Performance-based workload scheduling in multi-core architectures

• US 20060090161A1
• Filed: 10/26/2004
• Published: 04/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Bodas, Devadatta V., Nakajima, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,788,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Systems and methods of managing workloads provide for detecting a workload for a system having a first processor core with a first performance indicator and a second processor core with a second performance indicator. The workload is scheduled based on the first and second performance indicators settings. In one embodiment, a performance feasibility index is calculated for each core based on the core'"'"'s frequency setting and utilization and the workload is assigned to the core associated with the highest index.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting a workload for a system having a first processor core with a first performance indicator and a second processor core with a second performance indicator; and

scheduling the workload based on the first and second performance indicators.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling includes scheduling the workload based on a first frequency setting and a second frequency setting.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein scheduling the workload includes:

determining an availability based on a utilization of the first processor core;

calculating a first index based on the availability and the first frequency setting;

repeating the determining and the calculating for the second processor core to obtain a second index; and

scheduling the workload based on the first and second indices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the calculating includes multiplying each availability by a corresponding frequency setting.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein scheduling the workload includes:

determining a highest index among the first and second indices; and

assigning the workload to a core that corresponds to the highest index.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling includes scheduling the workload based on a first cache size and a second cache size.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting includes detecting a workload for a system having a first multi-core processor that includes the first processor core and a second multi-core processor that includes the second processor core, the first processor core sharing the first frequency setting with a first plurality of cores and the second processor core sharing the second frequency setting with a second plurality of cores.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a first processor core to have a first performance indicator;

a second processor core to have a second performance indicator; and

scheduling logic to detect a workload for the apparatus and schedule the workload based on the first and second performance indicators.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first performance indicator is to include a first frequency setting and the second performance indicator is to include a second frequency setting.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the scheduling logic is to determine an availability based on a utilization of the first processor core, calculate a first index based on the availability and the first frequency setting, repeat the determining and the calculating for the second processor core to obtain a second index and schedule the workload based on the first and second indices.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the scheduling logic is to multiply each availability by a corresponding frequency setting.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further including a plurality of counters, each counter being disposed within a processor core to multiply an availability by a corresponding frequency setting.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the scheduling logic is to determine a highest index among the first and second indices and assign the workload to a core that corresponds to the highest index.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the scheduling logic is to schedule the workload based on a first cache size and a second cache size.

15. The apparatus of claim 8, further including a first multi-core processor that includes the first processor core and a second multi-core processor that includes the second processor core.

16. A system comprising:

a first socket coupled to a first processor, the first processor having a first plurality of cores and a first performance indicator that is shared by the first plurality of cores;

a second socket coupled to a second processor, the second processor having a second plurality of cores and a second performance indicator that is shared by the second plurality of cores; and

scheduling logic to detect a workload for the system and schedule the workload based on the first performance indicator and the second performance indicator.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first performance indicator is to include a first frequency setting and the second performance indicator is to include a second frequency setting.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the scheduling logic is to determine an availability of each of the first and second plurality of cores based on utilizations of the first and second plurality of cores, calculate indices based on the utilizations and the first and second frequency settings and schedule the workload based on the indices.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the scheduling logic is to multiply each availability by a corresponding frequency setting.

20. The system of claim 19, further including a plurality of counters, each counter being disposed within a core to multiply an availability by a corresponding frequency setting.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the scheduling logic is to determine a highest index among the first and second indices and assign the workload to a core that corresponds to the highest index.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the scheduling logic is to schedule the workload based on a first cache size and a second cache size.

23. A machine readable medium comprising a stored set of instructions which if executed are operable to:

detect a workload for a system having a first processor core with a first performance indicator and a second processor core with a second performance indicator; and

schedule the workload based on the first and second performance indicators.

24. The medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions are to be operable to schedule the workload based on a first frequency setting and a second frequency setting.

25. The medium of claim 24, wherein the instructions are to be operable to:

determine an availability based on a utilization of the first processor core;

calculate a first index based on the availability and the first frequency setting;

repeat the determining and the calculating for the second processor core to obtain a second index; and

schedule the workload based on the first and second indices.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions are to be operable to multiply each availability by a corresponding frequency setting.

27. The medium of claim 26, wherein the instructions are to be operable to:

determine a highest index among the first and second indices; and

assign the workload to a core that corresponds to the highest index.

28. The medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions are to be operable to schedule the workload based on a first cache size and a second cache size.

29. The medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions are to be operable to detect a workload for a system having a first multi-core processor that includes the first processor core and a second multi-core processor that includes the second processor core.

30. A method comprising:

detecting a workload for a computing system having a first processor core with a first performance indicator that includes a first frequency setting and a second processor core with a second performance indicator that includes a second frequency setting;

determining an availability based on a utilization of the first processor core;

multiplying the availability by the first frequency setting to obtain a first performance feasibility index;

repeating the determining and the multiplying for the second processor core to obtain a second performance feasibility index;

determining a highest index among the first and second performance feasibility indices; and

assigning the workload to a core that corresponds to the highest index.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the detecting includes detecting a workload for a computing system having a first multi-core processor that includes the first processor core and a second multi-core processor that includes the second processor core, the first processor core sharing the first frequency setting with a first plurality of cores and the second processor core sharing the second frequency setting with a second plurality of cores.

32. The method of claim 30, further including using a plurality of counters to multiply the availabilities by the frequency settings.