Power profiling application for managing power allocation in an information handling system

• US 7,555,666 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2006
• Issued: 06/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Brumley, Alan, Brundridge, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao; Chun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abbaszadeh; Jaweed A
• Application Number:
  US11/381,577
• Publication Number:
  US 20070260896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/320, 713/340
• US Class Current: 713/340
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode

Abstract

A method, system, and software instructions for allocating power in a information handling system are operable to respond to a power profiling request by transitioning a processing resource to a first power consumption state and obtaining and storing a first power consumption value. The first power consumption value is then retrieved and used to allocate power to the first processing resource in response to a power on request. The first power consumption state may be a state in which power consumption approximates a maximum power consumption. The processing resource may be further transitioned to a second power consumption state and a second power consumption value obtained. The second power consumption state may be a reduced performance state. Thereafter, responsive to determining that the system lacks sufficient power budget to fulfill a pending request for power, the processing resource is throttled and power is allocated using the second power consumption value.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

multiple information handling resources;

a power supply configured to provide power to the multiple information handling resources;

a management resource coupled to the multiple information handling resources and configured to;

receive a power profiling request from a particular one of the multiple information handling resources; and

responsive to the power profiling request, substantially isolate a particular information handling resource by powering off the multiple information handling resources except for the particular information handling resource such that the power supply provides power to the particular information handling resource but not to the powered off information handling resources;

a power profiling module to transition the particular information handling resource to a first power consumption state; and

a power monitoring module to record a level of power supplied by the power supply while the isolated particular information handling resource is in the first power consumption state.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular information handling resource is a processing resource including at least one processor and system memory accessible to the processor.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the multiple information handling resources comprise multiple server blades, each server blade including a printed circuit board to which the processors and system memory are connected and suitable for insertion into a rack based chassis.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the information handling system comprises a blade server including the chassis, wherein the chassis includes multiple slots suitable for receiving the multiple server blades.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the power profiling module is further operable to transition the information handling system to a second power consumption state and the power monitoring module is further operable to record a second level of power supplied by the power supply resource while the particular information handling resource is in the second power consumption state.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first power consumption state comprises a high power consumption state and the second power consumption state comprises a reduced power consumption state.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising the management resource operable to allocate power to the particular information handling resource in response to a request for power from the particular information handling resource, wherein the request indicates at least the first level of power and the management resource determines a power allocation based at least in part on the indicated first level of power.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple information handling resources comprise multiple processing resources.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the power supply comprises a plurality of power supply modules configured to provide power to the multiple information handling resources; and

the management resource is further configured to, responsive to the power profiling request, power off all but a first power supply module such that only the first power supply module provides power to the particular information handling resource when the level of power supplied by the power supply is recorded.

10. A method of managing power allocation in an information handling system including multiple processing resources, comprising:

responsive to a power profiling request from a particular one of the multiple processing resources, informing a management module of the power profiling request;

responsive to the power profiling request, isolating the particular processing resource by powering off all of the multiple processing resources except for the particular processing resource such that a power supply coupled to multiple processing resources provides power to the particular processing resource but not to the powered off processing resources;

transitioning the particular processing resource to a first power consumption state;

while the isolated particular processing resource is in the first power consumption state, obtaining a first power consumption value indicative of an amount of power consumed by the particular processing resource when in the first power consumption state;

storing the first power consumption value; and

responsive to a subsequent request for power allocation from the particular processing resource, using the first power consumption value to determine whether sufficient power is available to grant the request and to allocate power to the particular processing resource.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein informing the management module of the power profiling request comprises informing the management module by a service processor of the particular processing resource.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the power supply comprises a plurality of power supply modules configured to provide power to the multiple processing resources; and

the method further comprising, prior to obtaining the power consumption value, powering off all but a first power supply module such that only the first power supply module provides power to the particular processing resource when the level of power supplied by the power supply is recorded.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein transitioning the particular processing resource to a first power consumption state comprises transitioning the particular processing resource to a power consumption state in which power consumption of the particular processing resource approximates a maximum power consumption of the particular processing resource.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising, responsive to the power profiling request, transitioning the particular processing resource to a second power consumption state and obtaining a second power consumption value indicative of an amount of power consumed by the particular processing resource when in the second power consumption state.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein transitioning the particular processing resource to the second power consumption state comprises transitioning the particular processing resource to a power consumption state in which power consumption of the particular processing resource approximates a power consumption of the particular processing resource in a reduced performance state.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising, responsive to the information handling system determining that insufficient power is available to handle a power allocation request, transitioning the particular processing resource to the throttled performance state and allocating power based at least in part on the second power consumption value.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the power supply comprises multiple power supply modules connected for collectively providing power to the multiple processing resources; and

the method comprises;

prior to obtaining the power consumption value, powering off all but a first power supply module such that only the first power supply module provides power to the particular processing resource when the level of power supplied by the power supply is recorded; and

responsive to the subsequent request for power allocation from the particular processing resource, using the first power consumption value to determine whether sufficient power is available by the multiple power supply modules to grant the request and to allocate a portion of the power from the multiple power supply modules to the particular processing resource.

18. A computer readable storage medium including embedded computer executable instructions for allocating power in a information handling system including multiple processing resources coupled to a power supply, the instructions comprising:

instructions for responding to a power profiling request from a first one of the multiple processing resources by;

isolating the first processing resource by powering off all of the multiple processing resources except for the first processing resource such that the power supply provides power to the first processing resource but not to the powered off processing resources; and

transitioning a the first processing resource to a first power consumption state;

instructions for obtaining and storing a first power consumption value indicative of the power consumption of the isolated first processing resource while in the first power consumption state; and

instructions for subsequently retrieving and using the first power consumption value to allocate power to the first processing resource responsive to a power on request from the first processing resource.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein transitioning the first processing resource to a first power consumption state comprises transitioning the first processing resource to a power consumption state in which power consumption of the first processing resource approximates a maximum power consumption of the first processing resource.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions for transitioning the first processing resource to a second power consumption state and obtaining a second power consumption value indicative of power consumption of the first processing resource when in the second power consumption state, wherein the second power consumption state comprises a performance throttled state.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, further comprising instructions for throttling the first processing resource and allocating the second power consumption value responsive to determining that the information handling system lacks sufficient power budget to fulfill a pending request for power.