Storage Device Configuration for Power Minimization

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems fail to minimize power consumption when creating logical volumes using multiple storage devices, as they do not adequately consider the operational characteristics and I/O load of SSDs or other storage devices, leading to suboptimal configurations.

Innovation Solution

A control device that includes a storage part to retain a list of storage devices' operation performance and power consumption, and a configuration determination part that calculates and determines the optimal combination of storage devices to minimize overall power consumption based on set operation performance conditions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Use of energy by stationary object

If a configuration is selected based solely on minimum power consumption of individual SSDs, then power consumption is reduced, but the I/O load characteristic and overall system performance are not optimized

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepower consumptionVSAvoidI/O load characteristic

Core Design Contradiction:

Use of energy by stationary objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the parameters considered for configuration selection from only power consumption to a combination of power consumption and I/O performance characteristics. The configuration selection unit evaluates multiple parameters including read IOPS, write IOPS, and power consumption to determine the optimal SSD configuration that balances both energy efficiency and performance requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Productivity

If SSDs with higher IOPS performance are selected, then I/O performance is improved, but power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveIOPS performanceVSAvoidpower consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSUse of energy by stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The system evaluates multiple SSDs with different parameter combinations (IOPS performance and power consumption) and selects the configuration that achieves the required performance level with minimum power consumption. This involves changing from a single-parameter selection to a multi-parameter optimization approach.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent determines the minimum required IOPS performance based on the workload characteristics and selects SSDs that meet this partial requirement rather than always selecting the highest performance (excessive) options. This allows for power-efficient configurations that provide sufficient but not excessive performance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Quantity of substance

If the number of SSDs is increased to meet capacity requirements, then storage capacity is sufficient, but power consumption and device complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestorage capacityVSAvoidpower consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSUse of energy by stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple SSDs into logical volume configurations (such as RAID arrays) to achieve the required storage capacity. The configuration selection unit evaluates different merging strategies and SSD combinations to find the configuration that meets capacity requirements with minimum total power consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentUS10248344B2Control device

Publication Date: 2019.04.02 NEC CORP

AI summary

A control device of the present invention includes: a storage part which retains a storage device list including an operation performance of each storage device and a power consumption corresponding to the operation performance; and a configuration determination part which, on the basis of the storage device list, determines a storage device combination configuration realizing the minimum power consumption of the whole logical volume formed of a combination of storage devices when the logical volume operates under a set operation performance condition.