Users Guide

Power Monitoring and Management 265
Power Monitoring and
Management
Dell™ PowerEdge™ systems incorporate many new and enhanced power
management features. The entire platform, from hardware to firmware to
systems management software, has been designed with a focus on power
efficiency, power monitoring, and power management.
The base hardware design has been optimized from a power perspective:
• High efficiency power supplies and voltage regulators have been
incorporated in to the design.
• Where applicable, the lowest power components were selected.
• The chassis design has optimized air flow through the system to minimize
fan power.
PowerEdge systems provide many features to control and manage power:
• Power Inventory and Budgeting: At boot, a system inventory enables a
system power budget of the current configuration to be calculated.
•
Power Capping: Systems can be throttled to maintain a specified power cap.
•
Power Monitoring: The iDRAC6 polls the power supplies to gather power
measurements. The iDRAC6 collects a history of power measurements
and calculates running averages, and peaks. Using the iDRAC6 Web-based
interface, you can view the information, which is displayed on the
Power
Monitoring
page.
Power Inventory, Power Budgeting, and Capping
From a usage perspective, you may have a limited amount of cooling at the rack
level. With a user-defined power cap, you can allocate power as needed to meet
your performance requirements.
The iDRAC6 monitors power consumption and dynamically throttles processors
to meet your defined power cap level, which maximizes performance while
meeting your power requirements.