CPU MISER: A Performance-Directed, Run-Time System for Power-Aware Clusters

Performance and power are critical design constraints in today´s high-end computing systems. Reducing power consumption without impacting system performance is a challenge for the HPC community. We present a runtime system (CPU MISER) and an integrated performance model for performance-directed, power-aware cluster computing. CPU MISER supports system-wide, application-independent, fine-grain, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) based power management for a generic power-aware cluster. Experimental results show that CPU MISER can achieve as much as 20% energy savings for the NAS parallel benchmarks. In addition to energy savings, CPU MISER is able to constrain performance loss for most applications within user-specified limits. These constraints are achieved through accurate performance modeling and prediction, coupled with advanced control techniques.