FirmLeak: A Framework for Efficient and Accurate Runtime Estimation of Leakage Power by Firmware

Abstract

Separating the dynamic power and leakage power components from total microprocessor power can enable new optimizations for cloud computing. To this end, we introduce FirmLeak, a new framework that enables accurate, real-time estimation of microprocessor leakage power by system software. FirmLeak accounts for power-gating regions, per-core voltage domains, and manufacturing variation. We present an experimental evaluation of FirmLeak on a POWER7+ microprocessor for a range of hardware parts, voltages and temperatures. We discuss how this can be used in two applications to manage power by 1) improving billing of energy for cloud computing and 2) optimizing fan power consumption.