A Slight Change In The Linux Kernel Can Reduce The Energy Consumption Of Data Centers By 30%.
Energy saving on the scale of the whole world can be calculated by gigawatt hours.
Researchers from the University of Waterloo presented an elegant solution to reduce the energy consumption of data centers, a small modification of the Linux kernel. This is relevant, given the growing load on energy resources created by computing systems, which now account for about 5% of world energy consumption. Date centers, being a critical part of modern infrastructure, make a significant contribution to this consumption.
The team of scientists, led by Professor Martin Karsten, found ineffectiveness in the processing of network traffic with high intensity of communications. The decision they have proposed is to optimize the Linux network stack. The rearrangement of operations allows you to achieve an increase in performance and energy efficiency. Tests showed an increase in throughput to 45% in certain scenarios without deterioration of delay indicators. Professor Karsten compares this with the optimization of the conveyor in production, which allows you to more effectively use the processor cache in the data centers.
In collaboration with Joe Damato, an engineer from Fastly, a compact and non intrusive change in the kernel, consisting of only 30 lines of code, was developed. This small modification is able to reduce energy consumption in critically important operations of the data center by 30%. The key element of innovation is the function of suspension of interruptions (IRQ), which allows you to effectively balance the energy consumption of the processor and data processing. By reducing the number of interruptions during peak loads, it is possible to increase the productivity of the network, while maintaining a low delay during periods of reduced activity.
The effectiveness of the solution is confirmed by tests, and the code is already integrated into the latest version of the Linux 6.13 kernel. This opens the way for the wide implementation of modification in the technological industry. If key market players, such as Amazon, Google and Meta, will make this solution, potential energy saving on the scale of the whole world can be calculated by gigawatt hours. According to Professor Karsten, almost every request on the Internet can be processed more efficiently due to this modification.