White Paper

Dell Power Center’s Power Policies for 12
th
-Generation Servers
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Using iDRAC in Conjunction with Power Center
Dell iDRAC7 Enterprise is also a tool for monitoring and setting the power capping for an individual
server. If both Power Center and iDRAC are used for setting the power cap, there is the potential for a
power capping conflict. Because the same power policy identifier is used between Power Center and
the iDRAC, Node Manager will simply enforce the last capping value sent to it. Note that Power Center
will not send a capping value to the server if it has not changed from its internal calculations/settings,
nor does it know if another entity has overridden its last setting.
Dell recommends that Power Center be exclusively used for setting the power policy for a server if that
server has been under Power Center management.
Power Capping Overlap and Logical Groups
Power capping overlap is when multiple power policies are applied to a server due to the groups it is a
part of. It is possible for a server to belong to multiple logical groups as well as a physical group; for
example, a server can belong to the Austin servers group (location) and the Payroll servers group
(function). When setting a power policy for each group, this can result in a situation where a server
has multiple policies and multiple power capping values that could potentially apply at the same time.
When there is a power capping overlap between multiple policies in Power Center, the most restrictive
power cap will be applied.
Conclusion
Dell OpenManage Power Center enables administrators to see real power usage statistics in their data
centers, and to restrict the power usage of Dell 12
th
-generation PowerEdge servers where needed.
Through the ability to group servers and apply a power policy to the group (or just the server itself),
the administrator can better manage energy usage to yield cost savings or avoid power interruptions to
the data center. Finally, through Power Center’s power monitoring and static power policy capabilities,
the administrator can plan for a more dense data center, potentially saving space and cooling costs.
References
1. Dell OpenManage Power Center is available for download at
http://www.dell.com/powercenter.
2. The User’s Guide and other documents related to Dell OpenManage Power Center are available
at http://support.dell.com/. Navigate to Software -> Systems Management -> Dell
OpenManage Power Center.