System and methods for dimm-targeted power saving for hypervisor systems

Abstract

A method of saving power in a computing system having a plurality of dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) and employing a suspend-to-RAM sleep mode includes, when entering suspend-to-RAM sleep mode, consolidating selected information into a subset of DIMMs, and turning off power to all other DIMMs. A DIMM power rail may be coupled to each of the DIMMs, the DIMM power rail being configured to selectively have power being supplied to respective DIMMs turned off in response to enable/disable logic signals.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for saving power in a computing system having a plurality of dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) and employing suspend-to-random access memory (RAM) sleep mode, the apparatus comprising:
 a DIMM power rail coupled to each of the DIMMs, the DIMM power rail configured to selectively have power being supplied to respective DIMMs turned off in response to enable/disable logic signals.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a respective electrical switch between the DIMM power rail and each DIMM such that a respective logic signal is used to selectively control the power supplied to each respective DIMM. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein a hypervisor fits within one or two of the DIMMs and power applied to the DIMM power rail is configured to be turned off for all except the one or two DIMMs when the computing system goes into the RAM sleep mode. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the computing system is in a large-scale cloud computing environment.