Provisioning aggregate computational workloads and air conditioning unit configurations to optimize utility of air conditioning units and processing resources within a data center

A method of provisioning aggregate computational workloads and air conditioning unit configurations to optimize utility of air conditioning units and processing resources within a data center, the method comprising:

• for each air conditioning unit within the data center, determining, by a configuration optimizer, a thermal zone generated by the air conditioning unit, wherein the thermal zone comprises a volume of the data center, including processing components, supplied cooling by the air conditioning unit, wherein the processing components of the thermal zone comprise at least a plurality of racks;
• for a given aggregate computational workload, identifying, by the configuration optimizer, a plurality of computational workload configurations, each computational workload configuration indicating spatial assignments of the aggregate computational workload among a plurality of processing resources within the data center;
• for each computational workload configuration, calculating, by the configuration optimizer, a total minimum energy consumption of the air conditioning units and the processing resources, wherein calculating a total minimum energy consumption includes determining a lowest power air conditioning unit configuration of the air conditioning units that enables each air conditioning unit to consume the least amount of energy while maintaining a real-time inlet temperature of the air conditioning unit's thermal zone within a predetermined temperature range, wherein determining the lowest power air conditioning unit configuration further comprises:
• identifying the processing resources within the thermal zone;
• calculating the power dissipated by the processing resources within the thermal zone;
• calculating the cooling power of the air conditioning unit associated with the thermal zone;
• and
• based on the calculated dissipated power and the calculated cooling power, determining a real-time inlet temperature of the thermal zone;
• and
• selecting, by the configuration optimizer, the computational workload configuration with the lowest total minimum energy consumption and the determined lowest power air conditioning unit configuration corresponding with the selected computational workload configuration, wherein selecting the determined lowest power air conditioning unit configuration includes performing at least one of turning on an air conditioning unit, turning off an air conditioning unit, changing a temperature of an air conditioning unit, and changing a fan speed of an air conditioning unit.