Living On The Edge: Increasing Server Density Without Power Monitoring

You’re the kind of person who likes to takes risks. Sometimes, you drive without a seatbelt. You smoke cigarettes. You don’t wash your fruit before eating it.

But if there’s one place where you need to curtail your true cavalier self, it’s in your data center—particularly when it comes to increasing server densities.

Look, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with increasing the workload of your servers through virtualization. In fact, virtualizing your hardware can lead to tremendous cost savings, and a smaller carbon footprint.

But it’s also a risky process. It’s one thing if a server fails, for instance, when it’s only managing a few basic processes. But take that same server and tack on the workloads from several other machines, and you’re left with a potentially catastrophic situation should it overload, or should you lose power.

Further, virtualization can increase temperatures in your rack. If you’re not vigilant about monitoring the temperatures of your servers, they could overheat and lead to damaged files, and even catch on fire. Disasters like these can be all but impossible to recover from, particularly for small businesses on tight budgets.

So if you’re going to increase your server densities, make sure that you have the right supporting technology—like High Density Outlet Technology (HDOT) Switched, an advanced line of power distribution units (PDU) that safeguard against circuit overloads and make it easier to balance loads with alternating phase power distribution.

HDOT Switched also provides Per Inlet Outlet Sensing (PIPS) technology, for real-time rack-level power distribution reporting, as well as many other useful features.