APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH AT LEAST TWO POWER SUPPLY UNITS

• US 20120144183A1
• Filed: 11/28/2011
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Technology Solutions Intellectual Property GmbH (Allgeier SE)
• Inventors: Heinrichs, Hans-Jürgen, Götz, Manfred
• Granted Patent: US 9,047,360 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/263 Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC G06F1/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203

Abstract

A computer system includes at least two power supply units providing an output-side operating voltage from at least one input-side supply voltage, at least one power-consuming component operated in at least one normal operating mode with a first power consumption and operated in a restricted operating mode with at least one second power consumption lower than the first power consumption, the power-consuming component electrically coupled to the at least two power supply units; a controller coupled to the at least two power supply units and the power-consuming component; and at least one management component coupled to the controller.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

at least two power supply units for providing an output-side operating voltage from at least one input-side supply voltage,

at least one power-consuming component which can be operated in at least one normal operating mode with a first power consumption and can be operated in a restricted operating mode with at least one second power consumption which is lower than the first power consumption, the power-consuming component being electrically coupled to the at least two power supply units;

control means which are coupled to the at least two power supply units and to the power-consuming component and are set up to monitor the function of the at least two power supply units and to switch the power-consuming component from the normal operating mode into the restricted operating mode immediately upon failure of at least one power supply unit to reduce the power consumption of the power-consuming component; and

at least, one management component which is coupled to the control means and is set up to detect a fault state when at least one power supply component fails and to subsequently change a configuration of the computer system upon detecting the fault state in order to reduce a power consumption of the computer system.

2. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the control means comprise at least one monitoring apparatus for generating a predetermined control signal upon occurrence of a failure or upon exceeding of a threshold level of at least one power supply unit and a throttle apparatus which is coupled to the monitoring apparatus and is intended to throttle the power-consuming component when the predetermined control signal is received.

3. The computer system according to claim 2, wherein the power-consuming component comprises at least one processor core and the throttle apparatus comprises a clock generation circuit for supplying the at least one processor core with an operating clock, the processor core being supplied with a first operating clock in the normal operating mode by the clock generation circuit and being supplied with a second, lower operating clock in the restricted operating mode.

4. The computer system according to claim 3, wherein the at least one processor core and the clock generation circuit are arranged in a processor, the processor having at least one connection pin for applying the predetermined control signal.

5. The computer system according to claim 2, wherein each one of the at least two power supply units comprises a monitoring apparatus which is intended to monitor a permissible output power or a permissible output current and is set up to generate the predetermined control signal upon detecting that the permissible output power or the permissible output current has been exceeded.

6. The computer system according to claim 5, wherein a voltage output of each one of the at least two power supply units is coupled with a power supply line of the computer system, such that upon failure of a first power supply unit the output current of the second power supply unit rises abruptly, wherein the exceeding of the permissible output, power or of the permissible output current of the second power supply unit indicates the failure of the first power supply unit.

7. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the at least one monitoring apparatus has a voltage monitoring circuit which is set up to compare the output-side operating voltage with a predetermined threshold value and to generate the predetermined control signal when the predetermined threshold value is undershot.

8. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the management component can be coupled to a remote maintenance system via a communication apparatus and is set up to signal the fault state to the remote maintenance system.

9. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the management component is set up to reset the control means after changing the configuration in order to switch the power-consuming component back from the restricted operating mode into the normal operating mode.

10. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the computer system forms a modular blade server system comprising a plurality of server blades, wherein changing the configuration comprises a re-assignment of tasks to other server blades, in particular a subgroup of previously used server blades.

11. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the power-consuming component comprises at least one processor operable in one of a plurality of performance states, and the management component is configured to switch the processor into a predetermined performance state having reduced power consumption with respect to a normal operating mode upon receipt of the predetermined control signal.

12. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein changing the configuration comprises comparing a current power consumption of the power-consuming component with an available power budget and switching the processor from the predetermined performance state into a higher performance state having a higher power consumption, if the comparison indicates that the currently available power budgets will not be exceeded by switching the processor into the higher performance state.

13. A method for controlling a computer system having a power-consuming component and at least two power supply units for providing an operating voltage for the power-consuming component, said method comprising:

monitoring, by at least one monitoring apparatus, the at least two power supply units for a failure;

generating, by the at least one monitoring apparatus, a predetermined control signal, if a failure of at least one power supply unit has been detected;

if the predetermined control signal has been detected, immediately switching the power-consuming component from a normal operating, mode with a first power consumption into a restricted operating mode with a second, lower power consumption in order to effect a reduction in power consumption; and

subsequently changing a configuration of the computer system, if the predetermined control signal has been detected.

14. The method according to claim 13 further comprising:

switching back the power-consuming component from the restricted operating mode into the normal operating mode after having changed the configuration of the computer system.

15. The method according to claim 13 further comprising:

switching back the power-consuming component from the restricted operating mode into the normal operating mode, if the at least one monitoring apparatus has detected that the at least one previously failed power supply unit is operational again.

16. Method according to claim 13, wherein changing the configuration comprises powering off at least one component of the computer system, which is non-essential for the operation of the computer system.

17. Method according to claim 16, wherein changing the configuration comprises transferring at least one process currently executed by a second processor or a second processor core to a first processor or first processor core and subsequently deactivating the second processor or second processor core, respectively.

18. A method for controlling a computer system having a power-consuming component and at least two power supply units for providing an operating voltage for the power-consuming component, said method comprising:

monitoring the at least two power supply units for a failure;

generating a predetermined control signal, if a failure of at least one power supply unit has been detected;

if the predetermined control signal has been detected, immediately switching the power-consuming component from a normal operating mode with a first power consumption into a restricted operating mode with a second, lower power consumption, and subsequently changing a configuration of the computer system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein changing the configuration comprises changing a performance state of at least one processor of the computer system by providing at least one software instruction.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein switching the power-consuming component into the restricted operating mode comprises providing at least one control signal from a monitoring circuit to the at least one processor.