WO2012064182A1

WO2012064182A1 - A data center, a method for collecting power consumption information in a data center, and a computer program product

Info

Publication number: WO2012064182A1
Application number: PCT/NL2010/050741
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marcel Van Dijk; Cornelis Prins; Robbert Mees Lodder
Original assignee: Uptime Products B.V.
Priority date: 2010-11-08
Filing date: 2010-11-08
Publication date: 2012-05-18

Abstract

The invention relates to a data center, comprising an electrical power supplying structure and a multiple number of ICT units, each ICT unit being arranged for accommodating an ICT equipment therein and including an interface connected to the power supplying structure for feeding the ICT equipment. The data center further comprises a measurement device for measuring and storing at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment accommodated in a subset of ICT units. The subset of ICT units includes a single or a multiple number of the total number of ICT units. Furthermore, the measurement device is arranged for generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with the ICT equipment of the subset of ICT units.

Description

Title: A data center, a method for collecting power consumption

information in a data center, and a computer program product

The invention relates to a data center, comprising an electrical power supplying structure and a multiple number of ICT units, each ICT unit being arranged for accommodating an ICT equipment therein and including an interface connected to the power supplying structure for feeding the ICT equipment, further comprising a measurement device.

Known data centers are often housed in very large facilities. The known data center may occupy a single room, a multiple number of rooms an/or floors of a building, or even an entire building. The known data center is located on a floor area that is at least partly occupied by ICT units, often in the form of rows of 19 inch rack cabinets, forming corridors between the rows. A data center operating company, which may be the owner of the data center, provides its clients, who may be companies, authorities or organisations in need of server space, with ICT equipment space and internet connectivity. In this context, ICT equipment may include servers, data storage devices, telecom equipment and/or related devices. The data center operating company further provides electrical power supply for the ICT equipment and may furthermore provide cooling for the ICT equipment.

Normally, the client hires a single or a multiple number of (lockable) rack cabinets (ICT units) in the known data center and the client is then free to accommodate any ICT equipment (e.g. servers) in the cabinets. The continuity of the ICT equipment may be very important, even crucial, to the client's business continuity, in order to prevent that the client's operations deteriorate or even come to a complete standstill.

Therefore, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the data center operating company and the client may confine minimums and maximums of the energy supply supplied to the rack provided to the client. The SLA obliges the operating company e.g. to continually supply the guaranteed minimum electrical power supply. On the other hand, the SLA restrains power

consumption by the client's accommodated ICT equipment. If the client's ICT equipment, however, consumes more power than an agreed maximum, this may be at the expense of the electrical power supplied to other ICT units, e.g. rack cabinets hired by another client, and may cause disruptions to the other client's ICT equipment.

In order to reduce a chance of disruption, known data centers often comprise measurement devices, each device being associated with one rack cabinet, wherein each device is arranged for measuring electrical power consumption of the associated rack cabinet. Further, the known data center often comprises a central unit gathering measured data from e.g. about 200- 300 measurement devices. Since it is impracticable to gather all this data continuously, the central unit first samples a measurement from a first measurement device associated with an electrical power consumption of a first associated rack cabinet, then the central unit samples a measurement from a second measurement device associated with an electrical power consumption of a second associated rack cabinet, and so on. As an example, sampling 200-300 measurement devices in a row usually may take about 10-30 seconds. Since a cycle time of e.g. 15 seconds is relatively large, a deviation of the physical parameter from the predetermined power consumption may occur between two subsequently gathered measurement samples. Since, in practice, such occurrences may be of short duration (e.g. < 15 seconds), central units of known data centers do not detect all such events, since the deviation may have already ended before the subsequent measurement sampling. Actually, it is believed that known data centers miss to detect most such events, and therefore a data center operating company and its clients can actually not know if the operating company delivers the agreed service level.

It is an object of the invention to provide a data center according to the preamble wherein at least one of the disadvantages mentioned above is counteracted. In particular, the invention aims at providing a data center according to the preamble wherein a chance of detecting an abnormal power situation increases. Thereto, the measurement device is arranged for measuring and storing at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment accommodated in a subset of ICT units including a single or a multiple number of the total number of ICT units, wherein the measurement device is arranged for generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with the ICT equipment of the subset of ICT units.

The invention is at least partly based on the insight that there is no need to power sample all ICT units as long as no abnormal power situation occurs.

By providing the measurement device which is arranged for generating the alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from the predetermined power consumption range associated with the ICT equipment of the subset of ICT units, central power sampling of the multiple number of subsets of ICT units is superfluous, and transmission of relevant data is only needed in case of an abnormal power situation in local ICT equipment. Since transmission capacity is now more efficiently used for forwarding relevant power information, a chance of detecting an abnormal power situation increases significantly. Further, such an abnormal power situation can be detected relatively quickly. In principle, network conditions in terms of dynamic performance and transmission capacity can be relaxed while maintaining or even increasing a detection chance of abnormal power situations.

By applying the alert scheme according to the invention, sampling and processing processes may occur at a de-central level. Then, the

measurement device has much more measurement data available than the central unit according to the prior art has (typically receiving a sample every 15 seconds). Therefore, the measurement device can detect much more deviations and can generate much more associated alert signals than the central unit of the prior art could do. As a consequence, according to the invention, a chanceof detecting an abnormal power situation increases, a transmission capacity is exploited more efficiently, , an abnormal power situation can be detected more quickly, and more power information can be made available associated with a particular abnormal power situation.

Similarly, a standard for assuring electrical power supply to accommodated ICT equipment can be graded up.

In an advantageous embodiment according to the invention, the measurement device and the subset of ICT units are fed by separate feeding lines. By providing a first separate feeding line feeding the measurement device, the measurement device can keep measuring and storing the at least one physical parameter associated with a second separate feeding line feeding ICT equipment in the subset of ICT units, even if the power supply of the second feeding line is disturbed. Moreover, by providing the separate feeding line feeding the measurement device, the measurement device may be provided with a different power supply, e.g. the current and/or the voltage supplied to the measurement device may deviate from the current and/or the voltage supplied to the subset of ICT units. Alternatively or additionally, the measurement device may be fed by the feeding line feeding the ICT equipment or by a battery instead of the separate power supply line, thus providing a simpler feeding structure. An additionally battery may e.g. be comprised in order to serve as an emergency battery.

In a further advantageous embodiment according to the invention, the data center further comprises a central unit and a data communication network interconnecting the central unit with the measurement device, wherein the data communication network is arranged for forwarding measured physical parameter information from the measurement device towards the central unit for further processing if an alert signal has been generated. By providing the data center arranged for forwarding the alert signal generated by the measuring device to the central unit, a data center is provided wherein alert signals can be processed centrally. In principle, a multiple number of central units can be comprised in the data center. Herein, each central unit may be associated to a certain set of subsets. For example, each central unit is arranged for receiving alert signals generated by measurement devices belonging to a set of subsets of ICT units. As a further alternative, the alert signal is processed locally, e.g. in the measurement device, for generating data on abnormal power consumption behaviour of the ICT equipment in the subset of ICT units.

The invention also relates to a method for collecting power consumption information in a data center.

Further, the invention relates to a computer program product. A computer program product may comprise a set of computer executable instructions stored on a data carrier, such as a flash memory, a CD or a DVD. The set of computer executable instructions, which allow a programmable computer to carry out the method as defined above, may also be available for downloading from a remote server, for example via the Internet.

Other advantageous embodiments according to the invention are described in the following claims.

By way of example only, embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures in which

Figure 1 shows a view of a first embodiment of a data center according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows a schematic view of a second embodiment of a data center according to the invention; and

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a method for collecting power consumption information in a data center according to the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a view of a first embodiment of a data center (1) according to the invention. The data center may occupy a single room of a building, a multiple number of rooms, one or more floors of a building, an entire building, or even a facility comprising a multiple number of buildings. The data center (1) comprises an electrical power supplying structure (2). The power supplying structure (2) may comprise a power supply unit (20), which may comprise a transformer for transforming a high voltage power supply into a suitable power supply, e.g. 230 Volt. The power supply unit (20) may further comprise an emergency power supply unit, e.g. comprising a power generator or a battery. Moreover, the data center (1) comprises a multiple number of ICT units (3). Typically, the ICT unit (3) is a 19 inch rack cabinet. Each ICT unit (3) is arranged for accommodating an ICT equipment (4) therein and includes an interface (5) connected to the power supplying structure (2) for feeding the ICT equipment (4). The ICT equipment may e.g. be a rack-mounted server. The interface (5) may comprise one or a multiple number of plugs and/or plug sockets. The server may be connected to a single or a multiple number of standard plugs to the interface (5). Besides, the server may be connected to one or more data lines, which are not shown in the figures.

The data center (1) further comprises a measurement device (6) for measuring and storing at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a subset (7) of ICT units (3) including a single or a multiple number of the total number of ICT units (3).

The at least one physical parameter may include a voltage parameter. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one physical parameter may include a current parameter, a power parameter, an energy parameter and/or a blind power parameter. For example, the measurement device (6) measures and stores the values of the current (e.g. 12 A) and the value of the voltage (e.g. 230 V) of the energy consumption of the subset (7), for example in a shift register memory type.

In an advantageous embodiment a data center operating company exploits the data center (1). The company may provide one or more subsets (7) to a client. Each client may accommodate one or a multiple number of servers in the provided subsets (7). Often a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the operating company and the client confines minimums and maximums of the energy supply supplied to a single subset (7) provided to the client.

Furthermore, often the SLA defines the maximum of allowed energy consumption by the subset used by the client. At least partly based on the SLA, a predetermined power consumption range can be set. As an example, said range set between a minimum power supply and a maximum power supply agreed in the SLA, optionally including an additional power margin. Alternatively or additionally, the predetermined power consumption range is based on the data center capacity and/or on capacity of e.g. certain parts of the data center, e.g. to prevent burning outs and and/or short circuits.

The measurement device (6) is further arranged for generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with the ICT equipment (4) of the subset (7) of ICT units (3). For example, if the electric current exceeds an upper current limit, for example 16 A, an alert signal may be generated by the measurement device (6). The generated alert signal may e.g. trigger an alarm bell to ring or a warning sign to light up.

Fig. 1 shows two subsets (7), each comprising three ICT units (3).

Alternatively, the subset (7) may comprise another number of ICT units, e.g. one, two, five or eight ICT units (3). Besides, the data center (1) may comprise subsets (7) with mutually different numbers of ICT units (3). For example, the data center (1) comprises 1000 subsets of one ICT unit, 40 subsets of 5 ICT units (3) and 40 subsets (7) of 2 ICT units (3).

Fig. 2 shows a schematic view of a second embodiment of a data center (1) according to the invention. Herein, the electrical power supplying structure (2) comprises two mutually separated feeding lines (20a; 20b).

Alternatively, the electrical power supplying structure (2) may comprise only one feeding line (see Fig. 1) or may comprise another number of mutually separated feeding lines, e.g. three or four feeding lines. Physical parameters like electric current and voltage associated with one feeding line may differ from feeding line to feeding line. The interface (5) may comprise one or more separated sub-interfaces (5a, 5b), each connected to one of the separated feeding lines (20a; 20b).

The second embodiment of Fig. 2 shows that each of the two feeding lines (20a, 20b) comprises a backbone (21a, 21b) and a multiple number of branches (22a, 22b) dividing the power supply to subsets (7) having one ICT unit (3). Alternatively, one or more of the subsets of a data center (1) may comprise more than one ICT unit (3), for example four or six.

The measurement device (6) may be arranged for measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of an ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units fed by a particular feeding line (20a, 20b). Additionally or alternatively, the measurement device (6) may be arranged for measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power supply of an ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) fed by a different feeding lines (20a, 20b).

The measurement device (6) may measure and store one or more physical parameters associated with one feeding line (20a; 20b) or a multiple number of feeding lines (20a; 20b), e.g. an A-feed (21a, 22a) and a B-feed (21b, 22b). For example, the A-feed may supply a main energy supply and the B-feed may supply an emergency energy supply to the server (4) . Alternatively, the A- feed and B-feed may both contribute to the main energy supply to the server (4).

As shown in Fig. 1, the ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) may be fed by a common feeding line (22'). However, ICT equipment components can also be fed by different feeding lines.

The measurement device (6) and the subset (7) of ICT units (3) may be fed by separate feeding lines. Fig. 2 shows that the equipment (4') of a subset (7') is fed by a first separate feeding line (22a') and that the measurement device (6') is fed by a second separate feeding line (22b').

Alternatively, e.g. when both the first and the second separate feeding line (22a"; 22b") are used to feed the equipment (4") of the subset (7"), a third (not shown) separate feeding line may be used to feed the measurement device (6"). In this case, the measurement device keeps provided with electric power if a problem with one or more of the feeding lines feeding the ICT equipment (4) occurs. Therefore during an abnormal power event, e.g. of a short circuit in an ICT unit (3), the measuring device (6) may still be capable of measuring and storing the at least one physical parameter. Alternatively, the third separate feeding line is only used as an emergency power supply line and the measuring device (6) is normally fed by one of the other feeding lines. Further, it is possible to provide the measuring device (6) with an emergency battery.

The ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) may further be arranged for selecting one of two feeding lines (20a, 20b) for feeding the equipment (4). The measurement device (6) may then be arranged for measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of the ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) fed by a feeding line (20a, 20b) that is selected by the ICT equipment (4).

Besides, the data center (1) may comprise a central unit (8) and a data communication network (9) interconnecting the central unit (8) with the measurement device (6). Herein, the data communication network (9) is arranged for forwarding measured physical parameter information from the measurement device (6) towards the central unit (8) for further processing if an alert signal has been generated.

Fig. 3 shows a flowchart of a method for collecting power consumption information in a data center according to the invention. The method (100) comprises a power providing step (110) of providing electrical power to ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a multiple number of ICT units (3) of a data center (1). The provided power may be DC or AC. The method further comprises a measuring step (120) of measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a subset (7) of ICT units (3) including a single or a multiple number of the total number of ICT units (3). Moreover, the method comprises an alerting step (130) of generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with the ICT equipment (4) of the subset (7) of ICT units (3).

Besides, the method may include a first forwarding step (140) of forwarding measured physical parameter information towards a central unit (8) for further processing if an alert signal has been generated.

For example, if the current of the first separate feeding line (22a) measured by the measurement device (6) exceeds a predetermined current value, the measurement device (6) generates an alert signal in the form of data. Subsequently, the measurement device (6) sends the initial alert signal to the central unit (8). The central unit (8) may request the measurement device (6) for additionally data about an occurrence (also called an event), in the course of which the alert signal was forwarded. Since the measurement device (6) is arranged for storing data about at least one physical parameter associated with the actual power consumption of the subset (7), the device (6) may forward this data upon request. Alternatively, the device (6) may initiate to forward this data, e.g. directly subsequent to the initial alert signal.

Advantageously, the measurement device (6) is only forwarding information if an event occurs that needs to be known by to the central unit (8) and/or if the central unit (8) requests the device (6) to send specific stored data. Alternatively, the central unit may ask the device to temporary directly forward measured data about the supply of the metered subset (7). The central unit (8) may use data, measured and forwarded by the measurement device (6), e.g. for performance analysis of the data center and/or for determining a overall load of parts of the data center, e.g. feeding lines and/or ICT units. Furthermore, the data may be used for evaluation of the data center, e.g. for evaluating a necessity of a possible extension of the data center, for monitoring by the data center operating company and/or the client of the electrical power supply provided by the company to the client's servers.

Additionally or alternatively, the data may e.g. be used for statistical analysis, for example an analysis of the capacity. Both the company and the client may be interested in knowing if and how much under or over capacity they have.

Advantageously, the method may further include a checking step (150) of periodically checking whether the measuring device (6) is operational. For example, the central unit (8) may request the device (6) once every day to confirm if the device is still operational, but the frequency of testing may be lower or higher, e.g. once a month or every 60 or 1000 seconds. Alternatively or additionally, the central unit may check if the device has enough free storage space and may if necessary or if a certain predefined level is exceeded order the measuring device (6) to free up a part of its storage space. Alternatively, the measuring device may initiate to delete redundant data, e.g. after it has been forwarded to the central unit, or after analysing some of the stored data and storing the results of the analysis. In another embodiment of the checking step (150) the measuring device (6) initiates periodically sending a message to the central unit (8) that it is still operational. The central unit (8) may then check if all measuring device (6) have confirmed during the latest period that they were still operational.

The method may further comprise a second forwarding step (160) of periodically forwarding measured physical parameter information towards the central unit (8). For example, the measuring device may forward data about consumed energy of the subset (7) e.g. once a month or once every four weeks. This data may comprise data indicating whether the consumed energy exceeded the SLA (or other predetermined power consumption range) and/or data indicating to which extend the consumed energy exceeded the

predetermined maximum. Based on such data the operating company may e.g. charge the client extra costs for the over-consuming and/or may e.g. ask the client to scale back the energy consumption of the accommodated servers and/or to extend to more ICT units (3) and/or subsets (7).

A computer program product may be used for collecting power consumption information in a data center (1). The computer program product comprises computer readable code for causing a processor to perform the step of measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a subset (7) of ICT units (3) including a single or multiple number of a total number of ICT units (3) in the data center (1). Furthermore the computer program product comprises computer readable code for causing the processor to perform the step of generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3).

The method for collecting power consumption information in a data center can be executed using dedicated hardware structures, such as FPGA and/or ASIC components. Otherwise, the method can also at least partially be performed using a computer program product comprising instructions for causing a processor of a computer system, a central unit or a distributed processor system to perform the above described steps of the method according to the invention. All steps can in principle be performed on a single processor. However it is noted that at least one step can be performed on a separate processor, e.g. the step of processing forwarded measured physical parameter information. Preferably, the steps of measuring the at least one physical parameter and the step of generating an alert signal are performed on a processor that is included in the measuring device. The invention is not restricted to the embodiments described herein. It will be understood that many variants are possible. Other such variants will be apparent for the person skilled in the art and are considered to fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A data center (1), comprising an electrical power supplying structure

(2) and a multiple number of ICT units (3), each ICT unit (3) being arranged for accommodating an ICT equipment (4) therein and including an interface (5) connected to the power supplying structure (2) for feeding the ICT equipment (4), further comprising a measurement device (6) for measuring and storing at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a subset (7) of ICT units

(3) including a single or a multiple number of the total number of ICT units

(3) , wherein the measurement device (6) is arranged for generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with the ICT equipment

(4) of the subset (7) of ICT units (3).

2. A data center (1) according to claim 1, wherein the electrical power supplying structure comprises at least two mutually separated feeding lines (20a; 20b).

3. A data center (1) according to claim 2, wherein the measurement device (6) is arranged for measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of the ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) fed by a particular feeding line (20a; 20b).

4. A data center (1) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) are fed by a common feeding line (20).

5. A data center (1) according to claim 2-4, wherein the measurement device (6) and the subset (7) of ICT units (3) are fed by separate feeding lines.

6. A data center (1) according to any of the preceding claims 2-5, wherein the ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) are arranged for selecting one of two feeding lines (20a, 20b) for feeding the equipment (4), and wherein the measurement device (6) is arranged for measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of the ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3) fed by a feeding line (20a, 20b) that is selected by the ICT equipment (4).

7. A data center (1) according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a central unit (8) and a data communication network (9)

interconnecting the central unit (8) with the measurement device (6), wherein the data communication network (9) is arranged for forwarding measured physical parameter information from the measurement device (6) towards the central unit (8) for further processing if an alert signal has been generated.

8. A data center (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one physical parameter includes a voltage parameter, a current parameter, a power parameter, an energy parameter and/or a blind power parameter.

9. A method for collecting power consumption information in a data center (1), comprising the steps of:

- providing electrical power to ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a multiple number of ICT units (3) of a data center (1);

- measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a subset (7) of ICT units (3) including a single or multiple number of the total number of ICT units (3), and

- generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with the ICT equipment (4) of the subset (7) of ICT units (3).

10. A method according to claim 9, further including the step of forwarding measured physical parameter information towards a central unit (8) for further processing if an alert signal has been generated.

11. A method according to claim 9 or 10, further including the step of periodically checking whether the measuring device (6) is operational.

12. A method according to claim 10 or 11, further including the step of periodically forwarding measured physical parameter information towards the central unit (8) .

13. A computer program product for collecting power consumption information in a data center (1), the computer program product comprising computer readable code for causing a processor to perform the steps of:

- measuring at least one physical parameter that is associated with an actual power consumption of ICT equipment (4) accommodated in a subset (7) of ICT units (3) including a single or a multiple number of a total number of ICT units (3) in the data center (1), and

- generating an alert signal when the measured at least one physical parameter deviates from a predetermined power consumption range associated with ICT equipment (4) in the subset (7) of ICT units (3).