Power management mechanism for data storage environment

• US 10,001,826 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2009
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Liu, Lei
• Primary Examiner(s): Cleary, Thomas J
• Application Number:
  US12/354,743
• Publication Number:
  US 20100180131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,442 Days
• Field of Search: 713300, 713340, 713324, 714 612, 714 63, 714 15, 714 22, 714 24, 714 3811, 710260, 711135, 718103, 718107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/305 in the event of power-supply fluctuations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for facilitating power instability in a central electronics complex (CEC) of data storage computing environment in advance of a potential power failure is provided. Upon receipt of a first early power off warning (EPOW) signal indicating power instability, a first priority of execution of a first data storage task to be performed pursuant to a new data storage request is decreased, while a second priority of execution of a second data storage task to destage data in nonvolatile storage (NVS) to disk is increased. Upon receipt of a second EPOW signal indicating power failure, a system shutdown procedure is executed.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating power instability in a central electronics complex (CEC) of data storage computing environment in advance of a potential power failure, comprising:

upon receipt of a first early power off warning (EPOW) signal indicating an input electrical power instability has been detected in the CEC, decreasing a first priority of execution of a first data storage task to be performed pursuant to a new data storage request thereby delaying acceptance of the new data storage request to a limit of protocol used for conveying the new data storage request, while increasing a second priority of execution of a second data storage task to destage data in nonvolatile storage (NVS) to disk;

upon the passage of at least a predetermined threshold of time comprising no less than 30 seconds subsequent to the first EPOW thereby allowing a timeframe for the decreasing the first priority and increasing the second priority wherein a complete destaging of all the data in the NVS to the disk is attempted, and upon receipt of a second EPOW signal indicating power failure, executing a system shutdown procedure; and

while decreasing the first priority and increasing the second priority upon receipt of the first EPOW such that the power failure has not yet occurred, monitoring execution of the second data storage task and additional data storage tasks to destage the data in NVS to the disk in view of a battery capacity time for performing the system shutdown procedure, wherein if the second and additional data storage tasks are not able to be completed within the battery capacity time as monitored during the decreasing of the first priority and increasing the second priority, the system shutdown procedure comprising a fire hose dump (FHD) procedure is immediately executed regardless of whether the second EPOW has been received.

2. The method of claim 1, further including sending the first EPOW signal to the CEC in response to a detection of a power instability.

3. The method of claim 2, further including sending the second EPOW signal to the CEC in response to one of:

(a) a detection of a power failure, and (b) the detection of the power failure and the expiration of a predetermined time following the detection of the power instability.

4. The method of claim 3, further including sending a third EPOW signal to the CEC in response to one of:

(a) a detection of a power restoration, and (b) the detection of the power restoration and the expiration of the predetermined time following the detection of the power instability, wherein the third EPOW indicates the power restoration to the CEC.

5. The method of claim 4, further including selecting data fields in a format structure of the first, second and third EPOW signals to provide indicators of the power instability, the power failure and power restoration to the CEC.

6. A system for facilitating power instability in a central electronics complex (CEC) of data storage computing environment in advance of a potential power failure, comprising:

a power management module operable on the CEC, the power management module in communication with a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory unit in the CEC, wherein the power management module is adapted for;

upon receipt of a first early power off warning (EPOW) signal indicating an input electrical power instability has been detected in the CEC, decreasing a first priority of execution of a first data storage task to be performed pursuant to a new data storage request thereby delaying acceptance of the new data storage request to a limit of protocol used for conveying the new data storage request, while increasing a second priority of execution of a second data storage task to destage data in nonvolatile storage (NVS) to disk,

upon the passage of at least a predetermined threshold of time comprising no less than 30 seconds subsequent to the first EPOW thereby allowing a timeframe for the decreasing the first priority and increasing the second priority wherein a complete destaging of all the data in the NVS to the disk is attempted, and upon receipt of a second EPOW signal indicating power failure, executing a system shutdown procedure, and

while decreasing the first priority and increasing the second priority upon receipt of the first EPOW such that the power failure has not yet occurred, monitoring execution of the second data storage task and additional data storage tasks to destage the data in NVS to the disk in view of a battery capacity time for performing the system shutdown procedure, wherein if the second and additional data storage tasks are not able to be completed within the battery capacity time as monitored during the decreasing of the first priority and increasing the second priority, the system shutdown procedure comprising a fire hose dump (FHD) procedure is immediately executed regardless of whether the second EPOW has been received.

7. The system of claim 6, further including a power supply control module operable on an alternating current/direct current (AC/DC) power supply, the power supply control module in communication with the CEC, wherein the power supply control module is adapted for sending the first EPOW signal to the CEC in response to a detection of a power instability.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the power supply control module is further adapted for sending the second EPOW signal to the CEC in response to one of:

(a) a detection of a power failure, and (b) the detection of the power failure and the expiration of a predetermined time following the detection of the power instability.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the power supply control module is further adapted for sending a third EPOW signal to the CEC in response to one of:

(a) a detection of a power restoration, and (b) the detection of the power restoration and the expiration of the predetermined time following the detection of the power instability, wherein the third EPOW indicates the power restoration to the CEC.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein data fields in a format structure of the first, second and third EPOW signals are selected to provide indicators of the power instability, the power failure and power restoration to the CEC.

11. A computer program product for facilitating power instability in a central electronics complex (CEC) of data storage computing environment in advance of a potential power failure, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion for, upon receipt of a first early power off warning (EPOW) signal indicating an input electrical power instability has been detected in the CEC, decreasing a first priority of execution of a first data storage task to be performed pursuant to a new data storage request thereby delaying acceptance of the new data storage request to a limit of protocol used for conveying the new data storage request, while increasing a second priority of execution of a second data storage task to destage data in nonvolatile storage (NVS) to disk;

a second executable portion for, upon the passage of at least a predetermined threshold of time comprising no less than 30 seconds subsequent to the first EPOW thereby allowing a timeframe for the decreasing the first priority and increasing the second priority wherein a complete destaging of all the data in the NVS to the disk is attempted, and upon receipt of a second EPOW signal indicating power failure, executing a system shutdown procedure; and

a third executable portion for, while decreasing the first priority and increasing the second priority upon receipt of the first EPOW such that the power failure has not yet occurred, monitoring execution of the second data storage task and additional data storage tasks to destage the data in NVS to the disk in view of a battery capacity time for performing the system shutdown procedure as monitored during the decreasing of the first priority and increasing the second priority, wherein if the second and additional data storage tasks are not able to be completed within the battery capacity time, the system shutdown procedure comprising a fire hose dump (FHD) procedure is immediately executed regardless of whether the second EPOW has been received.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further including a fourth executable portion for sending the first EPOW signal to the CEC in response to a detection of power instability.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further including a fifth executable portion for sending the second EPOW signal to the CEC in response to one of:

(a) a detection of a power failure, and (b) the detection of the power failure and the expiration of a predetermined time following the detection of the power instability.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further including a sixth executable portion for sending a third EPOW signal to the CEC in response to one of:

(a) a detection of a power restoration, and (b) the detection of the power restoration and the expiration of the predetermined time following the detection of the power instability, wherein the third EPOW indicates the power restoration to the CEC.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further including a seventh executable portion for selecting data fields in the first, second and third EPOW signals to provide indicators of the power instability, the power failure and power restoration to the CEC.