Thermal-Aware Container Scheduler for Reduced Node Throttling

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing container orchestration systems fail to accurately account for thermal variations in compute nodes, leading to thermal throttling and performance issues, particularly affecting serverless functions with short life cycles and CPU utilization-based auto-scaling algorithms.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a thermal-aware scheduler that considers the thermal conditions of compute nodes to make informed decisions about workload dispatch and migration, using node scoring and thermal state information to optimize scheduling and reduce thermal throttling.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If traditional schedulers dispatch workloads based solely on resource utilization metrics, then scheduling simplicity is maintained, but thermal throttling occurs causing performance degradation

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveworkload execution performanceVSAvoidscheduling system complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The scheduler performs preliminary thermal assessment of compute nodes before dispatching workloads. By evaluating thermal states in advance and selecting nodes with favorable thermal conditions, the system prevents thermal throttling before it occurs, maintaining high workload execution performance without requiring complex real-time thermal control mechanisms

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The scheduling system incorporates thermal state feedback from compute nodes to dynamically adjust workload dispatch decisions. By continuously monitoring thermal conditions and using this feedback to guide scheduling choices, the system optimizes performance while avoiding nodes that would cause thermal throttling

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Reliability

If workloads are dispatched to compute nodes without thermal awareness, then scheduling speed is maintained, but thermal throttling causes execution disruptions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveworkload execution stabilityVSAvoidscheduling decision time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

Thermal state information is gathered and evaluated in advance during the scheduling decision process. By performing thermal assessments beforehand and caching thermal states, the system ensures reliable workload placement without incurring time penalties during actual execution, as the thermal evaluation is completed as part of the normal scheduling workflow

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Productivity

If the scheduler ignores thermal states of compute nodes, then energy consumption is reduced, but thermal throttling increases causing performance issues

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveworkload execution efficiencyVSAvoidcompute node power consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system converts the potentially harmful effect of thermal accumulation into a beneficial scheduling signal. By monitoring thermal states and using them to guide workload dispatch, the system prevents thermal throttling and its associated performance degradation. This approach efficiently utilizes existing thermal information to optimize both performance and energy consumption without requiring additional energy-intensive cooling interventions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

Data Source

PatentUS12450090B2Scheduler incorporating thermal awareness

Publication Date: 2025.10.21 RED HAT LLC

AI summary

A software container is obtained for execution on one of a plurality of compute nodes. A processing device schedules the software container on a first compute node of the plurality of compute nodes based on a comparison of a thermal state of the first compute node to a defined threshold.