Migrating to the Cloud? You Still Need Intelligent PDUs

We see this problem time and again with cloud computing: First, a business will partner with a hosted cloud provider offering affordable access to premium infrastructure; then, the business will migrate its workloads and wait for the cost savings to roll in.

Oftentimes, though, the cost savings never materialize. In fact, it's very common for a business to spend more money on cloud services in the long run than it would on legacy network expenses.  

Here’s why:

Cloud providers typically sell bare metal infrastructure at scale, but not much more than that. Unless a business opts to layer managed services on top of its cloud infrastructure, it will still be responsible for maintenance and upkeep, and for keeping operating costs at a manageable level. Cloud providers, in other words, are not there to hold your hand; they only provide servers. Countless organizations have learned this the hard way.

One responsibility that tends to go overlooked during cloud migrations is power management. Many IT departments today are still using archaic power outlets in their data centers and cloud environments that do not have IP connectivity. These units are highly prone to power faults, and lack real-time reporting components. As such, they are often the root cause of high costs and unexpected outages.

Instead of using traditional power outlets, IT administrators are encouraged to use intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) containing embedded solutions for recording and reporting power usage metrics, and for evenly distributing power across the cabinet. Intelligent PDUs are necessary for supporting today’s heavy workloads and advanced computing processes.

Here are some reasons to use intelligent PDUs with cloud servers:  

Perform rapid-response troubleshooting: Server Technology’s intelligent PDUs come with full switching capabilities, meaning it’s possible to use them to toggle power on and off from any remote location. This saves time, and eliminates the need to travel or rely on remote crews when performing system maintenance. 

Manage environmental settings: The servers you are using today are resilient, meaning it’s possible to experiment with different environmental settings in order to maximize performance and efficiencies. Still, you’ll want to be very careful when raising or lowering data center temperatures. Using intelligent PDUs from Server Technology, you will gain access to real-time environmental data and alerts. If a cabinet surpasses its environmental threshold, an SNMP alert can be triggered so that immediate action can be taken.

Obtain accurate metrics: All power usage data can be easily tracked, stored and exported into reports using intelligent PDUs and DCIM software. By analyzing accurate power usage information at the cabinet level, it can help to save money in the data center.