1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system power management, and more particularly to a system and method for power management of plural information handling systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems have improved considerably in their performance capabilities over the past several years and are likely to continue to improve over the foreseeable future. For instance, processing element designs have gained in processing speeds through advances in technology that have packed high levels of performance with greater densities. One difficulty that has arisen with this improved performance is that information handling systems tend to consume greater amounts of power and to generate greater amounts of excess heat. The cumulative impact of increased power usage by processing components may be substantial where large numbers of information handling systems operate, such as in data centers. In addition to the consumption of power by the information handling systems themselves, the overall power use may be further increased by environmental factors, such as increased power consumption associated with cooling and decreased power availability for information handling systems due to periodic power supply variances. Data centers or other organizations that run multiple information handling systems often expend considerable resources in an attempt to maintain a steady power supply for use by the information handling systems.
One difficulty faced by information technology professionals is ensuring an adequate power supply for multiple information handling systems where the power consumed changes as information handling systems are added or replaced. This task is made more complex where the available power fluctuates, whether due to fluctuations from the source of power or fluctuations in the use of available power by other resources, such as cooling resources. Information handling systems do often include various ways of managing power, but power management typically relates to reducing power consumption while operating on internal battery power so that the battery does not discharge too rapidly. For instance, processors, hard disc drives, displays and cooling fans often include reduced power consumption modes that trade off suboptimal performance for reduced power consumptions. Such power management systems typically relate to the operation of a single information handling system on an internal power source and are disabled when that information handling system operates with external power.
Therefore a need has arisen for a system and method which provides power management for plural information handling systems.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are provided which substantially reduce the disadvantages and problems associated with previous methods and systems for managing power consumption by information handling systems. Power consumption across plural information handling systems is compared with available power resources to select unrestricted operation of one or more systems or restricted operations of one or more systems that will maintain power consumption of the plural information handling systems within available power resource constraints.
More specifically, a local management controller is associated with each information handling system server of a rack of servers, with one local management controller designated as a common management controller. The common management controller maintains a power resources table listing available power resources and a power consumption table listing power consumption by the information handling system servers. The common management controller monitors power consumption by the information handling system servers and enforces restricted operations of one or more information handling system servers if the power consumption exceeds the available power resources. For instance, if local management controller associated with an information handling system server requests to power-up, the common management controller denies approval to start-up if the addition of the maximum configured power of the starting server to the present total rack power of the operation servers exceeds the maximum total rack power delivered for use of all systems. The common management controller provides the maximum allowable power that the new system may consume to its local management controller and approves start-up of the new system if the local management controller can configure a reduced power consumption mode that has a maximum configured power of less than the maximum allowable power.
The present invention provides a number of important technical advantages. One example of an important technical advantage is that power consumption by plural information handling systems is automatically monitored to avoid excessive consumption. Power consumption across one or more racks of standard monolithic server information handling systems is balanced through coordinated throttling of power consumption at one or more of the systems. Given a set of constraints on power consumption, an information technology professional can configure operation of one or more racks of plural information handling systems to remain in those constraints automatically.
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.
Power management across plural information handling systems aids operation of plural information handling systems where power constraints restrict power resources available to operate the information handling systems. For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
Referring now to
Coordination of the operation of the information handling systems 12 across the server rack 10 is managed through a local management controller 26 associated with each information handling system 12. One of the local management controllers 26 is designated as the common management controller 28 that supervises each local management controller 26 across the rack 10. Local management controllers 26 interface with common management controller 28 through network 22 or through direct cables configured in an “in-out” daisy chain between the information handling systems 12. Each local management controller 26 has power consumption information for its associated information handling system 12, such as the maximum power consumed, a list of power consuming components on the associated information handling system 12, or the results of active monitoring of power consumed at the associated information handling system 12. Each local management controller 26 provides the power consumption information to common management controller 28, such as upon each boot of an information handling system 12. Common management controller 28 tracks the power consumption information by information handling system 12 in a power consumption table 30 and compares the power consumption with the available power listed in a power resources table 32 to determine whether to enforce power consumption restrictions on the operation of one or more of the information handling systems 12.
Common management controller 28 selectively enforces power consumption restrictions according to a variety of power consumption constraints. For instance, power management controller 28 monitors information handling systems 12 at initial power-up or a power reset and prohibits the local management controller 26 from powering up its associated system if available power resources are insufficient to support operation of the information handling system. Alternatively, common management controller 28 allows the local management controller 26 to start up in a reduced power consumption mode, such as with a reduced processor or memory speed, if power is sufficient to support operation of its associated information handling in the reduced power consumption mode. A power management console 34 allows selective configuration by a user of information handling system power consumption modes through common management controller 28. For instance, a user may prioritize one information handling system 12 over another so that common power management controller 28 reduces power consumption at systems having a lower priority to allow systems having a higher priority to operate, or may prioritize specific components of selected information handling systems, such as specific CPUs to operate a reduced clock speeds in the face of power resource constraints. As another example, a user may configure power resource table 32 to have varying power resources based on a time of operation so that common management controller 28 may selectively reduce power consumption over the course of time to keep overall power consumption within a desired constraint. As yet another example, power management console 34 may balance power consumption across plural server racks 10 in order to adjust power consumption constraints and availability.
Referring now to
If at step 44 the total value of the present rack power and the advertised power do exceed the rack maximum power, the process continues to determine whether to approve restricted operation of the information handling system. At step 48, the common management controller sends a power-on denial the local management controller and, at step 50, also sends the maximum allowable power, meaning the maximum amount of unallocated power that can be delivered to an information handling system based on the amount of power already allocated to systems on the rack, i.e., the maximum total rack power minus the present total rack power. At step 52, the local management controller determines if its associated system can operate in a throttled state within the maximum allowable power messaged from the common management controller, such as by throttling CPU or memory operations. At step 54, if a throttled state cannot be supported with the maximum allowable power, the process continues to step 56 at which the local management controller communicates the inability to operate within the power constraint to the common management controller and, at step 58, disables system start-up. If at step 54 a throttled state exists that supports operation within the maximum allowable power, the process continues to step 60 for the local management controller to configure the throttled state and to step 62 for the local management controller to advertise its throttled power value to the common management controller. From step 62, the process continues to step 42 to ensure that sufficient power is available to operate the information handling system in the throttled state.
Referring now to
Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.