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Power Distribution Unit (PDU)
What is a Power Distribution Unit (PDU)?
Data centers house a significant volume and density of IT equipment that must be consistently powered to ensure uptime and reliability for customers. Data center power distribution involves the implementation of systems and equipment to ensure a consistent power supply for all IT equipment in the data center at all times.
A Power Distribution Unit (PDU) is a device with multiple electrical outlets that receives electrical power from an alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power source, such as a utility power supplier, an uninterruptible power supply, or an electrical generator, and distributes power to racks of computers, servers, data storage devices, and other networking equipment inside a data center.
What Does a Power Distribution Unit Do?
Power Distribution
The most important function of a power distribution unit is to distribute electrical power to devices in the data center.
Load Monitoring
Intelligent PDUs integrate with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software to provide real-time load monitoring, allowing data center teams to monitor power usage at the outlet level throughout the data center.
Environmental Monitoring
Some PDUs come equipped with environmental sensors that provide data center operations teams with real-time information about temperature and humidity within a server rack. This helps operational teams respond quickly to avoid equipment damage when environmental conditions exceed safe thresholds.
Surge Protection
PDUs feature built-in circuit breakers to protect data center infrastructure and equipment against unexpected power spikes or surges. Circuit breakers activate automatically, shutting off power to electrical outlets when a fault condition is detected, such as an overloaded or short circuit.
Remote Power Management
Intelligent PDUs enable remote power management, allowing data center operational staff to reboot or activate/deactivate devices electronically without having to be physically present in the data center. Many PDUs feature outlet-level control, offering data center teams the most granular level of remote control over power distribution.
Redundancy
Attaching multiple PDUs to a single piece of IT infrastructure creates a redundant power supply. If one PDU fails, the other PDU can take over immediately to prevent an outage that interrupts service for the customer.
Basic vs. Intelligent Power Distribution Units: What’s the Difference?
Basic PDUs provide essential power distribution capabilities, including basic on/off functionality and surge protection. They do the essential job of distributing power between devices and protecting against power surges without any of the advanced monitoring or remote management features.
Intelligent PDUs have the same essential capabilities as basic PDUs, along with advanced features like network connectivity, built-in environmental sensors and load monitoring, DCIM software integration, remote management support, and even alerting/notifications.
Intelligent PDUs are critical in state-of-the-art data center environments where features like environmental monitoring and remote control are crucial to maximizing service reliability and streamlining both troubleshooting and routine maintenance activities.
4 Power Distribution Unit Form Factors You Should Know
Form Factor is a hardware design term that refers to the size, shape, physical layout, and arrangement of components in a hardware device. When it comes to PDUs, there are several different form factors that may be deployed in a data center environment.
Rack-Mounted PDUs
A rack-mounted PDU is mounted directly to an equipment rack inside the data center. Rack-mounted PDUs control and monitor power distribution to data center infrastructure and equipment on that rack. Rack-mounted PDUs may be installed horizontally in the front of the rack with other equipment, or vertically on the back of the server rack.
Floor-Mounted PDUs
Floor-mounted PDUs are installed on the floor of the data center, usually in an accessible and centralized location from which they distribute power to IT equipment across multiple racks or cabinets. Floor-mounted PDUs generally have a higher power capacity than rack-mounted PDUs, and can distribute power to a greater number of devices over a larger area.
Cabinet-Mounted PDUs
Cabinet-mounted PDUs are installed inside a network or server cabinet. They distribute power to other computers or networking devices within the cabinet. Unlike equipment racks, which are open with no sidewalls, cabinets in a data center are enclosed on all sides. Housing a PDU inside a cabinet provides an organized power management solution with less external cabling and a more tidy appearance.
Portable PDUs
Portable PDUs are not permanently mounted, making it easy for operational teams to relocate or reconfigure them as needed. PDUs may be used in the data center to power temporary equipment configurations or to test new equipment.
What are the Benefits of Power Distribution Units in a Data Center?
Maximizing Equipment Uptime and Reliability
The deployment and operation of PDUs helps to ensure a stable and reliable power supply for IT infrastructure components and hardware inside the data center. PDUs help protect data center infrastructure against power spikes or surges that could damage equipment and disrupt service for customers.
High-availability data centers can choose to deploy multiple PDUs in a redundant configuration, such that if one power source fails, the other one can take over instantly. Redundant PDUs provide the highest level of reliability and resiliency when it comes to ensuring a consistent power supply for critical infrastructure and workloads.
Intelligent PDUs can also send alerts if power thresholds are exceeded, allowing data center operational teams to quickly respond and remediate issues before they impact equipment health or customer operations.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency
The most advanced data centers use intelligent PDUs to monitor power consumption in real-time, allowing data center operational staff (engineers, electricians, technicians, etc.) to optimize power usage, reduce wasted power, and effectively manage data center cooling requirements.
This helps drive down costs for the data center and its customers, resulting in enhanced operational efficiency.
Streamlining Power Management
PDUs offer remote power management capabilities, making it easier for data center facilities managers, electricians, or operational teams to control power cycling or reboot power systems without needing direct physical access to the data center. This capability helps streamline and accelerate power management, especially for large/distributed data centers.
Ensuring Data Center Scalability
PDUs are designed to support increasing power requirements as data centers grow. Modern PDUs are designed to handle high-density power loads, including from the most modern and energetically demanding computers, servers, and network equipment. Some PDUs are designed with modular capabilities, allowing additional power modules or electrical outlets to be installed when needed.
These capabilities mean that data centers can scale their operations by adding more high-performance IT equipment and devices without having to upgrade power distribution infrastructure or switch to a higher capacity PDU.
Experience Stable and Reliable Power for Your Workloads in a TierPoint Data Center
TierPoint offers comprehensive data center services throughout our interconnected network of 40+ state-of-the-art data centers across the United States.
TierPoint facilities are powered by the most advanced power and cooling systems, delivering the highest standard of performance, reliability, and uptime for our customers.
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Book an intro call with us to learn more about ultra-reliable PDUs and other high-performance IT equipment used to power and protect customer workloads in TierPoint’s state-of-the-art data centers.
