Systems and Methods for Attributing An Amount of Power Consumption To A Workload

• US 20110072293A1
• Filed: 09/24/2009
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Mazzaferri, Richard James, Ryman, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,751,844 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/340
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode

Abstract

A method for attributing a portion of a level of electrical power consumption by a server to a virtual machine executing on the server, includes determining a level of electrical power consumption of a server. The method includes identifying a level of load placed on the server by a workload executing on the server. The method includes attributing, by a power apportionment module in communication with the server, a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload, based on the identified level of load. The method includes providing, by the power apportionment module, to a user, an identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

Claims

1. A method for attributing a portion of a level of electrical power consumption by a server to a workload executing on the server, the method comprising:

determining a level of electrical power consumption of a server;

identifying a level of load placed on the server by a workload executing on the server;

attributing, by a power apportionment module, a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload, based on the identified level of load; and

providing, by the power apportionment module, to a user, an identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying further comprises identifying the first level of load placed on the server by the workload executing on the server, wherein a workload is one of:

a software application, a web application, a virtual desktop, a terminal server session, a virtual machine, a virtualized application and an operating system instance.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that a second workload is executed by the workload;

identifying a second level of load placed on the workload by the second workload;

attributing, by the power apportionment module, a portion of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption to the second workload; and

providing, by the power apportionment module, to a user, an identification of the portion of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises determining a level of electrical power consumption of the server prior to execution of the workload.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises determining a level of electrical power consumption of the server during execution of the workload.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises determining a level of electrical power consumption of at least one physical component of the server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the at least one physical component of the server to the workload.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload based on an determined level of electrical power consumption of the at least one physical component of the server to the workload.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises measuring, by at least one sensor, the level of electrical power consumption of the server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying further comprises identifying a level of usage of a physical component of the server by the workload.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying further comprises identifying a level of usage by the workload of at least one of memory, processor, communications input/output bandwidth, and disk input/output bandwidth.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload based on the determined level of electrical power consumption of the server.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of a nominal level of electrical power consumption of at least one physical component of the server to the workload.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload using at least one electrical power consumption contribution model.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of a physical component of the server to the workload using at least one power consumption contribution model.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload, the level of electrical power consumption including a portion of overhead electrical power consumption indirectly consumed by the workload.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein attributing further comprises attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to a consumer, the server executing the workload on behalf of the consumer.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising managing levels of electrical power consumption between a plurality of servers based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising managing levels of electrical power consumption on a plurality of workloads based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the workload, wherein the workload is one of the plurality of workloads.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising managing the levels of electrical power consumption on the plurality of workloads based on at least one of:

a policy and a property of the plurality of workloads.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising constraining the level of electrical power consumption of the plurality of workloads.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising managing levels of load between a plurality of servers based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting levels of load between a plurality of servers based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption to meet service level requirements.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a chargeback amount for server resources consumed by the workload based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

25. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a billing amount for server resources consumed by the workload based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a carbon footprint of the workload based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

27. A system for attributing a portion of a level of electrical power consumption by a server to a workload executing on the server comprising:

a server executing a workload and identifying a level of load placed on the server by the workload; and

a power apportionment module attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload, based on the identified level of load and providing, to a user, an identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein a workload is one of:

a software application, a web application, a virtual desktop, a terminal server session, a virtual machine, a virtualized application and an operating system instance.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the power apportionment module further comprises:

means for determining that a second workload is executing in the workload;

means for identifying a second level of load placed on the workload by the second workload;

means for attributing a portion of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption to the second workload; and

means for providing to a user an identification of the portion of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the workload comprises a hardware partition.

31. The system of claim 27 further comprising at least one sensor measuring a level of electrical power consumption of at least one server.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the at least one sensor includes a sensor for measuring a level of electrical power consumption from the server'"'"'s power supply.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the at least one sensor includes a sensor for measuring a level of electrical power consumption of a physical component of the server.

34. The system of claim 27, wherein the power apportionment module generates a report based on the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

35. The system of claim 27 further comprising an interface generated by the power apportionment module, the interface dynamically displaying the identification of the attributed portion of the level of electrical power consumption.

36. The system of claim 27, wherein the power apportionment module further comprises a power consumption contribution model for attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption of the server to the workload.

37. The system of claim 27, wherein the power apportionment module further comprises a power consumption contribution model for attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption to the workload proportional to level of usage of a physical component of the server by the workload.

38. The system of claim 27, wherein the power apportionment module further comprises a power consumption contribution model for attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption to the workload based on a level of usage of a physical component of the server by the workload.

39. The system of claim 27, wherein the power apportionment module further comprises a power consumption contribution model for attributing a portion of the level of electrical power consumption to the workload based on an incremental level of usage of a physical component of the server by the workload.