[CentOS] Power consumption monitoring

[Peter Kjellstrom]

On Thursday 15 April 2010, Mathieu Baudier wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have quite a few low-end development/test servers running
> continuously and I would like to better manage their power
> consumption.
> I have found interesting information on how to perform CPU scaling
> (e.g. [1] or [2]).
>
> But I cannot find if there is a way to (software) monitor power
> consumption on CentOS (or other such data like CPU temperature, fan
> speed etc.).

Most machines simply don't have that hardware. Some laptops do and then, with 
proper kernel, you can run powertop (or read /proc/acpi/power...).

Some servers have power meters built in but uses tools specific to that 
vendor/server (like HP ppic).

> What I read so far is that support is quite limited in this kernel
> (e.g. PowerTop not providing useful information).
>
> Before I start tuning I would like to be able to measure whether my
> changes are having any impact at all.

I'd suggest that you buy an external power meter like kill-a-watt.

/Peter

> Thanks in advance,
>
> Mathieu
>
>
> [1] http://www.lesswatts.org/tips/cpu.php
> [2] http://www.spencerstirling.com/computergeek/powersaving.html
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