SNIA Developer Conference September 15-17, 2025 | Santa Clara, CA
June 2013 Emerald Training Event Materials
The SNIA conducted an Emerald Training Event at the SNIA Technology Center in Colorado Springs, CO on June 24-27, 2013. The target audience for this event was:
- Storage vendor company test and measurement engineers
- Independent industry labs participating in USA EPA Energy Star Data Center Program
- Labs offering SNIA Emerald testing services
- EPA recognized certifying bodies for the Data Center Program
The agenda for the event is presented below and includes materials from the sessions.
Contents
- Specifications
- Target Audience
- Training Sessions
- Product Configurations Used in Training
- Example Measurement Data Files
- Reference Materials
- References on Computer Storage Systems
Specifications
SNIA Emerald™ Power Efficiency Measurement Specification
This training is about the SNIA Emerald Power Efficiency Measurement Specification. The specification, a user guide for the specification, and other information are available from the SNIA Emerald Program. This training session was based on the V2.0 of the Measurement Specification.
EPA ENERGY STAR Data Center Storage Specification
This training is based on the Final Draft of the ENERGY STAR Data Center Storage Specification Version 1.0. Information on the ENERGY STAR Data Center Storage Specification is available from ENERGY STAR.
Target Audience
This training was developed for an audience of:
- Storage vendor company test and measurement engineers
- Independent industry labs participating in USA EPA Energy Star Data Center Program
- Labs offering SNIA Emerald testing services
- EPA recognized certifying bodies for the Data Center Program
Training Sessions
Enterprise Storage and IO Primer
Enterprise Storage - Leah Schoeb
Enterprise Storage - Storage Efficiency - Leah Schoeb
Storage Performance and IO Load Basics - Leah Schoeb
Overview of Energy Efficiency and SNIA Emerald Storage Testing
Introduction and Overview - Wayne Adams
Slides [No video]
Emerald Program Overview - Patrick Stanko
ENERGY STAR Overview and Relationship to SNIA Emerald - RJ Meyers/John Clinger
Emerald Storage Taxonomy - Patrick Stanko
Product/Family, Best Foot Forward (BFF), Test Points and Qualification Ranges - Herb Tanzer/Jim Espy
Hotbanding and Autotiering - Steve Johnson/Chuck Paridon
Lab Session: SUT Config Overview and Setup, Tiered Storage Breakout Without Tiers - Herb Tanzer/Chuck Paridon/Mike Fuhrman
[No slides] Video
Lab Session: Review Test Data - Carlos Pratt/Herb Tanzer/Mike Fuhrman/Steve Johnson
[No slides] Video
Vdbench Overview - Steve Johnson
SNIA VDBENCH Emerald Overview - Steve Johnson
Student class exercise with Vdbench - Steve Johnson
Fundamentals of Electrical Power Measurement - Michael Savittieri/Yusuf Chitalwala
Slides [No video] Related video
Power Metering Specific to Storage Products - Patrick Stanko
Running the SNIA Emerald Tests and Generating Data
80 PLUS® CERTIFICATION PROGRAM OVERVIEW - Doug McIlvoy
Lab Session: Run Scripts Against SUT - Carlos Pratt
[No slides] Video
SNIA VDBENCH Rules of Thumb - Steve Johnson
Lab Session: Observe System Running Scripts - Chuck Paridon
[No slides] Video
COM Verification - Alan Yoder
Lab Session: Tiered Storage - Chuck Paridon
[No slides] Video
Lab Session: Review Vdbench Results - Carlos Pratt
[No slides] Video
SNIA Emerald Test Execution, Data Collection and Reduction Process - Chuck Paridon
ENERGYSTAR Data Center Storage V1.0 Specification Overview - RJ Meyers/John Clinger
Working with the Data for Analysis and Reporting
SNIA Emerald Program Participation & SNIA Green Storage Initiative - David Thiel
Example(s) of Energy Star Qualified Product Family - RJ Meyers/John Clinger/Herb Tanzer
Filling out the SNIA Emerald Test Data Report - David Thiel
Slides Video TDR Template 2.0.1-01
ENERGY STAR Data Center Storage Version 1.0 Certified Body (CB) Training - RJ Meyers/John Clinger
Demartek Industry Analysis and Lab Testing Services - Dennis Martin
TUV Rheinland Energy Efficiency Testing under the Energy Star Program - Uwe Meyer
Product Configurations Used in Training
HP P6500 online 3 storage system
HP P9500 online 4 storage system
IBM DS4700 online 4 storage system
Nimbus S-class all-flash storage array online 3 storage system
Example Measurement Data Files
The following are files of measured data from testing. These files are not all from the same test run on the same product.
Example Vdbench output file.
Example power measurement output file from a Yokogawa WT210 Digital Power Meter. The power measurement data is the .csv file within the .zip container.
Example temperature measurement output file from a Digi Watchport/T Temperature Sensor.
Reference Materials
Vdbench
Vdbench is a disk I/O workload generator, developed by Oracle, used in Emerald testing. Information on Vdbench can be found here.
Here is a Vdbench script for Emerald hot bands, referenced in the training.
Power Meters
Serveral power meters are suggested in the Emerald Specification Appendix A. For information on these, please see the manufacturers' web sites.
Yokagawa Corporation of America
WT210/WT230 Digital Power Meter
Videos & Multimedia
ZES ZIMMER Electronic Systems GmbH
Information on a larger set of power meters is available from the Storage Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC).
References on Computer Storage Systems
Textbooks
- Smith, Hubert. Data Center Storage: Cost-Effective Strategies, Implementation, and Management. Boca Raton, Florida: Auerbach Publications, 2011.
- EMC Education Services. Information Storage and Mangement: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information in Classic, Virtualized, and Cloud Environments 2nd Edition. Indianapolis, Indiana: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012.
- Hitachi Data Systems Academy. Storage Concepts: Storing and Managing Digital Data (Volume 1). Santa Clara, California: Hitachi Data Systems, 2012.