Data Center Modeling Using a Cyber-Physical Systems Lens

Moises Levy, Daniel Raviv, Jason O. Hallstrom

Abstract: Data center systems must adopt end-to-end resource management, covering both cyber and physical components. Modeling data center components can help to estimate and predict key performance indicators under various assumptions. This paper describes a data center modeling approach using a cyber-physical systems lens. The approach is aimed at facilitating the modeling of quality of service and energy consumption parameters to evaluate data centers under different workload and IT resources conditions, and to then compare them to one another, or compare different scenarios under which data centers operate. Results of the model are also a way to communicate and better understand data center behavior given the data center workload, and to help evaluate areas of improvement.