Data center emergency power management

• US 8,195,340 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2006
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Haney, David Wayne, Mateski, Christopher Joseph, Davey, Andrew Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Backer, Firmin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Algibhah, Hamza
• Application Number:
  US11/612,122
• Time in Patent Office: 1,996 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 700/295
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/143 with loss of software functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2015 Redundant power supplies power supply failure G06F1/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0833 for reduction of network energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

A media, method, and data center power management system are provided to manage planned and unplanned data center power outages in a data center having network elements. During a planned outage, a remote device generates a request to simulate a power outage. The data center management system processes the request and suggests powering off one or more network elements based on a role associated with the network element and a measured power consumption associated with each network element. During an unplanned outage, the data center management system receives environmental data that triggers the generation of instructions to power off one or more network elements based on at least one of a calculated uptime associated with one or more backup generators, a role associated with each network element, and a power consumption associated with each network element.

Claims

1. One or more tangible computer-readable storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method to respond to unplanned power outages in a data center, the method comprising:

collecting realtime environmental data for the data center and each network element in the data center;

detecting a specific environmental condition based on the realtime environmental data;

calculating uptime remaining for network elements currently operating in the data center, wherein the uptime is a function of the power capacity for the data center and the digital footprints of the network elements;

generating power down suggestions specifying one or more network elements based on the role of the network elements;

selecting suggested network elements that consume large quantities of power; and

generating instructions that perform a logical shutdown of the selected network elements, wherein the logical shutdown closes a subset of applications executing on the selected network element.

2. The storage media of claim 1, wherein the realtime environmental data includes at least one of power capacity data, climate condition data, and HVAC failure data, and backup generator status data.

3. The storage media of claim 1, wherein the specific environmental condition includes receiving environmental data that provides an indication that power is supplied by one or more backup generators.

4. The storage media of claim 1, further comprising generating a notification that memorializes an occurrence of the specific environmental condition to a remote device.

5. The storage media of claim 1, further comprising storing a flag, which indicates the selected network elements are offline, in an event database.

6. The storage media of claim 1, further comprising generating instructions that perform a physical shutdown of the selected redundant network elements.

7. One or more tangible computer-readable storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method to trigger a planned power outage in a data center, the method comprising:

receiving a request to initiate a planned power outage from a remote client device;

storing the request in an event database;

providing power down suggestions specifying one or more network element in response to the request t;

selecting one or more of the suggested network elements, wherein the suggested network elements are selected based on a role assigned to each network element;

 

and

generating instructions that perform a logical shutdown of the selected network elements, wherein the logical shutdown closes a subset of applications executing on the selected network element.

8. The storage media of claim 7, wherein the suggested network elements are selected based on a power consumption associated with each network element.

9. The storage media of claim 7, further comprising updating the event database to store a flag that indicates the selected network elements are offline.

10. The storage media of claim 7, wherein the instructions that perform a logical shutdown of the selected network elements, logically shutdowns less than all network elements in the data center.

11. The storage media of claim 7, further comprising generating instructions that remove physical power to the selected network elements.

12. The storage media of claim 11, wherein the instructions remove physical power to less than all of the network elements.

20. The storage media of claim 7, wherein the logical shutdown further comprises centralizing distributed network applications or starting up one or more failover applications on a failover network element, the failover applications replace the subset of applications on the selected network element.

13. A data center power management system, the data center power management system comprising:

one or more environmental devices that provide realtime environmental data for a data center having network elements;

a managed power distribution component that manages power supplied to each network element in the data center by performing a logical shutdown of the network elements, wherein the logical shutdown closes a subset of applications executing on the selected network element; and

a power management server that controls the power provided to the network elements based on a role associated with the network elements, the power management server comprises a client interface that connects a remote device, a network element interface that connects to the network elements in the data center, a power management interface that connects to the managed power distribution component, and an environmental device interface that connects to the environmental devices.

14. The data center power management system of claim 13, wherein the realtime environmental data includes at least one of power capacity data, climate condition data, and HVAC failure data, and backup status data.

15. The data center power management system of claim 13, wherein the power management server utilizes the realtime environmental data to remove power from one or more network elements.

16. The data center power management system of claim 13, wherein the managed power distribution component removes physical power from one or more network elements that the power management server selects based on the role of the one or more network elements.

17. The data center power management system of claim 13, wherein the managed power distribution unit measure power consumed by each network element.

18. The data center power management system of claim 13, wherein the power management server includes a database that stores and tracks the realtime environmental data.

19. The data center power management system of claim 13, wherein the remote device is utilized during a planned power outage to receive user selections of network elements suggested for power down by the power management server.