Leveling stress factors among like components in a server

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017199801-A1
Application number	US-201614993530-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 12, 2016
Priority date	Jan 12, 2016
Publication date	Jul 13, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and computer program product for causing a processor to perform the method are provided. The method includes monitoring a plurality of operating parameters for each of multiple components of a compute node, wherein the multiple components have the same component type, and determining a stress factor score for each of the multiple components, wherein the stress factor score is a function of the plurality of operating parameters. The method further includes reducing use of a first component from among the multiple components, wherein the first component has a stress factor score that is greater than the stress factor score for any of the other components of the same component type. Optionally, the method may prioritize use of each of the multiple components in an order of ascending stress factor score.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
monitoring a plurality of operating parameters for each of multiple components of a compute node, wherein the multiple components have the same component type; determining a stress factor score for each of the multiple components, wherein the stress factor score is a function of the plurality of operating parameters; and reducing use of a first component from among the multiple components, wherein the first component has a stress factor score that is greater than the stress factor score for any of the other components of the same component type.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
increasing use of a second component from among the multiple components, wherein the second component has a stress factor score that is less than the stress factor score for any of the other components of the same component type.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prioritizing use of each of the multiple components in an order of ascending stress factor score.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reducing use of a first component from among the multiple components includes placing the first component in an idle state.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the component type is selected from processors, memory modules, and hard disk drives.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of operating parameters are selected from on/off cycles, thermal average, read/write cycles, usage time, correctable error count, uncorrectable error count, memory training time during power-on self-test, and memory training error count during power-on self-test.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the stress factor score is a cumulative total number of occurrences of one or more event types.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the stress factor score is determined by weighting a cumulative total number of occurrences of a first event type differently than a cumulative total number of occurrences of a second event type.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the component type is a pluggable component type.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the component type is a memory module, and wherein the plurality of operating parameters are selected from power on time, power on/off cycles, and memory speed.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of operating parameters are monitored by an operating system of the compute node.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the component type is a memory module, and wherein reducing use of a first component from among the multiple components includes reducing use of a first memory module relative to other memory modules within the compute node, wherein the first memory module has a stress factor score that is greater than the stress factor score for any of the other memory modules.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein reducing use of the first memory module relative to other memory modules within the compute node includes reprogramming a memory channel configuration to change an order in which memory channels are used.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein a first memory channel including the first memory module is moved down in an order of memory channel usage.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein reducing use of the first memory module relative to other memory modules within the compute node includes removing the first memory module from use.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
putting the first memory module back in use only in response to failure of one of the other memory modules.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
periodically writing an updated value of the stress factor score to non-volatile memory on each memory module.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the updated value of the stress factor score is equal to a stress factor score previously stored in the non-volatile memory plus a stress factor score accumulated since the previously stored stress factor score.

19 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having non-transitory program instructions embodied therewith, the non-transitory program instructions being executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
monitoring a plurality of operating parameters for each of multiple components of a compute node, wherein the multiple components have the same component type; determining a stress factor score for each of the multiple components, wherein the stress factor score is a function of the plurality of operating parameters; and reducing use of a first component from among the multiple components, wherein the first component has a stress factor score that is greater than the stress factor score for any of the other components of the same component type.

20 . The computer program product of claim 19 , the method further comprising:
increasing use of a second component from among the multiple components, wherein the second component has a stress factor score that is less than the stress factor score for any of the other components of the same component type.

Assignees

• Lenovo Entpr Solutions Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Kangas Paul D
• Ranck Daniel M

Classifications

• G06F9/505 Primary

  considering the load · CPC title

• G06F11/3495 Primary

  for systems · CPC title

• G06F11/008

  Reliability or availability analysis · CPC title

• G06F11/3433 Primary

  for load management (allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029) · CPC title

• G06F9/5038

  considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration (scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups) · CPC title