Calculate your data center PUE and DCiE
Over 30 years of experience in professional sensor solutions
Measure your data center power consumption, rack inlet and exhaust temperatures, differential air pressure, and fine-tune your operation for maximum efficiency.
What is PUE and how is it calculated?
PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) is a metric used to identify how efficiently your data center is running. By comparing total facility power to your IT power, a ratio of cooling vs IT power is calculated. The lower your PUE the more efficient your data center. But it doesn’t tell the whole picture. A low PUE can be achieved by adjusting your cooling setpoint or turning off servers. But this doesn’t mean you are operating efficiently. Underutilized server capacity or undercooling does not make for an efficient data center operation.
PUE Monitoring
AKCPro Server shows live PUE calculations. Using power meters the total facility and IT loads are used as the input. The resulting PUE is displayed dynamically. As your facility loads change, the live PUE numbers will also update. Make changes in your facility and see instantly how much power you are saving. With the addition of cabinet thermal maps, you can ensure maximum PUE, while not violating ASHRAE recommended inlet air temperatures. Cabinet thermal maps also monitor the △T across the rack to ensure cooling is being utilized.
Maximum Data Center Efficiency
By monitoring PUE over a period of time, AKCPro Server creates a graph of your PUE. This allows data center managers to evaluate how changes have impacted PUE and measure improvements. By combining PUE metrics with other sensor data you can ensure maximum data center efficiency. Yes, you may have a great PUE of 1.25 but half your servers are sitting idle. What happens when they spool up? What about cooling capacity, is it being fully utilized? Are you running your data center too cold?
You can’t control what you can’t measure
AKCP monitoring solutions allow you to gain detailed insights into your data center facility’s environmental and power parameters. Checking for hotspots, differential air pressure, and airflow around your data center. Ensure that real-life measurements match predicted cooling and airflow analysis from CFD models. Once you have the proper sensors and monitoring in place, the measurements can be used to begin controlling your data center for maximum efficiency. The first thing to do is determine what is your current PUE and use this as a benchmark.
Using the above calculator, the huge cost savings can be seen through improved PUE. The holy grail of the Data Center is a PUE of 1.0, which would be totally free cooling. Deploying strategies such as hot or cold aisle containment were possibly using free cooling from outside air, adjusting air conditioning set points, and improving airflow management will all aid in reducing your PUE numbers, saving you money, and lowering your carbon footprint.