Power and Cooling at Texas Advanced Computing Center

Tommy Minyard, Ph.D.

Director of Advanced Computing Systems

42nd HPC User Forum

September 8, 2011

TACC Mission & StrategyThe mission of the Texas Advanced Computing Center is to enable scientific discovery and enhance society through the application of advanced computing technologies.

To accomplish this mission, TACC:

– Evaluates, acquires & operatesadvanced computing systems

– Provides training, consulting, anddocumentation to users

– Collaborates with researchers toapply advanced computing techniques

– Conducts research & development toproduce new computational technologies

Resources & Services

Research & Development

Recent History of Systems at TACC

• 2001 – IBM Power4 system, 1 TFlop, ~300kW• 2003 – Dell Linux cluster, 5 TFlops, ~300 kW• 2006 – Dell Linux blade cluster, 62 TFlops

~500 kW, 16 kW per rack• 2008 – Sun Linux blade cluster, Ranger,

579 TFlops, 2.4 MW, 30kW per rack• 2011 – Dell Linux blade cluster, Lonestar 4,

302 Tflops, 800 kW, 20kW per rack

TACC Data Centers

• Commons Center (CMS)– Originally built in 1986 with 3,200 sq. ft.– Designed to house large Cray systems– Retrofitted multiple times to increase power/cooling

infrastructure, ~1 MW total power– 18” raised floor, standard CRAC cooling units

• Research Office Complex (ROC)– Built in 2007 as part of new office building– 6,400 sq.ft., 1 MW original designed power– Refitted to support 4 MW total power for Ranger– 30” raised floor, CRAC and APC In-Row Coolers

CMS Data Center Previously

CMS Data Center Now

Lonestar 4

Dell Intel 64-bit Xeon Linux Cluster22,656 CPU cores (302 TFlops)

44 TB memory, 1.8 PB disk

Lonestar 4 Front Row

Lonestar 4 End of Rows

Lonestar 4 Electrical Panels

ROC Data Center

Houses Ranger, Longhorn, Corral, and other support systems

Built in 2007 and already nearing capacity

Ranger

Data Center of the Future

• Exploring flexible and efficient data center designs

• Planning for 50 kW per rack, 10 MW total system power in the near future

• Prefer 480V power distribution to racks• Exotic cooling ideas not excluded

– Thermal storage tanks– Immersion cooling

Immersive Cooling – Green Revolution Cooling

Servers suspended in mineral oil

Improves heat transfer and more efficient “transport” of heat than air

Requires refit of servers to remove fans

Summary

• Data center/rack power densities increasing• Efficiency of delivering power and cooling the

heat generated becoming substantial• Air cooling reaching limits of cooling

capability• Future data centers will require more “exotic”

or customized cooling solutions for very high power density