Computing a unit rate of power consumed in a data center

• US 9,632,553 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2015
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumar Pannem, Hemanth, Gaurav, Kumar, Kambivelu, Bhaskardas
• Primary Examiner(s): Prifti, Aurel
• Application Number:
  US14/707,051
• Publication Number:
  US 20160266630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• Field of Search: 700291, 700286, 713300, 713320, 713340, 713324, 705 1411, 705 141, 705 34, 705 712, 718 1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A power distribution unit having a power supply inputs including mains, secondary, generator, and renewable can be configured to measure how much power is drawn from each of the power supply inputs over a time period and to provide data to a unit rate of power engine indicating the same. A cost information engine can be configured to provide cost information, applicable over the time period, for each of the power supply inputs to the unit rate of power engine. The unit rate of power engine can be configured to compute the unit rate of power consumed in the data center over the time period based on the power drawn from each of the power supply inputs and the cost information.

Claims

1. A system for computing a unit rate of power consumed in a data center, comprising:

a power distribution unit having a plurality of power supply inputs, wherein the power distribution unit is configured to measure how much power is drawn from each of the plurality of power supply inputs over a time period;

a plurality of hosts configured to draw power from the power distribution unit to provision and execute respective virtual computing instances (VCIs) for each of a plurality of customers, wherein the plurality of hots include power meters to monitor an amount of power consumed on a per-VCI basis;

a subsystem coupled to the power distribution unit, the subsystem including a processing resource and a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by the processing resource to;

acquire cost information, applicable over the time period, for each of the plurality of power supply inputs;

compute the unit rate of power consumed in the data center over the time period based on the power drawn from each of the plurality of power supply inputs and the cost information; and

allocate a cost of powering the data center according to the unit rate of power consumed in the data center to a plurality of customers of the data center on a per-VCI basis.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to:

acquire the cost information including an operating expenditure cost for the plurality of power supply inputs from a database external to the subsystem; and

include the operating expenditure cost in the computation of the unit rate of power.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the power distribution unit is configured to provide data to the subsystem indicating power drawn from each of the power supply inputs over the time period instantaneously over the time period;

wherein the instructions are executable, for at least one of the plurality of power supply inputs, to provide instantaneous cost information over the time period; and

wherein the instructions are executable to compute the unit rate of power as an instantaneous rate of power over the time period.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions are executable to compute the unit rate of power as an instantaneous rate of power inclusive of both the instantaneous cost information for the at least one of the power supply inputs and cost information for a different one of the power supply inputs that is averaged over the time period.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions are executable to:

acquire the cost information including a capital expenditure cost for two of the plurality of power supply inputs comprising a generator power supply and a renewable power supply; and

include the capital expenditure cost in the computation of the unit rate of power.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of power supply inputs comprises a renewable power supply input that is controlled by an entity controlling the data center.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of power supply inputs include mains power supply, secondary power supply, generator power supply, and renewable power supply.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by a processing resource to cause a computing system to:

determine how much power is drawn from each of a plurality of power supply inputs to a data center over a time period based on information received from a power distribution unit coupled to the plurality of power supply inputs;

determine how much power is drawn from the power distribution unit to provision and execute respective virtual computing instances (VCIs) for each of a plurality of customers based on information received from a plurality of hots;

compute a unit rate of power consumed by the data center as a function of time based on the power drawn, an operating expense for each of the plurality of power supply inputs over the time period, and a capital expense for at least one of the plurality of power supply inputs over the time period according to a first policy in response to a first operating parameter being selected;

compute the unit rate of power consumed by the data center as a function of time based on the power drawn, the operating expense, and the capital expense according to a second policy in response to a second operating parameter being selected; and

allocate a cost of powering the data center according to the unit rate of power consumed by the data center to a plurality of customers of the data center on a per-VCI basis.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions to compute the unit rate of power according to the first policy comprise instructions to compute an average unit rate of power consumed by the data center over a time period for all of the plurality of power supply inputs.

10. The medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions to allocate the cost of powering the data center to the plurality of customers comprise instructions to allocate the cost to the plurality of customers at the average unit rate of power.

11. The medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions to compute the unit rate of power according to the second policy comprise instructions to:

compute an average unit rate of power consumed by the data center over a time period for a first subset of the plurality of power supply inputs; and

compute an instantaneous unit rate of power consumed by the data center over the time period for a second subset of the plurality of power supply inputs.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the second subset of the plurality of power supply inputs comprise those of the plurality of power supply inputs that include a peak rate and an off-peak rate.

13. The medium of claim 11, wherein the first subset of the plurality of power supply inputs includes a generator power supply input and a renewable power supply input;

and

wherein the second subset of power supply inputs includes a mains power supply input and a secondary power supply input.

14. The medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions to determine the capital expense for at least one of the plurality of power supply inputs include instructions to depreciate the capital expense before the unit rate of power consumption is computed.

15. A method for computing a unit rate of power consumed in a data center, comprising:

operating a plurality of software defined data centers with a pool of physical computing resources;

monitoring a relative usage of the pool of physical computing resources by each of the plurality of software defined data centers per virtual computing instance (VCI) provisioned in each of the software defined data centers over a time period;

measuring, with a power distribution unit, how much power is drawn from each of a plurality of power supply inputs to the pool of physical computing resources over the time period;

computing the unit rate of power consumed by the pool of physical computing resources over the time period based on the power drawn from each of the plurality of power supply inputs and cost information, applicable over the time period, for each of the plurality of power supply inputs; and

allocating the unit rate of power consumed to customers of the plurality of software defined data centers according to the relative usage on a per-VCI basis.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the method includes provisioning a respective plurality of VCIs in each of the software defined data centers.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein monitoring the relative usage of the pool of physical computing resources per VCI comprises monitoring a relative proportion of processor resources used by each of the plurality of VCIs.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the method includes receiving the cost information for the plurality of power supply inputs, including:

receiving an input of a first plurality of instantaneous unit rates, applicable over the time period, for a mains power supply;

receiving an input of a second plurality of instantaneous unit rates, applicable over the time period, for a secondary power supply;

receiving an input of a first unit rate for a generator power supply; and

receiving an input of a second unit rate for a renewable power supply.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the method includes receiving the cost information for the plurality of power supply inputs, including:

receiving an input of a first average unit rate, applicable over the time period, for a mains power supply;

receiving an input of a second average unit rate, applicable over the time period, for a secondary power supply;

receiving an input of a first unit rate for a generator power supply; and

receiving an input of a second unit rate for a renewable power supply.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the method includes operating the plurality of software defined data centers with the pool of physical computing resources that are distributed in more than one geographic location.