Storage Controller Power Budgeting for Drive Performance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Storage systems face power constraints due to mounting environments and increasing demand for higher performance, requiring a balance between high performance and power saving while managing power consumption and heat generation effectively.
Innovation Solution
A storage system with a controller that manages power supply and consumption by determining a power budget and power states for storage drives based on configuration changes, using power state definition tables to optimize power usage and performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If storage system performance is improved by using high-performance storage drives, then productivity increases, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic power management by enabling storage drives to transition between multiple power states (active, idle, standby, sleep) based on real-time workload conditions and power budget availability. The storage controller continuously monitors power consumption and adjusts drive power states dynamically, allowing the system to achieve high performance when needed while consuming less power during low-utilization periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters by adjusting power state levels of storage drives based on power budget constraints. The storage controller modifies power consumption parameters of individual drives by transitioning them between predefined power states, thereby optimizing the balance between overall system performance and power consumption without sacrificing storage capacity or reliability.
2Loss of energy
If power consumption is reduced to meet power constraints, then energy efficiency improves, but storage system performance may degrade
Solution Approach 1:
The storage controller implements a feedback mechanism that continuously monitors the actual power consumption of storage drives and compares it against the allocated power budget. Based on this feedback, the controller dynamically adjusts the power states of individual drives, transitioning them between active, idle, standby, and sleep states to ensure total power consumption remains within constraints while maintaining optimal system performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial power reduction by selectively transitioning only certain storage drives to lower power states based on current workload requirements and power budget availability, rather than uniformly reducing power to all drives. This allows the system to maintain high performance for actively used drives while reducing power consumption for less critical drives.
3Productivity
If the number of storage drives is increased to enhance capacity and performance, then productivity increases, but power consumption and heat generation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the storage drive population into different power state groups managed independently by the storage controller. Each storage drive can be individually transitioned between active, idle, standby, and sleep states based on its specific workload and the overall power budget allocation. This segmentation allows the system to scale storage capacity by adding more drives while maintaining power efficiency through selective power state management.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage system includes a storage controller and a plurality of storage drives. The storage controller holds power management information for managing power supplied to the storage system and power consumption of an operating mounted device of the storage system, and definition information for defining a relationship between power states and power consumption of the plurality of storage drives. The storage controller determines a power budget that can be supplied to the plurality of storage drives, based on the power management information according to a change in a configuration of the storage system, and determines a power state of each of the plurality of storage drives based on the power budget and the definition information.