Control of power consumption

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016187906-A1
Application number	US-201414582985-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 24, 2014
Priority date	Dec 24, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method for computing at a facility having systems of multiple compute nodes to execute jobs of computing. Power consumption of the facility is managed to within a power band. The power consumption may be adjusted by implementing (e.g., by a power balloon) activities having little or no computational output.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A facility for computing, the facility comprising:
systems of multiple compute nodes configured to execute jobs of computing; and memory storing code executable by the multiple compute nodes or by a processor to manage power consumption of the facility to within a power band.

2 . The facility of claim 1 , wherein the computing comprises distributed computing and the jobs comprises a distributed computing job, wherein to manage power consumption comprises to manage power consumption at a facility level, a system level, and a node level, and to utilize local power storage or local power generation, or both.

3 . The facility of claim 1 , wherein the code comprises a power balloon, and wherein to manage the power consumption comprises to adjust the power consumption via the power balloon.

4 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein to adjust power consumption, via the power balloon, controls rate of the power consumption.

5 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein the power balloon comprises a node power balloon.

6 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein the power balloon comprises a system power balloon.

7 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein to adjust power consumption via the power balloon comprises to implement a green technique.

8 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein to adjust power consumption via the power balloon comprises to implement an activity that produces useful work but no computational output for a client.

9 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein to adjust power consumption via the power balloon comprises to implement a non-green technique.

10 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein to adjust power consumption via the power balloon comprises to implement an activity that produces no useful work and no additional computational output, the activity to consume energy to maintain the power consumption at the facility above a minimum limit of the power band.

11 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein to adjust power consumption via the power balloon comprises to run a diagnostic or perform maintenance, or a combination thereof.

12 . The facility of claim 3 , wherein to adjust power consumption via the power balloon comprises to power-on an unallocated powered-down node.

13 . The facility of claim 1 , wherein to adjust power consumption via the power balloon comprises to run a process of a power thermal utility to increase energy consumption of a compute node.

14 . The facility of claim 1 , wherein to manage the power consumption comprises to control rate of the power consumption.

15 . The facility of claim 14 , wherein to control rate of power consumption comprises to adjust operating frequency of the compute nodes to affect power sequencing in order to reduce initial power consumption caused by start of a job.

16 . A facility for computing, comprising:
systems of compute nodes, each system comprising a plurality of the compute nodes to execute jobs of distributed computing; and memory storing executable code to manage power consumption at the facility, wherein to manage power consumption comprises to control power consumption of the facility to within a power band and to control rate of the power consumption of the facility, by initiating an activity to adjust the power consumption, the activity giving no computational output.

17 . The facility of claim 16 , wherein the activity acts on a system of compute nodes or on a compute node, or both, and wherein the facility comprises a cloud computing facility, a distributed computing facility, a high performance computing (HPC) facility, a Big Data analytics facility, or any combination thereof.

18 . The facility of claim 16 , wherein executable code comprises a power balloon to initiate the activity.

19 . A method of computing, comprising:
executing jobs of computing on systems of computing at a facility, wherein each system comprises multiple compute nodes; and managing, via a processor, power consumption of the facility to within a power band and to control rate of power consumption.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein managing power consumption comprises managing power consumption via a power balloon, wherein the power balloon is at a system level or a node level, or both, and managing the power consumption via the power balloon comprises implementing a green activity that produces useful work but no computational output for a client.

21 . The method of claim 19 , wherein managing the power consumption comprises managing power consumption via a power balloon to implement a non-green activity on a system of multiple compute nodes and that produces no useful work and no additional computational output, wherein the activity is implemented to consume energy to maintain the power consumption at the facility above a minimum limit of the power band.

22 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by a processor to manage power consumption by a facility to within a power band and to control rate of power consumption by the facility, the facility having distributed computing systems having multiple compute nodes.

23 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein to manage power consumption comprises to manage power consumption at a facility level, a system level, and a compute node level, and wherein the power band comprises a range from a specified minimum power consumption to a specified maximum power consumption.

24 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the instructions executable by the processor comprise a power balloon, and wherein to manage power consumption comprises to adjust power consumption via the power balloon implementing a green activity that produces useful work but no computational output for a user.

25 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the instructions executable by the processor comprise a power balloon, and wherein to manage power consumption comprises to adjust power consumption via the power balloon implementing a non-green activity that produces no useful work and no additional computational output, wherein the activity is implemented to consume energy to maintain the power consumption at the facility above a specified minimum limit of the power band.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Bodas Devadatta V
• Rajappa Muralidhar
• Song Justin J
• Hoffman Andy
• Patterson Michael K

Classifications

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• G06F1/3203 Primary

  Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode · CPC title

• G05F1/66 Primary

  Regulating electric power · CPC title

• G06F1/329

  by task scheduling · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

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