Time-Of-Day Power Capping - Compaq BL10e - HP ProLiant - 512 MB RAM Introduction Manual

Time-of-day power capping

Using the task scheduling capabilities in IPM, administrators can create time-of-day power capping
implementations in which the power cap for a server or group of servers is lowered and raised in pre-
determined pattern, typically on a daily cycle. Lowering the power cap on a group of servers during
times of the day when electricity rates are highest will lower operating costs by decreasing average
power use by the servers and, indirectly, by decreasing required cooling.
To construct a time-of-day power capping scenario, administrators must create individual scheduled
tasks in Insight Power Manager. In the SIM interface, this scheduling capability is accessed using the
Configure Insight Power Manager option under the top-level Configure menu.
Scheduling a task consists of several steps, including defining the new power cap (Figure 13), and
creating the schedule for applying the power cap (Figure 14).
Figure 13. Setting a power cap as part of a scheduled task
Figure 14. Defining the scheduled Insight Power Manager task in Systems Insight Manager
Constructing a time-of-day power capping model actually requires creating at least two separate
scheduled tasks in Insight Power Manager. The first step is to create a scheduled task to apply a given
power cap at a given time of day. Figures 13 and 14 show a power cap that is applied at 2:00 PM
every day. Completing the time-of-day power capping requires creating a second task to remove or
raise the power cap.
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