Myth-of-the-Month: PUE, Part 2
Measuring the energy efficiency of your data center is an essential operational requirement. PUE has become the industry’s de facto standard but is surrounded by a measure of uncertainty and misinformation. In the first of a three part series, Michael Manos, Digital Realty Trust’s Senior Vice President of Technical Services, will discuss the myths associated with PUE.
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ghaley Said,
December 16, 2009 @ 7:33 am
I look forward to the next installment of this myth. I have been preaching that PUE is an ongoing process rather than a report card on progress. Data centers are dynamic environments, with adds, changes and deletes constantly going on. Regular readings need to be taken to develop a trend chart to demonstrate the inpact of changes that have been made over time.
Not all energy saving changes will result in a better PUE calculation. The implementation of virtual servers may reduce the overall energy consummed by the IT load, but may not be enough of a BTU saving to reflect reduced cooling expenses. You net result is a reduced energy expense (less IT load) but a higher PUE as the infrastructure expense remains constant.
I always stress that one should not fall in love with the numbers, rather the overall results of the changes. Use the calculations as a tool to monitor your trend and have the knowledge of what impact each change has made to the overall operation.
Keep up the good work.
Gregg Haley
Principal
Gregg Haley & Associates