Data center power cost accounting system

• US 8,374,928 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2010
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gopisetty, Sandeep, Mandagere, Nagapramod, Uttamchandani, Sandeep Madhav
• Primary Examiner(s): ALMATRAHI, FARIS S
• Application Number:
  US12/713,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20110208622A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,083 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

A data center power cost accounting system uses server and storage and cooling power consumption models and device maps, together with runtime application maps, to estimate the equipment power consumption and cooling power consumption of individual applications. An approximation of the cooling cost over a period of time, for any given application, can be pieced together by adding up the equipment utilized by the application and applying the cooling estimates obtained from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The cooling estimates can further account for changes or variability in resource usage over time since the cooling estimates are based directly on utilization. The per application power consumption costs are obtained without having to install or depend on power measurement instruments or other hardware in the datacenters.

Claims

1. A data center power cost accounting system, comprising:

a server and storage equipment estimator with inputs for an application map and a utilization of components in a data center, and a program for determining a total component power per application, wherein the accuracy of an output computation depends on the quality of any power consumption models used and the granularity of utilization information input;

a cooling power estimator with an input for a cooling cost estimate provided by a cooling system emulator and a program to determine a cooling cost per application, wherein for a given component, a computed cooling cost is a function of the ratio of component heat to the sum of component heat of all components in a zone and the overall cooling cost of the zone; and

a system output calculation that includes a per application accounting based on utilization history, power consumed by all systems running the application, and the cooling cost incurred by all components running the application.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an application map of how particular applications are related to at least one server and storage system;

a cooling control map that indexes which particular cooling units are associated with certain physical zones, and the servers in each zone are identified;

a cooling unit power model for aid in calculating a power cost incurred by each cooling unit; and

a device map in which each server and storage system is mapped to its physical coordinates.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a set of power consumption models that include utilization as an input and determine expected power consumption, and that allow a choice between simple single linear models for less complex situations, and composite models that account for every component of the server or storage.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one model uses fixed components for idle power and variable linear components based on utilization.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one storage model includes both the disk and controller power consumption, and Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) requirements are used to model the power consumption of different tiers.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a cooling power model to model cooling power consumption as a function of an incoming hot air temperature and an outgoing cold air supply temperature, wherein the ratio of the amount of heat removed to the work done is the coefficient of performance (COP) and increases with higher plenum supply temperatures.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a cooling system emulator that takes as input the physical layout of components, the physical layout and control of cooling components, and the overall utilization of all components, and that determines a temperature profile and cooling power consumption, using models of components to convert utilization to the heat generated.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a runtime utilization of components schedule which relates particular servers and storage systems used during runtime to individual applications.

9. A method for data center power cost accounting, comprising:

determining a total component power per application with a server and storage equipment estimator that takes an application map and a utilization of components in a data center as its inputs and depends on the quality of any power consumption models used and the granularity of utilization information;

determining a cooling cost per application with a cooling power estimator that inputs a cooling cost estimate provided by a cooling system emulator, wherein for a given component, the cooling cost is a function of ratio of component heat to sum of component heat of all components in a zone and the overall cooling cost of the zone; and

outputting a per application accounting based on utilization history, power consumed by all systems running the application, and the cooling cost incurred by all components running the application.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

mapping particular applications to at least one server and storage system;

associating particular cooling units with certain physical zones, and identifying the servers in each zone;

determining the power cost incurred by each cooling unit; and

mapping each server and storage system to its physical coordinates.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

modeling power consumption by taking utilization as an input and determining expected power consumption, and including either simple single linear models for less complex situations, or composite models that account for every component of the server or storage.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

including both the disk and controller power consumption, and Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) requirements to model the power consumption of different tiers.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

modeling cooling power consumption as a function of incoming hot air temperatures and the outgoing cold air supply temperatures, wherein the ratio of the amount of heat removed to the work done is the coefficient of performance (COP) and increases with higher plenum supply temperatures.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

emulating a cooling system by taking as input the physical layout of components, the physical layout and control of cooling components, and the overall utilization of all components, and determining a temperature profile and cooling power consumption, and using models of components to convert utilization to the heat generated.

15. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code configured to account data center power cost, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to determine a total component power per application with a server and storage equipment estimator that takes an application map and a utilization of components in a data center as its inputs and depends on the quality of any power consumption models used and the granularity of utilization information;

computer usable program code configured to determine a cooling cost per application with a cooling power estimator that inputs a cooling cost estimate provided by a cooling system emulator, wherein for a given component, the cooling cost is a function of ratio of component heat to sum of component heat of all components in a zone and the overall cooling cost of the zone; and

computer usable program code configured to output a per application accounting based on utilization history, power consumed by all systems running the application, and the cooling cost incurred by all components running the application.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to map particular applications to at least one server and storage system;

computer usable program code configured to associate particular cooling units with certain physical zones, and identifying the servers in each zone;

computer usable program code configured to determine the power cost incurred by each cooling unit; and

computer usable program code configured to map each server and storage system to its physical coordinates.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to model power consumption by taking utilization as an input and determining expected power consumption, and including either simple single linear models for less complex situations, or composite models that account for every component of the server or storage.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to include both the disk and controller power consumption, and Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) requirements to model the power consumption of different tiers.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to model cooling power consumption as a function of incoming hot air temperatures and the outgoing cold air supply temperatures, wherein the ratio of the amount of heat removed to the work done is the coefficient of performance (COP) and increases with higher plenum supply temperatures.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to emulate a cooling system by taking as input the physical layout of components, the physical layout and control of cooling components, and the overall utilization of all components, and determining a temperature profile and cooling power consumption, and using models of components to convert utilization to the heat generated.