Patent ID: 7992014
Filing Date: 2011-08-02
Classification: H02J

Abstract:
1. A method of administering power supplies in a data center, the power supplies providing power to one or more computing devices, each of the power supplies connected through a power line to one of a plurality of circuit breakers, each of the circuit breakers comprising a circuit breaker communications device, each of the powers supplies comprising a power supply communications device, each of the power supplies connected through an out-of-band communications link to a management module, the management module managing the power supplies and the computing devices in the data center, the method comprising: upon connection of a first power supply of the power supplies through a power line to a circuit breaker of the circuit breakers in the data center, querying, by a power supply communications device of the first power supply through the power line, a circuit breaker communications device of the circuit breaker of the circuit breakers for a circuit breaker identification, the circuit breaker identification uniquely identifying the circuit breaker; querying, by the power supply communications device of the first power supply, for a maximum current threshold for the circuit breaker; sending, by the power supply communications device through the out-of-band communications link, the circuit breaker identification and the maximum current threshold for the circuit breaker to the management module; determining, by the management module in dependence upon the circuit breaker identification and the maximum current threshold for the circuit breaker, whether to power on a computing device of the computing devices powered by the first power supply including determining whether the circuit breaker is shared by another power supply of the power supplies; and administering power of the computing device powered by the first power supply in accordance with the determination whether to power on the computing device.