Achieving Greater Energy Efficiency in Data Centers Through Lights-Out Management

23.11.2021

4 Min. read

Most servers in data centers run around the clock, 365/24/7 – but often, they don’t need to, and this comes at a significant cost to energy consumption. With Lights Out Management via standalone controllers, systems can be powered on as needed and effortlessly maintained remotely.

At night, the lights in server rooms go out because no one is on-site to monitor or maintain the constantly running systems. If maintenance is required, it’s typically handled remotely today through hardware modules with their own power supply, which take control of the systems. These modules also allow servers – or office desktops that often keep running – to be centrally shut down and powered back up on demand, just before the workday begins. This is the essence of Lights Out Management, which IP Insider describes as a form of out-of-band management.

Out-of-band management demands greater security

Out-of-band (literally “outside the band”) means – unlike in-band management – that devices are controlled not through the same network but via a separate one. However, this also introduces specific security requirements. According to IP Insider, most LoM (Lights Out Management) solutions today include identity and access management features to prevent unauthorized access. This is especially critical when LoM systems are operated over the internet. Without such safeguards, a module – like a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) in IPMI solutions, installed as a plug-in card – could grant full control over servers or workstations, leaving the door wide open for misuse. IPMI stands for Intelligent Platform Management Interface, a standardized interface for remotely managing and maintaining servers, computers, or even mobile devices. Some manufacturers, including Intel, HP, Dell, and NEC, have also introduced proprietary LoM solutions.

Green-IT Software, also known as AxoNet Software and based in Kirchheim unter Teck between Nürtingen and Göppingen, specializes in selling LoM solutions and offers them for private consumers and mobile devices as well. Martin Rothschink, who founded the company in 1998, developed the energy-saving program “Lights-out” for the then-new Windows Home Server (WHS) a decade later – a tool now operated under Green-IT Software and licensed to Acer in 2009. For B2B customers, the company highlights the ability to centrally shut down all workstations in the evening and power them back up in the morning, ensuring they’re updated before employees arrive. Another use case: servers can wake up solely for data backups or only when a computer on the network is turned on or “woken up.” The more devices connected, the greater the potential for significant energy and cost savings.

A wealth of features and benefits

The IP Insider article lists additional typical LoM functions, including reading data like processor temperature and fan speed, installing new operating systems or BIOS updates, restoring servers, logging all actions, displaying status messages transmitted via SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), configuring RAID controllers, and integrating storage drives or ISO images over the network.

For the authors of IP Insider, out-of-band server management via Lights Out Management offers several advantages, such as:

Remote access to all critical functions and hardware components
Independence from the server’s state or operating system
A feature set comparable to physical server access
Reduced effort, costs, and on-site administrative staff
Centralized administration of distributed servers
Automation of management tasks
Easy inventory of server hardware
Management via separate network connections

Conclusion

LoM technology isn’t just a way to save on personnel and resources. Its real advantage lies in its energy-saving potential, as servers and desktops – often left running pointlessly after office hours – only need to be “woken up” when required. That’s a major step toward greater sustainability in data centers and IT environments overall. For private users and small businesses with just a few employees, the energy and cost savings may seem negligible, but for mid-sized companies with 100 staff, the investment can pay off quickly – and even more so for massive server farms.

Source: Adobe Stock / Matthieu