Adjusting an extended power line disruption time and end-of-life used for at least one battery backup unit in a system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9698614-B2
Application number	US-201514947790-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2015
Priority date	Nov 20, 2015
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for adjusting an extended power line disruption time and end-of-life for at least one battery backup unit used in a system. A request is received to change from a first extended power line disruption time currently used in the system to a second extended power line disruption time. A first end-of-life and a second end-of-life correspond to the first extended power line disruption time and the second extended power line disruption time, respectively. A message is sent to a power distribution unit with information on the second extended power line disruption time to cause the power distribution unit to initiate a graceful shutdown of the system after power is supplied from the at least one battery backup unit for the second extended power line disruption time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product for managing an extended power line disruption time for a system having at least one battery backup unit, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein that when executed causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:
maintaining extended power line disruption time information including a first extended power line disruption time currently used in the system and a second extended power line disruption time, wherein the first and second extended power line disruption times comprise a time during which the system continues with read and write operations using power from the at least one battery backup unit before initiating a graceful shutdown procedure of the system, wherein the first and second extended power line disruption times indicated in the extended power line disruption time information are different times and are available for selection to use with the at least one battery backup unit, and wherein a first end-of-life and a second end-of-life correspond to the first extended power line disruption time and the second extended power line disruption time, respectively;
receiving a request to change from the first extended power line disruption time to the second extended powerline disruption time; and
sending a message to a power distribution unit with information on the second extended power line disruption time to cause the power distribution unit to initiate a graceful shutdown of the system after power is supplied from the at least one battery backup unit for the second extended power line disruption time.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the second extended power line disruption time is either greater or less than the first extended power line disruption time, wherein the first end-of-life is greater than the second end-of-life when the first extended power line disruption time is less than the second extended power line disruption time, and wherein the first end-of-life is less than the second end-of-life when the first extended power line disruption time is greater than the second extended power line disruption time.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
sending a message to at least one processing complex having information on the second end-of-life to cause the at least one processing complex to perform battery end-of-life handling operations upon occurrence of one of the at least one battery backup unit reaching the second end-of-life.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the power distribution unit comprises at least one rack power controller that manages the graceful shutdown of the system.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining whether each of the at least one battery backup unit is at the first end-of-life, wherein the sending of the message is performed in response to determining that the at least one battery backup unit is not at the first end-of-life.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the at least one battery backup unit comprises at least two battery backup units, wherein the first extended power line disruption time is used in response to the at least two battery backup units having reached the second end-of-life when the second end-of-life and the second extended power line disruption time are currently being used in the system, wherein the operations further comprise:
sending to a hardware management controller information on the second extended power line disruption time being used in the system.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein there is at least one additional extended power line disruption time and corresponding at least one additional end-of-life, wherein the request indicates to change to any of the first, second and at least one additional extended power line disruption times different from a current extended power line disruption time being used by the power distribution unit to determine when to initiate the graceful shutdown after power disruption.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the information on the second extended power line disruption time sent in the message indicates an amount of time to increase or decrease the extended power line disruption time used by the power distribution unit.

9. A computer program product for managing an extended power line disruption time for a system having at least one battery backup unit, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein that when executed causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:
receiving a request to change from a first extended power line disruption time currently used in the system to a second extended power line disruption time, wherein the first and second extended power line disruption times comprise a time during which the system continues with read and write operations using power from the at least one battery backup unit before initiating a graceful shutdown procedure of the system, wherein a first end-of-life and a second end-of-life correspond to the first extended power line disruption time and the second extended power line disruption time, respectively, and wherein the first end-of-life is greater than the second end-of-life and the first extended power line disruption time is less than the second extended power line disruption time;
sending a message to a power distribution unit with information on the second extended power line disruption time to cause the power distribution unit to initiate a graceful shutdown of the system after power is supplied from the at least one battery backup unit for the second extended power line disruption time; and
in response to the at least one battery backup unit having reached the second end-of-life when the second end-of-life and the second extended power line disruption time are being used in the system, indicating, by the power distribution unit, to use the first extended power line disruption time to determine when to initiate the graceful shutdown of the system in response to the power to the system switching to the at least one battery backup unit.

10. A system, comprising:
at least one battery backup unit;
at least one processing complex;
at least one power distribution unit to distribute power to the at least one processing complex from an external power source or from the at least one battery backup unit; and
a hardware management controller that when executed performs operations, the operations comprising:
maintaining extended power line disruption time information including a first extended power line disruption time currently used in the system to a second extended power line disruption time, wherein the first and second extended power line disruption times comprise a time during which the system continues with read and write operations using power from the at least one battery backup unit before initiating a graceful shutdown procedure of the system, wherein the first and second extended power line disruption times indicated in the extended power line disruption time information are different times and are available for selection to use with the at least one battery backup unit, and wherein a first end-of-life and a second end-of-life correspond to the first extended power line disruption time and the second extended power line disruption time, respectively;
receiving a request to change from the first extended power line disruption time to the second extended powerline disruption time; and
sending a message to the power di

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Carson Matthew D
• Duan Jiwu
• Elliott John C
• Hack Mark E
• Juarez Larry
• Martens Ronald D
• Rinaldi Brian A
• Sorenson Todd C

Classifications

• 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

• G01R31/3693

  Physics · mapped topic

• H02J9/061 Primary

  for DC powered loads · CPC title

• H02J7/0047 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01R31/3647

  for determining the ability of a battery to perform a critical function, e.g. cranking · CPC title