AKCP Introduce Live Power Usage Effectiveness Monitoring

August 29, 2018 Jack Hughes

AKCP have released an updated version of their AKCPro Server software. The new software features a new web based interface. It also includes new DCIM features including the ability to track in real time your Power Usage Effectiveness or PUE.

What is Power Usage Effectiveness

Power Usage Effectiveness describes how efficiently a data center uses energy. The data center is constructed usually to house large numbers of servers and networking infrastructure. All of the other power usages like air conditioning and lighting are solely there to support server operations. Power Usage Effectiveness is a ratio between the power supplied to your servers and the power supplied to ancillary equipment like air conditioning units. A ratio of 1 would mean that all power is being supplied to productive equipment and expending no energy on things like air conditioning or lighting and other non-IT facilities. A ratio of 1 is extremely difficult to achieve in a large data center. Typically a PUE of 1.5 – 1.8 is considered efficient. Most data centers probably run at 2.0 and above usually as a consequence of over cooling, poor design and management.

Why monitor PUE

The most obvious advantage to monitoring PUE is to reduce the power consumption on non-IT related equipment on things like over-cooling. The problem with detecting over cooling is that it requires relatively high density environment monitoring in the server cabinets. This can be achieved using the AKCP Thermal Map sensors. The Thermal Map sensors provide multiple readings at the front and back of your server cabinet. When you have achieved a sufficient density of monitoring, you can experiment with different air conditioning strategies to see which provides the level of cooling required for the lowest electrical cost.