Source Aware Data Center Power Profiles

• US 20110251966A1
• Filed: 04/12/2010
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hollinger, Michael C., Jones, Perry L., Clay, Ross B., Holt, Ryan A., Akers, Jason B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/308
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/30 Administration of product recycling or disposal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/84 Greenhouse gas [GHG] management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

Carbon values are provided by vendors of power to data center management and are used by data center management to keep carbon values for energy produced to provide services below service level agreement thresholds. A plurality of vendor carbon values, a plurality of static data, and a plurality of dynamic data are used to calculate a future power consumption and a future operating cost for a data center in a computing service environment. The future operating cost includes a future carbon cost indicating the amount of carbon generated to satisfy the future power consumption.

Claims

1. A method providing data center services in accordance with an environmental requirement, comprising:

identifying, by a processor of a data center, a plurality of power requirements for running a plurality of resources at the data center;

identifying a plurality of potential vendors, each of the plurality of vendors capable of supplying at least a portion of the plurality of power requirements;

contacting each of the plurality of potential vendors;

informing each of the plurality of potential vendors that in order to qualify as a vendor with the data center, the potential vendor must provide a carbon value along with their cost per unit of energy, the carbon value being a numeral representing a quantity of carbon produced to generate a unit of energy;

determining whether each of the plurality of potential vendors has provided a carbon value; and

responsive to determining that a potential vendor has provided a carbon value, entering, by the processor, the carbon value for the potential vendor into a rate file for the potential vendor.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

negotiating a service level agreement with a customer;

determining whether an environmental criteria is part of the service level agreement;

responsive to determining that the environmental criteria is part of the service level agreement, identifying a threshold carbon value; and

responsive to determining the threshold carbon value, entering the threshold carbon value into the service level agreement.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

identifying each of a plurality of clients of the data center;

identifying each threshold carbon value for each of the plurality of clients;

identifying each vendor supplying power to perform each service level agreement for the plurality of clients;

calculating a total carbon value for all vendors supplying power to perform all service level agreements;

determining whether the total carbon value exceeds a lowest threshold carbon value of all service level agreements;

responsive to determining that a lowest threshold carbon value has not been exceeded, setting a list of vendors for a period of time;

responsive to determining whether a lowest threshold carbon value has been exceeded, identifying a vendor change that will reduce the total carbon value to a number less than a lowest threshold carbon value;

responsive to making a vendor change, re-calculating a total carbon value for all service level agreements;

responsive to re-calculating a total carbon value for all service level agreements determining whether the lowest threshold carbon value is not exceeded; and

responsive to confirming that the lowest threshold carbon value is not exceeded, setting the vendor list for a period of time.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising:

identifying a client;

identifying a data center assignment for the client;

identifying a plurality of power vendors for each data center;

calculating an average carbon value for all of the carbon values of the plurality of power vendors;

determining whether the average carbon value exceeds a threshold carbon value specified by the client in a service level agreement;

when the threshold carbon value is exceeded, changing the data center to another data center; and

when the threshold carbon value is not exceeded, running a job for the client.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining a plurality of carbon values from a plurality of vendors;

obtaining a plurality of service level agreement threshold carbon values;

retrieving a plurality of static data from a computing system of the data center;

retrieving a plurality of dynamic data from a monitoring system connected to the computing system;

calculating, by a processor of the computing system, a prediction; and

optimizing, by the processor using the prediction, a plurality of data center assignments to meet each threshold carbon value of each client.

6. A system for providing data center services in accordance with an environmental requirement, the system comprising:

a service oriented architecture comprising a plurality of service level agreements;

a plurality of data centers, each of the plurality of data centers having a computing system, the computing system comprising a monitoring agent, a static data interface, and a prediction agent;

wherein the monitoring agent acquires a plurality of dynamic data comprising a plurality of workload characteristics, a plurality of current workload data, a plurality of historic power consumption data, a plurality of workload inflow rates, and a plurality of workflow outflow rates;

wherein the static data interface acquires a plurality of peak rate data, a plurality of power source characteristics, a plurality of data center characteristics, and a plurality of data transport costs;

wherein the prediction agent, by one or more processors of the computing system, uses the plurality of power vendor data, the plurality of dynamic data and the plurality of static data, calculates a future power consumption and a future operating cost; and

wherein the future operating cost includes a future carbon cost indicating the amount of carbon associated with satisfying the future power consumption.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the computing system of the data center performs actions comprising:

identifying a plurality of power requirements for running a plurality of resources at the data center;

identifying a plurality of potential vendors, each of the plurality of vendors capable of supplying at least a portion of the plurality of power requirements;

contacting each of the plurality of potential vendors;

informing, each of the plurality of potential vendors that in order to qualify as a vendor with the data center, the potential vendor must provide a carbon value along with their cost per unit of energy, the carbon value being a numeral representing a quantity of carbon produced to generate a unit of energy;

determining whether each of the plurality of potential vendors has provided a carbon value; and

responsive to determining that a potential vendor has provided a carbon value, entering the carbon value for the potential vendor into a rate file for the potential vendor.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the computing system of the data center performs actions comprising:

determining whether an environmental criteria is part of each of a plurality of service level agreement;

responsive to determining that the environmental criteria is part of each of the plurality of service level agreements, identifying a threshold carbon value in each of the plurality of service level agreements;

identifying each of a plurality of clients of the data center;

identifying each threshold carbon value for each of the plurality of clients;

identifying each vendor supplying power to perform each service level agreement for the plurality of clients;

calculating a total carbon value for all vendors supplying power to perform all service level agreements;

determining whether the total carbon value exceeds a lowest threshold carbon value of all service level agreements;

responsive to determining whether a lowest threshold carbon value has been exceeded, identifying a vendor change that will reduce the total carbon value to a number less than a lowest threshold carbon value;

responsive to making a vendor change, re-calculating a total carbon value for all service level agreements; and

responsive to re-calculating a total carbon value for all service level agreements and confirming that the lowest threshold carbon value is not exceeded, setting the vendors for a period of time.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the computing system of the data center performs actions comprising:

identifying a client;

identifying a data center assignment for the client;

identifying a plurality of power vendors for each data center;

calculating an average carbon value for all of the carbon values of the plurality of power vendors;

determining whether the average carbon value exceeds a threshold carbon value specified by the client in a service level agreement;

when the threshold is exceeded, changing the data center to another data center; and

when the threshold is not exceeded, running a job for the client.

10. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

a plurality of instructions stored in the computer readable storage medium, the plurality of instructions configured to perform, by a processor of a computer, actions comprising;

identifying a plurality of power requirements for running a plurality of resources at the data center;

identifying a plurality of potential vendors, each of the plurality of vendors capable of supplying at least a portion of the plurality of power requirements;

contacting each of the plurality of potential vendors;

informing each of the plurality of potential vendors that in order to qualify as a vendor with the data center, the potential vendor must provide a carbon value along with their cost per unit of energy, the carbon value being a numeral representing a quantity of carbon produced to generate a unit of energy;

determining whether each of the plurality of potential vendors has provided a carbon value; and

responsive to determining that a potential vendor has provided a carbon value, entering the carbon value for the potential vendor into a rate file for the potential vendor.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to perform, by the processor of the computer, actions comprising:

determining whether an environmental criteria is part of each of a plurality of service level agreement;

responsive to determining that the environmental criteria is part of each of the plurality of service level agreements, identifying a threshold carbon value in each of the plurality of service level agreements;

identifying each of a plurality of clients of the data center;

identifying each threshold carbon value for each of the plurality of clients;

identifying each vendor supplying power to perform each service level agreement for the plurality of clients;

calculating a total carbon value for all vendors supplying power to perform all service level agreements;

determining whether the total carbon value exceeds a lowest threshold carbon value of all service level agreements;

responsive to determining whether a lowest threshold carbon value has been exceeded, identifying a vendor change that will reduce the total carbon value to a number less than a lowest threshold carbon value;

responsive to making a vendor change, re-calculating a total carbon value for all service level agreements; and

responsive to re-calculating a total carbon value for all service level agreements and confirming that the lowest threshold carbon value is not exceeded, setting the vendors for a period of time.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to perform, by the processor of the computer, actions comprising:

identifying a client;

identifying a data center assignment for the client;

identify a plurality of power vendors for each data center;

calculating an average carbon value for all of the carbon values of the plurality of power vendors;

determining whether the average carbon value exceeds a threshold carbon value specified by the client in a service level agreement;

when the threshold is exceeded, changing the data center to another data center; and

when the threshold is not exceeded, running a job for the client.