Energy aware processing load distribution system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9753465-B1
Application number	US-201414153540-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2014
Priority date	Jul 21, 2009
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A method for controlling a data center, comprising a plurality of server systems, each associated with a cooling system and a thermal constraint, comprising: a concurrent physical condition of a first server system; predicting a future physical condition based on a set of future states of the first server system; dynamically controlling the cooling system in response to at least the input and the predicted future physical condition, to selectively cool the first server system sufficient to meet the predetermined thermal constraint; and controlling an allocation of tasks between the plurality of server systems to selectively load the first server system within the predetermined thermal constraint and selectively idle a second server system, wherein the idle second server system can be recruited to accept tasks when allocated to it, and wherein the cooling system associated with the idle second server system is selectively operated in a low power consumption state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a server system having an associated dynamically controllable cooling system and a predetermined thermal constraint, comprising:
receiving an input corresponding to a physical condition of at least one of the server system and an environment of the server system, the physical condition corresponding to at least a temperature associated with the server system;
predicting, with at least one automated processor, the future physical condition of the server system based on at least a model of the server system; at least one control output of an automated controller, and a sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system, while maintaining a processing rate within a processing capacity of the server system of the sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system defined by a quality of service requirement, wherein the sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system is defined to selectively concentrate thermal stresses in a subset of available resources of the server system;
dynamically controlling the dynamically controllable cooling system with the automated controller, in response to at least the input and the predicted future physical condition of the server system to predictively cool the server system comprising the subset of available resources of the server system to which the thermal stresses are concentrated sufficient to meet the predetermined thermal constraint while maintaining the processing rate within the processing capacity of the server system of the sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system defined by the quality of service requirement, wherein the dynamically controllable cooling system is controlled by the automated controller to initiate an increased availability of cooling capacity for the server system after the predicted future physical condition indicates an increase in cooling demand and before an increase in the temperature associated with the server system and caused by the sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system is indicated by the input.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising selectively activating the server system from an idle state to an active state, and loading the server system in the active state to a processing load predicted to maintain the server in the active state within the predetermined thermal constraint, wherein the dynamically controllable cooling system associated with the server system is selectively operated in a low power consumption state while the server system is maintained in the idle state.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the associated dynamically controllable cooling system comprises an air conditioner.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the air conditioner comprises a control adapted to vary an air flow rate and an air temperature or air for cooling the server system, further comprising varying the air flow rate and the air temperature of air cooling the server system responsive to the control output of the automated controller.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the air conditioner is associated with a proportionally controllable air flow regulation baffle.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined thermal constraint comprises a maximum operating temperature of at least one component of the server system.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined thermal constraint comprises a maximum energy consumption of the server system.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the input is received from a thermal sensor, sensing a temperature of a component within the server system.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the input represents an energy consumption of at least one component within the server system.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing a queue for ordering the sequence of operations for performance by the server system, and receiving new tasks in the queue except when the server system is at risk of at least one of exceeding the predetermined thermal constraint and failing to meet the processing rate defined by a quality of service requirement.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing a queue for ordering the sequence of operations for performance by the server system, an removing at least a portion of the sequence of operations from the queue when the server system is at risk of at least one of exceeding the predetermined thermal constraint, and failing to meet the processing rate defined by a quality of service requirement.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the server system comprises a plurality of processing units, each processing unit executing under a respective operating system, wherein at least a portion of said predicting or said controlling is executed as a part of the respective operating system of a respective processing unit.

13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising controlling the server system by the automated controller, external to the server system, adapted to allocate tasks representing respective sequences of instructions, to the server system, in dependence on at least the input and the predicting.

14. A method for controlling a server system having an associated dynamically controllable cooling system and a predetermined thermal constraint, comprising:
predicting, with at least one automated processor, a future physical condition of the server system and the associated dynamically controllable cooling system based on a model of the server system and the associated dynamically controllable cooling system, and a sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system prior to processing by the server system, wherein the sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system is selectively defined to concentrate thermal stresses in a subset of available resources of the server system;
dynamically controlling the dynamically controllable cooling system with an automated controller, in response to at least the sequence of operations queued for performance by the server system prior to processing by the server system and the predicted future physical condition, to change a capacity of the associated dynamically controllable cooling system to cool the server system comprising the subset of available resources of the server system to which the thermal stresses are concentrated, to achieve a cooling capacity predicted to be sufficient to meet the predetermined thermal constraint while meeting a quality of service requirement representing a rate of performance by the server system, wherein the dynamically controllable cooling system is controlled by the automated controller to alter a cooling of the server system after the predicted future physical condition indicates a change in a predicted cooling demand and before a change in temperature of the server system resulting from performance of the operations queued for performance by the server system.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the server system comprises a plurality of separately activatable components, further comprising selectively activating at least one activatable component from an idle state to an active state, selectively in dependence on a predicted inability of the server system to meet the predetermined thermal constraint and the quality of service requirement representing the rate of performance by the server system.

16. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising providing a queue for ordering

Assignees

• Univ New York State Res Found

Inventors

• Ghose Kanad

Classifications

• A61K36/185

  Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons) · CPC title

• B03B11/00

  Feed or discharge devices integral with washing or wet-separating equipment · CPC title

• B03B1/00

  Conditioning for facilitating separation by altering physical properties of the matter to be treated · CPC title

• B03B5/02

  using shaken, pulsated or stirred beds as the principal means of separation (B03B5/28, B03B5/48 take precedence) · CPC title

• B03B5/58

  Bowl classifiers · CPC title