Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Sean McGrane

Stephen Berard

Bruce Lee Worthington

John M Parchem

Jie Jerry Liu

Aman Kansal

Harold Lim

Matthew H Holle

Trenton P Rambo

Virtualized application power budgeting can manage power budgeting for multiple applications in data centers. This power budgeting may be done in intelligent and/or dynamic ways and may be useful for updating power budgets, resolving conflicts in requests for power, and may improve the efficiency of the distribution of power to multiple applications. Virtualized application power budgeting can distinguish between priority applications and non-priority applications at a granular, virtual machine level and reduce the power consumption to only non-priority applications when there are power consumption conflicts. Virtualized application power budgeting may be able to determine the most efficient manner of providing power to each application in a data center. Further, virtualized application power budgeting may be able to distribute power according to application priority and other predetermined requirements and improve the efficiency of the power consumption by the devices in the data center.

Virtualized application power budgeting

A computer system may place memory objects in specific memory physical regions based on energy consumption and performance or other policies. The system may have multiple memory regions at least some of which may be powered down or placed in a low power state during system operation. The memory object may be characterized in terms of access frequency, movability, and desired performance and placed in an appropriate memory region. In some cases, the memory object may be placed in a temporary memory region and later moved to a final memory region for long term placement. The policies may allow some processes to operate while consuming less energy, while other processes may be configured to maximize performance.

Power aware memory allocation

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to storage configuration. In aspects, an interface is used to discover the existence, capacity, and characteristics of solid state storage. This information may be provided to a user or storage management process which may use the information to configure the solid state storage. When appropriate, bus bandwidth to the solid state storage as well as bandwidth to memory components of the solid state storage may be configured. Configuration and re-configuration may be performed automatically according to one or more policies maintained locally or remotely.

Interfaces that facilitate solid state storage configuration

A computer system may manage objects in memory to consolidate less frequently accessed objects into memory regions that may be operated in a low power state where the access times may increase for the memory objects. By operating at least some of the memory regions in a low power state, significant power savings can be realized. The computer system may have several memory regions that may be independently controlled and may move memory objects to various memory regions in order to optimize power consumption. In some embodiments, an operation system level function may manage memory objects based on parameters gathered from usage history, memory topology and performance, and input from applications.

Memory object relocation for power savings

A plurality of power budgets are sent to a corresponding plurality of power consumers by a power management point, wherein a total power budget managed by the power management point includes a sum of the plurality of power budgets and an available power budget not assigned to the plurality of power consumers. An additional power request having a power increase amount is received from a first power consumer of the plurality of power consumers. The additional power request is approved when the power increase amount does not exceed the available power budget. The available power budget is decreased by the power increase amount. An approval of the additional power request is sent to the first power consumer.

Collaborative power sharing between computing devices

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to a data structure for budgeting power for multiple devices. In aspects, devices are allotted a power budget. The devices are each capable of operating at one or more power levels. A console queries the devices to obtain the power capabilities of the devices. The console stores the power capabilities in a data structure. The data structure together with the power budget may then be used to instruct each device to operate at a particular power level. The data structure includes fields for storing power levels for the devices as well as fields that associate the power levels with the devices. In addition, the data structure includes a group field that associates the devices with the power budget.

Data structure for budgeting power for multiple devices

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to using priorities and power usage to allocate power budget to devices. In aspects, a console that maintains power usage, priorities, and other power data regarding a set of devices may receive a notification that a device has exceeded its budgeted power. In response, using priorities and power usage associated with the devices, the console determines one or more devices to instruct to use less power. A device that exceeded its budgeted power may be instructed to operate at a lower power level or another device (e.g., a lower priority device that is underutilizing its budgeted power) may be instructed to reduce its power to remain below a power budget for the set of devices.

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Sammamish, WA, United States of America

Sean McGrane