HP Power Regulator for ProLiant servers

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Power Regulator for ProLiant servers

Technology brief, 5th edition

Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 2

Processor P-states................................................................................................................................. 2

Power Regulator technology.................................................................................................................. 2

HP Power Regulator modes ................................................................................................................... 2

Processor drivers.............................................................................................................................. 3

HP Static High Performance mode...................................................................................................... 3

HP Static Low Power mode................................................................................................................ 3

HP Dynamic Power Savings mode...................................................................................................... 4

OS Control mode............................................................................................................................. 5

Collaborative Power Control mode..................................................................................................... 5

Managing Power Regulator configuration............................................................................................... 6

Individual server setup ...................................................................................................................... 6

Multi-server setup ............................................................................................................................. 6

Using Power Regulator with VMware ESX............................................................................................... 6

Using Intel Turbo Boost Technology® with HP Power Regulator ................................................................. 7

Power consumption and system performance .......................................................................................... 7

Reducing power and cooling cost........................................................................................................ 10

Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 12

For more information.......................................................................................................................... 13

Call to action .................................................................................................................................... 13

Summary of content (13 pages)

PAGE 1
Power Regulator for ProLiant servers Technology brief, 5th edition Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 2 Processor P-states................................................................................................................................. 2 Power Regulator technology..................................................................................................................
PAGE 2
Introduction Enterprise servers can place large demands on facility power and cooling resources. In some cases, facility power and cooling constraints can delay IT purchases. HP Power Regulator gives you a tool to increase server efficiency and free up cooling and power resources. This lets you use power/cooling resources where you need them the most. It lets you manage processor power consumption and system performance to meet your business needs.
PAGE 3
• HP Static Low Power mode • HP Dynamic Power Savings mode • OS Control mode Figure 1 shows the methods for controlling P-states in the multiple Power Regulator operating modes. HP has developed server ROM firmware that implements the Static High and Low modes, Dynamic Power Saving mode, and OS mode. Upgrades to the OS or application do not affect Power Regulator. The ROM firmware or the OS with a processor driver directly control processor P-states. Figure 1.
PAGE 4
HP Dynamic Power Savings mode The Dynamic Power Savings mode is similar in concept to Intel’s Demand Based Switching with SpeedStep Technology and to AMD’s PowerNow!™, but it adds a significant HP innovation. Power Regulator uses an HP ROM-based algorithm to monitor processor activity. It adjusts processor performance states to match performance levels to application load.
PAGE 5
You can use this option to choose the response time that is best for the performance demands of your environment. Benefits of Dynamic Power Savings mode In Dynamic Power Savings mode, Power Regulator monitors and adjusts each logical processor in a system independently (per core). Dynamic Power Savings mode lets the processors operate in low power state or high power state as needed. Many customers find benefit in simply enabling the Dynamic Power Savings mode as a default setting.
PAGE 6
Managing Power Regulator configuration You can configure Power Regulator modes for individual server and multi-server setups using different methods. Individual server setup You can set Power Regulator modes using the ROM Based Setup Utility (RBSU). You typically do this on initial system boot when you have access to the RBSU menu. You must reboot to activate a Power Regulator mode configured through the RBSU.
PAGE 7
If you use the HP Power Profile pre-sets available through the RBSU in some G6 and G7 servers, you may indirectly set Power Regular to one of the modes that can degrade VMware ESX performance. When using HP Power Profile pre-sets, selecting the “Balanced Power and Performance” or the “Minimum Power Usage” setting will put Power Regulator in Dynamic Power Savings mode or Static Low Power mode, respectively. This influences VMware performance and workload balancing software.
PAGE 8
Figure 2 shows Power Regulator mode comparisons under different CPU utilization (performance) loads using the two-processor DL380 G7 server with Quad-core Intel Xeon 5670 2.93-GHz processors. At loads under 70% of the maximum performance, Static Low Power mode uses up to 8% less power than Static High Performance mode to provide the same performance.
PAGE 9
Figure 3 shows the same power and performance comparison for the DL385 G7 server. In this comparison, if you don’t require the full performance range of the processors, Static Low Power mode will give you the most power savings until you reach a performance utilization of about 45%. Above this level, the Dynamic Power Savings mode begins to run the processors at the higher P-states to maintain optimal system performance. Figure 3.
PAGE 10
Dynamic Power Savings mode the most efficient overall power consumption and performance characteristics. The difference in processor performance (as measured by computational throughput) is negligible between the Static High mode and Dynamic Savings mode. The application workload used in Figures 2 and 3 changed slowly enough over time that it favored the slow response time setting of Dynamic Power Saving mode.
PAGE 11
Figure 4. Effective power consumption of Dynamic Power Savings and Static High Performance modes on a DL380 G7 server at various system loads 300 250 Power (Watts) 200 16 W 150 100 50 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Processor utilization (percent) Dynamic Static High Performance Table 3 shows the estimated cost savings of $28.03 per year on this system under 60% application loads in Dynamic Power Savings mode compared to Static High Performance mode.
PAGE 12
Summary HP Power Regulator for ProLiant servers is an important technology for any data center facing power and cooling challenges as well as any user interested in reducing power consumption and cost. Its flexible power saving modes and OS-independent ROM operation give you a broader tool set than OS-based power management. Its compatibility with other HP management products such as iLO and Insight Control makes the HP Power Regulator an integral part of a complete enterprise management solution.
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For more information Resource description Web address HP Insight Control power management User Guide http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManu al/c02048495/c02048495.pdf HP ProLiant G6 Server Power Management on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA25004ENW.pdf Green Grid Data Center Power Efficiency Metrics: PUE and DCiE http://thegreengrid.