We’ve Got the Power: A Framework for Real-Time Network Power Monitoring

The energy consumption of the information and communication technology sector has become a significant portion of the total global energy consumption, warranting research efforts to attempt to reduce it. The pre-requisite for effectual energy management is the availability of the current power consumption values from network devices. Previous works have attempted to estimate and model the consumption values or have measured it using intrusive approaches such as using an in-line power meter. Recent trends suggest that information models are being increasingly used in all aspects of network management. This paper presents a framework developed for enabling the collection of real-time power consumption information from the next generation of networking hardware non-intrusively by employing information models. The experiment results indicate that it is feasible to gather power consumption data using standardized IETF information models, or non-standard customized information models, or through abstracting and exposing the information in a uniform format when no support for the required information models exists. Functional validation of the proposed framework is performed and the results from this research could be leveraged to make energy-efficient network management decisions.