Amazon.com, Inc.
Power management network for communication between racks in a data center

Abstract:

A rules-based mechanism is described for powering down racks in an ordered and autonomous way in a data center. Power shelf controllers (PSCs), on different racks or on the same rack, communicate together through a network, called the PSC network, separate from the data network. The PSCs are aware of the other PSCs that share the same input power domain. When the racks are configured for use, each PSC is assigned a priority value, based upon the management provisioning layer assignment. Each PSC creates a table of all the other PSCs and tracks each assigned priority value. When a power event occurs, the PSC can power down components within the rack in accordance with the priority table. Recovery can also be carried out in conformance with the priority table.