Managing computer resources

• US 9,003,003 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2009
• Issued: 04/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hyser, Chris D., Bash, Cullen E., Chen, Yuan, Gmach, Daniel Juergen, Hoover, Christopher Edward, Wang, Zhikui
• Primary Examiner(s): SCOTT, RANDY A
• Application Number:
  US12/559,849
• Time in Patent Office: 2,030 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 700/35, 700/36, 700/300
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Managing computer resources. Workload state information associated with one or more servers in a data center is accessed by a computer, the workload state information comprises workload placement on one or more servers, cooling conditions of the one or more servers, and performance requirements associated with a data center. Cooling state information of cooling resources associated with the one or more servers are accessed by the computer, the cooling state information comprises cooling conditions of the cooling resources. The workload state information and the cooling state information are compared by the computer. Based on the comparing, the computer generates workload repositioning instructions that instruct repositioning of workload on the one or more servers to meet the performance requirements.

Claims

1. A method for managing computer resources, said method comprising:

accessing performance requirements associated with a plurality of workloads performed by a plurality of servers in a data center, said performance requirements including rules associated with a service level agreement to be met in performing the workloads;

accessing workload state information associated with the servers in the data center, said workload state information comprising placement of workloads on said servers and cooling conditions of said servers, wherein said cooling conditions of said servers comprise temperatures and air flow within a zone of influence of each cooling resource associated with said servers;

accessing cooling state information of cooling resources associated with said servers, said cooling state information comprising cooling conditions of said cooling resources;

determining, by a computer, based upon said performance requirements, workload state information, and said cooling state information, repositioning of the workloads among the servers that minimizes resource usage in the data center while meeting the performance requirements; and

determining adjustments to the cooling resources that minimize resource usage in the data center while meeting the performance requirements responsive to the determined repositioning of the workloads among the servers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating workload repositioning instructions that are to cause the workloads to be repositioned among the servers according to the determined repositioning of the workloads.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said temperatures and air flow within a zone of influence of each cooling resource associated with said servers are measured by quantifying said cooling conditions as a local workload placement index.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

sending said workload repositioning instructions to a workload management controller.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating cooling resource adjustment instructions that cause the cooling resources to be adjusted according to the determined adjustments to cooling resource provisioning; and

sending said cooling resource adjustment instructions to a cooling controller.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the cooling state information further comprises receiving cooling state information from one or more thermal sensors coupled with said servers.

7. A workload/cooling management hardware module comprising:

a workload state information accessor to,

access performance requirements associated with a plurality of workloads performed by a plurality of servers in a data center, said performance requirements including rules associated with a service level agreement to be met in performing the workloads; and

access workload state information associated with the servers in the data center, said workload state information comprising placement of workloads on said servers and cooling conditions of said servers, wherein said cooling conditions of said servers comprise temperatures and air flow within a zone of influence of each cooling resource associated with said servers;

a cooling state information accessor to access cooling state information of cooling resources associated with said servers, said cooling state information comprising cooling conditions of said cooling resources;

a state information comparator to determine, based upon the performance requirements, workload state information, and said cooling state information, repositioning of the workloads among the servers that minimizes resource usage in the data center while meeting the performance requirements; and

a cooling resource adjustment instruction generator to determine adjustments to the cooling resources that minimize resource usage in the data center while meeting the performance requirements, said cooling resource adjustments being based on said determined repositioning of the workloads among the servers.

8. The workload/cooling management hardware module of claim 7, wherein said temperatures and air flow within a zone of influence of each cooling resource associated with said servers are measured by quantifying said cooling conditions as a local workload placement index.

9. The workload/cooling management hardware module of claim 7, further comprising:

an instruction sender to send instructions to a controller to cause adjustments in components of said data center.

10. The workload/cooling management hardware module of claim 9, further comprising:

a workload repositioning instruction sender to send workload repositioning instructions to a controller to cause repositioning of workloads on said servers.

11. The workload/cooling management hardware module of claim 9, further comprising:

a cooling resource adjustment instruction sender to send cooling resource adjustment instructions to a controller to cause adjustments in said cooling resources.

12. A computer system to manage workload on servers and cooling resources, said computer system comprising:

a memory storing machine readable instructions to;

access performance requirements associated with a plurality of workloads performed by a plurality of servers in a data center, said performance requirements including rules associated with a service level agreement to be met in performing the workloads;

access workload state information associated with the servers in the data center, said workload state information comprising workload placement of workloads on said servers and cooling conditions of said servers, wherein said cooling conditions of said servers comprise temperatures and air flow within a zone of influence of each cooling resource associated with said servers;

access cooling state information of cooling resources associated with said servers, said cooling state information comprising cooling conditions of said cooling resources; and

determine, based upon said performance requirements, workload state information, and said cooling state information, repositioning of the workloads among the servers that minimizes resource usage in the data center while meeting the performance requirements;

determine adjustments to the cooling resources that minimize resource usage while meeting the performance requirements responsive to the determined repositioning of the workloads among the servers; and

a processor to execute the machine readable instructions.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the performance requirements further include services and policies, wherein the services are functions that are to be performed by the data center and the policies pertain to a company'"'"'s general policy.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the resource usage comprises at least one of energy consumption and information technology (IT) resource usage.

15. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the machine readable instructions are further to:

generate cooling resource adjustment instructions that cause the cooling resources to be adjusted according to the determined adjustments to cooling resource provisioning; and

send the cooling resource adjustment instructions to a controller to cause adjustments in components of said data center to occur.