1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the control of throttling in blade computer systems.
2. Background of the Related Art
Operating state-of-the-art blade systems presents a significant challenge due to the newer power-hungry processor options of the blades in the system. Power supplies used in blade systems are not keeping up with the power requirements of the blades. A typical blade system may have up to 14 blades sharing power from up to four power supplies. Typically, full redundancy is built in so that in a situation where all of the blades are operating at 100%, there is sufficient power among the power supplies such that if there is a power supply failure, the other power supplies can continue to supply power to the blades without curtailing their operation. In some cases, power draws may be allowed to exceed the level at which the system is fully redundant, and in some extreme cases, the power allocation may be such that there is no redundancy at all, i.e., if one of the power supplies were to fail, significant reductions in power to the blades would have to be made.
When determining power allocation in a prior art blade system, assumptions are made that worst-case scenarios are occurring, that is, it is assumed that each blade will be running at 100% power at all times, and then power is allocated based upon this assumption. Typically, the maximum-power draw-value is obtained from the VPD of the blade and then power allocation is set accordingly. In reality, however, it is rare when all blades are running at 100% power and, in fact, it is estimated that only one out of every 1,000 blades will require 100% power in actual operation. Thus, there is significant power available in most situations to allocate to other blades, but because the worst-case scenario is used for each blade, this “excess power” is not utilized.
It would be desirable to have a method, system, and computer program product that enables actual system loads to be utilized for allocation of power in blade systems.