Power balancing to increase workload density and improve energy efficiency

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016170469-A1
Application number	US-201314129666-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 13, 2013
Priority date	Aug 13, 2013
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Technologies for adjusting server power consumption include a computing device to receive resource utilization data from a plurality of servers. The computing device identifies a source server and a destination server of the plurality of servers based on the resource utilization data and calculates the difference in resource utilization between the identified source server and the identified destination server based on the resource utilization data. If the computing device determines that the difference exceeds a threshold value, the computing device increases processor utilization of a processor of the source server by a power consumption change amount and decreases processor utilization of a processor of the destination server by a corresponding power consumption change amount to balance the servers' resources and create more head-room to place new workloads on the servers.

First claim

1 - 25 . (canceled)

26 . A computing device for adjusting server power consumption, the computing device comprising:
a communication module to receive resource utilization data from a plurality of servers; and a power balancing module to (i) identify a source server and a destination server of the plurality of servers based on the resource utilization data, (ii) calculate a difference in resource utilization between the identified source server and the identified destination server based on the resource utilization data, (iii) increase processor utilization of a processor of the source server by a power consumption change amount in response to a determination that the difference in resource utilization exceeds a threshold value, and (iv) decrease processor utilization of a processor of the destination server by a corresponding power consumption change amount in response to a determination that the difference in resource utilization exceeds the threshold value.

27 . The computing device of claim 26 , wherein the computing device comprises a group controller of a group of servers including the plurality of servers.

28 . The computing device of claim 26 , wherein:
the communication module is to retrieve a list of servers including the plurality of servers; and the power balancing module is to (i) sort the list of servers based on an amount of resource utilization of the servers and (ii) identify one half of the servers in the sorted list as destination servers and one other half of the servers in the sorted list as source servers based on the order of the servers in the sorted list.

29 . The computing device of claim 26 , wherein the resource utilization data identifies an amount of memory utilization of the corresponding server.

30 . The computing device of claim 26 , wherein to increase the processor utilization of the processor of the source server comprises to modify a processor state of the processor of the source server, wherein the processor state defines a frequency operating point of the processor.

31 . The computing device of claim 26 , wherein to increase the processor utilization of the processor of the source server comprises to reduce an operating frequency of the processor of the source server; and
wherein to decrease the processor utilization of the processor of the destination server comprises to increase an operating frequency of the processor of the destination server.

32 . The computing device of claim 26 , wherein the communication module is to periodically receive resource utilization data from the plurality of servers.

33 . A server for power optimization, the server comprising:
a hardware monitor module to (i) monitor utilization of a resource of the server and (ii) generate resource utilization data based on the monitored resource utilization; a communication module to (i) transmit the resource utilization data to a group controller of a group of servers including the server, and (ii) receive an instruction from the group controller to modify processor utilization of a processor of the server in response to transmission of the resource utilization data, wherein receipt of the instruction is an indication that the resource utilization data of the server differs from resource utilization data of another server of the group of servers by at least a threshold amount; and a security co-processor to modify processor utilization of the processor of the server by a power consumption change amount based on the instruction of the group controller.

34 . The server of claim 33 , wherein to modify the processor utilization of the processor comprises to modify a processor state of the processor, wherein the processor state defines a frequency operating point of the processor.

35 . The server of claim 33 , wherein the security co-processor is to:
increase an operating frequency of the processor in response to receipt of an instruction from the group controller to decrease the processor utilization of the processor; and decrease the operating frequency of the processor in response to receipt of an instruction from the group controller to increase the processor utilization of the processor.

36 . The server of claim 33 , wherein the communication module is to periodically transmit the resource utilization data to the group controller.

37 . The server of claim 33 , wherein the resource utilization data identifies an amount of memory utilization of the server.

38 . One or more machine readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
receive resource utilization data from a plurality of servers; identify a source server and a destination server of the plurality of servers based on the resource utilization data; calculate a difference in resource utilization between the identified source server and the identified destination server based on the resource utilization data; increase processor utilization of a processor of the source server by a power consumption change amount in response to determining that the difference in resource utilization exceeds a threshold value; and decrease processor utilization of a processor of the destination server by a corresponding power consumption change amount in response to determining that the difference in resource utilization exceeds the threshold value.

39 . The one or more machine readable storage media of claim 38 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the computing device to:
retrieve a list of servers including the plurality of servers; sort the list of servers based on an amount of resource utilization of the servers; and identify one half of the servers in the sorted list as destination servers and one other half of the servers in the sorted list as source servers based on the order of the servers in the sorted list.

40 . The one or more machine readable storage media of claim 38 , wherein to receive the resource utilization data comprises to receive resource utilization data from a plurality of servers, the resource utilization data identifying an amount of memory utilization of the corresponding server.

41 . The one or more machine readable storage media of claim 38 , wherein to increase the processor utilization of the processor of the source server comprises to modify a processor state of the processor of the source server, the processor state defining a frequency operating point of the processor.

42 . The one or more machine readable storage media of claim 38 , wherein to increase the processor utilization of the processor of the source server comprises to reduce an operating frequency of the processor of the source server; and
wherein to decrease the processor utilization of the processor of the destination server comprises to increase an operating frequency of the processor of the destination server.

43 . The one or more machine readable storage media of claim 38 , wherein to receive the resource utilization data comprises to periodically receive resource utilization data from the plurality of servers.

44 . A method for adjusting server power consumption with a computing device, the method comprising:
receiving, with the computing device, resource utilization data from a plurality of servers; identifying, on the computing device, a source server and a destination server of the plurality of servers based on the resource utilization data; calculating, on the computing device, a difference in resourc

Assignees

• Sehgal Naresh K
• Ganguli Mrittika Mrittika
• Putyrski Slawomir
• Jakowski Marek
• Chylinski Arkadiusz
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Sehgal Naresh K
• Ganguli Mrittika Mrittika
• Putyrski Slawomir
• Jakowski Marek
• Chylinski Arkadiusz

Classifications

• G06F9/5094

  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 title

• G06F1/3206 Primary

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

• G06F9/505 Primary

  considering the load · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title