Autonomous monitoring of data centre operations

我们社会的计算需求每五年翻一番，其中大部分是在数据中心(DC)执行的。然而，尽管区议会的生产力不断提高，但它们仍面临以下问题：(1)建立资本成本高昂；(2)能源使用效率低下，导致运营成本高昂。高成本源于普遍存在的过度设计和过度配置的行业实践，其根源在于运营商无法实时了解其设施内各种部件的性能指标，例如利用率和能耗，或健康状况，例如即将发生的故障和故障的指示器。实现实时可见性的主要瓶颈是每个设施由数千个组件组成，这些组件因供应商、设计和操作原则而异。在这里，我们将开发三种使能技术，以实现在最少人为干预的情况下监控DC操作的通用平台，即(1)廉价的监控硬件模块，可以记录和无线传输DC中各种组件的健康状况和性能指标，(2)用于实时通信监控数据和命令的无线网络协议，(3)通过实时数据收集和计算高效的热建模实现完全自主监控和诊断的算法。这些技术将使DC运营商能够(1)自适应地优化其运营，以及(2)预测和触发维护工作，以将服务中断降至最低。这些技术将由我们的合作伙伴信诺任务关键公司(CMCI，www.cInnos.com)转化为全面的数据中心基础设施管理(DCIM)产品线，这是一家快速增长的年轻加拿大公司。CMCI将与我们的努力协同，与主要客户一起进行广泛的Beta测试，并提供宝贵的反馈，以引导技术开发达到最大的商业影响。除了为我们的行业合作伙伴创造就业机会和新的收入来源外，一个自然和值得注意的结果是DC的能源消耗显著减少，占全球能源产量的约3%。*

The computing needs of our society, much of these performed in data centres (DCs), double every five years. However, despite their increasing productivity, DCs are fraught with (1) high capital costs for establishment, and (2) high operating costs due to inefficient energy usage. The high costs arise from the widespread industry practice of over-design and over-provisioning stemmed from the fact that operators do not have real-time visibility of the metrics of performance, e.g., utilization percentage and energy consumption, or health conditions, e.g., indicators for imminent faults and failures, of the various components within their facilities. The primary bottleneck in enabling real-time visibility is that each facility consists of thousands of components, which differ by vendors, design and operating principles. Herein, we will develop three enabling technologies towards a universal platform for monitoring DC operations with minimal human intervention, namely, (1) inexpensive monitoring hardware modules that can record and wirelessly transmit health conditions and performance metrics of various components in a DC, (2) wireless networking protocols for real-time communications of monitoring data and commands, (3) algorithms for fully autonomous monitoring and diagnosis enabled by the real-time data collected and computational efficient thermal modelling. These technologies will allow DC operators to (1) adaptively optimize its operations, and (2) predict and trigger maintenance efforts to minimize service interruptions. The technologies will be translated into a holistic data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) product line by our partner, Cinnos Mission Critical Incorporated (CMCI, www.cinnos.com), a fast growing young Canadian company. CMCI will perform extensive beta testing with lead customers synergistically with our efforts, and provide valuable feedback to steer the technology development towards maximum commercial impact. In addition to creating jobs and new sources of revenue for our industry partner, a natural and noteworthy consequence is the significant reduction in energy consumption of DCs, which account for ~3% of the energy produced worldwide.******