Amazon Technologies, Inc.

David Edward Bryan

Christopher Strickland Beall

Darin Lee Frink

Michael David Marr

Jason Alexander Harland

Peter George Ross

Max Jesse Wishman

Kevin M Bailey

Prateek Tandon

Samuel James McKelvie

Roey Rivnay

Ligong Wang

Felipe Enrique Ortega Gutierrez

Ismael Medrano

Kypros Constantinides

Ioana Galis

Christopher Nathan Watson

Adam Douglas Morley

Christopher James BeSerra

Michael Jon Moen

Richard Arvel Stevens

Gavin Akira Ebisuzaki

Bryan Wiehardt

A rack-mountable computer system enables an airflow that cools components in an upstream portion of the computer system interior to be cooled through mixing with a bypass airflow downstream of the components in the upstream portion. The mixed airflow can cool components in a downstream portion of the interior. The bypass airflow is directed by a bypass plenum that is unencompassed by the separate plenum that directs the airflow to cool the upstream portion components. The bypass plenum can be at least partially established by an external surface the computer system and one or more external structures, including an external surface of an adjacently mounted computer system. Relative flow rates through the separate plenums can be adjusted, via flow control elements, to separately control heat removal from components upstream and downstream of the air mixing, based at least in part upon air temperatures in the separate interior portions.

Computer system with external bypass air plenum

A rack-mountable computer system directs separate portions of a cooling airflow from an inlet air plenum in the computer system interior through separate air passages to remove heat from separate portions of a set of heat-producing components. The air passages can preclude a portion of cooling airflow removing heat from a component from being preheated by another component. Plenums and air passages can be established through the arrangement of components in the interior. Components can be arranged in progressive offsets throughout the depth of the interior to vary plenum flow area throughout the depth, which can progressively impede and redirect airflow through the inlet plenum into the air passages. Arrangements can include an angled row, a staggered configuration, etc. The computer system can include a chassis which can translate, while maintaining operation of hot-pluggable electronic components coupled throughout the depth, to enable swapping of hot-pluggable electronic components throughout the interior.

Computer system with side plenum cooling

A system for storing data includes a discrete cooling module that can enable discrete cooling of mass storage devices installed in the chassis interior of a data storage module coupled to a rack. The discrete cooling module includes an air moving device and an air cover. The air moving device can induce and airflow through the chassis interior of the data storage module to remove heat from heat producing components of mass storage devices installed in the chassis interior. The air cover directs the airflow through the chassis interior. The discrete cooling module can isolate rotational vibrations generated by the air moving device from the mass storage devices installed in the chassis. Partial isolation can include indirectly coupling the discrete cooling module to the chassis via directly coupling with the rack.

Discrete cooling module

A server placement controller determines a placement location for a custom server based on infrastructure support system requirements of the custom server and based on infrastructure support system capacities at respective unoccupied slots of a server mounting structure of a data center. In some embodiments, a server placement controller may utilize a hierarchical optimization process to select a placement location for a custom server, wherein the selected placement location meets the requirements of the custom server while also optimizing use of one or more infrastructure support systems, such as power infrastructure support system, a networking infrastructure support system, a cooling infrastructure support system, or other infrastructure support systems of a data center.

Placement of custom servers

A server assembly service determines configurations for custom assembled servers based on time-series utilization metadata for servers executing workloads similar to workloads that are to be executed on the custom assembled servers. The server assembly service determines trends in the time-series utilization metadata and compares the identified trends to associations between workload utilization trends and application classes to determine one or more application classes for applications executing the workloads. The service uses the determined application classes to select server configurations for custom servers that are to be assembled to execute workloads similar to the workloads related to the server utilization metadata. In some embodiments, the service selects custom server configurations without access to applications or application data for workloads of concern. For example, the service may select custom server configurations without using profiling techniques that may intrude on customer privacy by requiring access to underlying applications or application data.

Custom server assembly

A rules-based mechanism is described for powering down racks in an ordered and autonomous way in a data center. Power shelf controllers (PSCs), on different racks or on the same rack, communicate together through a network, called the PSC network, separate from the data network. The PSCs are aware of the other PSCs that share the same input power domain. When the racks are configured for use, each PSC is assigned a priority value, based upon the management provisioning layer assignment. Each PSC creates a table of all the other PSCs and tracks each assigned priority value. When a power event occurs, the PSC can power down components within the rack in accordance with the priority table. Recovery can also be carried out in conformance with the priority table.

Power management network for communication between racks in a data center

Information about firmware modules for a power unit (e.g., a battery backup unit or a power supply unit) can be downloaded, along with the firmware modules themselves. The firmware modules, which may constitute less than a complete firmware re-flash, can be used to update firmware of the power unit from a first version type to a second version type.

Firmware updating of power units

A rack computer system can provide data indicating electrical power consumption by separate sets of the mass storage devices, including separate individual mass storage devices, of the rack computer system. A power sensor can be electrically coupled to a power transmission line for each mass storage device. The power sensor can be coupled to the power transmission line externally to the mass storage device. The power sensor can be an internal power sensor of the mass storage device, where a mass storage device microcontroller transmits internally-generated data to an external power monitoring system. A microcontroller can transmit the data to a baseboard management controller via a side-band connection between the mass storage device and the controller. The data can be transmitted via an in-band connection between a baseboard management controller and an instance of firmware which accesses internally-generated data from mass storage device microcontrollers.

Mass storage device electrical power consumption monitoring

A method for managing backup power in the event of a power supply deficit or disruption includes detecting the power supply deficit and recruiting some or all of the backup battery units associated with electronic devices in the system to provide a backup power supply. Depending on the severity of the power supply failure, the selected backup battery units can be reconfigured from providing power to local electronic devices to providing power along a backup power supply pathway to other electronic components in the system.

Datacenter backup power management

A system for storing data includes a rack and one or more data storage modules mounted on the rack. The data storage modules may include a chassis, two or more vertically-oriented backplanes coupled to the chassis, two or more mass storage devices coupled to the backplanes, and one or more air passages extending beneath one or more of the backplanes. Each backplane is configured to preclude airflow through the backplane between opposite vertical faces and can couple mass storage devices on one or more of the opposite vertical faces. One or more of the air passages can supply an upwards-directed airflow along one of the opposite vertical faces of a backplane to remove heat from a heat producing component of a mass storage device coupled to the vertical face of the vertically-oriented backplane.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

David Edward Bryan