How to Improve Data Center Utilization

Cloud computing is the next big thing. Most of the enterprises are switching from physical storage to cloud-based storage. The data center’s business is growing rapidly. But, they have to deal with more demand. This is putting more strain on their limited hardware and resource.

Thus, it has become important for data center providers to improve the efficiency of their data center. The energy costs are increasing with time. Data centers are also trying to reduce their carbon footprint. Google has worked for more than 10 years on improving its data center efficiency. They have improved their data center efficiency by measuring energy usage.

There are various other practices that you can implement for improving the efficiency of your data center. Thus, this will help you in utilizing all your hardware resources. In this article, we are going to talk about 4 methods that you can use for improving your data center efficiency.

1. Make sure that your network is charted

First, you should create a complete diagram of your network. It should properly show the relationship between different network cables, servers, and switches. This is the most important step that will help you in improving your data center efficiency.

These diagrams will also reduce training time and costs. Your employees can easily learn about your whole network topology. If you don’t have a network diagram, then it will become difficult for your employees to learn about your network. They will easily understand how the whole data center is working.

But, it is difficult to map your whole network. It can be very time-consuming. Most companies consider network mapping as the most complex part of the network. There are various methods you can use for making the process easier.

It is also important to update your network diagram in a regular interval. The benefits of having a network map will outweigh the labor and time needed to create these network diagrams. If your network diagram is up-to-date, then your data center operators can easily track your equipment. You can also easily switch to another topology for optimizing your existing resources.

2. Remove your zombie servers

According to various studies, more than 30% of servers in commercial data centers are zombie servers. These servers haven’t been used for more than six months. More than 1/3rd of your servers are not doing anything.

If you are not checking these zombie servers, then they will waste your rack space. They will also waste your data center energy. These servers will use energy and waste space while they are providing no value to your business. Data centers are wasting more than $30 billion every year in maintaining these zombie servers.

Thus, you should do a regular review of your data center servers. This will make sure that all your servers are providing value to your company. If you have found out about a zombie server, then you should shut it down. After that, you should think about how that server can be reintegrated with other servers.

You should also check your other equipment like switches and cables. This will prevent your data center operators from buying new equipment and cables when they already have old equipment.

3. Design an efficient air management system

It is important to have an efficient air management system. Your main aim should be to minimize or eliminate the mixing between the cool air and hot air. This plan will help you in reducing your operating costs. If you have a proper air management system, then the life of your hardware will automatically increase. This will also increase the density capacity of your data center.

More than 25% of your power goes into cooling. It is important to use the right cooling systems which are designed specifically for reducing your cooling costs. These cooling systems will have various different maintenance and service needs.

You should also energy efficiency benchmarks and metrics for tracking your performance. It will also help you in identifying opportunities that you can use for reducing your energy costs. You can also use PUE or Power Usage effectiveness ration for reducing the energy used for non-computing. There are various performance management tools that you can use for analyzing your data center performance.

4. Consider switching to other network topology

If you are already thinking to switch to server virtualization or SDN, then you should consider other network topologies. You can use leaf-and-spine network topology which is very efficient. It is perfect for data centers that are running containerized software and virtual machines.

A network diagram will help you in easily switching to other topology. If you have already mapped your whole network, then you can switch to any other topology. You have already accounted for all your equipment in the diagram. All you have to do is rearrange your existing topology.

You should switch to a network topology that will increase the efficiency of your data center. This will lead to less physical footprint because you are using all the resources. You will also save a lot of money on the energy bill.

Conclusion

More and more enterprises are using cloud-technology. This has increased the strain on data centers. It has become difficult to deal with this increased demand. Fortunately, data center operators can implement some practices for increasing the efficiency of their data centers. You don’t need to worry about buying new equipment. First, you should make sure that all your servers are running optimally.

You should maintain the diagram of your network. This will help you in switching to different network topologies. It is also important to design an efficient air management system. This will make sure that your cooling system is running efficiently. You can use all these practices for reducing energy costs.

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