The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP2005-124517, filed on Apr. 22, 2005, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to management technologies used for computer equipment, and more particularly to technologies applied effectively to control of a power supply included in multiple computer equipment, which is composed of two or more sets of computer equipment mounted in a case.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A WEB server, an application server, and a database server used for an operation system of a company use computer equipment comprising a processor, a memory, an IO device, and a storage device. In recent years, multiple computer equipment has been coming into wider use in order to achieve space saving computer equipment and to place, at one location, servers included in a system so as to manage the servers in an integrated manner. A blade server is well known as multiple computer equipment. This blade server is configured such that components of computer equipment, such as a CPU, a memory, and an HDD, are placed in a thin case called a CPU module or a CPU blade and the plurality of CPU modules are placed in a case called a chassis or an enclosure. Thus, high-density multiple computer equipment is realized. As a result, further space saving can be achieved as compared with the conventional computer equipment. In addition, the blade server is equipped with AC-DC power supply modules for supplying the electric power to the components of the computer equipment in the chassis. In general, the blade server is equipped with a plurality of AC-DC power supply modules so that multiple computer equipment can continue operating even if a failure occurs in one of the AC-DC power supply modules. With the objective of achieving the integrated management of the two or more sets of computer equipment as described above, the blade server is in general equipped with a management module for controlling and managing modules constituting the computer equipment, such as a CPU module, and the AC-DC power supply modules, located in the chassis. The management module performs: for example, ON/OFF control of the power supply to the modules including the CPU module and the AC-DC power supply modules; monitoring of the temperature in the CPU module and the temperature in the chassis; and fault monitoring and fault handling of the modules including the CPU module and the AC-DC power supply modules. An administrator of the blade server is allowed to access this management module by means of, for example, telnet, and thereby to control ON/OFF of the power supply of the computer equipment in the blade server. Further, in order to manage a system including an operation system and an application operating on computer equipment, management software that operates on computer equipment, i.e., a management server located outside the blade server is used. This management server is connected to the management module described above through a management network, for example, through a local area network (LAN). By communicating with the management module, the management server can control ON/OFF of the power supply of the computer equipment in the blade server. Moreover, this management server is connected to individual computer equipment included in the blade server through the management network, and manages an operation system, applications, and the like, which operate on the computer equipment. Here, agent software which operates on the computer equipment is in general used for communications between the management software and the computer equipment.
Incidentally, this kind of blade server is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-32153 (“Cartridge type server unit, and case for housing the server unit”).
However, the inventor found out that when the AC-DC power supply modules included in the multiple computer equipment described above are managed, the undermentioned problems will arise.
To be more specific, a maximum value of the output power required for each of the AC-DC power supply modules is specified on the basis the largest power consumption required when all modules which are components constituting sets of computer equipment located in the chassis are operating. Accordingly, if the sets of computer equipment located in the chassis are partially in a power OFF state or in a sleep state, or if a processor included in computer equipment is in the sleep state, the power consumption decreases. Therefore, for the operation of the sets of computer equipment located in the chassis, the electric power is supplied by the AC-DC power supply modules having the excessive output power. In this case, the operation is kept in a low load state in which the output power per AC-DC power supply module is smaller than the maximum value of the output power of each AC-DC power supply module. In general, an AC-DC power supply module inefficiently works in the low load state. Therefore, the electric power is wastefully consumed for the required power consumption.
Although a value of the W0 depends on the performance of the AC-DC power supply module, in the case of AC-DC power supply modules used for computer equipment, the value is about 10 to 50 watts (W). When the load is low (LL), the power supply is inefficient, that is, the wasteful power consumption is large. On the other hand, when the load is normal (SL), the power supply is efficient, that is, the wasteful power consumption is small. Since the blade server incorporates a plurality of AC-DC power supply modules, there arises a problem of wasteful total power consumption: (the wasteful power consumption (W))×(the number of AC-DC power supply modules) (W).
A publicly known example for overcoming such a problem is U.S. Pat. No. 6,785,827 (“System for determining servers power supply requirement by sampling power usage values thereof at a rate based upon the criticality of its availability”) In the technology of this publicly known example, the power consumption required for each set of computer equipment in a system is monitored to calculate the total amount of the required power consumption, and then the number of required AC-DC power supply units is determined on the basis of the required power consumption. However, in this method of the publicly known example, if many sets of computer equipment are suddenly brought into a power ON state, or if a system returns from a sleep state to a normal operation state, or if a processor returns from the sleep state to the normal operation state, there is a problem in that it is not possible to cope with the sudden increase in power consumption by calculating the maximum power consumption as a result of monitoring the power consumption, and then by determining the number of required power supply units.
An object of the present invention is to provide a technology that can control the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules even in a case where the power consumption suddenly changes as described above, and thereby making it possible to reduce the wasteful power consumption.
The above-mentioned and other objects of the present invention and new features thereof will be made clear by the description in this specification and with reference to attached drawings.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided multiple computer equipment comprising: at least one CPU module comprising a processor, and a DC-DC power supply for supplying power supply to the processor; AC-DC power supply modules each being connected to each of the CPU modules, each of the AC-DC power supply modules comprising an AC-DC power supply unit for supplying the required amount of power to the DC-DC power supply in response to an operation state of the processor; a CPU module controller included in the CPU module, the CPU module controller controlling the power supply even when the processor is not operating, and the CPU module controller being connected to the AC-DC power supply modules through a power supply control interface so as to control the output of the AC-DC power supply modules; and a management module which is connected to the CPU module controller through a management interface so as to control the power supply of the CPU module. The management module holds system information including status information of the processor, operation information of the CPU module, and power consumption information provided on a processor kind basis; and performs the steps of: on the basis of the system information, calculating the power consumption required for each of the CPU modules; and calculating the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules required to ensure the calculated power consumption, and on the basis of the result of the calculation, determining the number of AC-DC power supply modules to be operated.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided multiple computer equipment comprising: at least one AC-DC power supply module comprising an AC-DC power supply unit, the AC-DC power supply module supplying the electric power to each equipment; a CPU module including: at least one processor; a DC-DC power supply for DC-DC converting the electric power supplied from the AC-DC power supply module; and a CPU module controller for controlling the power supply even when the processor is not operating, the CPU module controller being connected to the AC-DC power supply module through a power supply control interface so as to control the output of the AC-DC power supply module; a management module which is connected through a management interface so as to control the power supply of the CPU module; and an operation system and system firmware, both of which operate on a CPU module basis when the power supply of the CPU module is turned ON. In addition, if the processor has a sleep state, the processor has either at least one state as a sleep state of the processor, or at least one state as a system sleep state provided on a CPU module basis; if a state of the processor changes from a normal operation state to a sleep state, the CPU module controller comprises: a timer function of keeping the processor state in the sleep state for a fixed period of time by a command for making a transition to the sleep state, the command being issued from the system firmware; and a function of notifying the management module that the processor state has changed; if the processor state changes from the sleep state to the normal operation state, the CPU module controller comprises: a function of, on completion of the timer function, notifying the management module that the processor state has changed; and a function of, on receipt of a notification from the management module that settings of the AC-DC power supply module have been completed, sending the processor an interrupt request to return from the sleep state to the normal operation state; the management module comprises, as system information, CPU module operation information including: CPU module power ON or OFF; a normal operation state, and a sleep state, of a system of the CPU module; and information about a kind of included processor; as processor information, the management module comprises: processor state information including a normal operation state, and a sleep state, of a processor in the CPU module; and processor power-consumption information that is required for each state on a processor kind basis; and if the processor state changes from the normal operation state to the sleep state, or if the processor state changes from the sleep state to the normal operation state, the management module comprises: a control function of: on receipt of a notification from the CPU module controller that the processor state has changed, calculating the power consumption required for the whole multiple computer equipment from the CPU module operation information, the processor state information, and the processor power-consumption information; on the basis of the power consumption, calculating the number of AC-DC power supply modules to be operated; and if it is necessary to change the number of AC-DC power supply modules that are operating, changing the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules that are operating; and a notification function of notifying the CPU module controller of the completion of settings, the completion of settings indicating that the AC-DC power supply modules are stably operating.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a management method of multiple computer equipment. The multiple computer equipment includes:
at least one AC-DC power supply module for supplying the electric power to the whole equipment; a CPU module comprising: at least one processor; a DC-DC power supply for DC-DC converting the electric power supplied from the AC-DC power supply module; and a CPU module controller for controlling the power supply even when the processor is not operating, the CPU module controller being connected to the AC-DC power supply module through a power supply control interface so as to control the output of the AC-DC power supply module; a management module which is connected through a management interface so as to control the power supply of the CPU module; and an operation system and system firmware, both of which operate on a CPU module basis when the power supply of the CPU module is turned ON. In addition, if the processor has a sleep state, the processor has either at least one state as a sleep state of the processor, or at least one state as a system sleep state provided on a CPU module basis; if the processor state changes from a normal operation state to the sleep state, the operation system operating on the CPU module performs the step of: issuing to the system firmware a command for changing the processor state from the normal operation state to the sleep state; on receipt of the command, the system firmware operating on the CPU module performs the steps of: notifying the CPU module controller that the processor state has changed; and performing the sleep control of the processor; the CPU module controller performs the step of: notifying the processor management module that the processor state has changed; and on receipt of this notification, the processor management module performs the steps of; updating processor state information including a normal operation state, and the sleep state, of the processor in the processor CPU module; calculating the power consumption required for the whole multiple computer equipment from information including: the processor state information; CPU module operation information including a power ON/OFF state of the processor CPU module, the normal operation state, and the sleep state, of the system of the processor CPU module, and information about a kind of included processor; and processor power-consumption information required for each state on a processor kind basis; on the basis of the power consumption, calculating the number of AC-DC power supply modules to be operated; and if it is necessary to change the number of AC-DC power supply modules that are operating, changing the number of AC-DC power supply modules that are operating.
Effects that can be achieved from the typical features of the present invention disclosed in this application concerned will be briefly described below.
In multiple computer equipment, even if an operation state of computer equipment changes, it is possible to control the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules in response to a processor state and a system state. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the electric power from becoming inefficient, and thereby to reduce the wasteful power consumption.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to drawings below. Note that in order to illustrate the embodiments, the same parts are in principle designated by similar reference numerals in all of the drawings, and therefore, in principle the description of the parts will not be repeated.
First of all, a configuration of multiple computer equipment according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The system information 108 comprises at least CPU module operation information FT2 shown in
Information corresponding to the Kind of processor 12031, K2032, . . . , indicates a kind of each processor included in the system. The kinds of processors with which the multiple computer equipment can be equipped are expressed by use of unique identifiers, for example, CP1, CP2, . . . . In this embodiment, for example, CP1 denotes Xeon 2.8 GHz; and CP2 denotes Itanium 2 900 MHz. The processor state information FT3 shown in
If the power consumption is calculated for the other CPU modules in like manner, the following values are acquired:
CPU module #1: 100 (W)+100 (W)=200 (W);
CPU module #2: 80 (W)+80 (W)=160 (W);
CPU module #3: 80 (W)+80 (W)=160 (W); and
CPU module #4: 0 (W)+0 (W)=0 (W)
As a result, the required power consumption becomes 600 (W) in total. As a matter of course, because even components other than processors, which include a memory, a HDD, and an I/O card, consume the electric power in computer equipment, if the power consumption in the processor power-consumption information FT4 does not include the components other than the processors, it is necessary to add the power consumption of the components other than the processors to the above-mentioned required power consumption that has been calculated. The management module 107 calculates the number of required AC-DC power supply modules by dividing the required power consumption by the maximum output electric power per AC-DC power supply module, and thereby controls the number of AC-DC power supply modules to be operated. Incidentally, if an AC-DC power supply module is operated with N+1 redundancy, the number of AC-DC power supply modules to be operated is obtained by adding 1 to the number of required AC-DC power supply modules that has been calculated above. Here, the N+1 redundancy means a function by which, by operating the required AC-DC power supply modules, the number of which is increased by one, even if a failure occurs in one of the operating AC-DC power supply modules, the computer equipment can continuously operate because the remaining AC-DC power supply modules are operating.
Next, a management method for managing AC-DC power supply modules in the multiple computer equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention described above will be described with reference to a flowchart. First of all, a management method for managing AC-DC power supply modules applied in a case where a processor state changes to a sleep state will be described.
The flowchart illustrating how the processor state changes from the normal operation state A0 to the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) will be described below. On the basis of the load of a processor and power-saving settings of the operation system, the operation system 1101 determines a sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) to which the processor makes a transition, and then uses a software interface to notify the system firmware 1111 of the determined sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) to which the transition is made (step S501). By use of the software interface, the system firmware 1111 notifies the CPU module controller 1051 of the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) to which the transition is made (step S502) The CPU module controller 1051 sets a timer thereof at the time T1 corresponding to the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) to which the transition is made, and then starts the timer (step S503). Using a control path BC, the CPU module controller 1051 issues to the processor 1021 a command for making a transition to the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) (step S504). As a result, the processor 1021 makes a transition from the normal operation state A0 to the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ). By use of a communication path MI, the CPU module controller 1051 notifies the management module 107 that the processor 1021 has made the transition to the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) (step S505). The management module 107 changes a state included in the processor state information FT3 to the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ), the state included in the processor state information FT3 corresponding to the processor that has made the transition to the sleep state (step S506). Because the system information 108 has been updated, the management module 107 calculates the required power consumption on the basis of the system information 108 (information of FT2, FT3, and FT4), and also calculates the number of required AC-DC power supply modules (step S507). The management module 107 judges whether or not there is a change in the number of AC-DC power supply modules that are operating (step S508). If there is a change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the management module 107 controls the output of the AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, . . . by use of a communication path PA used for control so that the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules is changed (step S509). In this embodiment, for example, the output of the AC-DC power supply module 1065 is stopped so that a state in which five AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065 are operating is changed to a state in which four AC-DC power supply modules are operating. On the other hand, if there is no change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the operation flow ends.
Next, the flowchart illustrating how the processor state changes from the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) to the normal operation state A0 will be described below. As soon as the time-out of the timer set in the step S503 occurs, the CPU module controller 1051 uses the communication path MI to notify the management module 107 that the processor 1021 makes a transition to the normal operation state A0 (step 510). The management module 107 changes a state included in the processor state information FT3 to the normal operation state A0, the state included in the processor state information FT3 corresponding to the processor that has made the transition to the sleep state (step S511). Because the system information 108 has been updated, the management module 107 calculates the required power consumption on the basis of the system information 108 (information of FT2, FT3, and FT4), and also calculates the number of required AC-DC power supply modules (step S512). The management module 107 judges whether or not there is a change in the number of AC-DC power supply modules that are operating (step S513). If there is a change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the management module 107 controls the output of the AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, . . . by use of the communication path PA used for control so that the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules is changed (step S514). In this embodiment, for example, the output of the AC-DC power supply module 1065 is turned ON so that a state in which four AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064 are operating is changed to a state in which five AC-DC power supply modules are operating. On the other hand, if there is no change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the process returns to the operation flow in the step S515. Using the communication path PA used for control, the management module 107 judges that the AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, . . . normally supply the power, and then notifies the CPU module controller 1051 of the completion of settings of the AC-DC power supply modules (step 515). Using the control path BC, the CPU module controller 1051 issues to the processor 1021 a command for making a transition to the normal operation state A0 (step S516). As a result, the processor 1021 makes the transition from the sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, . . . ) to the normal operation state A0.
Next, a management method for managing AC-DC power supply modules applied in a case where the system state changes from the normal operation state to the sleep state will be described.
Components that are not included in the block diagram of
Next, the flow of how a system state of the computer equipment comprising the CPU module 1011 changes from the normal operation state B0 to the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) will be described. As a result of, for example, a change in load of operation services, the management software 10013 included in the management server 10012 determines a system's sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ), to which the computer equipment makes a transition, so as to change the number of computer equipment to be operated. By use of the management network ML1, the management software 10013 requests the agent software 100141, which is operated by the CPU module 1011, to make a transition to the system's sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) (step S801). By use of the software interface, the agent software 100141 requests the operation system 1101 for the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) to which the transition is made (step S802). By use of the software interface, the operation system 1101 issues to the system firmware 1111 a system sleep command to make a transition to the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) (step S803). By use of the software interface, the system firmware 1111 notifies the CPU module controller 1051 of the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) to which the transition is made (step S804). The CPU module controller 1051 executes the system sleep command so that the transition to the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) is made (step S805). As a result, a system state of the computer equipment comprising the CPU module 1011 changes from the normal operation state B0 to the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ). By use of the communication path MI, the CPU module controller 1051 notifies the management module 107 that the system has made the transition to the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) (step S807). The management module 107 changes a state of the CPU module operation information FT2 to the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ). The state of the CPU module operation information FT2 corresponds to the system that has made the transition to the sleep state. In addition, the management module 107 also changes a state of the processor state information FT3 to the system's sleep state SS. The state of the processor state information FT3 corresponds to the processor that has made the transition to the sleep state (step S807). Because the system information 108 has been updated, the management module 107 calculates the required power consumption on the basis of the system information 108 (information of FT2, FT3, and FT4), and also calculates the number of required AC-DC power supply modules (step S808). The management module 107 judges whether or not there is a change in the number of AC-DC power supply modules that are operating (step S809). If there is a change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the management module 107 controls the output of the AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, . . . by use of the communication path PA used for control so that the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules is changed (step S810). In this embodiment, for example, the output of the AC-DC power supply module 1065 is stopped so that a state in which five AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065 are operating is changed to a state in which four AC-DC power supply modules are operating. On the other hand, if there is no change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the operation flow ends.
Next, a management method for managing AC-DC power supply modules applied in a case where the system state changes from the sleep state to the normal operation state will be described.
Next, the flow of how the system state of the computer equipment comprising the CPU module 1011 changes from the sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) to the normal operation state B0 will be described. The management software 10013 included in the management server 10012 decides to make a transition from the system's sleep state to the normal operation state so as to change the number of computer equipment to be operated based on a change in load of operation services. By use of the management network ML2, the management software 10013 requests the management module 107 to cause the CPU module 1011 to make a transition to the normal operation state B0 of the system, more specifically, to start up (step S901). The management module 107 changes a state in the CPU module operation information FT2 to the normal operation state B0, the state in the CPU module operation information FT2 corresponding to the system that makes the transition to the normal operation state. In addition, the management module 107 updates a state in the processor state information FT3 to the normal operation state A0, the state in the processor state information FT3 corresponding to the processor that has made the transition to the normal operation state B0 of the system (step S902). Because the system information 108 has been updated, the management module 107 calculates the required power consumption on the basis of the system information 108 (information of FT2, FT3, and FT4), and also calculates the number of required AC-DC power supply modules (step S903). The management module 107 judges whether or not there is a change in the number of AC-DC power supply modules that are operating (step S904). If there is a change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the management module 107 controls the output of the AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065 by use of the communication path PA used for control so that the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules is changed (step S905). In this embodiment, for example, the output of the AC-DC power supply module 1065 is turned ON so that a state in which four AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064 are operating is changed to a state in which five AC-DC power supply modules are operating. On the other hand, if there is no change in the number of operating AC-DC power supply modules, the process returns to the operation flow in the step S906. Using the communication path PA used for control, the management module 107 judges that the AC-DC power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065 normally supply the power, and then notifies the CPU module controller 1051 of the completion of settings of the AC-DC power supply modules (step 906). The CPU module controller 1051 executes a system startup command for starting up the computer equipment comprising the CPU module 1011 (step S907). As a result, the system state of the computer equipment comprising the CPU module 1011 changes from the system's sleep state Bx (x=1, 2, . . . ) to the normal operation state B0.
Described next will be a configuration of the multiple computer equipment, and a management method for managing AC-DC power supply modules, applied in a case where processors included in the CPU modules 1011, 1012, 1013, . . . have a multi-core structure in the multiple computer equipment according to one embodiment of the present invention shown in
When the CPU module 1011 shown in
Next, a method for determining the timer set time T1 of a timer for counting the sleep time corresponding to the processor's sleep state Ax (x=1, 2, 3, . . . ) will be described.
Described next will be how to determine the power consumption that is specified as the power consumption information K4021, K4022, K4023, K4024, . . . of the processor states A0, A1, A2, A3, . . . , which are included in the processor power-consumption information FT4. On the assumptions that the sleep time corresponding to processor states A0, A1, A2, A3, . . . of a certain processor, for example, a processor corresponding to CP1, is TAx (x=1, 2, 3, . . . ), the power consumption is PAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ), and the power consumption described in the processor power-consumption information FT4 is MPAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ), the relationship between the sleep time TAx (x=1, 2, 3, . . . ) and the power consumption PAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ) is in general given as follows:
TA1<TA2<TA3<.
PA0>PA1>PA2>PA3> . . . .
More specifically, with the increase in value of x, the sleep time TAx (x=1, 2, 3, . . . ) becomes longer; and with the increase in value of x, the power consumption PAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ) becomes smaller. Here, to determine the power consumption MPAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ) included in the processor power-consumption information FT4, for example, if the sleep time TAx (x=1, 2, 3, . . . ) is smaller than the total AC-DC power supply module control time TCP (=TCP1+TCP2) (TAX<TCP), the power consumption MPAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ), which is included in the processor power-consumption information FT4, is set as follows: MPAx=PA0. If the sleep time TAx (x=1, 2, 3, . . . ) is longer than the total AC-DC power supply module control time TCP (TAx>TCP), the power consumption MPAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ), which is included in the processor power-consumption information FT4, is set as follows: MPAx=PAx. As a result of determining, according to this method, the power consumption MPAx (x=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ) that is included in the processor power-consumption information FT4, if the sleep time TAx (x=1, 2, 3, . . . ) is shorter than the total AC-DC power supply module control time TCP, the AC-DC power supply modules are not controlled. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the sleep time from becoming longer as a result of the control of the AC-DC power supply modules.
On the other hand, the way of thinking applied to the above method for determining the power consumption information corresponding to the processor states A0, A1, A2, A3, . . . can also be applied to a method for determining the power consumption specified in the power consumption information K4031, K4032, K4033, K4034, . . . , which correspond to the system states B0, B1, B2, B3, . . . respectively. However, as described above, the sleep time corresponding to each sleep state can be freely specified by a vendor of equipment as a value specific to computer equipment. Therefore, this determination method is not always applied to all cases according to the present invention.
Next, how multiple computer equipment according to a second embodiment of the present invention is configured will be described.
The invention devised by this inventor was specifically described on the basis of the embodiments as above. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. As a matter of course, the present invention can be changed in various ways within the range that does not deviate from points thereof.
For example, computer equipment located outside the multiple computer equipment 100 may also have the functions included in the management module 107 in the above-mentioned embodiment. In addition, the power supply modules 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, . . . may also be provided outside the multiple computer equipment 100. Moreover, the CPU modules 1011, 1012, 1013, . . . in the multiple computer equipment 100 may also take the place of the management server 10012.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2005-124517 | Apr 2005 | JP | national |
This is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 11/407,973, filed Apr. 21, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 11407973 | Apr 2006 | US |
Child | 12327206 | US |