Power Management: Avoid Surcharge Surprises

When it comes to colocation and data centers, bandwidth used to be the major concern and clients needed to make sure they had enough of it. Now, however, there’s a new concern: Power.

The Problem

Power, more than bandwidth or rack space, limits the number of servers that can be placed in any given data center. This is due to the restrictions placed on the data center by the hydro company. There is a physical limit on the amount of power that can be run into the building and that limit is set by the cable going into the building. Because of this, it’s necessary for data centers to limit the amount of power that each server is allocated.

The problem for clients comes in to play when their servers take up too much power. The more power a particular server uses, the less is available for other servers. When all the power is allocated, even if all the rack space isn’t full, the data center is considered to be at capacity because there is no more energy available to power additional servers, even though there is still physical space available.

This creates a problem for the data center’s business model because they will want to fill all the physical space available. One way that many data centers chose to solve this problem is to start limiting the amount of power that each server is allowed. When a client goes over the allotted amount of power, a surcharge is placed on that server in order to encourage clients to use less power. In this way, they have better control over how many servers can be placed in the data center in order to fill the room to maximum capacity.

The Solution

For the client, this creates a problem as well. Surcharges can be expensive, especially when the goal is to limit the amount of power allocated to each server. So what ends up happening is that as surcharges get higher, small servers and servers that use a lot of power get forced out of the data center in order to make room for servers that do not use as much power. No matter where you chose to host your servers, this will eventually become a problem.

In order to avoid these inevitable charges, there is one sure fire solution: get power efficient servers. Not all servers are created equal and some are more efficient with power than others. It’s not even based on the size of the server. You can have a small server that uses up considerably more power than a larger, but more energy efficient one.

When choosing a server, make sure you find one that uses energy efficiently. You’ll be helping yourself in the long run because you won’t use nearly as much power as you would if you chose a less efficient server. This way, you’ll save yourself the additional expense of power surcharges. And, as an added bonus, you’ll become a more valued customer by helping the data center efficiently allocate their energy, which will ultimately result in better rates and better service for you.

Author Resource : Saleh Tousi is the CEO of SmarttNet, a Vancouver IT company offering comprehensive business Internet services including Canada Colocation since 1995. Vistit him on the web at http://www.vancouvercolocation.ca/

Tagged with: bandwidth • canada colocation • colocation • data centers • energy efficient servers • power efficent servers • rack space • server rack space • servers

Filed under: Dedicated Hosting

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