DATA CENTER CONTROL

• US 20110077795A1
• Filed: 09/22/2010
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric IT Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: American Power Conversion Corporation (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Zhang, Xuanhang, VanGilder, James W., Dalgas, Mikkel
• Granted Patent: US 8,560,677 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20836 Thermal management, e.g. server temperature control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Systems and methods for data center control are provided. The data center includes a plurality of racks and at least one cooling unit. The racks including at least one server. Information regarding the at least one cooling unit, the at least one server, the plurality of racks, and at least one application is received. A rack based cooling metric threshold is also received. The systems and methods can determine a layout of the data center that minimizes total power consumption of the plurality of racks and the cooling unit while maintaining cooling performance at an acceptable level based on the threshold.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of data center control, the data center including a plurality of racks and at least one cooling unit, the racks including at least one server, the method comprising:

receiving information regarding the at least one cooling unit, the at least one server, the plurality of racks, and at least one application;

receiving a rack based cooling metric threshold; and

determining a layout of the data center that minimizes total power consumption of the plurality of racks and the cooling unit while maintaining cooling performance at an acceptable level based on the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a workload distribution of the at least one application between a plurality of servers that satisfies the rack based cooling metric threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the rack based cooling metric threshold includes at least one of a hot aisle capture index threshold and a cold aisle capture index threshold, comprising:

determining, in real time, at least one of the hot aisle capture index threshold and the cold aisle capture index threshold; and

distributing the application to the at least one server based on at least one of the hot aisle capture index threshold and the cold aisle capture index threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining individual power consumption of each of the plurality of racks based on a workload utilization rate of each of the plurality of racks;

determining power consumption of the at least one cooling unit based on a cooling utilization rate of the at least one cooling unit;

determining total power consumption of the plurality of racks and of the at least one cooling unit; and

determining the layout of the data center based on the total power consumption, the power consumption of each of the plurality of racks, and the power consumption of the at least one cooling unit.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining, in real time, total power consumption of the data center based on at least one of a workload utilization rate of the rack and a cooling utilization rate of the cooling unit;

distributing workload between a plurality of servers and cooling load between a plurality of cooling units while maintaining cooling performance at the acceptable level based on the threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

distributing the application from the at least one server to a second server of a second rack, wherein the second rack is located in one of the data center and a second data center.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

providing instructions to relocate the rack within the data center.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

displaying the layout of the data center.

9. A data center control system of a data center including a plurality of racks and at least one cooling unit, the plurality of racks including at least one server, the system comprising:

a data center controller configured to;

receive information regarding the at least one cooling unit, the at least one server, the plurality of racks, and at least one application;

receive a rack based cooling metric threshold; and

determine a layout of the data center that minimizes total power consumption of the plurality of racks and the at least one cooling unit while maintaining cooling performance at an acceptable level based on the threshold.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the layout includes an initial layout, wherein the data center controller is configured to:

distribute workload from the at least one server to a second server; and

determine a second layout of the data center.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the rack based cooling metric threshold includes at least one of a hot aisle capture index threshold and a cold aisle capture index threshold, and wherein the data center controller is configured to:

determine at least one of the hot aisle capture index threshold and the cold aisle capture index threshold; and

distribute the application to the at least one server based on at least one of the hot aisle capture index threshold and the cold aisle capture index threshold.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the data center controller is configured to:

determine individual power consumption of each of the plurality of racks based on a workload utilization rate of each of the plurality of racks;

determine power consumption of the at least one cooling unit based on a cooling utilization rate of the at least one cooling unit;

determine total power consumption of the plurality of racks and of the at least one cooling unit; and

determine the layout of the data center based on the total power consumption, the power consumption of each of the plurality of racks, and the power consumption of the at least one cooling unit.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the data center controller is configured to:

determine total power consumption of a cluster of the data center, the cluster including the plurality of racks and the at least one cooling unit; and

identify a workload distribution of the cluster that minimizes the total power consumption.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the data center controller is configured to:

determine total power consumption of the data center based on at least one of a workload utilization rate of at least one of the plurality of racks and a cooling utilization rate of the at least one cooling unit; and

distribute workload between a plurality of servers while maintaining cooling performance at the acceptable level based on the threshold.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the data center controller is configured to transfer the at least one application from the at least one server to a second server.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one cooling unit includes an in-row cooling unit.

17. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instruction including instructions that cause a processor to:

receive information regarding at least one cooling unit, at least one server, a plurality of racks, and at least one application;

receive a rack based cooling metric threshold; and

determine a layout of the data center that minimizes total power consumption of the plurality of racks and the cooling unit while maintaining cooling performance at an acceptable level based on the threshold.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

determine at least one of a hot aisle capture index threshold and a cold aisle capture index threshold; and

distribute the application to the at least one server based on at least one of the hot aisle capture index threshold and the cold aisle capture index threshold.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17, comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

determine individual power consumption of each of the plurality of racks based on a workload utilization rate of each of the plurality of racks;

determine power consumption of the at least one cooling unit based on a cooling utilization rate of the at least one cooling unit;

determine total power consumption of the plurality of racks and of the cooling unit; and

determine the layout of the data center based on the total power consumption, the power consumption of each of the plurality of racks, and the power consumption of the at least one cooling unit.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17, comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

distribute workload from a server of a first rack of the plurality of racks to a server of a second rack of the plurality of racks.