Data centre real estate has long been some of the most expensive property in an organisation. Blade servers were designed to take care of this issue by consolidating servers, allowing IT managers to essentially pack more processing power into a server rack.
Additional benefits of a blade server technology investment include new levels of redundancy, the ability to partition the processing power of a populated multi-processor server rack and the idea of lowering the total cost of ownership in the data centre.
Technology advances also present a series of challenges that IT managers need to consider. These challenges have a significant impact on the data centres - not only those of today, but those that are designed and will be built in the future.
As processors get faster, the heat being generated inside a blade server rack can require up to 80 000 btu per hour or 24 kw of cooling, to avoid overheating. Combined with the limited space inside a blade chassis, this is becoming a problem both from a design and practicality point of view. The issue is not so much the cooling capacity required but really the movement of air within the environment.
A blade server rack can require up to 40kw of power and possibly a three-phase power supply, putting additional pressure on IT managers to see the true benefit of this consolidation, largely as a result of higher electrical and cooling costs.
While the benefits of blade server technology are numerous, organisations should be aware of the increased demands it creates. The question now is how does your organisation respond to these demands, and what plans do you have in place to address these?
Most major processor manufacturers have addressed the need to reduce both the heat dispersion and energy requirements of their processors, allowing blade server users to, for example, consolidate their data centre requirements into smaller form factors without the risk of higher costs.
In performance computing markets, and other niche markets where a huge amount of processing power is required, blades can make sense. With the support of multi-national vendors such as HP, Dell and IBM, blade servers will continue to feature in the data centres of today and into the future. It is for this reason that organisations have to pay attention to the impact of this technology on their data centres - and plan accordingly.
IT managers should consider the following:
* What are your data centre needs?
* Is adequate power available for your blade cabinet? Or if you are building a new blade cabinet, will a suitable power supply be available?
* A standard access floor can take up to 650kg per m2 of weight; however, a fully populated blade cabinet can weigh considerably more than the floor can accommodate. Once again when planning a new room or deploying into an existing room, this needs to be planned very carefully.
* Correct cooling is imperative in a Blade Cabinet and should be a critical element in the planning phase. Once again it must be emphasised that capacity and air movement here are both critical.
* Hot and cold aisles in this design are a must; blade servers pull air in through the front and expel the heated air out the back.
The possible consequences of ignoring these demands could lead to unplanned downtime, or worse, data and revenue loss.
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Dimension Data plc (LSE:DDT), a specialist IT services and solution provider, helps clients plan, build and support their IT infrastructures. Dimension Data applies its expertise in networking, security, operating environments, storage and contact centre technologies and its unique skills in consulting, integration and managed services to create customised client solutions.
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