Method and apparatus for power-efficient high-capacity scalable storage system

• US 20050210304A1
• Filed: 03/08/2005
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: COPAN Systems, Inc. (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Guha, Aloke, Hartung, Steven Fredrick
• Application Number:
  US11/076,447
• Publication Number:
  US 20050210304A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3268 Power saving in hard disk drive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0625 Power saving in storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method for managing power consumption among a plurality of storage devices is disclosed. A system and a computer program product for managing power consumption among a plurality of storage devices are also disclosed. All the storage devices from among the plurality of storage devices are not powered-on at the same time. A request is received for powering on a storage device. A priority level for the request is determined, and a future power consumption (FPC) of the plurality of storage devices is predicted. The FPC is compared with a threshold. If the threshold is exceeded, a signal is sent to power off a powered-on device. The signal is sent only when the powered-on device is being used for a request with a lower priority than the determined priority. Once, the powered-on device is powered off, the requested storage device is powered on.

Claims

1. A method for managing power consumption among a plurality of storage devices wherein less than all of the plurality of storage devices are powered-on at the same time, the method comprising:

receiving a request for powering-on a requested storage device;

determining a priority level for the request;

predicting a future power consumption by adding a current total power consumption of the plurality of storage devices to the anticipated power consumption of the requested storage device;

comparing the future power consumption against a predetermined threshold; and

if the future power consumption is greater than the threshold then sending a signal to power-off a powered-on device used for a request having a priority level below the determined priority level.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a signal to power-on the requested device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the signals are sent to a disk manager.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the disk manager controls disks in a redundant array of independent disks.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the disk manager controls disks in a massive array of idle disks.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a priority level for the request includes:

determining if the request is for a host interface user data access.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a priority level for the request includes:

determining if the request is for a critical RAID background rebuild.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a priority level for the request includes:

determining if the request is for a required management access.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a priority level for the request includes:

determining if the request is for an optional management access.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a priority level for the request includes:

determining if the request is for a disk that is currently powered on but not currently in use.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein requests are prioritized according to the following order where first listed requests have a higher level of priority:

host interface user data access;

critical RAID background rebuild;

required management access;

optional management access;

a request for a disk that is currently powered on but not currently in use.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the future power consumption against a predetermined threshold includes:

using a power budget.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the power budget is segmented.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

using a hysteresis function to determine whether the power budget will be exceeded.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a powered-on particular drive being used for a lower-priority request to a higher priority request; and

using the particular drive to service the higher priority request.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rejecting the received request.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a priority level for the request includes:

predetermining a priority order of two or more types of requests; and

comparing the request with the predetermined priority order.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

changing the priority order.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein changing the priority order occurs during accessing of one or more storage devices.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein changing the priority order occurs at a time of receiving the request.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein changing the priority order is performed to balance storage device workload.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein changing the priority order is performed to meet a performance constraint.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the performance constraint includes balancing user I/O throughput versus maintaining data availability.

24. An apparatus for managing power consumption among a plurality of storage devices wherein less than all of the plurality of storage devices are powered-on at the same time, the apparatus comprising:

a host command interface for receiving a request for powering-on a requested storage device;

a power budget manager for determining a priority level for the request and for predicting a future power consumption by adding a current total power consumption of the plurality of storage devices to the anticipated power consumption of the requested storage device, wherein the power budget manager compares the future power consumption against a power budget; and

if the future power consumption is greater than the power budget the power budget manager sends a signal to power-off a powered-on device used for a request having a priority level below the determined priority level.

25. A computer-readable medium including instructions executable by a processor for managing power consumption among a plurality of storage devices wherein less than all of the plurality of storage devices are powered-on at the same time, the computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a request for powering-on a requested storage device;

one or more instructions for determining a priority level for the request;

one or more instructions for predicting a future power consumption by adding a current total power consumption of the plurality of storage devices to the anticipated power consumption of the requested storage device; and

one or more instructions for comparing the future power consumption against a predetermined threshold; and

if the future power consumption is greater than the threshold then sending a signal to power-off a powered-on device used for a request having a priority level below the determined priority level.