Patent Grant
9189039
The present application claims priority from Japanese patent application JP 2011-274014 filed on Dec. 15, 2011, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to an information processing system, an operation management method of an information processing system, and a data center, particularly relates to cooling of an information processing apparatus.
Air cooling is mainly used for cooling an information processing apparatus of an information processing system. Generally, an information processing apparatus is cooled with cold air supplied by an air-conditioner that is taken into the information processing apparatus mounted on a rack.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-7423 discloses a technology of controlling supply air volume of an air-conditioner such that a temperature of air blown out from the air-conditioner and a temperature of intake air to a rack are the same temperature.
Ordinarily, cold air at, for example, 24° C. is made to be introduced into an information processing apparatus with a sufficient air volume such that the information processing apparatus is not overheated. On the other hand, a power cost is taken for supplying sufficiently cooled air with a sufficient air volume. Here, it is rare that a work-load near to 100% of an allowable amount is always given to an information processing system. Hence, the inventors have investigated to achieve power saving of an information processing system not by always supplying sufficiently cooled air to whole of the information processing system with a sufficient air volume, but elevating a temperature of cold air, or restraining the air volume of the cold air in accordance with a situation.
The present invention has been carried out in view of the above-described, and it is an object thereof to achieve power saving of an information processing system.
The present invention resolves the problem described above by determining an allowable temperature of intake air to an information processing apparatus based on information of a temperature of intake air to the information processing apparatus, information of a temperature of exhaust air from the information processing device, information of power consumption of the information processing apparatus, and information of an allowable temperature of the exhaust air from the information processing apparatus.
According to the present invention, power consumption of an information processing apparatus can be restrained by enabling to supply cold air in accordance with a situation.
An explanation will be given of embodiments in reference to the drawings as follows.
The information processing apparatus 104 is a server device according to the present embodiment, and a given work-load is an application. The information processing apparatus 104 includes a board 108 mounted with CPU or a memory, an air cooling fan 109 of exhausting warm air generated at the information processing apparatus 104, a temperature sensor 110 for measuring a temperature of intake air to the information processing apparatus 104, and a temperature sensor 111 for measuring a temperature of exhaust air from the information processing apparatus 104.
The outside air-conditioner 105 carries out air-conditioning by taking in outside air as indicated by an arrow mark 112, and a portion of exhaust air from the computer room 102 as indicated by an arrow mark 113. Air air-conditioned by the outside air-conditioner 105 is blown out to a space 114 under double floors of the computer room 102, and is introduced into the computer room 102 from a blow out port 116 as indicated by an arrow mark 115 by the air fan 106. The information processing apparatus 104 sucks air introduced from the blow out port 116 from a front face panel 118 of a mesh of the rack 103 as indicated by an arrow mark 117, and exhausts warm air produced by heat generation of the information processing apparatus 104 from a back face panel 120 of a mesh of the rack 103 as indicated by an arrow mark 119 by operating the air cooling fan 109. The warm air exhausted from the back face panel 120 is exhausted from a suction port 122 to an exhaust duct 123 as indicated by an arrow mark 121. A portion of the warm air exhausted to the exhaust duct 123 is returned to the outside air-conditioner 105 as indicated by the arrow mark 113, and the remainder is exhausted to outside as indicated by an arrow mark 124.
An explanation will be given of an operation of the information processing system 101 in reference to
The information processing apparatus 104 acquires a measurement result of the temperature sensor 110, and a measurement result of the temperature sensor 111, and stores the measurement results to a memory of the information processing apparatus 104. Also, the information processing apparatus 104 acquires information of power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104, and stores the information to the memory of the information processing apparatus 104. As methods of acquiring the information of the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104, there are, for example, a method of providing a power meter to the information processing apparatus 104, and acquiring the information of the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 from the power meter, and a method of predicting to acquire the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 from a rated power of the information processing apparatus 104, and a CPU using rate of the information processing apparatus 104 which is a server device. In the graph 201, the measurement result of the temperature sensor 110 corresponds to an intake air temperature measured value 202, the measurement result of the temperature sensor 111 corresponds to an exhaust air temperature measured value 203, and the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 corresponds to a measured value 204, respectively.
Here, the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 corresponds to an amount of heat which can be removed from the information processing apparatus 104 during unit time by air cooling in a steady state. That is, the following relationship is established among an amount Q of wind flowing in the information processing apparatus 104, an intake air temperature Ti of the information processing apparatus 104, an exhaust air temperature To of the information processing apparatus 104, and a power consumption Wi of the information processing apparatus with α as a constant.
To−Ti=αWi/Q (Equation 1)
Therefore, there can be obtained a relationship indicated by a solid line 205 from the intake air temperature measured value 202, the exhaust air temperature measured value 203, and the measured value 204, that is, a relationship between the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 and the exhaust air temperature of the information processing apparatus 104.
The solid line 205 of the graph 201 shows a state where sufficiently cooled air at, for example, 24° C. is supplied with a sufficient air volume. Therefore, even when the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 reaches a maximum value 206, the exhaust air temperature of the information processing apparatus 104 is lower than an allowable temperature 207 of the exhaust air of the information processing apparatus 104. Here, the allowable temperature 207 of the exhaust air may be an operation guaranteeing temperature which is an exhaust air temperature for guaranteeing an operation of the information processing apparatus, or a temperature of subtracting a margin from the operation guaranteeing temperature. The operation guaranteeing temperature is, for example, 35° C., and the temperature of subtracting the margin from the operation guaranteeing temperature is, for example, 34° C. Here, the maximum value of the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 corresponds to, for example, a CPU using rate of 100%.
When the intake air temperature Ti is elevated, also the exhaust air temperature To is similarly elevated from (Equation 1) in a case where the air volume Q is constant. Therefore, when the intake air temperature Ti is elevated, the relationship among the temperature of the intake air to the information processing apparatus, the temperature of the exhaust air of the information processing apparatus, and the power consumption of the information processing apparatus is shifted from the solid line 205 as in a broken line 208, or a one-dotted chain line 209 while maintaining an inclination of the solid line 205.
The broken line 208 is configured by plotting a condition in which the temperature of the exhaust air of the information processing apparatus becomes the allowable temperature 207 of the exhaust air of the information processing apparatus in a case where the power consumption of the information processing apparatus is the maximum value 206, and the intake air temperature at this occasion is defined as an intake air allowable temperature A210. The information processing apparatus 104 can be operated at the allowable temperature 207 of the exhaust air or lower even when the information processing apparatus 104 is applied with a maximum load, for example, a work-load by which the CPU using rate becomes 100% by making the intake air temperature equal to or lower than the intake air allowable temperature A210. Here, an air-conditioning power can be reduced by elevating a set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is an air-conditioner within a range in which the intake air temperature is equal to or lower than the intake air allowable temperature A210. For example, a necessity of additional air-conditioning is generally brought about generally by a heat exchanger or the like in a state in which the temperature of the outside air is at 24° C. or higher. However, the additional air-conditioning can be avoided by elevating the set temperature and the air-conditioning power can be reduced. Therefore, the power of the information processing system 101 can be saved. Even in a case in which the information processing apparatus 104 is cooled by supplying cold air to the space 114 under the double floors of the computer room 102 by an air-conditioner by heat exchange in place of the outside air-conditioner 105, the air-conditioning power can be reduced by elevating the set temperature of the air-conditioner, and the power of the information processing system can be saved.
At step 302, the information processing apparatus 104 calculates the intake air allowable temperature A210 as described above based on the acquired measurement result of the temperature sensor 110, the acquired measurement result of the temperature sensor 111, information of the acquired power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104, and information of the allowable temperature of the exhaust air of the information processing apparatus 104. The information of the allowable temperature of the exhaust air of the information processing apparatus 104 may be information of the operation guaranteeing temperature of the exhaust air which is provided in a specification of the information processing apparatus 104 that is previously stored to the memory of the information processing apparatus 104, or may be a temperature of subtracting a margin from the operation guaranteeing temperature of the exhaust air which is provided in the specification of the information processing apparatus 104 that is previously stored to the memory of the information processing apparatus 104 as information of the allowable temperature of the exhaust air.
At step 303, the information processing apparatus 104 elevates the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner such that the temperature of the intake air to the information processing apparatus 104 is proximate to the calculated intake air allowable temperature A210. For example, in a case where the intake air temperature measured at step 301 is 24° C., and the intake air allowable temperature A210 is 27° C., the information processing apparatus 104 can make the temperature of the intake air to the information processing apparatus 104 proximate to a target value by setting the target value of the temperature of the intake air to the information processing apparatus 104 to 26° C. by subtracting a margin of 1° C. from the intake air allowable temperature A210, and controlling the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner by a PID control while measuring the temperature of the intake air by the temperature sensor 110. The information processing apparatus 104 determines the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner when the temperature of the intake air can sufficiently be proximate to the target value.
In the information processing system 101, there is a case where it is not necessarily needed to use the information processing apparatus 104 at the CPU using rate of 100%, and an operator of the information processing system 101 can restrict the CPU using rate down to, for example, 70%. That is, in the information processing system 101, the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 can be restricted based on information of restricting the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104. When the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 is restricted, the intake air allowable temperature of the information processing apparatus 104 can further be elevated. Here, information of restricting the power consumption of the information processing apparatus 104 is, for example, a restriction value of the CPU using rate of the information processing apparatus 104 set by an operator of the information processing system 101, and can be stored to the memory of the information processing apparatus 104.
Although a description has been given of the change of the temperature setting of the air-conditioner as described above, the power consumption of the information processing system 101 can be reduced also by reducing the air volume. An explanation will be given of making the power consumption low by reducing the air volume.
A graph 501 of
Although in First Embodiment, the explanation has been given of the information processing system 101 including the single information processing apparatus, according to the present embodiment, there is shown an example of an information processing system including plural information processing apparatuses.
The information processing system 601 differs from the information processing system 101 in including 3 pieces of information processing apparatuses of an information processing apparatus 602, an information processing apparatus 603, and an information processing apparatus 604 at the rack 103. Here, the information processing apparatus 602 and the information processing apparatus 603 are server devices which execute applications as a work-load. The information processing apparatus 604 is a server device for managing an operation which is operated as a computer for managing an operation of the information processing system 601. Each of the information processing apparatuses 602-604 includes the board 108 mounted with CPU, a memory or the like, the air cooling fan 109, the temperature sensor 110 for measuring a temperature of intake air, and the temperature sensor 111 for measuring a temperature of exhaust air similar to the information processing apparatus 104. The information processing apparatuses 602-604, the outside air-conditioner 105, and the air fan 106 are connected via wirings 605 indicated by a dotted line. The information processing apparatus 604 which is a computer for managing an operation can control the information processing apparatus 602, the information processing apparatus 603, the outside air-conditioner 105, and the air fan 106 via the wirings 605. Cold air of the computer room 102 is introduced to the respective information processing apparatuses as shown by arrow marks 606-608, and warm air from the respective information processing apparatuses is exhausted as shown by arrow marks 609-611. Here, positions of mounting the respective information processing apparatuses to the rack 103 differ from each other. Therefore, air volumes of the cold air introduced to the respective information processing apparatuses are not necessarily uniform among the respective information processing apparatuses.
The information processing apparatus 604 which is a computer of managing an operation acquires measurement results of the respective temperature sensors 110 of the information processing apparatuses 602-603 as information of respective temperatures of intake air of the information processing apparatuses 602-603, and the measurement results of the respective temperature sensors 111 of the information processing apparatuses 602-603 as information of respective temperatures of exhaust air of the information processing apparatuses 602-603, and stores the measurement results to a memory of the information processing apparatus 604. Also, the information processing apparatus 604 acquires information of respective power consumptions of the information processing apparatuses 602-603 and stores the information to the memory of the information processing apparatus 604.
The information processing apparatus 604 can calculate the intake air allowable temperatures A210 for the respective information processing apparatuses based on the acquired measurement results of the respective temperature sensors, the acquired information of the power consumptions of the respective information processing apparatuses, information of allowable temperatures of exhaust air of the respective information processing apparatuses. Here, as the information of the respective allowable temperatures of exhaust air of the information processing apparatuses 602-603, information of operation guaranteeing temperatures of exhaust air which are provided at the specifications of the information processing apparatuses 602-603 may previously be stored to the memory of the information processing apparatus 604, or temperatures of subtracting a margin(s) from the operation guaranteeing temperatures of exhaust air which are provided at the specifications of the information processing apparatuses 602-603 may previously be stored to the memory of the information processing apparatus 604 as information of the allowable temperatures of the exhaust air.
Also, the information processing apparatus 604 can calculate intake air allowable temperatures B212 with regard to the respective information processing apparatuses based on the acquired measurement results of the respective temperature sensors, the acquired information of power consumptions of the respective information processing apparatuses, the information of the allowable temperatures of the exhaust air of the respective information processing apparatuses, and information of restricting the power consumptions of the respective information processing apparatuses which are set by an operator. The information of restricting the power consumptions of the respective information processing apparatuses is, for example, restriction values of CPU using rates which are respectively set for the information processing apparatus 602 and the information processing apparatus 603 by an operator of the information processing system 601, and can be stored to the memory of the information processing apparatus 604.
The information processing apparatus 604 can adjust the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner similar to First Embodiment based on a lower one of the intake air allowable temperatures of the information processing apparatuses 602-603.
For example, in a case where the intake allowable temperature B212 of the information processing apparatus 602 is 28° C., and the intake air allowable temperature B212 of the information processing apparatus 603 is 29° C., the information processing apparatus 604 can make the intake air temperature of the information processing apparatus 602 proximate to a target value by setting the target value of the intake air temperature of the information processing apparatus 602 to 27° C. by subtracting a margin of 1° C. from the intake air allowable temperature B212 of 28° C., and controlling the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner by a PID control while measuring the intake air temperature by the temperature sensor 110 of the information processing apparatus 602. The information processing apparatus 604 determines the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner when the intake air temperature can sufficiently be made to be proximate to the target value. As described above, the set temperature of the air-conditioner can be made to be a high temperature, and therefore, the low power consumption of the information processing system 601 can be achieved. Here, the information processing apparatus 604 is operated as a computer of managing the operation, and therefore, an amount of a given work-load is smaller than those of the other information processing apparatuses, and the intake allowable temperature is higher than those of the other information processing apparatuses. Therefore, the intake allowable temperature of the information processing apparatus 604 may not be taken into a consideration.
The information processing apparatus 604 can further achieve the lower power consumption of the information processing system 601 by stopping or pausing the information processing apparatus having the lower intake air allowable temperature from among the information processing apparatuses 602 and 603. Thereby, the set temperature of the outside air air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner can be adjusted similar to First Embodiment in accordance with the information processing apparatus 602 or 603 having a higher intake air allowable temperature. Therefore, the low power consumption of the information processing system 601 can be achieved by further reducing the power consumption of the cooler equipment.
For example, in a case where the intake air allowable temperature A210 of the information processing apparatus 602 is 25° C., and the intake allowable temperature A210 of the information processing apparatus 603 is 27° C., the information processing apparatus 604 pauses or stops the information processing apparatus 602. Also, the information processing apparatus 604 can make the intake air temperature of the information processing apparatus 603 proximate to a target value by setting the target value of the intake air temperature of the information processing apparatus 603 to 26° C. by subtracting a margin of 1° C. from the intake allowable temperature A210, and controlling the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner by a PID control while measuring the intake air temperature by the temperature sensor 110 of the information processing apparatus 103. The information processing apparatus 604 determines the set temperature of the outside air-conditioner 105 which is the air-conditioner when the intake air temperature can sufficiently be made to be proximate to the target value. As described above, the set temperature of the air-conditioner can be made to be a higher temperature, and therefore, the low power consumption of the information processing system 601 can be achieved by restraining the power consumption of the cooler equipment.
Incidentally, although according to the present embodiment, the information processing apparatuses to which the work-load is applied are made to be 2 pieces of the information processing apparatuses 602-603, a number of pieces of the information processing apparatuses may be 3 or more. In a case where the number of pieces of the information processing apparatuses is 3 or more, the low power consumption of the information processing system can be achieved by adjusting to set the temperature of the air-conditioner based on the intake air allowable temperature of an information processing apparatus having the lowest intake air allowable temperature in the operating information processing apparatuses. Also, the low power consumption of the information processing system can be achieved by predominantly stopping or pausing an information processing apparatus having a lower intake air allowable temperature in 3 piece or more of information processing apparatuses.
Although in First Embodiment and Second Embodiment, there has been shown an example of an information processing system including 1 piece of rack, according to the present embodiment, there will be shown an example of a data center having an information processing system including plural rack rows.
The data center 701 includes rack rows 702-704 in place of the rack 103 of First and Second Embodiments. At least single pieces of information processing apparatuses are respectively mounted to the respective rack rows similar to First and Second Embodiments. Each of the information processing apparatuses provided at the rack rows 702-704 includes a server device, a router device, and a storage device. One piece of the information processing apparatuses provided to the rack rows 702-704 is operated as a computer for managing an operation. A redundant configuration may be constructed by providing plural pieces of information processing apparatuses for managing the operation. A control signal from the computer for managing the operation is transmitted to the respective information processing apparatuses, the outside air-conditioner 105, and the air fan 106 via wirings 705 indicated by a dotted line.
Upper portions of the respective rack rows are subjected to aisle capping, and the computer room 102 is partitioned to a cold aisle 706, a hot aisle 707, a cold aisle 708, and a hot aisle 709.
As shown in
The data center 701 can also achieve the low power consumption similar to the information processing system 601 of Second Embodiment. For example, the low power consumption of the data center 701 can be achieved by adjusting to set the temperature of the air-conditioner based on the intake allowable temperature of the information processing apparatus having the lowest intake air allowable temperature in operating information processing apparatuses. Also, the low power consumption of the data center 701 can be achieved by predominantly stopping or pausing the information processing apparatus having the lowest intake air allowable temperature in the information processing apparatuses.
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