Selectively enabling backup power to nodes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10606330-B2
Application number	US-201515550877-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2015
Priority date	Feb 27, 2015
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

Example implementations relate to selectively enabling backup power to nodes. For example, a system includes a plurality of compute nodes, where each node includes a plurality of loads. The system also includes at least one backup power supply and control module coupled to the nodes and to the at least one backup power supply. The control module is to selectively enable an output of power from the at least one backup power supply to the nodes based on a comparison of a power capacity of the at least one backup power supply and a backup power demand of the nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a plurality of compute nodes, wherein each node includes a plurality of loads;
at least one backup power supply; and
a control module coupled to the nodes and to the at least one backup power supply, the control module to:
selectively enable an output of power from the at least one backup power supply to the nodes based on a comparison of a power capacity of the at least one backup power supply and a backup power demand of the nodes;
monitor a health and a status of the at least one backup power supply; and
isolate the at least one backup power supply in response to a fault being detected; and
turn off a power supply that charges a faulty backup power supply.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is to selectively enable the output of power from the at least one backup power supply to the nodes based on a priority level of the nodes or a first-come-first-served basis.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is to selectively enable the output power from the at least one backup power supply to the nodes prior to the at least one backup power supply being fully charged.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is to incrementally enable the output of power from the at least one backup power supply to the nodes while the backup power supply is being charged.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is to determine the backup power demands of the nodes based on a quantity of loads in each node.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is to:
detect an addition of a backup power supply and reallocate backup power to the nodes based on the addition;
detect a removal or an addition of a node and reallocate backup power to the nodes based on the removal or addition; and
initiate a cache flush prior to removal of the node,
wherein the backup power supply and the plurality of nodes are hot-pluggable.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein if the power capacity of the at least one backup power supply is less than the backup power demand of the nodes, the control module is to determine a first subset of the nodes to receive backup power from the at least one backup power supply, and wherein the determination is based on a priority level assigned to the nodes or a first-come-first-served basis.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the control module is to:
determine a second subset of the nodes that do not receive backup power from the at least one backup power supply and initiate a cache flush of the second subset of nodes; and
incrementally allocate backup power to the second subset of nodes as the power capacity of the at least one backup power supply increases.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is to reallocate the output of power to the nodes based on the isolation of the at least one backup power supply.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is to detect a hot-removal of a node and initiate a cache flush of the node.

11. A method, comprising:
determining a power capacity of a plurality of backup power supplies;
determining a backup power demand of a plurality of nodes, each node including a plurality of loads;
selectively enabling an output of backup power from the plurality of backup power supplies to the plurality of nodes based on a comparison of the power capacity and the backup power demand;
incrementally enabling the output of backup power to a selection of the plurality of nodes as the plurality of backup power supplies are being charged;
monitoring a status of the backup power supplies;
detecting a faulty backup power supply;
isolating the faulty backup power supply;
turning off a power supply that charges the faulty backup power supply; and
reallocating the backup power output to the plurality of nodes based on the detection.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising selectively enabling the output of backup power from the plurality of backup power supplies to the nodes based on a priority level of the nodes or a first-come-first-served basis, wherein the selective enabling is performed prior to the plurality of backup power supplies being fully charged.

13. The method of claim 11 , comprising:
detecting an addition of a backup power supply and reallocating the backup power output to the plurality of nodes based on the addition of the backup power supply; and
detecting a removal or an addition of a node and reallocating the backup power output to the plurality of nodes based on the removal or addition of the node and initiating a cache flush in response to detecting the removal of the node,
wherein the plurality of backup power supplies and the plurality of nodes are modular such that they can be hot-plugged.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining the backup power demands of the nodes based on a quantity of loads in each node.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing system, the computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to:
determine a power capacity of a plurality of backup power supplies;
determine a backup power demand of a plurality of nodes; and
selectively enable an output of backup power from the plurality of backup power supplies to the plurality of nodes based on the power capacity of the backup power supplies, the backup power demand of the nodes, and a priority level of the nodes or a first-come-first-served basis,
wherein the selective enablement is performed incrementally, prior to the backup power supplies being fully charged;
detect an addition of a backup power supply and reallocate backup power output to the nodes based on the addition of the backup power supply;
detect a removal or an addition of a node and reallocate backup power output to the nodes based on the removal or addition of the node;
initiate a cache flush in response to the removal of the node, wherein the plurality of backup power supplies and the plurality of nodes are hot-pluggable;
monitor a health and status of the at least one backup power supply; and
turn off a power supply that charges a faulty backup power supply.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Maheswaran Sivathevan
• Hammer Mark Barlow
• Fuxa James Alexander
• Wang Han
• Iskandar Yovita

Classifications

• G06F1/28

  Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision · CPC title

• G06F1/30 Primary

  Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations (for resetting only G06F1/24) · CPC title

• G06F1/263 Primary

  Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC (G06F1/30 takes precedence) · CPC title