From jwindle@ospreycap.com Mon Mar 31 15:39:21 2003
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 14:42:36 -0500
From: Jim Windle <jwindle@ospreycap.com>
To: rgb@phy.duke.edu
Subject: FW: Networking Under the Microscope -- March 26, 2003

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COLOR: #ff0000; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } Bob,
   This is the newsletter I mentioned.  I was out last week or I would
have forwarded it earlier.
 
Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: Bio-IT World Inc. [mailto:networking@num.imakenews.net]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 9:59 AM
To: JWINDLE@ospreycap.com
Subject: Networking Under the Microscope -- March 26, 2003

Networking Under the Microscope

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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Issue 13   VOLUME 2 ISSUE 13  
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Data Center Cooling Heats Up

As life science companies increasingly rely on high-density clusters of
high-performance computers to conduct in silico research, IT managers
will encounter a new challenge: How do you cool this equipment?

Last week I visited Wright Line, a company that designs and builds what
it calls technical environment solutions for offices and data centers,
and got quite an education on cooling challenges in the modern data
center.

New high-performance gear like dual Pentium or Itanium processor servers,
high-capacity storage equipment, and communication switches crammed into
data center equipment racks draw a lot of electrical power and thus
produce a lot of heat.

For example, a fully loaded traditional data rack can have an electrical
load of between 3,500 and 4,000 Watts. "That's the equivalent of about
sixty 65 W light bulbs," says Kevin Macomber, marketing manager at Wright
Line. Considering the small volume of an equipment rack, dealing with
this amount of heat in an enclosure poses a formidable challenge. And
Macomber notes that it is not uncommon to see enclosures with between
6,000 and 8,000 Watts these days.

For years, IT managers have used some common techniques to cool their
data centers. For instance, most major data centers have a raised floor
through which electrical and networking cables run, providing a means to
distribute cool air throughout the data center.

In fact, in most cases, a data center is designed with the flow of air in
mind. Equipment racks are typically set up in alternating rows:
face-to-face or back-to-back. Since hot air is commonly vented out the
back of an equipment rack, this alternating configuration creates cool
and hot rows within the data center. Vents to draw out hot air are
selectively placed over hot spots; and cool air can be directed toward
particularly hot racks by replacing solid floor tiles with a perforated
floor panels.

This design has been the normal for many years, but Macomber contends
this approach alone is inadequate for today's computing equipment.
"Normal methods to safeguarding data no longer work," says Macomber.

Macomber says that IT managers have to consider not only the air flow
within the data center, but also the thermodynamics within rack
enclosures themselves to keep equipment properly running.
 


 

Tight Fit = Hard to Cool
Data center real estate space is usually so expensive that most companies
try to pack as much equipment into as small a space as possible.
Equipment vendors have obliged by offering incredibly powerful systems --
servers and storage gear, for example -- that fit into one, two, or three
slots in an equipment rack. As a result, equipment racks in data centers
are densely packed with increasingly powerful equipment -- all of which
is venting more and more hot air.

Racks used to simply have fans on top to draw out the hot air, but the
quantity of heat plus the density of the equipment with virtually no
space between the devices makes it difficult to draw enough air out of
the rack. This resulting heat buildup within the rack can lead to
equipment problems. Indeed, some experts contend that heat buildup in the
upper portion of equipment racks is causing a higher than normal failure
rate for that equipment.

How serious is the problem? A 70 degree Fahrenheit operating temperature
is considered the norm in a data center rack. But the Uptime Institute,
an organization that examines data center downtime, says it has measured
temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in some densely packed racks.
(Uptime Institute members include equipment vendors, engineers,
facilities managers, and IT managers.) A rule of thumb is that long-term
electronics reliability is reduced by 50 percent for every increase of 18
degrees above 70 degrees.

Wright Line is taking direct aim at this issue of heat buildup within a
rack. For instance, racks can be designed with modular fans on selective
portions of the rack's backside. And some of Wright Line's enclosures use
baffles inside the door to get more air directly to the top of the rack
where heat tends to build up.

The company has also looked at other issues, such as how cables within a
rack impede airflow. It's quite common for a rack of servers, storage
devices, or communication gear to have dual power cords for each unit and
up to several dozen networking cables. To prevent the cables from
blocking air flow, the company has designed cable management systems that
try to keep the air paths open. And they also have some customized cables
(smaller both in length and thickness than normal cables) that minimize
the area blocking air flow.

Wright Line isn't alone focusing on this issue. In the May issue of
Bio-IT World, I'll be taking a more in-depth look at data center cooling,
including some discussion of a new Hewlett-Packard service that helps IT
managers better assess their data center cooling situation.

If you have any questions or concerns about data center cooling, drop me
a line at Salvatore_Salamone@bio-itworld.com.


 

Salvatore Salamone is Bio-IT World's senior editor for information
technology. He has over 12 years' experience writing about networking
technology and is the author of three books, including The Complete Guide
to VPNs (published by InternetWeek, 1999), LAN Times Guide to Managing
Remote Connectivity (Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1997), and Reducing the Cost of
LAN Ownership (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995, co-written with Greg
Gianforte).


 

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Connecticut Path, Framingham, MA 01701.


 
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