DATA CENTER SYSTEM THAT ACCOMMODATES EPISODIC COMPUTATION

• US 20120109705A1
• Filed: 10/28/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Belady, Christian L., Larus, James R., Borgs, Christian H., Chayes, Jennifer Tour, Lobel, Ilan, Nazerzadeh, Hamid, Jain, Navendu, Reed, Danny A., Menache, Ishai
• Granted Patent: US 8,849,469 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• 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 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/008 involving trading of energy or energy transmission rights
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1004 Server selection for load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/10 Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/90 Financial instruments for climate change mitigation, e.g. environmental taxes, subsidies or financing
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/12 Billing, invoicing, buying or selling transactions or other related activities, e.g. cost or usage evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 : Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

A data center system is described which includes multiple data centers powered by multiple power sources, including any combination of renewable power sources and on-grid utility power sources. The data center system also includes a management system for managing execution of computational tasks by moving data components associated with the computational tasks within the data center system, in lieu of, or in addition to, moving power itself. The movement of data components can involve performing pre-computation or delayed computation on data components within any data center, as well as moving data components between data centers. The management system also includes a price determination module for determining prices for performing the computational tasks based on different pricing models. The data center system also includes a “stripped down” architecture to complement its use in the above-summarized data-centric environment.

Claims

1. A data center system, comprising:

a plurality of data centers for receiving power from a plurality of power sources, at least one power source comprising a renewable off-grid power source that is not connected to an established power distribution grid; and

a management system for managing execution of a plurality of computational tasks, the plurality of computational tasks having data components associated therewith,

the management system being configured to manage the computational tasks by moving the data components within the data center system based on varying availabilities and costs of power provided by the plurality of power sources, in lieu of moving power provided by the plurality of power sources.

2. The data center system of claim 1, wherein the renewable off-grid power source is co-located with at least one of the plurality of data centers.

3. The data center system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of power sources also includes at least one on-grid utility power source that is connected to the established power distribution grid.

4. The data center system of claim 1, wherein the management system is configured to move the data components using a temporal movement determination module, wherein the temporal movement determination module is configured to adjust a time at which at least one data component, associated with a computational task, is to be performed.

5. The data center system of claim 4, wherein said at least one data component is originally designated to be performed at time t, and wherein the temporal movement determination module is configured to move said at least one data component to a time prior to the time t.

6. The data center system of claim 4, wherein said at least one data component is originally designated to be performed at time t, wherein the temporal movement determination module is configured to move said at least one data component to a time after the time t.

7. The data center system of claim 4, wherein the temporal movement determination module is configured to suspend execution of said at least one data component, and to later resume execution of said at least one data component.

8. The data center system of claim 1, wherein the management system is configured to move the data components using a spatial movement determination module, wherein the spatial movement determination module is configured to move at least one data component, associated with a computational task, from a first location to a second location within the data center system.

9. The data center system of claim 8, wherein the spatial movement determination module is configured to move said at least one data component based on a consideration of one or more of:

monetary costs of performing computation in each of the plurality of data centers;

environmental costs of performing computation in each of the plurality of data centers;

power usage effectiveness (PUE) metrics associated with performing computation in each of the plurality of data centers;

types of resources provided by each of the plurality of data centers; and

legal constraints associated with performing computation in each of the plurality of data centers.

10. The data center system of claim 1, wherein the management system is configured to manage the execution of the plurality of computational tasks based on an information inventory paradigm,

wherein, in the information inventory paradigm, each data center converts an input data component and an amount of a power resource into an output data component, and wherein each data center stores an intermediate data component,

and wherein the management system is configured to manage the execution of the plurality of computational tasks based on consideration of at least one of:

costs of processing input data components by different data centers at different times;

costs of transferring input data components among different data centers;

costs of storing intermediate data components by different data centers; and

costs of transferring intermediate data components between different data centers.

11. The data center system of claim 1, wherein the management system includes a price determination module configured to determine prices associated with execution of the computational tasks within the data center system.

12. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module is configured to determine a price for a computational task based on at least one characteristic of at least one power source used to perform the computational task.

13. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module is configured to determine a price for a computational task depending on whether the computational task involves movement of at least one data component.

14. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module is configured to determine a first price for a computational task that is to be performed according to a defined first level of service, and wherein the management system is configured to satisfy the first level of service but not exceed the first level of service.

15. The data center system of claim 14, wherein the management system is configured move at least one data component associated with the computational task to accommodate the execution of another computational task having a second price and a corresponding second level of service, wherein the second price is higher than the first price and the second level of service is higher than the first level of service.

16. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module is configured to determine a price for a computational task based on Service Level Agreement information associated with the computational task, the Service Level Agreement information specifying one or more of:

a throughput metric that defines a desired throughput performance of the computational task;

a latency metric that defines a desired latency performance of the computational task; and

a reliability metric that defines a desired reliability performance of the computational task.

17. The data center system of claim 16, wherein the latency metric comprises one or more of:

an intra-center latency metric which defines a desired latency within a data center; and

an end-to-end latency metric which defines a desired latency between submission of the computational task and a response received following execution of the computational task.

18. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module comprises:

a supply determination module configured to determine a supply curve associated with availability of a computational resource within the data center system over a span of time;

a demand determination module configured to determine a demand curve that expresses a demand for the computational resource as a function of price associated with the computational resource, for a particular time; and

a price assessment module configured to determine a price at which to provide the computational resource at the particular time based on the supply curve and the demand curve.

19. The data center system of claim 18, wherein the supply determination module includes a prediction module for predicting the supply curve based on historical information, and the demand determination module includes a prediction module for predicting the demand curve based on historical information.

20. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module comprises:

an auction module configured to determine the prices based on bids received by entities; and

a bid assistance module configured to assist the entities in submitting bids to the auction module.

21. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module is configured to determine a price for a computational task based on a consideration of costs associated with execution of subtasks associated with the computational task by different respective data centers.

22. The data center system of claim 11, wherein the price determination module is configured to generate and provide an itemized bill to an entity that identifies costs associated with performing a computational task using one or more of the plurality of data centers.

23. The data center system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of data centers and an associated power source eliminates one of more of:

power backup mechanisms;

redundant components;

power converter components; and

housing components.

24. A method for operating a data center system that uses plural power sources, comprising:

determining a price to perform a computational task, to provided a determined price;

determining at least one data center to perform the computational task at the determined price;

determining a manner in which said at least one data center is to temporally process data components associated with the computational task; and

determining whether it is appropriate to move at least one data component associated with the computational task from a first location to a second location within the data center system.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the price for performing the computational task is based on an extent to which movement of the data components is permitted to leverage at least one power source having a lower cost compared to another power source.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

identifying a failed computational resource within at least one data center; and

de-allocating the failed computational resource without servicing or replacing the failed computational resource.

27. A computer readable medium for storing computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions providing a management system for managing a data center system when executed by one or more processing devices, the computer readable instructions comprising:

a temporal movement determination module configured to adjust times at which data components, associated with computational tasks, are to be performed within data centers of the data center system;

a spatial movement determination module configured to move the data components between locations in the data center system; and

a price determination module configured to determine prices for executing the computational tasks based on Service Level Agreement information which indicates whether the management system is permitted to invoke one or both of the temporal movement determination module and the spatial movement determination module.