Going Green

17. Jun, 2009 0 Comments

A while back I wrote a white paper for GlassHouse – Five tips for a green data center it read. Practical tips was its objective.
Since that time almost every vendor has jumped on the green wagon. Of course every vendor has their own claim to getting there. Some claim that SATA drives spin slower and hence should be considered green. Some claim solid state drives generate less heat and are placing bets on them. Some claim spinning down disks when they are not being used is the way to go. No matter how you look at it, there is no escaping the fact that there is no universal agreement on how to really make storage green nor is there any pattern that seems to have emerged thus far. Makes me wonder…
You as the keeper of storage however can do a little bit of everything to reduce the footprint, bring down consumption and prepare for your own version of green storage. I recommend taking a pragmatic approach. Start with the low hanging fruit and work your way up. Grandiose plans should be kept aside for now.
What do I mean by that?
For starters, check if every byte of storage out there is really needed or not. Does it have to be on the most “power” expensive (power consumption and heat dissipation) disk? Can it be moved to something more reasonable? Are there storage systems out there that are not being used? How about simply powering them off?
If you are in the market for new storage, put power and heat on the top of your list. Compare data. Look at new features.
Keep in mind that green is also of a way of thinking and lifestyle change than just pure hardware. It applies at home and in the same way applies to the data center.
-Ashish Nadkarni, GlassHouse Principal Consultant