Guidelines for Energy-Efficient Datacenters

Overview

Power availability is one of the most important challenges facing datacenters today. In the past, datacenter floor space has always loomed as the primary issue. Now, more and more datacenters run out of power availability before they run out of floor space. In addition, cooling requirements for dense servers are driving power demand and taxing the normal datacenter operational procedures. This paper provides a framework for improving the energy efficiency of both new and existing datacenters. The nature of datacenter energy consumption is reviewed and best practices are suggested that can significantly impact operational efficiencies.