Server-Level Power Control

We present a technique that controls the peak power consumption of a high-density server by implementing a feedback controller that uses precise, system-level power measurement to periodically select the highest performance state while keeping the system within a fixed power constraint. A control theoretic methodology is applied to systematically design this control loop with analytic assurances of system stability and controller performance, despite unpredictable workloads and running environments. In a real server we are able to control power over a 1 second period to within 1 W. Additionally, we have observed that power over an 8 second period can be controlled to within 0.1 W. We believe that we are the first to demonstrate such precise control of power in a real server. Conventional servers respond to power supply constraint situations by using simple open-loop policies to set a safe performance level in order to limit peak power consumption. We show that closed-loop control can p...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ICAC
• Authors: Charles Lefurgy, Xiaorui Wang, Malcolm Ware
• Keywords: Autonomic Computing, Fixed Power Constraint, ICAC 2007, Peak Power Consumption, System-level Power Measurement