System for maximizing server utilization in a resource constrained environment
First Claim
1. A blade center chassis apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of blade servers populating a plurality of chassis slots;
a management module;
a power supply common to said plurality of chassis slots for powering said plurality of blade servers, wherein said power supply further comprises a plurality of power modules; and
circuitry built into said management module operable for;
reading a total power capacity of said blade center chassis by querying each of said plurality of power modules installed in said blade center chassis;
calculating a maximum power load dissipated by said plurality of blade servers by querying a power consumption value of each of said plurality of blade servers;
allocating an individual amount of power to each of said plurality of blade servers, wherein a total amount of individual power allocated remains less than said total power capacity of said blade center chassis; and
brokering said total power capacity in said blade center chassis by changing said individual amount of power allocated to each of said plurality of blade servers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A mechanism for controlling the hardware resources on a blade server, and thereby limiting the power consumption of the blade server is disclosed. The enforceable hardware resources that are controlled include the base frequency of the central processing unit (CPU) as well as power to individual banks of physical memory, for example dual-inline memory modules (DIMMs). The hardware resources are tuned in dependence on actual server utilization such that applications running on the blade only have the allocated hardware resources available to them. Deactivated hardware resources are powered off and are so ‘hidden’ from the operating system when they are not required. In this manner, power consumption in the entire chassis can be managed such that all server blades can be powered on and operate at higher steady-state utilization. The utilization of the powered on resources in a blade center is also improved.
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Citations
5 Claims
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1. A blade center chassis apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of blade servers populating a plurality of chassis slots; a management module; a power supply common to said plurality of chassis slots for powering said plurality of blade servers, wherein said power supply further comprises a plurality of power modules; and circuitry built into said management module operable for; reading a total power capacity of said blade center chassis by querying each of said plurality of power modules installed in said blade center chassis; calculating a maximum power load dissipated by said plurality of blade servers by querying a power consumption value of each of said plurality of blade servers; allocating an individual amount of power to each of said plurality of blade servers, wherein a total amount of individual power allocated remains less than said total power capacity of said blade center chassis; and brokering said total power capacity in said blade center chassis by changing said individual amount of power allocated to each of said plurality of blade servers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A blade server device comprising a service processor for communications and resource management functions, wherein said service processor further comprises circuitry operable for:
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determining power consumption settings of power-consuming resources on said blade server by communicating with a BIOS on said blade server; calculating power consumption values based on said power consumption settings; and communicating said power consumption values to a management module in a blade center chassis populated by said blade server; wherein said service processor further comprises circuitry operable for; enforcing a reduced amount of allocated power to said blade server, further comprising the steps of; determining power consumption settings of power-consuming resources on said blade server; issuing a request to a BIOS of said blade server to apply said power consumption settings; and deactivating by said BIOS of said power-consuming resources, wherein said deactivating results in a decrease in power consumption; and notifying said management module of said reduced amount of allocated power to said blade server.
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Specification