Inferential power monitor without voltage/current transducers

1. A method for estimating power consumption in a computer system by inferring the power consumption from instrumentation signals, comprising:

during a training phase:

monitoring instrumentation signals within the computer system, wherein the instrumentation signals do not include corresponding current and voltage signals that can be used to directly compute power consumption;

monitoring a corresponding power consumption using a hardware power monitor coupled to the computer system; and

generating an inferential power model from the instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption; and

during a monitoring phase that does not include the training phase:

monitoring the instrumentation signals within the computer system; and

estimating the power consumption for the computer system by inferring the power consumption from the instrumentation signals monitored during the monitoring phase and from the inferential power model generated during the training phase.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein estimating the power consumption further involves:

pre-processing the instrumentation signals using an analytical re-sampling program; and

using a nonlinear, nonparametric regression technique to produce an inferential power estimate from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the inferential power model.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the nonlinear, nonparametric regression technique can include a multivariate state estimation technique.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the inferential power model during the training phase involves:

pre-processing the monitored instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption using an analytical re-sampling program; and

using a nonparametric regression technique to build the inferential power model from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a linear regression technique is used to produce the inferential power estimate from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the inferential power model.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instrumentation signals can include hardware variables and/or software variables.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the software variables include load metrics, CPU utilization, idle time, memory utilization, disk activity, transaction latencies, and other performance metrics reported by the operating system.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the hardware variables include temperature and voltage.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein only software variables are used to estimate the power consumption of the computer system.

10. An apparatus for estimating power consumption in a computer system by inferring the power consumption from instrumentation signals, comprising:

a computer system; and

a power-estimation mechanism;

wherein, during a training phase, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

monitor instrumentation signals within the computer system, wherein the instrumentation signals do not include corresponding current and voltage signals that can be used to directly compute power consumption;

monitor a corresponding power consumption using a hardware power monitor coupled to the computer system; and

generate an inferential power model from the instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption; and

wherein, during a monitoring phase that does not include the training phase, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

monitor the instrumentation signals within the computer system; and

estimate the power consumption for the computer system by inferring the power consumption from the instrumentation signals monitored during the monitoring phase and from the inferential power model generated during the training phase.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein while estimating the power consumption, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

pre-process the instrumentation signals using an analytical re-sampling program; and to

use a nonlinear, nonparametric regression technique to produce an inferential power estimate from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the inferential power model.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the nonlinear, nonparametric regression technique can include a multivariate state estimation technique.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein while generating the inferential power model during the training phase, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

pre-process the monitored instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption using the analytical re-sampling program; and to

use a nonparametric regression technique to build the inferential power model from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein a linear regression technique is used to produce an inferential power estimate from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the inferential power model.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instrumentation signals can include hardware variables and/or software variables.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the software variables include load metrics, CPU utilization, idle time, memory utilization, disk activity, transaction latencies, and other performance metrics reported by the operating system.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the hardware variables include temperature and voltage.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein only software variables are used to estimate the power consumption of the computer system.

19. A computer system for estimating power consumption in a computer system by inferring the power consumption from instrumentation signals, comprising:

a computer system; and

a power-estimation mechanism;

wherein, during a training phase, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

monitor instrumentation signals within the computer system, wherein the instrumentation signals do not include corresponding current and voltage signals that can be used to directly compute power consumption;

monitor a corresponding power consumption using a hardware power monitor coupled to the computer system; and

generate an inferential power model from the instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption; and

wherein, during a monitoring phase that does not include the training phase, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

monitor the instrumentation signals within the computer system; and

estimate the power consumption for the computer system by inferring the power consumption from the instrumentation signals monitored during the monitoring phase and from the inferential power model generated during the training phase.

20. The computer system of claim 19 , wherein while estimating the power consumption, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

pre-process the instrumentation signals using an analytical re-sampling program; and to

use a nonlinear, nonparametric regression technique to produce an inferential power estimate from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the inferential power model.

21. The computer system of claim 20 , wherein while generating the inferential power model during the training phase, the power-estimation mechanism is configured to:

pre-process the monitored instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption using an analytical re-sampling program; and to

use a nonparametric regression technique to build the inferential power model from the pre-processed instrumentation signals and the corresponding monitored power consumption.