Data Centre Optimisation Targets Policy Fact Sheet
Data Centre Optimisation Targets Policy Fact Sheet print version [
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What is the Data Centre Optimisation Targets Policy?
The Data Centre Optimisation Targets Policy (the Policy) is part of the Australian Government Data Centre Strategy 2010-2025. It sets out the requirements for Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) Agencies for achieving greater energy efficiency in data centres.
Why have a policy?
The intention of the Policy is to drive down the operating costs of a data centre, reduce data centre CO2 emissions output and assist in achieving the Government’s energy efficiency targets. The Policy supports the Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010-2015 [
] and the Data Centre Strategy goal to avoid $1 billion in future data centre costs.
Reporting timelines affecting agencies
Data Centre Optimisation Targets Plan (the Plan)
Due date: 30 April 2012
FMA Act agencies must develop a Plan that describes how and when the targets provided in the Policy will be achieved. FMA Act agencies that have completed an Agency ICT Energy Management Plan [] should use it as the basis of this requirement. Agencies that have not developed an EMP have the option to complete one or use their own high level Project Plan template to respond.
The Plan should be submitted to datacentres@finance.gov.au by 30 April 2012.
Baseline reporting
Due date: 30 April 2012
Agencies should be reporting data centre energy usage, including Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Server Utilisation, to CIOs by 30 April 2012.
PUE measurement with supporting data from agencies
Due date: 31 October each year
Year 1 PUE to be submitted via the Online System for Comprehensive Activity Reporting [] (OSCAR) by 31 October 2012. A PUE=3.0 will be assigned to agencies that have not submitted sufficient and reliable evidence by this date.
Agencies should continue to report PUE through OSCAR by 31 October each year.
Annual server utilisation reporting
Due date: 31 October each year
Agencies should report on server utilisation via the ICT Benchmarking Survey.
Deadlines for achieving targets
Achievement of server utilisation targets
Due date: July 2014
Agencies must have achieved the following server utilisation targets by July 2014:
| Item | Target | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Wintel | 30% Monthly Average | July 2014 |
| UNIX | 30% Monthly Average | July 2014 |
| Mainframe | 75% Monthly Average | July 2014 |
| Hypervisor | 70% Monthly Peak | July 2014 |
Achievement of PUE targets
Due date: July 2015
Agencies must have achieved PUE targets by July 2015 whether or not their ICT equipment is located in a shared government data centre. PUE targets are:
- Weighted individual agency average of 1.91
- Individual agency data centre PUE of 1.7-2.2
What is PUE?
PUE is defined as a measure of the total power consumed by the data centre for all functions, divided by power consumed by ICT equipment.2
Measuring PUE
In terms of the Policy, two basic measures apply, PUE and weighted PUE. PUE is the PUE of a single data centre, weighted PUE provides the overall PUE of all data centres that fall into scope of the Policy. Each is the subject of a target in the Policy, these targets are 1.9 and 1.7-2.2 respectively.
To measure PUE of a single data centre, the equation below applies:
PUE = Total Facility Power / IT Equipment
To measure the weighted average PUE, the following applies:
PUE = Total of all agency data centre Facilities Power / Total of all agency ICT Equipment Power
The measurement of the agencies data centre must either be able to be registered or certified3 in accordance with the Green Grid’s reporting requirements.
The measurement of the agencies PUE must meet the guidelines as determined by the Green Grid’s category 34.
Where a data centre is a shared facility (e.g. with office space) and uses shared power for the supporting facilities and/or the ICT equipment power, the following method(s) should be used as appropriate to the individual situation:
- Measure from the switchboard or circuit to your data centre as appropriate for your electrical design; or
- Use the correct percentage ratio of the data centre floorspace to the whole tenancy.
Monitoring PUE
Agencies must implement energy monitoring to allow the measurement of baseline and ongoing energy use by the data centre. These measurements must allow the following:
- Measurement of energy use of the ICT equipment from the distribution board;
- Measurement of energy use of the supporting facilities (e.g. air-conditioning, lighting, air-handling and Uninterruptable Power Supply losses);
- For Type 1, 2 and 3 data centres, the measurements must be sufficient to calculate the PUE (as defined under Measuring PUE);
- Where these measurements are not possible, use the correct percentage ratio of the data centre floorspace to the whole tenancy;
- Must be ongoing; and
- Must report avoided costs internally.
The independent ICT energy assessments for data centres and computer rooms as required by the Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010-2015 [] should form part of the reporting.
The Policy requires the measurement of the total input power to the facility and of the total provided to the IT load. Agencies may choose to take more detailed measurements, which may increase control and efficiency savings.
Server utilisation
Significant opportunity exists to improve server infrastructure utilisation. The low current average percentages across Government indicate that much hardware sits idle for large periods of time and is therefore inefficient.
Definition
Average utilisation: Average physical processing subsystem utilisation, in percentage terms, as reported by the operating system’s default utilisation tools, calculated as the monthly average.
Peak utilisation: The peak processor utilisation in a month as measured through the Hypervisor. It is not calculated as a monthly average.
Storage utilisation
Disk storage growth requirements across Government are in the order of 50% compound annually. Storage systems are significant users of electricity in the data centre. Growth of this order needs to be managed closely to put downward pressure on this growth pattern.
Definition
Storage efficiency: A measure of wasted storage, that which is ‘on the floor’ whether allocated or not and does not have data written. Measuring this in a meaningful and consistent way is difficult and unreliable.
Increasing storage efficiency
The Data Centre Optimisation Targets Plan should outline how the agency will implement architectures and technologies that increase the storage systems efficiency and reduce power usage. Further information on this is in the Data Centre Optimisation Guidance Document.
Energy saving ICT technologies
The Data Centre Optimisation Targets Plan must show how the agency will achieve the targets described in the Policy and must describe how it will implement power management technologies that reduce the equipment’s use of electricity. Further information on completing a Plan is included in the Data Centre Optimisation Guidance Document.
Is there any further documentation to assist me?
For further information on the requirements refer to:
- Data Centre Optimisation Targets Policy;
- Data Centre Optimisation Guidance Document; and
- Data Centre Optimisation Model.
These are available to agencies through GovCIO, GovDex [] or by emailing DataCentres@finance.gov.au.
Other policies and guides
- Australian Government Data Centre Strategy 2010–2025;
- Data Centre Facilities Panel;
- Data Centre Migration Services Panel;
- Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010–2015 []; and
- Green Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Procurement Toolkit and Green ICT Quick Wins.
Who do I contact if I have further questions in relation to the Policy?
Agencies can obtain further information about the Policy by emailing DataCentres@finance.gov.au.
- A data centre PUE target of 1.9 to be achieved by July 2015 is noted in the Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010-2015.
- The Green Grid. Green Grid Data Center Power Efficiency Metrics: PUE and DCIE 2008.
- The Green Grid. Usage and Public Reporting Guidelines for the Green Grid’s Infrastructure Metrics (PUE/DCIE) 2009.
- The Green Grid. Recommendations for Measuring and Reporting Overall Data Center Efficiency 2010.
Contact for information on this page: Datacentres@finance.gov.au