Revision 1 posted to TechCenter Chats - Wiki by DELL-Sheetal G on 5/22/2013 6:25:49 AM
| Dell TechCenter | Hello everyone - thanks for showing up to the Power Budgeting chat today. we'll start shortly after 3PM central time |
| Dell TechCenter | Hi Tom (hypervfan)! |
| Dell TechCenter | Hello Bill Shields |
| hypervfan | Hi |
| Dell TechCenter | How's everything in Norway? |
| hypervfan | All good. Busy days :) |
| hypervfan | Working on a project that's probably going to use Appassure for backup |
| Dell TechCenter | awesome - good to hear. Glad you got to test drive it last year |
| hypervfan | How are things going over in US? |
| Dell TechCenter | crazy hot here |
| Dell TechCenter | it's 95 with 100% humidity |
| Dell TechCenter | and up to the north 5 hours driving, there are huge tornados |
| Dell TechCenter | 33C i think |
| Dell TechCenter | @Karen says 35C |
| hypervfan | That's hot :) |
| Dell TechCenter | yes. good exercise though |
| Dell TechCenter | Hello everyone just joining, we'll wait a few more minutes before we start to wait for people to show up |
| Dell TechCenter | Where is everyone on the chat from? |
| Dell - John | Austin, Tx |
| david_moss | Austin as well |
| Dell TechCenter | are we customers, Dell sales, IT pros? |
| hypervfan | Norway here |
| david_moss | Dell cooling guy |
| Robert R | UT Austin |
| Dell TechCenter | cool pun intended |
| Dell TechCenter | Hello Robert! |
| Dell TechCenter | Let's kick it off - |
| Dell TechCenter | Today's guests for the chat session are Kyle Cross and Reema Aron |
| Dell TechCenter | They are engineers in the Dell Enterprise Solutions Group working on PowerEdge and Dell Power and Cooling |
| Dell TechCenter | they will be sharing best practices in Power Budgeting today with everyone, and their chat will sync with the powerpoint presentation on the right |
| Dell TechCenter | this presentation will be available for download along with the transcript tomorrow at www.delltechcenter.com/chat |
| Dell TechCenter | If at any time during the chat you have a question, feel free to ask and we'll try our best to answer |
| Kyle_Cross | So hi everyone. My name is Kyle Cross, and I'm a senior engineer focusing on power working on Dell's PowerEdge servers. |
| Reema Aron | Good afternoon everyone! I'm Reema Aron and I specialize in blade power management. |
| Kyle_Cross | “Power and Cooling” is a high level category we use at Dell to cover a broad range of features. |
| Tony Harvey | I'm getting no audio |
| Dell TechCenter | With that, I'll turn the chat over to Kyle and Reema and they will walk us through some slides and answer questions about Power Budgeting |
| Bill Shields | Should we be getting audio? |
| Dell TechCenter | we also have some other Dell experts on the line if you have questions about general Power & Cooling |
| Dell TechCenter | no audio on the chat - we're text only today. |
| Dell TechCenter | I guess we should make that a bit more clear |
| Bill Shields | OK, thanks |
| Tony Harvey | NO problem thanks |
| Kyle_Cross | You can see on the slide that "Power and Cooling" covers a broad range of topics, these are just a few. |
| Kyle_Cross | Today we’ll be focusing on “Power Budgeting”, but if you have questions about other topics we can address them at the end (and possibly in future Tech Chats). |
| Kyle_Cross | I see that folks are interested in the range of different server types, and that's good. |
| Kyle_Cross | I tend to span all server types and Reema works closely with me, specializing in blade server aspects. |
| Kyle_Cross | So if you are wondering what exactly Power Budgeting is, we’ll get to some details on that later, but at a high level it is just a series of calculations that make sure the power that your server uses is less than the power available from the PSUs. |
| Kyle_Cross | Before we dive too deep into the details though, I think it makes sense to talk about why Power Budgeting is important. |
| Kyle_Cross | We tend to place a pretty high importance on minimizing downtime in all aspects of our design. Interested in your feedback on that. |
| Kyle_Cross | For starters, the consequences of incorrect power budgeting can be extreme: performance impacts or worse – data loss and unexpected down time. |
| Kyle_Cross | At Dell we invest a lot of time making all aspects of the design reliable, and power is one of the most important ones. |
| Kyle_Cross | (if I do say so myself) |
| Kyle_Cross | Power Budgeting to fit inside the PSU capacity is key to reliable operation. |
| Kyle_Cross | But there is a lot to consider! |
| Dell TechCenter | in the slide to the right, what does TDP stand for? |
| Dell TechCenter | what does it mean? |
| Reema Aron | TDP stands for Thermal Design Point |
| Reema Aron | The TDP is typically the rated power level that customer's typically see at the time of order |
| Kyle_Cross | So on the left side of the slide, there is a chart that shows the dynamic power consumption of the server model. |
| Kyle_Cross | Every 12G PowerEdge server model features a lot of configurable options – drive bays, PCIe slots, DIMM configurations, etc |
| Kyle_Cross | Each with their own power consumption. |
| Kyle_Cross | Add to that the fact that how you use the server, the “workload” as we call it, also has a major impact on power consumption, since some components, like the CPU, consume more or less depending on demand. |
| Kyle_Cross | So you can see from the chart on the right how CPU power can fluctuate based on how you use the server. |
| Dell TechCenter | So is Turbo the same as the dynamic range between min and max power? |
| Karen at Dell | Can you explain more about the Dynamic Range? |
| Kyle_Cross | @DellTechCenter Turbo is a feature of the CPU, it uses extra available power headroom when it is available |
| Kyle_Cross | http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/turbo-boost/turbo-boost-technology.html |
| Kyle_Cross | @Karen Sure, so the dynamic range is the full power range of how much power the server can consume. |
| Kyle_Cross | The min power would be idle power or even lower power states the server is capable of. |
| Kyle_Cross | The max power is when the sever is pushed to its limits with benchmarks, or high power customer workloads. |
| Karen at Dell | Which component features cause a spike in power? |
| Kyle_Cross | @Karen So the CPU is a major contributor, like what we show on the left. |
| Kyle_Cross | *I meant right |
| Kyle_Cross | There are also a lot of other components which draw varying power though - Memory, Hard Drives, Fans... just about every componet really. |
| Kyle_Cross | So, its a little complicated, right? |
| Kyle_Cross | These factors make budgeting enough power increasingly complex as the “dynamic range” between minimum and maximum power gets larger in every server generation. |
| Kyle_Cross | So how do you choose the right PSUs for your needs? |
| Reema Aron | We're going to do our next poll question, we'd appreciate your feedback! |
| Kyle_Cross | So, beyond how power gets used in workloads and components, Dell offers a lot of choices for available power capacity. |
| Kyle_Cross | (as you can see) :) |
| Kyle_Cross | We give so many options so that customers can choose an option that is “right sized” for their needs. |
| Karen at Dell | Can you explain a little about right sizing power? |
| Dell TechCenter | Lots of people doing napkin math - seems like we should spend some time talking about how to select a PSU |
| Kyle_Cross | Right sized means a PSU that is most efficient for a customer's use case. |
| Kyle_Cross | A lot of it comes down to effeciency. Wherever your server spends the most time, at whatever ever amount of power, that is where you want the most efficiency |
| Kyle_Cross | With just a few PSU options, its hard to tune efficiency for multiple points, with many it allows us to tune it for different workload levels. |
| Karen at Dell | How can you determine the typical power that the server is using? |
| Kyle_Cross | @Karen Some customers like to do their own testing to determine that, but Dell also provides an online tool called ESSA. |
| Kyle_Cross | That's the "Energy Smart Solution Advisor" www.dell.com/calc |
| miguel@dell | Any recommended power savings settings for the BIOS? |
| Dell TechCenter | If the powerpoint is a little small or if you want to go back and review previous slide, you can download the entire presentation at: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20373957.aspx |
| Kyle_Cross | ESSA is a great tool that you can use to get advice on typical and max power consumption, as well as advisment on which PSU is best for you. |
| Dell - John | Dell PowerEdge servers include System Profiles, which are essentially "easy buttons" for configuring the server for performance, performance per watt, and enhanced RAS. |
| John Barnhart- Dell | keep in mind ESSA can be used server to server BUT it is best used to do data center or maybe I should more correctly say more than single server deplyment planning. |
| Dell - John | Performance per Watt would be the preferred BIOS setting for saving power. |
| Kyle_Cross | @John Barnhart That is good point. ESSA can be used on individual servers, but it is really a DataCenter planning tool, and it covers other Dell products like PowerVault and PowerConnect |
| John Barnhart- Dell | should anyone need / want a rapid breakdown of Dell Perf/per watt claims feel free to email me at john_barnhart@dell.com happy to provide that offline so as not to impede this discussion |
| Dell - John | Please not that these BIOS settings improve power consumption for IDLE and typical workloads, but does not reduce the PSU capacity needed for the configuration. |
| Reema Aron | thanks @Dell - John for providing the BIOS System Profile Information |
| hypervfan | Keep in mind that some power settings might give you lower performance with for example Hyper-V and Live Migration |
| Dell - John | For more info on BIOS settings, etc for reducing power consumption, see the "How To" whitepaper that I wrote: http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/business/solutions/engineering-docs/en/Documents/twelve-g-power-efficiency-how-to.pdf |
| Kyle_Cross | @hypervfan Yes, that is true. This is part of the reason for the "easy buttons" like John described. Pretty much all power savings features impact performance to different degrees. |
| miguel@dell | Great thanx |
| Reema Aron | Blade servers also present complexities in power budgeting. A blade server chassis is a multi-node eco-system that shares a common power source. |
| John Barnhart- Dell | If you need information RE: Dell UPS - www/dellups.com |
| John Barnhart- Dell | oops www.dellups.com |
| Reema Aron | Especially when using Grid Redundancy, the total chassis power available is limited |
| Reema Aron | The blade chassis supports multiple different form factors with varying system configurations that have different power needs and must co-exist |
| Reema Aron | Ensuring that we have adequate power budgeting is very important for blade server chassis |
| Kyle_Cross | So this slide shows the high level view of how the Dell Power Budgeting feature works |
| Kyle_Cross | First we determine the Server Power Range. We do that by a sophisticated inventory of all of the installed components. |
| Kyle_Cross | It's important to note here that the power values we use for each installed component may not be what you'd expect. |
| Kyle_Cross | Some parts, like the CPU, can have fast power transients that you can't see at the PSU input. |
| Kyle_Cross | Taking a step back - we determine what is installed first |
| Kyle_Cross | Then, we have a sequence of algorithms which assign power based on what installed. |
| Kyle_Cross | This way we can dynamically predict the power consumption of the server, since we've discussed how the server power varies with installed components. |
| Kyle_Cross | We invest a lot in this functionality, so that the server power consumption we predict is highly accurate. |
| Kyle_Cross | Adding all of that up, after the first step we have a single system number for what we predict the server will consume. |
| Kyle_Cross | ie how much power will it use. |
| Kyle_Cross | In the next step, we compare that to how much power the PSUs can supply. |
| Karen at Dell | Is the power you predict the max? |
| Kyle_Cross | @Karen It is, in fact. We take into account fault scenarios and such to make sure that under any workload the server will be reliable. |
| Kyle_Cross | It gets back to my previous statement about designing for high reliability. |
| Kyle_Cross | We want customers to have piece of mind over the life of their server, even if they start with a lower power workload and amp it up later in life. |
| Khaled Omar | what is the tool that can show the recent consumed power ? |
| Kyle_Cross | @Khaled Omar there are a number actually. You can view it in the iDRAC GUI, or via the Open Manage Power Center. |
| Dell TechCenter | @Khaled - to clarify iDRAC is on the individual server level |
| Kyle_Cross | There are also racadm, WSMAN and similar commands. |
| Dell TechCenter | and OpenManage Power Center is for monitoring your entire datacenter (by rack, row, etc) |
| Dell TechCenter | @Khaled - does that answer your question? |
| Khaled Omar | yes |
| Khaled Omar | thanks |
| Khaled Omar | soemthing else, about the PDUs |
| Kyle_Cross | So quickly wrapping up, we check against the PSU capacity to determine if the server power will fit. |
| Khaled Omar | is there a tool that can show the power that will be handeled by the PDU in a rack in case of multiple number of devices hoocked up to it ? |
| Khaled Omar | without our calculations |
| david_moss | A metered or managed PDU can tell you the total power on the pdu |
| Kyle_Cross | @KhaledOmar ESSA www.dell.com/calc is the best tool for DataCenter level budgeting. |
| Kyle_Cross | Like @david_moss mentions, if you want to look at real time power, there are various ways including looking accessing the PDUs directly. |
| Reema Aron | More information on managed PDUs can be found at the following link: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/power-cooling/w/wiki/4724.power-budgeting-protection-mechanisms-in-the-poweredge-server-portfolio.aspx |
| Khaled Omar | great |
| david_moss | and www.dellpdu.com |
| Reema Aron | Sorry, I just linked you to our power budgeting paper regarding this tech chat, which will also be useful for everyone here! |
| Kyle_Cross | As one closing thought on power budgeting - the final step is that if we find configurations that don't fit, we take action. We provide warnings, we throttle the server, and various other protections. |
| Reema Aron | here's the link to the Managed PDU information: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/dell-managed-pdu/pd |
| Kyle_Cross | This is really key, because these protections are the end state which prevent the unexpected downtime we referred to earlier. |
| Reema Aron | So that concludes our tech chat presentation for today, are there any more questions we can address? |
| Dell TechCenter | Thank you for joining everyone - hope you learned something new |
| Dell TechCenter | the transcript for this chat will be online tomorrow at www.delltechcenter.com/chat |
| Robert R | Lots of useful info guys, thanks |
| Dell TechCenter | also, the powerpoint presentation that we showed today is available at http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20373957.aspx |
| Dell TechCenter | Thanks Robert R! Hookem :) |
| Robert R | \m/ |
| Reema Aron | and the white paper is located here: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/power-cooling/w/wiki/4724.power-budgeting-protection-mechanisms-in-the-poweredge-server-portfolio.aspx |
| Khaled Omar | thanks all |
| Dell TechCenter | thanks for joining Khaled |
