Device Specifications#

Overview#

Device specifications define power ranges, component composition, and management capabilities for equipment models. Datacenter entities reference a specification by device type and model, so the required specifications must be available before entities and topologies are created.

DPS ships a standard registry. Administrators can add a model or override a standard model with dpsctl device upsert.

Device Types#

Compute Devices#

A ComputerSystem specification describes a complete server or node. The shipped GB200 specification includes its component inventory, hardware range, and idle fallback:

Shipped DGX_GB200 specification
- type: ComputerSystem
  description: NVIDIA GB200 Compute Tray (Bianca)
  model: DGX_GB200
  spec:
    devices:
      - type: CPU
        model: Grace
        count: 2
      - type: GPU
        model: GB200
        count: 4
    minLoadWatts: 1000
    maxLoadWatts: 6667
    processorModulesCount: 2
    idlePolicy:
      Node:
        watts: 1000
      GPU:
        watts: 800
      CPU:
        watts: 100

Component specifications describe individual device ranges and capabilities:

- type: GPU
  description: NVIDIA GB200 GPU
  model: GB200
  spec:
    minLoadWatts: 200
    maxLoadWatts: 1200
    wppsSupport: true

- type: CPU
  description: NVIDIA Grace CPU
  model: Grace
  spec:
    minLoadWatts: 50
    maxLoadWatts: 420

Power Distribution Devices#

A PowerDomain is a top-level logical power source:

- type: PowerDomain
  description: Generic Power Domain 95 Pct Eff
  spec:
    efficiencyFactor: 0.95

PowerDistribution and PowerSupply specifications describe distribution and conversion equipment:

- type: PowerDistribution
  description: Generic Rack PDU at 57500W 95 Pct Eff
  model: RackPDU95_57500W
  spec:
    maxLoadWatts: 57500
    efficiencyFactor: 0.95

Core Properties#

  • minLoadWatts: The supported lower power bound.

  • maxLoadWatts: The supported upper power bound.

  • efficiencyFactor: Power-conversion efficiency.

  • devices: Components contained in a composite device.

  • wppsSupport: Workload Power Profile Settings support.

  • processorModulesCount: Processor-module count for supported systems.

Computer System Idle Policy#

ComputerSystemSpec.idlePolicy is an unnamed, device-specific fallback used during policy unset behavior. It is not the topology policy and is not a named policy bundle.

An idle policy can contain Node, GPU, CPU, and Memory entries. Each entry defines exactly one positive watts or percentage value; percentages cannot exceed 100. DPS validates the idle policy before converting it for a device plugin.

A specification does not need to provide every component entry. In particular, component-only entries do not imply a node cap. Platform plugins determine the final unset behavior when no idle policy exists or idle application fails. Refer to Power Policies for the lifecycle and platform-specific fallbacks.

Usage#

Import specifications and list the registry with dpsctl:

dpsctl device upsert devices.yaml
dpsctl device list

Entities then reference a specification by type and model:

{
  "Type": "ComputerSystem",
  "Model": "DGX_GB200",
  "Name": "node001"
}

Further Reading#