Characterizing the I/O-performance-per-watt of a computing device across a range of vibrational operating environments

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that when executed by a computing device and associated test equipment cause the computing device and associated test equipment to perform a method for characterizing an I/O performance of the computing device in terms of energy consumption across a range of vibrational operating environments, the method comprising:

• executing a predetermined I/O workload on the computing device, which is secured to a programmable vibration table;
• while the predetermined I/O workload is executing,
• controlling the programmable vibration table to subject the computing device to different vibrational operating environments, wherein controlling the programmable vibration table involves using the programmable vibration table to subject the computing device to different vibrational frequencies and different vibrational amplitudes, wherein vibrational frequency and vibrational amplitude are separately controlled by first performing a “swept sine” test wherein the vibrational amplitude is fixed while the vibrational frequency sweeps through a range, and then performing a second test where a random-spectrum of vibrational frequencies from the range is used with varying vibrational amplitudes, wherein the different vibrational frequencies and different vibrational amplitudes are chosen from real measurements taken from a number of real data centers, and
• obtaining test results by monitoring a progress of the execution of the predetermined I/O workload and an associated power consumption of the computing device;
• and
• using the obtained test results to characterize the I/O performance of the computing device in terms of energy consumption across the range of vibrational operating environments.

A system for characterizing an I/O performance of a computing device in terms of energy consumption across a range of vibrational operating environments, comprising:

• a programmable vibration table to which the computing device is attached;
• a data-gathering system that gathers data from the computing device;
• a control mechanism that controls the programmable vibration table, the data gathering system and the computing device, wherein during operation, the control mechanism:
• triggers execution of a test script on the computing device, wherein the test script causes the computing device to perform a predetermined I/O workload;
• while the test script is executing,
• controls the programmable vibration table to subject the computing device to different vibrational operating environments, wherein controlling the programmable vibration table involves using the programmable vibration table to subject the computing device to different vibrational frequencies and different vibrational amplitudes, wherein vibrational frequency and vibrational amplitude are separately controlled by first performing a “swept sine” test wherein the vibrational amplitude is fixed while the vibrational frequency sweeps through a range, and then performing a second test where a random-spectrum of vibrational frequencies from the range is used with varying vibrational amplitudes, wherein the different vibrational frequencies and different vibrational amplitudes are chosen from real measurements taken from a number of real data centers, and
• obtains test results by monitoring a progress of the test script and an associated power consumption of the computing device;
• and
• uses the obtained test results to characterize the I/O performance of the computing device in terms of energy consumption across the range of vibrational operating environments.