POWER PROFILING APPLICATION FOR MANAGING POWER ALLOCATION IN AN INFORMATION HANDLING SYSTEM

• US 20070260896A1
• Filed: 05/04/2006
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Brumley, Alan, Brundridge, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,555,666 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode

Abstract

A method, system, and software instructions for allocating power in a information handling system are operable to respond to a power profiling request by transitioning a processing resource to a first power consumption state and obtaining and storing a first power consumption value. The first power consumption value is then retrieved and used to allocate power to the first processing resource in response to a power on request. The first power consumption state may be a state in which power consumption approximates a maximum power consumption. The processing resource may be further transitioned to a second power consumption state and a second power consumption value obtained. The second power consumption state may be a reduced performance state. Thereafter, responsive to determining that the system lacks sufficient power budget to fulfill a pending request for power, the processing resource is throttled and power is allocated using the second power consumption value.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

an information handling resource;

a power supply resource configured to provide power to the information handling resource;

a power profiling module to transition the information handling resource to a first power consumption state; and

a power monitoring module to record a level of power supplied by the power supply resource while the information handling resource is in the first power consumption state.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information handling resource is a processing resource including at least one processor and system memory accessible to the processor.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the information handling resource comprises a server blade including a printed circuit board to which the processors and system memory are connected and suitable for insertion into a rack based chassis.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the information handling system comprises a blade server including the chassis, wherein the chassis includes multiple slots suitable for receiving multiple server blades.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the first power consumption state comprises a state in which the power consumption of the processing resource exceeds a specified percentage of the maximum power consumption.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the power profiling module is further operable to transition the information handling system to a second power consumption state and the power monitoring module is further operable to record a second level of power supplied by the power supply resource while the information handling resource is in the second power consumption state.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first power consumption state comprises a high power consumption state and the second power consumption state comprises a reduced power consumption state.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a management resource coupled to the information handling resource and operable to allocate power to the information handling resource in response to a request for power from the information handling resource, wherein the request indicates at least the first level of power and the management resource determines a power allocation based at least in part on the indicated first level of power.

9. A method of managing power allocation in an information handling system, comprising:

responsive to a power profiling request from the processing resource, informing a management module of the power profiling request;

transitioning the processing resource to a first power consumption state;

while the processing resource is in the first power consumption state, obtaining a first power consumption value indicative of an amount of power consumed by the processing resource when in the first power consumption state;

storing the first power consumption value; and

responsive to a request for power allocation from the processing resource, using the first power consumption value to determine whether sufficient power is available to grant the request and to allocate power to the processing resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein informing the management module of the power profiling request comprises informing the management module by a service processor of the processing resource.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising, prior to obtaining the power consumption value, powering off all other processing resources in the information handling system.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising, prior to obtaining the power consumption value, powering off all but a first power supply module.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein transitioning the processing resource to a first power consumption state comprises transitioning the processing resource to a power consumption state in which power consumption of the processing resource approximates a maximum power consumption of the processing resource.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising, responsive to the power profiling request, transitioning the processing resource to a second power consumption state and obtaining a second power consumption value indicative of an amount of power consumed by the processing resource when in the second power consumption state.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein transitioning the processing resource to the second power consumption state comprises transitioning the processing resource to a power consumption state in which power consumption of the processing resource approximates a power consumption of the processing resource in a reduced performance state.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising, responsive to the information handling system determining that insufficient power is available to handle a power allocation request, transitioning the processing resource to the throttled performance state and allocating power based at least in part on the second power consumption value.

17. A computer readable storage medium including embedded computer executable instructions for allocating power in a information handling system, the instructions comprising:

instructions for responding to a power profiling request by transitioning a processing resource to a first power consumption state;

instructions for obtaining and storing a first power consumption value indicative of the power consumption of the first processing resource while in the first power consumption state; and

instructions for retrieving and using the first power consumption value to allocate power to the first processing resource responsive to a power on request from the first processing resource.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein transitioning the processing resource to a first power consumption state comprises transitioning the processing resource to a power consumption state in which power consumption of the processing resource approximates a maximum power consumption of the processing resource.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for transitioning the processing resource to a second power consumption state and obtaining a second power consumption value indicative of power consumption of the processing resource when in the second power consumption state, wherein the second power consumption state comprises a performance throttled state.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions for throttling the processing resource and allocating the second power consumption value responsive to determining that the information handling system lacks sufficient power budget to fulfill a pending request for power.