WHITE PAPER

Intel® Data Center Manager

Lenovo® Smart Grid Technology

Driving Up Data Center Energy Efficiency with

Scalable Server-Level Power Management and Control
Lenovo® Smart Grid Technology leverages Intel® Data Center Manager and Node Manager
to achieve world-class server power efficiency.

Lenovo is helping data center managers maximize power efficiency at the server
and device level while also scaling energy management to the rack and data center
levels. Leveraging Intel® Data Center Manager and Node Manager, Lenovo® Smart Grid
Technology can manage up to 1,000 nodes and provides policy-based control to
significantly lower energy consumption.

The dynamic approach to managing and adjusting power takes advantage of Intel® Xeon®
processor micro-architecture. Lenovo Smart Grid combines information technology and
energy technology to deliver a centralized, remote management solution that helps
control operating costs without impacting data center performance.

Intelligent Power Policy The solution scales to address large data

Recommendation centers, and also allows flexible analysis
The first step towards data center and control of power management by
energy efficiency involves monitoring rack, row, or groups.
and analyzing the real-time power
consumption patterns. The Lenovo Smart Performance-Aware Dynamic
Grid console gives a detailed view of Power Control
power usage for ThinkServers and other After observing power consumption and
data center devices that support Intel adjusting power policies, data center
Data Center Manager and Node Manager managers can use Lenovo Smart Grid
technology. The agentless solution to introduce additional controls. Power
implements closed-loop full-process capping capabilities allow the definition
management including the ability to: of an upper limit for power consumption,
which can be configured for specific
• Discover and import a data center device
servers or groups of servers.
• Monitor the device’s power consumption
Lenovo Smart Grid power consumption
• Learn how power consumption varies
trend data greatly assists data center
over time
managers in terms of setting the upper
• Implement power-saving policies power limits, and avoids reliance on
• Analyze the results of the power-saving vendor-provided, worst-case power
policies consumption specifications. Instead,
• Recommend power policy adjustments power caps can be based on actual
observed power consumption behaviors
On a device-by-device basis, Smart Grid for specific system configurations,
uses the collected power consumption workloads, and time of day.
data to evolve the most appropriate
power management policy and lower the
device’s consumption.
 Driving Up Data Center Energy Efficiency with Scalable Server-Level Power Management and Control

Although server performance is tied to Browser-Based, Non-Invasive • Increase uptime by avoiding power spikes
power consumption levels, power caps can Solution that can lead to equipment outages
be implemented with minimal impact on The server/browser architecture makes • Improve server rack densities by
server performance. Tests1 have shown Lenovo Smart Grid easy to deploy and adjusting power and workloads
that reducing power by almost 20% has use. No agents are required on the
no noticeable impact on performance. monitored servers, and once installed on a • Introduce energy charge-backs based on
For more aggressive capping, Lenovo server, results are accessible using a web actual consumption by workloads
Smart Grid monitors server performance browser. • Educate users and promote more “green”
indicators every five minutes; alerts
Power consumption data can be viewed IT services
are generated if performance exceeds
a defined threshold and caps can be for specific periods of time, and the • Shift workloads across multiple data
adjusted accordingly based on power intuitive views make it easy to extract centers around the world, taking
policies and service level requirements. information about average and peak advantage of lower energy costs (off-
usage. Data center results can also be peak rates) in other time zones
Power capping and subsequent power broken down by server, rack, row, or room.
monitoring provide tools for data
About Lenovo Smart Grid
center managers that want to evaluate Conclusions
and optimize performance-per-watt Lenovo Smart Grid Technologies
With today’s high energy costs, the compliment the world-class energy
results throughout the data center.
average 400W server takes $800 or more efficiency of the company’s ThinkServer
Server configurations can be studied to
out of the annual data center operating systems. New rack designs, ENERGY STAR
determine the power level that delivers
budget. IT and facilities management certifications, 80+ Gold-rated power
the best energy value. While data center
teams are under extreme pressure to choices, and Smart Grid make the latest
managers may not want to utilize power
cut these costs by driving up server ThinkServers up to 45% more efficient
capping in this manner during times of
efficiency. Lenovo Smart Grid’s power than previous generation servers.
peak workloads, it can be highly effective
monitoring and control capabilities offer
for cost controls during night hours or for
visibility into dynamic power consumption About Intel Data Center Manager
large compute-intensive applications that
behaviors in the data center, and closed-
can be slowed slightly without impacting Intel® Data Center Manager (Intel® DCM)
loop feedback that allows accurately
the user experience. provides accurate, real time power and
tailoring power policies for optimal
thermal monitoring and management for
During times of power outages, when energy use.
individual servers, group of servers, racks
workloads shift to disaster recovery and IT equipment such as PDUs in the data
Besides optimizing energy efficiency
sites with fewer server resources, power center. It’s a capability that is useful for
and lowering energy costs, data center
capping can be used to accommodate both IT and facility administrators, which
managers are using energy management
more mission-critical applications or allows them to work jointly to reduce their
solutions like Lenovo Smart Grid, based on
to prioritize power allocations. Power energy footprint.
Intel Data Center Manager and Node
capping to drive up performance-per-watt
Manager, to:
will also extend the life of UPS units
during outages.

1
“Preserving Performance While Saving Power Using Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager and Intel® Data Center Manager,”
Intel white paper, http://software.intel.com/sites/datacentermanager/node_manager_white_paper_bmw.pdf

For more information on Intel® Data Center Manager, visit www.datacentermanager.intel.com

For more information on Lenovo® Smart Grid Technology, visit

support.lenovo.com/en_SE/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS029844

Intel ® Node Manager technology requires a computer system with an Intel ® Xeon ® processor, supported Intel ® Enterprise chipset, BIOS, and other requirements documented in the applicable Platform Design Guideline
documentation and applications enabled for virtualization technology. Functionality, performance or other power capping technology benefits will vary depending on hardware and software configurations.
Performance tests and ratings contained within this document are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance
of Intel products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult
other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the
performance of Intel products, visit Intel Performance Benchmark Limitations. Intel does not control or audit the design or implementation of third party benchmarks or Web
sites referenced in this document. Intel encourages all of its customers to visit the referenced Web sites or others where similar performance benchmarks are reported and
confirm whether the referenced benchmarks are accurate and reflect performance of systems available for purchase.
This paper is for informational purposes only. THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY WARRANTY OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF ANY PROPOSAL,
SPECIFICATION, OR SAMPLE. Intel disclaims all liability, including liability for infringement of any proprietary rights, relating to use of information in this specification.
No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted herein. Intel may make changes to specifications and product
descriptions at any time, without notice.
Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Copyright © 2012 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.