This doth be a machine-wrought text which may contain errors!
The realm of IT doth consume a great deal of power. Data halls, servers, network gear, personal computers, mobile devices, the charging thereof, and cooling systems. All this doth require energy, and all such equipment hath a limited span. When we make choices concerning infrastructure, we do likewise choose that which doth affect the environment.
How Great Indeed is the Problem?
Some numbers to ponder upon:
- Data centres throughout the world do consume some 1-2% of the world’s total power usage
- The IT industry, taken as a whole, doth bear a carbon footprint equal to that of the aviation industry
- A single Google search doth employ roughly 0,3 Wh. ‘Tis little, to be sure, yet with billions of searches each day, it doth amount to a great sum.
- The training of large AI models may consume as much power as a small Norwegian house doth in a whole year.
Norge er i en gunstig posisjon
Forsooth, the greater part of the power within Norway doth spring from the force of waters, which doth render Norwegian data halls amongst the most verdant in all the world. ‘Tis one of the causes why companies of foreign lands do erect their data halls within the Northern realms.
E-Waste
E-waste (electronic refuse) doth present a growing vexation. Servers, PCs, mobiles, and network gear contain rare metals and poisonous substances which must be handled with due care.
| Problem | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Short life of equipment | More waste, more production, more consumption of resources |
| Poisonous materials | Lead, mercury, and cadmium may pollute the earth and waters |
| Rare metals | Extraction doth harm the environment and oft occurs under poor working conditions |
| Lack of recycling | But 20% of e-waste is recycled globally |
What Mayst Thou Do as an IT Operator?
Thou needst not save the world alone, yet the choices thou makest in thy daily labour do possess a true effect.
Virtualisation and Consolidation
Instead of possessing a physical machine for each service, we do employ virtualisation. One server with Proxmox may run 10-20 VMs, or even hundreds of Docker containers. ‘Tis a meaning of fewer physical machines, less power consumption, and diminished need for cooling.
Example:
| Without Virtualisation | With Virtualisation |
|---|---|
| 5 physical servers | 1 physical server |
| 5 × power consumption | 1 × power consumption (+ a little more) |
| 5 × cooling | 1 × cooling |
| 5 × maintenance | 1 × maintenance |
Fitting Measure
A server over-provisioned (too much RAM, CPU, disk) doth consume more power than needeth. A VM with 16 GB of RAM which doth but use 2 GB doth waste resources. Begin with small measure, and scale upwards as necessity doth demand.
Prolong the Life of Gear
Forsake not the replacing of hardware merely for that which is newer. A server which doth function well need not be exchanged each third year. Augment the RAM or disc, rather than procure new machinery. Remove and recycle that which thou dost truly not require.
Quench That Which Thou Dost Not Employ
Test-VMs which run 24/7 without cause do consume power for naught. Employ snapshots, and extinguish VMs when they are not in use. Establish automatic shutting down of test equipment without working hours.
Cloud Services and On-Demand
Cloud services possess the boon that thou dost pay (and consume power) only for that which thou dost truly employ. A VM in Azure which doth run 8 hours in the day doth use less than one which doth run round the clock. But take heed: cloud resources which thou dost forget to delete do also consume power.
Software and Resource Usage
’Tis not solely hardware that doth affect the consumption of power. Inefficient software doth employ more CPU time, which doth signify more power consumed.
- A web page which doth load 20 MB of JavaScript doth use more bandwidth and processing power than one which is optimised to 500 KB
- A SQL query, poorly writ, which doth scan the whole database doth use more resources than one which is indexed aright
- A container which doth run a whole Linux distribution for one small service doth use more than one which is based upon a minimal base image (e.g. Alpine)
This is a realm wherein Operations and Development do overlap: the developer doth write efficient code, the operator doth ensure that it runneth upon rightly sized infrastructure.
Summary
- The realm of Information Technology doth consume a great measure of energy and produceth much e-waste.
- Virtualisation doth lessen the number of physical machines, and thereby power and cooling.
- Proper dimensioning avoideth the wasting of resources.
- Prolong the life of hardware rather than replacing it needlessly.
- Shut off that which thou dost not employ, and tidy up thy cloud resources.
- Efficient software useth fewer resources than that which is inefficient.