Data center intelligent control and optimization

• US 9,448,544 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2013
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Baselayer Technology, LLC
• Original Assignee: Baselayer Technology, LLC
• Inventors: Slessman, George, Slessman, William, Malik, Kevin, Steffensen, Jeremy, Holmgren, Kjell
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Karim, Ziaul
• Application Number:
  US13/791,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20130211556A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,291 Days
• Field of Search: 700/1, 700/28, 700/29
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1488 Cabinets therefor, e.g. chassis or racks or mechanical interfaces between blades and support structures
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1498 Resource management, Optimisation arrangements, e.g. configuration, identification, tracking, physical location thermal management H05K7/20836
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20745 within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Systems and methods of monitoring, analyzing, optimizing and controlling data centers and data center operations are disclosed. The system includes data collection and storage hardware and software for harvesting operational data from data center assets and operations. Intelligent analysis and optimization software enables identification of optimization and/or control actions. Control software and hardware enables enacting a change in the operational state of data centers.

Claims

1. A method of controlling data center operations comprising:

receiving, by a data center infrastructure control system (“

DCICS”

), a first expression as an un-compiled text string;

parsing, by the DCICS, the first expression to determine a first operation and a first input set;

analyzing, by the DCICS, the first input set to identify first input set members associated with the first input set;

determining, by the DCICS and for each first input set member, member attributes, wherein the member attributes comprise a data center system, a location and a type associated with each respective first input set member;

generating, upon determining the first input set members by the DCICS with just-in-time compilation, machine executable instructions based on the first input set members,

wherein the machine executable instructions comprise instructions to obtain, based upon the member attributes, first data collection point data associated with a plurality of data collection points, wherein at least a subset of the data collection points comprises sensors,

wherein the sensors comprise a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a fire detector, an intrusion detector, a power monitor, and a fan speed, and,

wherein the machine executable instructions comprise instructions to perform the first operation based upon the first data collection point data;

in response to executing, by the DCICS, the machine executable instructions, identifying the first data collection point data and a first result of the first operation and

determining, based upon the first result, a control operation, wherein the control operation comprises moving a software application from a first computing device to a second computing device, and

wherein at least one of (a) the second computing device is in a separate physical location from the first computing device, (b) at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device are virtual machines, or (c) the moving to a second computing device comprises creating a virtual computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the control operation further comprises at least one of moving data from a first data storage device to a second data storage device, terminating a software application, initiating a software application, initiating a virus protection strategy, creating a user permission, revoking a user permission, shutting down a computing device, adjusting an operating temperature, initiating a fire suppression system, turning on an air handler, shutting down an air handler, adjusting a fan speed, adjusting a valve, locking a door, and unlocking a door, locking an access panel, and unlocking an access panel.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending the first control instruction to a controller, wherein the controller executes the first control instruction.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising, in response to the executing the first control instruction, verifying the change in the operational state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the verifying is based upon one of determining a first control operation result and analyzing second point data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first control operation result is based upon the executing the first control instruction and wherein the second point data is obtained from the data collection points.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising, obtaining the control operation result from at least one of a controller and a database.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising, determining, based upon at least one of the first control operation result, the second point data and the change in the operational state, a second control operation.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising, determining, based upon at least one of the control operation result, the second point data and the change in the operational state, a second expression.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving the first point data from a database, wherein the database receives data from the data collection points.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the first expression comprises at least one of retrieving the first expression from a database, receiving the first expression from an application, receiving the first expression via an application programming interface, and receiving the first expression from a controller.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation comprises at least one of sum, max, min, mean, and count.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the member attributes comprises one of determining the data center system based upon the location and determining the location based up the data center system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a subset of the data collection points comprises at least one of information technology (IT) equipment, an IT equipment interface, a virtualization system, and external system data.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that point data from at least one of the data collection points has changed; and

executing, based upon the changed point data, the machine code instructions to produce a second result of the first operation.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining, by the DCICS and based upon the second result, a second control instruction, wherein executing the second control instruction causes a change in the operational state of one of a data center asset or the data center.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising collecting, by the DCICS, operations data associated with the data center, the operations data including the first input set and additional input sets, different from the first input set.

18. A data center infrastructure control system, comprising:

a memory in communication with a processor;

the processor when executing a computer program for data center control performs operations comprising;

parsing, by the processor, a first expression to determine a first operation and a first input set;

analyzing, by the processor, the first input set to identify first input set members associated with the first input set;

determining, by the processor and first input set member, member attributes wherein the member attributes comprise a data center system, a location and a type associated with each respective first input set member;

generating, by the processor, machine executable instructions based on the first input set members,

wherein the machine executable instructions comprise instructions to obtain, based upon the member attributes, first data collection point data associated with a plurality of data collection points, wherein at least a subset of the data collection points comprises sensors,

wherein the sensors comprise a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a fire detector, an intrusion detector, a power monitor, and a fan speed, and,

wherein the machine executable instructions comprise instructions to perform the first operation based upon the first data collection point data;

in response to executing, by the processor, the machine executable instructions, identifying the first data collection point data and a first result of the first operation; and

determining, based upon the first result, a control operation, wherein the control operation comprises moving a software application from a first computing device to a second computing device, and

wherein at least one of a) the second computing device is in a separate physical location from the first computing device, b) at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device are virtual machines, or c) the moving to a second computing device comprises creating a virtual computing device.