Performing zone-based workload scheduling according to environmental conditions

1. A method of performing zone-based workload scheduling according to environmental conditions in a system having electronic devices, comprising:

aggregating indicators of cooling efficiencies of electronic devices in corresponding zones to form aggregated indicators for respective zones, wherein the zones include respective subsets of electronic devices, wherein the electronic devices are arranged in racks, and wherein each of at least some of the zones includes plural electronic devices, and wherein the system includes at least one sensor in each of the zones;

assigning zone-based cooling efficiencies to the electronic devices based on the aggregated indicators, wherein each of the electronic devices is assigned a respective one of the zone-based cooling efficiencies;

assigning workload to the electronic devices based on ranking the electronic devices according to the zone-based cooling efficiencies;

identifying at least one zone that has become quiescent as a result of the workload assignment;

calculating the indicators of cooling efficiencies of electronic devices in the at least one zone based on a temperature measurement of the at least one sensor in the at least one zone; and

reducing cooling activity for the at least one zone, the reducing comprising de-allocating the at least one sensor in the at least one zone.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving definitions of the zones in which each of the zones includes a corresponding particular electronic device and nearby electronic devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the zone-based cooling efficiencies comprises using the aggregated indicators as the zone-based cooling efficiencies.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the zone-based cooling efficiencies comprises computing the zone-based cooling efficiencies based on combining the aggregated indicators with corresponding individual indicators of cooling efficiencies for the electronic devices.

5. A method of performing zone-based workload scheduling according to environmental conditions in a system having electronic devices, comprising:

aggregating indicators of cooling efficiencies of electronic devices in corresponding zones to form aggregated indicators for respective zones, wherein the zones include respective subsets of electronic devices, wherein the indicators comprise measures of energy usage to maintain an electronic device within a predetermined temperature range, and wherein the system includes at least one sensor in each of the zones;

assigning workload to the electronic devices according to the aggregated indicators;

identifying at least one zone that has become quiescent as a result of the workload assignment;

calculating the indicators of cooling efficiencies of electronic devices in the at least one zone based on a temperature measurement of the at least one sensor in the at least one zone; and

reducing cooling activity for the at least one zone, the reducing comprising de-allocating the at least one sensor in the at least one zone.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein aggregating the indicators for a particular one of the zones comprises one of calculating an average of the indicators, determining a median of the indicators, determining a maximum of the indicators, and determining a minimum of the indicators.

7. The method of claim 5 ,

wherein reducing cooling activity for the at least one zone further comprises configuring a greater margin to a set-point temperature in the at least one zone.

8. A method of performing zone-based workload scheduling according to environmental conditions in a system having electronic devices and fluid moving devices to deliver cooling fluid for cooling the electronic devices, the method comprising:

identifying bottleneck sensors for respective fluid moving devices;

identifying zones based on the identified bottleneck sensors;

assigning zone-based cooling efficiencies to the electronic devices in the zones;

assigning workload to the electronic devices according to the zone-based cooling efficiencies;

selecting one of the bottleneck sensors;

identifying electronic devices that have to be quiesced to enable the selected bottleneck sensor to be ignored, wherein the electronic devices that have to be quiesced form a zone of electronic devices.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising repeating the selecting to select another one of the bottleneck sensors, repeating the identifying to identify another zone of electronic devices that have to be quiesced to enable the bottleneck sensor to be ignored.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein selecting the one bottleneck sensor comprises:

performing simulations to determine new operating points of the fluid moving devices assuming that respective bottleneck sensors were ignored.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein each of the electronic devices is assigned a respective one of the zone-based cooling efficiencies, wherein each of at least some of the zones includes plural electronic devices, wherein each of the zone-based cooling efficiencies is computed based on aggregating individual indicators of cooling efficiencies of the electronic devices in the corresponding zone, and wherein a number of the zones is equal to a number of the electronic devices.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the zones includes a corresponding particular electronic device and nearby electronic devices.

13. An article comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a computer to:

aggregate indicators of cooling efficiencies of electronic devices in corresponding zones to form aggregated indicators for respective zones, wherein the zones include respective subsets of electronic devices, wherein the indicators comprise measures of energy usage to maintain respective electronic devices within a predetermined temperature range, and wherein each of the zones includes at least one sensor;

assign workload to the electronic devices according to the aggregated indicators;

identify at least one zone that has become quiescent as a result of the workload assignment;

calculate the indicators of cooling efficiencies of electronic devices in the at least one zone based on a temperature measurement of the at least one sensor in the at least one zone; and

reduce cooling activity for the at least one zone, the reducing comprising de-allocating the at least one sensor in the at least one zone.

14. The article of claim 13 , wherein the instructions when executed cause the computer to further:

assign zone-based cooling efficiencies to the electronic devices based on the aggregated indicators, wherein each of the electronic devices is assigned a respective one of the zone-based cooling efficiencies, and wherein each of at least some of the zones includes plural electronic devices, and wherein assigning the workload to the electronic devices is based on the zone-based cooling efficiencies.

15. The article of claim 14 , wherein each of the zones includes a corresponding particular electronic device and nearby electronic devices.