Throttle management for blade system

• US 20070143635A1
• Filed: 12/19/2005
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hughes, James, Scollard, Michael, McMillan, Henry, Shippy, Gary, Yarbrough, Maya, Purrington, Challis, SMITH, PAUL
• Granted Patent: US 7,650,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands

Abstract

Power is allocated to blades based on an estimate of the actual power they are expected to use rather than their maximum-power draw-value. To protect against situations where the estimated actual-power draw-value is exceeded, a hardware comparator monitors the blade system load against a predetermined threshold value set by a management module (MM) based on user input. If this threshold value is exceeded, a throttle latch is triggered, based on a signal from a service processor monitoring the blade system load. The output of this latch directly engages throttling. The service processor also monitors the output of the latch and communicates information regarding the throttling to the MM for evaluation.

Claims

1. A method for throttle management in a blade computing system, comprising:

identifying an estimated maximum power usage for a first blade in the blade computing system;

allocating power to said first blade based on the identified estimated maximum power usage;

monitoring the actual power draw of said first blade; and

automatically throttling said first blade if said actual power draw reaches or exceeds a predetermined power-draw threshold level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said blade computing system comprises a plurality of blades, said method further comprising:

identifying an estimated maximum power usage for each blade in the blade computing system;

allocating power to each blade based on the identified estimated maximum power usage;

monitoring the actual power draw of each blade; and

automatically throttling any blade whose actual power draw reaches or exceeds a predetermined power-draw threshold level.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said predetermined threshold level is specific for each blade.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said threshold level for each blade is manually input to said blade.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said threshold level for each blade is incorporated into the VPD of each blade.

6. A system for throttle management in a blade computing system, comprising:

a first blade, comprising;

a service processor receiving an estimated maximum power usage value for a first blade in the blade computing system and setting said estimated maximum power usage value as a predetermined threshold level;

a sensor sensing the actual power draw of said first blade;

a comparator comparing the sensed actual power draw of said first blade with the predetermined threshold level of said first blade and issuing a comparison result; and

programmable logic configured to identify an over-threshold condition based on the comparison result of said comparator and issue a throttle command to said blade when said over-threshold condition occurs.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said blade computing system comprises a plurality of blades, with each blade comprising:

a first blade, comprising;

a service processor receiving an estimated maximum power usage value for each blade in the blade computing system and associating a predetermined power-draw threshold level with each blade based on its estimated maximum power usage value;

a sensor sensing the actual power draw of each blade;

a comparator comparing the sensed actual power draw of each blade with its associated predetermined power-draw threshold level and issuing a comparison result; and

programmable logic configured to identify an over-threshold condition based on the comparison result of said comparator and issue a throttle command to any blade for which said over-threshold condition occurs.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said predetermined power-draw threshold level is specific for each blade.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said threshold level for each blade is manually input to said blade.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said threshold level for each blade is incorporated into the VPD of each blade.