System for controlling power consumption of a network

1. A system for controlling power consumption of a network, the system comprising:

at least one terminal to receive a plurality of requests to route data from a plurality of data sources to a plurality of data sinks, wherein the data sources and the data sinks are connected to each other through a plurality of network nodes forming the network; and

a network configuration unit including:

a selection module configured to select a configuration of the network nodes that allows the network to have a lowest overall power consumption of the network among a plurality of configurations of the network, wherein the selection is made based on the data routing requests from the data sources, and

configured to select a network path for transmitting a network flow, wherein the selecting comprises:

characterizing a problem of selecting the network path as multi-commodity flow problem,

constraining the multi-commodity flow problem with constraints including that deactivated links in the network have no traffic and that the network flow is transmitted on the selected path and is not allowed to be split to flow through another network path, and

determining a solution to the multi-commodity flow problem that satisfies the constraints; and

an output module configured to output a plurality of instruction signals to the network nodes to perform the network configuration.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of network nodes includes a plurality of network switches and the plurality of instruction signals include an instruction signal to switch off a communication channel of at least one of the network switches in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instruction signals include an instruction signal to partially power down a communication channel of at least one of the network nodes to reduce a channel bandwidth of the communication channel in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of network configurations correspond to different combinations of the network nodes that are to be at least partially powered down, respectively.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network flow is configured to be used for running an application of a data sink of the network.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the selection of the network path is responsive to an outcome of a multi-commodity flow problem with a condition that data traffic on a communication channel for a network flow for a commodity is equal to either a full requested data amount to be routed from a data source or zero.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of network nodes includes a plurality of network switches and the plurality of instruction signals includes an instruction signal to switch off a communication port of at least one of the network switches in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the selection module is further configured to select the network configuration based on quality of service (QoS) requirements in routing the data.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one terminal is configured to receive information as to a topology of the network and the selection based on the data routing requests is configured to be made based on the information as to the network topology.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instruction signals includes instruction signals to switch off at least one of the network nodes in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

11. A non-transitory computer readable data storage mediums storing instructions for controlling power consumption of a network, the instructions executable by a processing resource to:

receive a plurality of requests to route data from a plurality of data sources to a plurality of data sinks, wherein the data sources and the data sinks are connected to each other through a plurality of network nodes forming the network;

select a configuration of the network nodes that allows the network to have a lowest overall power consumption of the network among a plurality of configurations of the network, wherein the selection is made based on the data routing requests from the data sources;

select a network path for transmitting a network flow,

wherein to select comprises:

characterize a problem of selecting the network path as a multi-commodity flow problem,

constrain the multi-commodity flow problem with constraints including that deactivated links in the network have no traffic and that the network flow is transmitted on the selected path and is not allowed to be split to flow through another network path, and

determine a solution to the multi-commodity flow problem that satisfies the constraints; and

output a plurality of instruction signals to the network nodes to perform the network configuration.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of network nodes includes a plurality of network switches and the plurality of instruction signals includes an instruction signal to switch off a communication channel of at least one of the network switches in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of instruction signals includes an instruction signal to partially power down a communication channel of at least one of the network nodes to reduce a channel bandwidth of the communication channel in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of network configurations corresponds to different combinations of the network nodes that are to be at least partially powered down, respectively, by performing at least one of the actions such as switching off a port, reducing a channel capacity of a port, and switching off a network node.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the constraints to constrain the multi-commodity flow problem further include capacity, demand and flow conservation constraints.

16. A non-transitory computer readable data storage medium storing instructions for controlling power consumption of a network, the instructions executable by a processing resource to:

receive a plurality of requests to route data from a plurality of data sources to a plurality of data sinks, wherein the data sources and the data sinks are connected to each other through a plurality of network nodes forming the network; and

select a configuration of the network nodes that allows the network to have a lowest overall power consumption of the network among a plurality of configurations of the network, wherein the selection is made based on the data routing requests from the data sources, wherein the selection includes a selection of a communication channel of at least one of the network nodes to be switched off;

select a network path for transmitting a network flow,

wherein to select comprises

characterize a problem of selecting the network path as multi-commodity flow problem,

characterize the multi-commodity flow problem with constraints including that deactivated links in the network have no traffic and that the network flow is transmitted on the selected path and is not allowed to be split to flow through another network path, and

determine a solution to the multi-commodity flow problem that satisfies the constraints; and

output a plurality of instruction signals to the network nodes to perform the network configuration.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of network nodes includes a plurality of network switches and the plurality of instruction signals includes an instruction signal to switch off a communication channel of at least one of the network switches in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of instruction signals include an instruction signal to partially power down a communication channel of at least one of the network nodes to reduce a channel bandwidth of the communication channel in order to allow the network to have the lowest overall power consumption.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of network con figurations corresponds to different combinations of the network nodes that are to be at least partially powered down, respectively, by performing at least one of the actions such as switching off a port, reducing a channel capacity of a port, and switching off a network node.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the constraints to constrain the multi-commodity flow problem further include capacity, demand and flow conservation constraints.