Rack resource utilization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10481659-B2
Application number	US-201615059870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2016
Priority date	Mar 3, 2016
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

An approach to managing power distribution to computing devices, the approach involving monitoring power consumption of a plurality of computing devices and power draw on a plurality of power distribution units, wherein the plurality of power distribution units distribute power to the plurality of computing devices, determining that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching respective power thresholds and responsive to determining that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching the respective power thresholds, taking one or more actions to manage power distribution to the plurality of computing devices, wherein the one or more actions are based on a set of rules and the one or more actions comprise configuring a drawing of unequal amounts of power.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing power distribution to computing devices, the method comprising:
monitoring power consumption of a plurality of computing devices and power draw on a plurality of power distribution units (PDUs), wherein the plurality of power distribution units distribute power to the plurality of computing devices;
determining that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching respective power thresholds; and
responsive to determining that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching the respective power thresholds, taking one or more actions to manage power distribution to the plurality of computing devices, wherein the one or more actions are based on a set of rules comprising workload priorities and the one or more actions comprise configuring a plurality of power supply units of the plurality of computing devices, respectively, to draw unequal amounts of power from the plurality of the power distribution units, respectively and capping power consumption of computing devices processing workloads associated with development or testing while not capping workloads associated with production, wherein the capping is based on suspending processes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unequal amounts of power are drawn by a plurality of power supply units in one or more of the plurality of computing devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more actions further comprise at least one of transferring at least a portion of power supply to at least one of the plurality of power distribution units from a first power source to a second power source and reassigning one or more workloads.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of rules is associated with at least one of device priorities, power consumption maximums and power consumption minimums.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the transferring at least a portion of power supply from the first power source to the second power source is accomplished with a use of a transfer switch.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating an alert for a manual management of power distribution, wherein the alert is at least one of a pop-up notification and at least one of an email and a text message sent to a designated recipient.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a determination that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching the respective power thresholds is based on at least one of a predetermined threshold and a dynamically determined threshold.

8. A computer program product for managing power distribution to computing devices, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to monitor power consumption of a plurality of computing devices and power draw on a plurality of power distribution units, wherein the plurality of power distribution units distribute power to the plurality of computing devices;
program instructions to determine that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching respective power thresholds; and
program instructions to, responsive to determining that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching the respective power thresholds, take one or more actions to manage power distribution to the plurality of computing devices, wherein the one or more actions are based on a set of rules comprising workload priorities and the one or more actions comprise configuring a plurality of power supply units of the plurality of computing devices, respectively, to draw unequal amounts of power from the plurality of the power distribution units, respectively and capping power consumption of computing devices processing workloads associated with development or testing while not capping workloads associated with production, wherein the capping is based on suspending processes.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the unequal amounts of power are drawn by a plurality of power supply units in one or more of the plurality of computing devices.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the one or more actions further comprise at least one of transferring at least a portion of power supply to at least one of the plurality of power distribution units from a first power source to a second power source and reassigning one or more workloads.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the set of rules is associated with at least one of device priorities, power consumption maximums and power consumption minimums.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the transferring at least a portion of power supply from the first power source to the second power source is accomplished with a use of a transfer switch.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising:
program instructions to generate an alert for a manual management of power distribution, wherein the alert is at least one of a pop-up notification and at least one of an email and a text message sent to a designated recipient.

14. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein a determination that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching the respective power thresholds is based on at least one of a predetermined threshold and a dynamically determined threshold.

15. A computer system for managing power distribution to computing devices, the computer system comprising:
one or more computer processors;
one or more computer readable storage media;
program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to monitor power consumption of a plurality of computing devices and power draw on a plurality of power distribution units, wherein the plurality of power distribution units distribute power to the plurality of computing devices;
program instructions to determine that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching respective power thresholds; and
program instructions to, responsive to determining that any of the plurality of power distribution units are approaching the respective power thresholds, take one or more actions to manage power distribution to the plurality of computing devices, wherein the one or more actions are based on a set of rules comprising workload priorities and the one or more actions comprise configuring a plurality of power supply units of the plurality of computing devices, respectively, to draw unequal amounts of power from the plurality of the power distribution units, respectively and capping power consumption of computing devices processing workloads associated with development or testing while not capping workloads associated with production, wherein the capping is based on suspending processes.

16. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the unequal amounts of power are drawn by a plurality of power supply units in one or more of the plurality of computing devices.

17. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more actions further comprise at least one of transferring at least a portion of power supply to at least one of the plurality of power distribution units from a first power source to a second power source and reassigning one or more workloads.

18. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the set of rules is associated with at least one of device prior

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Gambon Kenneth T
• Lehman Bret W
• Molloy Christopher L
• Jackson Tenley D

Classifications

• G06F1/3206 Primary

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title

• G06F1/266 Primary

  Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips · CPC title