Communications - September 2008

even if the read is from the cache. One work-around is to disable atime updates entirely, but this breaks certain applications. A subtler work-around is to update the atime if the file was modified more recently than it was last read. This avoids breaking mail applications that depend upon the atime to determine whether mail has been read or not. This provides a dramatic reduction in write activity to the disk and makes it more likely that spinning the drive down will be worthwhile.

The drive is not the only part of the I/O system where savings are possible. The AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) specification for serial ATA controllers includes link-level power management. In the absence of any pending commands, the link between the drive and the controller can be powered down, saving about 0.5 watts of power. The cost is a partial reduction in functionality—hotplug events will no longer be generated.

Network hardware provides a similar dilemma. If an Ethernet device is not in use, it makes sense to power it down. If the Ethernet PHY is powered down, however, there will be no interrupt generated if an Ethernet cable is plugged into the device. Power has been saved, but at the cost of some functionality. An almost identical problem occurs when detecting hot-plugging of monitors.

This is perhaps the most unfortunate side of power management. In many cases, hardware consumes power because that power is required to provide functionality. Many users may not care about that loss of functionality, but disabling it by default causes problems for those who do. Although hardware support for power management has improved hugely over recent years, the biggest challenge facing operating-system developers may in fact be how to integrate that support in a way that doesn’t frustrate or confuse users.

In an attempt to encourage power management, Intel has released a tool called PowerTOP (referring to the top command used to see which processes are consuming the most CPU on Unix systems). PowerTOP uses diagnostic information from the Linux kernel to determine which applications are triggering CPU wake-ups, allowing

developers to spot misbehaving applications and optimize their power consumption.

PowerTOP has already provided benefits for Linux desktop software. The 7.04 release of Ubuntu ran at about 400 wake-ups a second. Optimizations and bug fixes in response to issues raised by Power TOP allowed this to be reduced to fewer than 100 on most systems, with figures under 30 achievable on systems with disabled wireless and Bluetooth.

PowerTOP also provides information about other aspects of a system that may be consuming power. The system is probed to determine whether it has any configuration that may impair power savings, such as disabled USB autosuspend or audio codec power management, and Power TOP suggests ways to fix the problem. The information provided is probably excessively technical for the average user, but it allows vendors to ensure they are taking full advantage of available power management options.

Though developed and sponsored by Intel, the advice provided by PowerTOP is fairly general and appropriate to most Linux-based systems. Arguably, the most important way in which it has been successful is not in the functionality it provides in itself, but the increased awareness of the issues involved that it has generated in the open source community. It remains to be seen whether proprietary vendors will start providing similar functionality to users and developers, but many of the same issues apply and need to be solved in similar ways.

Power management for the masses The One Laptop Per Child XO machine is an interesting case study in power management, perhaps sharing more in common with the embedded world than with traditional laptops. Its aggressive power management is designed to allow the platform to suspend even when the machine is in use, something made possible by the display controller’s ability to scan out the framebuffer even when the CPU isn’t running. The mesh networking capability of the hardware requires machines to continue routing packets even when suspended, and hence the wireless hardware has also been de-

signed to forward data without processor intervention. Price considerations have meant that the XO machine cannot depend on the latest battery technology; therefore, the machine must consume as little power as possible to keep the network functioning effectively.

This level of power management would be unthinkable in the traditional laptop world, where even the best implementations still take on the order of a second to return to a state where the user can interact with the system. A major focus has therefore been to reduce the time taken to bring the device back from suspend, making it practical to suspend the device when idle without impairing the user experience. This requires a high level of robustness, and much of the development work has been focused on ensuring that components resume in a reliable and consistent manner. A failure rate of one in every 10,000 suspend/ resume cycles might be considered acceptable in the mainstream laptop world, but would impair the user experience on the XO.

As users demand longer battery life and become increasingly concerned about wasted energy, power management has become more important to vendors. A well-rounded power management strategy requires integration of hardware, firmware, and software, as well as careful consideration of how to obtain the maximum savings without making the user aware of any compromised functionality. Future years are likely to see tighter integration and a greater awareness of good power management practices, and all-day computing may soon become a practical reality.