Method for controlling electric power of computer system

Abstract

To reduce the electric power consumption of the computer system, the computer system includes at least one server and at least one data processing apparatus, the data processing apparatus includes an electric power consumption state control module by which electric power consumption of the data processing apparatus can be changed, obtains a use relationship between each server and each processing apparatus included in the computer system, monitors a change in a state of the server, searches for a related data processing apparatus in the use relationship with the server, obtains a state of at least one related server in the use relationship with the related data processing apparatus, and determines whether an electric power consumption state of the related data processing apparatus is to be changed or not based on the state of the related server, and changes the electric power consumption state of the related data processing apparatus.

1 . An electric power control method of controlling electric power consumption of a computer system, the method being carried out on a computer system having at least one server, at least one external storage system having at least one RAID group configured thereon and at least one management server which manages the at least one server and the at least one external storage system, where at least one virtual server is operating on the at least one server, the electric power control method comprising the steps of:
 managing a use relationship among the at least one server, the at least one virtual server, at least one logical disk used by the at least one virtual server, and a RAID group including the at least one logical disk;   monitoring a change in a state of the at least one virtual server;   determining a RAID group including a logical disk used by the at least one virtual server as a related RAID group;   determining at least one server and at least one virtual server which use the logical disk included in the RAID group as a related server and a related virtual server respectively;   obtaining a power state of the related server and the related virtual server; and   changing a state of electric power consumption of the related RAID group to a power saving state or a power off state in a case where power supply of the related server and the related virtual server is turned off.   
     
     
         2 . The electric power control method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the external storage system can select more than three states of electric power consumption of the RAID group which correspond to different performance levels and electric power consumption levels;   the at least one management server holds setting policies of states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group which is used by the at least one server according to the state change of the at least one server; and   the step of changing the state of electric power consumption includes a step of determining one of the states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group based on the setting policies.   
     
     
         3 . The electric power control method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 each of the at least one server and each of the at least one external storage system has an electric power consumption measuring unit for measuring the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system respectively;   the at least one management server holds a target electric power consumption of the computer system, a predicted electric power consumption of the at least one server of which power is on and a predicted electric power consumption of a RAID group of which power is on which is used by the at least one server;   the step of changing the state of electric power consumption includes a step of obtaining a measured electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system from the electric power consumption measuring unit, and preventing changing the state of the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the RAID group to a power on state in a case where a sum of an increase in the electric power consumption of the at least one server, an increase in the electric power consumption of the RAID group, and electric power consumption of the computer system exceeds the target electric power.   
     
     
         4 . A computer system for controlling electric power consumption comprising at least one server, at least one external storage system having at least one RAID group configured thereon and at least one management server which manages the at least one server and the at least one external storage system, where at least one virtual server is operating on the at least one server, wherein:
 the at least one management server has:   a relationship management module for obtaining a use relationship among the at least one server, the at least one virtual server, at least one logical disk used by the at least one virtual server, and a RAID group including the at least one logical disk;   a state monitoring module for monitoring a change in a state of the at least one virtual server;   a relationship search module for determining a RAID group including a logical disk used by the at least one virtual server as a related RAID group, and determining at least one server and at least one virtual server which use the logical disk included in the RAID group as a related server and a related virtual server respectively;   a state determination module for obtaining a power state of the related server and the related virtual server and for determining whether a state of electric power consumption of the related RAID group is to be changed to a power saving state or a power off state in a case where power supply of the related server and the related virtual server is turned off.   
     
     
         5 . The computer system according to  claim 4 , wherein:
 the external storage system has:   an electric power consumption state control module for selecting from more than three states of electric power consumption of the RAID group which correspond to different performance levels and electric power consumption levels;   the at least one management server holds setting policies of states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group which is used by the at least one server according to the state change of the at least one server; and   the electric power consumption state control module determines one of the states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group based on the setting policies.   
     
     
         6 . The computer system according to  claim 4 , wherein:
 each of the at least one server and each of the at least one external storage system has an electric power consumption measuring module for measuring the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system respectively;   the at least one management server holds a target electric power consumption of the computer system, a predicted electric power consumption of the at least one server of which power is on and a predicted electric power consumption of a RAID group of which power is on which is used by the at least one server;   the state determination module obtains a measured electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system from the electric power consumption measuring unit, and   the management server has a state change restraining module for preventing changing the state of the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the RAID group to a power on state in a case where a sum of an increase in the electric power consumption of the at least one server, an increase in the electric power consumption of the RAID group, and electric power consumption of the computer system exceeds the target electric power.   
     
     
         7 . An apparatus for controlling electric power consumption in a computer system having at least one server, at least one external storage system having at least one RAID group configured thereon and the apparatus manages the at least one server and the at least one external storage system, where at least one virtual server is operating on the at least one server, the apparatus comprising:
 a relationship management module for obtaining a use relationship among the at least one server, the at least one virtual server, at least one logical disk used by the at least one virtual server, and a RAID group including the at least one logical disk;   a state monitoring module for monitoring a change in a state of the at least one virtual server;   a relationship search module for determining a RAID group including a logical disk used by the at least one virtual server as a related RAID group, and determining at least one server and at least one virtual server which use the logical disk included in the RAID group as a related server and a related virtual server respectively;   a state determination module for obtaining a power state of the related server and the related virtual server and for determining whether a state of electric power consumption of the related RAID group is to be changed to a power saving state or a power off state in a case where power supply of the related server and the related virtual server is turned off.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus according to  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a memory which holds setting policies of states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group which is used by the at least one server according to the state change of the at least one server;   wherein the external storage system has:   an electric power consumption state control module for selecting from more than three states of electric power consumption of the RAID group which correspond to different performance levels and electric power consumption levels;   the electric power consumption state control module determines one of the states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group based on the setting policies.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus according to  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a memory which holds a target electric power consumption of the computer system, a predicted electric power consumption of the at least one server of which power is on and a predicted electric power consumption of a RAID group of which power is on which is used by the at least one server; and   a state change restraining module for preventing changing the state of the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the RAID group to a power on state in a case where a sum of an increase in the electric power consumption of the at least one server, an increase in the electric power consumption of the RAID group, and electric power consumption of the computer system exceeds the target electric power,   wherein each of the at least one server and each of the at least one external storage system has an electric power consumption measuring module for measuring the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system respectively, and   wherein the state determination module obtains a measured electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system from the electric power consumption measuring unit, and   
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer readable medium with an executable program stored thereon for performing a method of controlling electric power consumption of a computer system, the method being carried out on a computer system having at least one server, at least one external storage system having at least one RAID group configured thereon and at least one management server which manages the at least one server and the at least one external storage system, where at least one virtual server is operating on the at least one server, the electric power control method including the steps of:
 managing a use relationship among the at least one server, the at least one virtual server, at least one logical disk used by the at least one virtual server, and a RAID group including the at least one logical disk;   monitoring a change in a state of the at least one virtual server;   determining a RAID group including a logical disk used by the at least one virtual server as a related RAID group;   determining at least one server and at least one virtual server which use the logical disk included in the RAID group as a related server and a related virtual server respectively;   obtaining a power state of the related server and the related virtual server; and   changing a state of electric power consumption of the related RAID group to a power saving state or a power off state in a case where power supply of the related server and the related virtual server is turned off.   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium according to  claim 10 , wherein:
 the external storage system can select more than three states of electric power consumption of the RAID group which correspond to different performance levels and electric power consumption levels;   the at least one management server holds setting policies of states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group which is used by the at least one server according to the state change of the at least one server; and   the step of changing the state of electric power consumption includes a step of determining one of the states of the electric power consumption of the RAID group based on the setting policies.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium according to  claim 10 , wherein:
 each of the at least one server and each of the at least one external storage system has an electric power consumption measuring unit for measuring the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system respectively;   the at least one management server holds a target electric power consumption of the computer system, a predicted electric power consumption of the at least one server of which power is on and a predicted electric power consumption of a RAID group of which power is on which is used by the at least one server;   the step of changing the state of electric power consumption includes a step of obtaining a measured electric power consumption of the at least one server and the at least one external storage system from the electric power consumption measuring unit, and preventing changing the state of the electric power consumption of the at least one server and the RAID group to a power on state in a case where a sum of an increase in the electric power consumption of the at least one server, an increase in the electric power consumption of the RAID group, and electric power consumption of the computer system exceeds the target electric power.