System and method for intelligent control of power consumption of distributed services during periods when power consumption must be reduced

• US 20030084359A1
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Larson, Thane M., Bresniker, Kirk M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,043,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/324
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A system and method intelligently control power consumption of distributed services using a computer system that provides independent computing elements each capable of entering a power saving mode. In accordance with the present invention, three different algorithms are disclosed. The first algorithm is a reduced load power saving algorithm. As the load decreases, duplicate instances of services can be gracefully suspended and the host processor cards hosting these instances can enter a power saving mode. The second algorithm is a priority-based power consumption reduction algorithm. If power consumption must be reduced, services having less of a contribution to revenue are suspended before components that having a higher contribution to revenue. The third algorithm is a minimal power-consuming redundant computing hardware algorithm that allows a “cold spare” host processing card to be pressed into service if another card fails.

Claims

1. A priority-based method of reducing power consumption of a distributed application comprised of a plurality of components in response to an indication that power consumption must be reduced, wherein the plurality of components are hosted by a plurality of computing elements that can each enter a power saving mode, the method comprising:

detecting a need to reduce power consumption of the distributed application;

identifying in priority order components having a lower priority;

gracefully suspending all identified components on one or more of the plurality of computing elements; and

signaling the one or more of the plurality of computing elements to enter the power saving mode.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each component is identified as having a lower priority based on a contribution to a revenue stream of the component.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the power saving mode is a suspend-to-RAM mode, and gracefully suspending all identified components on one or more of the plurality of computing elements comprises allowing the identified components to finish pending transactions.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the power saving mode removes all power from the one or more of the plurality of computing elements, and gracefully suspending all identified components on one or more of the plurality of computing elements comprises:

allowing the identified components to finish pending transactions;

shutting down the identified components; and

shutting down operating systems on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements.

5. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

detecting availability of increased power supplies capable of supporting additional suspended components of the distributed application;

identifying in priority order higher priority suspended components that can resume operation in view of the availability of increased power supplies;

signaling one or more of the plurality of computing elements to enter a normal operation mode from the power saving mode; and

initializing all identified components on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein each suspended component is identified as having a higher priority based on a contribution to a revenue stream of the component.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the power saving mode removes all power from the one or more of the plurality of computing elements, and initializing all identified components on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements comprises:

loading the operating system on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements; and

loading identified components on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements.

8. A computer program product comprising:

at least one computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for causing a reduction in power consumption of a distributed application comprised of a plurality of components in response to an indication that power consumption must be reduced, wherein the plurality of components are hosted by a plurality of computing elements that can each enter a power saving mode, the computer program product including;

first computer readable program code devices configured to detect a need to reduce power consumption of the distributed application;

second computer readable program code devices configured to identify in priority order components having a lower priority;

third computer readable program code devices configured to gracefully suspend all identified components on one or more of the plurality of computing elements; and

fourth computer readable program code devices configured to signal the one or more of the plurality of computing elements to enter the power saving mode.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein each component is identified as having a lower priority based on a contribution to a revenue stream of the component.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the power saving mode is a suspend-to-RAM mode, and the third computer readable program code devices are configured to allow the identified components to finish pending transactions.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the power saving mode removes all power from the one or more of the plurality of computing elements, and the third computer readable program code devices are configured to allow the identified components to finish pending transactions, shut down the identified components, shut down operating systems on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 and further including:

fifth computer readable program code devices configured to detect availability of increased power supplies capable of supporting additional suspended components of the distributed application;

sixth computer readable program code devices configured to identify in priority order higher priority suspended components that can resume operation in view of the availability of increased power supplies;

seventh computer readable program code devices configured to signal one or more of the plurality of computing elements to enter a normal operation mode from the power saving mode; and

eighth computer readable program code devices configured to initialize all identified components on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein each suspended component is identified as having a higher priority based on a contribution to a revenue stream of the component.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the power saving mode removes all power from the one or more of the plurality of computing elements, and the eighth computer readable program code devices are configured to load the operating system on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements, and load identified components on the one or more of the plurality of computing elements.

15. A computer system comprising:

a backplane;

a plurality of host processor cards coupled to the backplane, with the plurality of host processor cards hosting a distributed application comprised of a plurality of components; and

a management unit coupled to the back plane, the management unit operable to signal each of the plurality of host processor cards to enter a power saving mode, and executing a program that;

detects a need to reduce power consumption of the distributed application;

identifies in priority order components having a lower priority;

gracefully suspends all identified components on one or more of the plurality of host processing cards; and

signals the one or more of the plurality of host processing cards to enter the power saving mode.

16. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the management unit is also operable to signal each of the plurality of host processor cards to enter a normal operation mode from the power saving mode, and the program executing on the management unit also:

detects availability of increased power supplies capable of supporting additional suspended components of the distributed application;

identifies in priority order higher priority suspended components that can resume operation in view of the availability of increased power supplies;

signals one or more of the plurality of host processing cards to enter a normal operation mode from the power saving mode; and

initializes all identified components on the one or more of the plurality of host processing cards.

17. A data center that hosts a distributed application comprised of a plurality of components, the data center comprising:

a plurality of computer systems, each computer system comprising;

a backplane;

a plurality of host processor cards coupled to the backplane, with the plurality of host processor cards hosting components of the distributed application; and

a management unit coupled to the back plane, the management unit operable to signal each of the plurality of host processor cards to enter a power saving mode; and

a load management system in communication with each of the management units of the plurality of computer systems, the load management system executing a program that;

detects a need to reduce power consumption of the distributed application;

identifies in priority order components having a lower priority;

signals one or more of the plurality of host processor cards in one or more of the plurality of computer systems to gracefully suspend all identified components on the one or more of the plurality of host processor cards in the one or more of the plurality of computer systems; and

signals the management units in the one or more of the plurality of computer systems to collectively signal the one or more of the plurality of host processor cards to enter the power saving mode.

18. The data center of claim 17 wherein each management unit is also operable to signal each of the plurality of host processor cards to enter a normal operation mode from the power saving mode, and the program executing on the load management unit also:

detects availability of increased power supplies capable of supporting additional suspended components of the distributed application;

identifies in priority order higher priority suspended components that can resume operation in view of the availability of increased power supplies;

signals the management units in the one or more of the plurality of computer systems to collectively signal one or more of the plurality of host processor cards to enter a normal operation mode from the power saving mode; and

signals one or more of the plurality of host processor cards in one or more of the plurality of computer systems to initializes all identified needed instances of components on the one or more of the plurality of host processor cards in the one or more of the plurality of computer systems.