Put ESXI in S3 mode (sleep) when not used

[mika91]

Hi,

I'll build a new home server, and I have some concern about power consumption.

I'd prefer my server not to keep running when not necessary, so the idea would be to put ESXI in sleep mode. (and use wol to wake it up)

I'm currently using whs2011 with lights-out add-in, and it monitors my activities (processor and network usage, remote connections, running process...) to define if the server could go to sleep mode.

Is there this kind feature with ESXI ? or any alternative?

Thanks

[Vikas Shitole]

Yes, VMware offers DPM (Distributed power management) feature that comes with vCenter server. .

.

DPM saves more power even than S3 mode. DPM puts host into (ACPI S5) state via either wake-on-LAN (WoL) packets or these out-of-band methods: Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) or HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) technology.

DPM introduction :

Consolidation of physical servers into virtual machines that share host physical resources can result in significant reductions in the costs associated with hardware maintenance and power consumption. VMware® Distributed Power Management (VMware DPM) provides additional power savings beyond this initial benefit by

dynamically consolidating workloads even further during periods of low resource utilization. Virtual machines are migrated onto fewer hosts and the un-needed ESX hosts are powered off. When workload demands increase, ESX hosts are powered back on and virtual machines are redistributed to them.

Refer: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Distributed-Power-Management-vSphere.pdf

Note: As DPM is vCenter feature, hence you need  vCenter enterprise license.

Please let me know if you need more info.

[mika91]

Hi,

From my I read, DPM needs more than one ESXI host, and distribute VM between them to save power.

[Vikas Shitole]

Yes you are correct. DPM requires minimum 2 hosts.

DPM is vCenter cluster feature, It can be enabled as part of enabling DRS on the host cluster. DRS does load balancing based on CPU & memory, it does not make any sense if DRS cluster has only one host. Minimum 2 hosts are required as there should be at-least one host in the DRS cluster who can keep your VMs up & running. Hence you need minimum 2 hosts in a cluster. Based on DPM threshold, DPM will keep host powered ON which consumes less power.  DPM can work with DRS as well as HA. When DRS & HA requires more resources, DPM automatically powers on the hosts.

[mika91]

ok.
But I will have only one ESXI box

[Vikas Shitole]

Ok ...Then you can leverage HPM .

Relationship between HPM and DPM

vSphere HPM in ESXi 5.5 is designed to reduce the power consumption and to get the optimal performance per watt of ESXi hosts. vSphere DPM approaches the energy efficiency problem from a different angle. It tries to completely power off hosts by consolidating running virtual machines onto the smallest possible set of hosts on a timescale of five minutes or more. HPM, in contrast, attempts to reduce power consumption per host, on a timescale of milliseconds. HPM and DPM are complementary; each one can save power. And they work well together, saving more power than when either is used alone.

Please refer for more details:http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/hpm-perf-vsphere55.pdf

Also :Power Management and Performance in ESXi 5.1 | VMware VROOM! Blog - VMware Blogs