Using priorities to select power usage for multiple devices

• US 20080178029A1
• Filed: 01/19/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Parchem, John M., McGrane, Sean Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US11/655,956
• Publication Number:
  US 20080178029A1
• 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 1/3246 by software initiated power-off
• 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

Abstract

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to using priorities to select power usage for multiple devices. In aspects, workloads or the devices to which they are assigned are each assigned a priority. To remain within a power budget, the power levels on one or more of the devices may be adjusted based on the priority assigned to the device (or a workload thereon). If needed, devices may be instructed to operate at lower power than associated with their priority or may even be shut down to remain within the budget. A data structure is used to associate workloads or devices with priorities.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform actions, comprising:

obtaining a power budget for a plurality of workloads, the workloads being assigned to devices, the power budget indicating a maximum power that the devices together are allowed to consume;

obtaining a priority for a workload;

based at least in part on the priority, selecting a power profile for a device assigned to the workload; and

instructing the device to operate at a power level associated with the power profile.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the devices are housed in a rack and wherein the power budget applies to workloads assigned to devices in the rack.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the power budget is less than power that the rack is capable of supplying.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein selecting a power profile for a device based at least in part on the priority comprises retrieving an association between the power profile and the priority from a data structure that associates priorities with power profiles.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein power levels at which the devices are capable of operating are stored by a console device that is used in part to manage power to the devices and wherein instructing the device to operate at a power level associated with the power profile comprises the console device instructing the device to operate at the power level.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein each of the devices is assigned to one workload and wherein no device is assigned to more than one workload.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least one device is assigned to more than one workload.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a priority of another workload;

based at least part on the priority of the other workload, selecting a power profile for a device assigned to the other workload; and

instructing the device assigned to the other workload to operate at a power level associated with the power profile for the device assigned to the other workload.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein instructing the device to operate at a power level associated with the power profile comprises providing an indication of the power profile to the device, the device being configured to consume less or equal power than the power level associated with the power profile in response to receiving the indication.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein instructing the device to operate at a power level associated with the power profile comprises sending an indication of performance desired to the device.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the indication is a percentage that indicates a percentage of a maximum power the device is capable of consuming.

12. A method implemented at least in part by a computer, the method comprising:

obtaining a power budget for a plurality of devices, the devices being associated with priorities, each device being associated with a power priority;

determining whether the power budget is greater than the power consumed by the devices when operating at full power;

if the power budget is greater than the power consumed by the devices when each device is operating at full power, determining whether to allow the devices to operate at full power; and

if the power budget is not greater than the power consumed by the devices when each device is operating at full power, instructing at least one of the devices to operate at a power level less than full power based at least in part on the power priority associated with the device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether to allow the devices to operate at full power comprises applying a policy.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether to allow the devices to operate at full power comprises allowing the devices to operate at full power if no policy applies.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising if the power budget is not greater than the power consumed by the devices when each device is operating at a power level associated with the power level associated with the device, instructing at least one of the devices to operate at a power level less than the power level associated with the power priority associated with the at least one of the devices.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising if the power budget is not greater than the power consumed by the devices when each device is operating at a minimum power level associated with the device, instructing at least one of the devices to shut down.

17. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a plurality of first fields for storing priorities of a plurality of devices assigned to workloads that are allotted a power budget over which a combined power draw of the devices is not to exceed, each power level indicating a maximum power a devices assigned to a workload is not to exceed at the power level; and

a plurality of second fields for storing associations between the power profiles and priorities, each priority being associated with at least one of the power profiles

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of third fields for storing associations between the priorities and the workloads, the third fields including identifiers that identifying workloads.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of third fields for storing performance desired for each of the workloads, each performance desired field relating to a power level of a device assigned to one of the workloads.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the priorities are relative with respect to the workloads.