SYNOPSIS

Today's businesses are trying harder and harder to squeeze the maximum efficiency out of their data centers, and increasing energy efficiency is one of the best ways to do so. Traditionally, even measuring power and cooling consumption in the data center has been a frustrating, inexact science full of guesstimates and boilerplate "statistics." Moving forward, companies need to clearly define their business drivers, accurately and efficiently measure both energy consumption and server utilization, and enable themselves to make smart decisions about capacity, energy efficiency, and utilization. In this Essential Series, authored by renowned business technology expert Don Jones, readers will learn how to clearly state business goals for data center efficiency, and how to use modern tools and techniques to clearly, simply, and accurately measure utilization and capacity.

CHAPTER PREVIEWS

Article 1: The Business Drivers for Energy-Efficient Data Centers

What are the business drivers for energy-efficient data centers? Cost is obviously an important factor, but it's actually a multi-pronged concern. Are you concerned about the costs of cooling your data center, or the costs of powering it? What about the costs associated with individual servers? You may also be concerned with data center capacity: Do you have the power and cooling to add new servers and provide new business services? Can some older, less-efficient servers be retired early for a cost savings? In this article, technology author Don Jones explores the thinking behind today's business decisions on data center energy efficiency.

Article 2: Finding Inefficient Servers and Reducing Data Center Costs

Do you know the "Efficiency Score" for your servers? It's a measurement of how much power and cooling they consume compared to the utilization of the server itself. Servers with a low score are consuming a lot of money and providing relatively little value, and those servers are prime candidates for early retirement, consolidation, or a refresh to a more-efficient, newer hardware platform. Reducing data center costs starts and the server level, and author Don Jones shows you how to find the lowest-hanging fruit quickly and easily.

Article 3: Maximizing Data Center Density by Finding Power and Cooling Capacity You Didn't Know You Had

Does your business need new servers to provide new capabilities – but you don't think your data center can handle any more power and cooling? You might be surprised. Simply adding up the wattage on your server power supplies isn't an accurate estimate of actual utilization, and you may have more data center capacity than you realize. Let author Don Jones show you how to save money by finding - and utilizing - capacity you're already paying for.