System and Method for Datacenter Power Management

• US 20110191773A1
• Filed: 02/01/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Boston, Stephen B., Pavel, Milan, Patti, Paul, Sanchez, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,789,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• 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: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

A system and method for datacenter power management is disclosed. In particular embodiments, the method includes receiving, with a processor, a request for execution of an application. The method also includes for each of a plurality of datacenters, determining an amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter. The method also includes, for each of the plurality of datacenters, determining a cost associated with executing the application at the respective datacenter based, at least in part, on the amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter. The method further includes selecting one of the plurality of datacenters to execute the application based, at least in part, on the cost associated with executing the application at the respective datacenter and executing the application at the selected datacenter.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, with a processor, a request for execution of an application;

for each of a plurality of datacenters, determining an amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter;

for each of the plurality of datacenters, determining a cost associated with executing the application at the respective datacenter based, at least in part, on the amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter;

selecting one of the plurality of datacenters to execute the application based, at least in part, on the cost associated with executing the application at each of the respective datacenters; and

executing the application at the selected datacenter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of datacenters comprises a plurality of processors, and wherein determining an amount of electricity required to execute the application comprises:

determining an amount of electricity consumed by each of the plurality of processors for a predetermined unit of processing time; and

for each of the plurality of processors at each respective datacenter, determining a number of predetermined units of processing time required to execute the application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving price data, wherein the price data indicates a price of electricity supplied to each of the plurality of datacenters.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the price data indicates a price of electricity for each of a plurality of times of day.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, selecting one of the plurality of times of day at which to execute the application based, at least in part, on the price data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein executing the application further comprises executing the application at the selected one of the plurality of times of day.

7. A system comprising:

a client operable to transmit a request to execute an application to a scheduling server;

the scheduling server operable to;

receive the request to execute the application;

for each of a plurality of datacenters, determine an amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter;

for each of the plurality of datacenters, determine a cost associated with executing the application at the respective datacenter based, at least in part, on the amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter; and

select one of the plurality of datacenters to execute the application based, at least in part, on the cost associated with executing the application at each of the respective datacenters; and

the selected one of the plurality of datacenters is operable to execute the application.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of datacenters comprises a plurality of processors, and the scheduling server is operable to determine an amount of electricity required to execute the application by:

determining an amount of electricity consumed by each of the plurality of processors for a predetermined unit of processing time; and

for each of the plurality of processors at each respective datacenter, determining a number of predetermined units of processing time required to execute the application.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising a price server operable to transmit price data to the scheduling server, wherein the price data indicates a price of electricity supplied to each of the plurality of datacenters.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the price data indicates a price of electricity for each of a plurality of times of day.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the scheduling server is further operable to select one of the plurality of times of day at which to execute the application based, at least in part, on the price data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the selected one of the plurality of datacenters is further operable to execute the application at the selected one of the plurality of times of day.

13. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising logic, the logic operable, when executed on a process to:

receive a request for execution of an application;

for each of a plurality of datacenters, determine an amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter;

for each of the plurality of datacenters, determine a cost associated with executing the application at the respective datacenter based, at least in part, on the amount of electricity required to execute the application at the respective datacenter;

select one of the plurality of datacenters to execute the application based, at least in part, on the cost associated with executing the application at the respective datacenter; and

execute the application at the selected datacenter.

14. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of datacenters comprises a plurality of processors, and wherein the logic is operable to determine an amount of electricity required to execute the application by:

determining an amount of electricity consumed by each of the plurality of processors for a predetermined unit of processing time; and

for each of the plurality of processors at each respective datacenter, determining a number of predetermined units of processing time required to execute the application.

15. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the logic is further operable to receive price data, wherein the price data indicates a price of electricity supplied to each of the plurality of datacenters.

16. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the price data indicates a price of electricity for each of a plurality of times of day.

17. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the logic is further operable to select one of the plurality of times of day at which to execute the application based, at least in part, on the price data.

18. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the logic is operable to execute the application by executing the application at the selected one of the plurality of times of day.

19. A system comprising:

means for receiving, with a processor, a request for execution of an application;

means for determining, for each of a plurality of datacenters, an amount of electricity required to execute the application;

means for determining, for each of the plurality of datacenters, a cost associated with executing the application at each respective datacenter based, at least in part, on the amount of electricity required to execute the application at each respective datacenter;

means for selecting one of the plurality of datacenters to execute the application based, at least in part, on the cost associated with executing the application at the respective datacenter; and

executing the application at the selected datacenter.