High Density Solution Maximizes Rack Space

A large online interactive media company looked to install 48 single corded HP DL350's into their APC Net Shelter server cabinets using one power in-feed per cabinet. They were seeking the ability to remotely manage and reboot these web servers in the event they locked up. They also wanted to be able to control all the PDUs in their data center from one central location without having to login to each individual PDU's network interface.

After consulting a Server Technology Regional Sales Manager, the media company was able to find the right solution for their project.

The product selected for this project was the Switched CW-24VDX454A1, a 60Amp, 3-Phase Delta, 208V PDU with (18) IEC C13 and (6) IEC C19 outlets and the Sentry Power Manager Software solution. This high density intelligent PDU allows the media company to see the load on the circuits so that devices can be properly installed to maximize capacity. It also provided the ability to cycle power and reboot individual or groups of outlets remotely via the built in network interface. This Switched PDU also supports two temperature and humidity probes whose data can also be read via the web interface. Email alerts and SNMP traps can also be set based on user defined thresholds for both power and environmental conditions. This particular PDU also has middle entry for the network, environmental, and serial connections so it's easy to invert the PDU in the instance that it is installed in an overhead power environment.

The media company connected two HP DL350's servers via a "Y" cable to the PDU's outlet. Since they are running all web servers it was not a problem to have to reboot two servers when cycling power to an outlet.

Sentry Power Manager (SPM) was also deployed as part of the solution. SPM is a software appliance that gives the user a central interface to access multiple networked sentry power distribution units. It includes a global view of all PDUs and the ability to view devices based on temperature, humidity, current and device status. SPM is specifically intended to continuously poll hundreds of PDUs, anywhere in the world, and store the accumulated data. This, in turn, can be used to generate various power and environmental conditions reports, provide kW and kW-hour information for billing, power monitoring, trending and power reports. This data can be used to determine your Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).

The media company is now taking full advantage of their data center space by using 60Amp power, fully filling their racks, and managing and balancing their load with intelligent power monitoring. They have also centralized the control of all their PDUs via SPM, which will save time and money when unresponsive device need to be rebooted.