as the cooling system has been automatically turned off in those pods where servers aren’t operating. "In a traditional data center the air conditioning would be blasting the entire center all day long," says Nelson.
If all this is good for the environment and contributes to the fight against global warming – the consolidation will eliminate 4,100 tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to the company – it’s even better for Sun’s bottom line. By shrinking the square footage needed to house its servers, Sun avoided spending $9.3 million on new construction. Company executives say the investment in the new data center will pay for itself within three years. And by taking a load off the electricity grid, Sun earned a $1 million incentive payment from local utility Silicon Valley Power. Sun has also opened green data centers in India and the U.K.
Of course, the server and software company also hopes to sell its eco-data center solution and is launching "Eco Ready" services to assess and improve a data center’s energy efficiency. "We’re dealing with a lot of the same things as our customers," says David Douglas, Sun’s vice president for eco responsibility. The company faces competition from IBM (IBM), Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), all of which are increasingly marketing the energy-efficiency of their servers.
Douglas says Sun is continuing to explore other ways to further green its data centers. For instance, the polluting diesel back-up generators that most data centers rely on might be replaced by fuel cells – Sun’s Silicon Valley neighbor Fujitsu last week began using a fuel-cell generator to power its data center – or converted to run on biodiesel. "They could be used in an emergency or during peak demand to take some of the load off the grid," he says.
Green Wombat 
That raises a question for me. It sounds like you have some great database administration in place but can you tell me what database tools you used to get to that point? Weve hit a rough spot with our network in the office and although we know network automation, http://www.stratavia.com is very important, we arent sure which automation solutions are going to serve us and our network best.
First and foremost we need a solution that will help us improve application availability in a most speedy and efficient fashion. The guys upstairs are on us about the business software applications they have on running through out network. Theres been some slow down as of late and we arent sure why and the suits are looking for answers. Ive been thinking we should contract another company out to help us with itil service which we are in desperate need of.
Hello! As someone who works in the IT service field I can understand your frustration. You are in desperate need of new database tools and need an improvement in the way your network processes its workflow. Like I tell everyone else who has had a problem similar to yours that the solution begins with research. Start watching how the business software applications on the network perform. This is always a good indicator of where a problem may lie and what may be causing it.
Taking down notes and compiling data on an applications performance can help you improve application availability because youll be able to pin point where specific problems are. I might also recommend that you keep an eye on the server provisioning there at your office. Essentially just keep a close eye on everything and make a ton of notes before you consider or implement any changes.