System and method for flexible storage and networking provisioning in large scalable processor installations

• US 10,021,806 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2017
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 2, LLC
• Original Assignee: III Holdings 2, LLC
• Inventors: Schnell, Arnold Thomas, Waldorf, Richard Owen, Borland, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Cruz, Dimary Lopez
• Assistant Examiner(s): Feng, Zhengfu
• Application Number:
  US15/430,959
• Publication Number:
  US 20170156234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 512 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/18 Packaging or power distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/181 Enclosures for portable computers G06F1/1613
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/189 Power distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4027 using bus bridges G06F13/4022 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 5/00 Casings, cabinets or drawers for electric apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/14 Mounting supporting structure in casing or on frame or rack
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1485 Servers; Data center rooms, e.g. 19-inch computer racks
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1487 Blade assemblies, e.g. blade cases or inner arrangements within a blade
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1489 characterized by the mounting of blades therein, e.g. brackets, rails, trays H05K7/1491 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1492 having electrical distribution arrangements, e.g. power supply or data communications
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1498 Resource management, Optimisation arrangements, e.g. configuration, identification, tracking, physical location thermal management H05K7/20836
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20 Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/2029 using a liquid coolant with phase change in electronic enclosures in cabinets of standardized dimensions H05K7/20536; in server cabinets H05K7/20709; in vehicle electronic casings H05K7/20845; in power control electronics H05K7/2089; in displays H05K7/20954
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20736 within cabinets for removing heat from server blades
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49002 Electrical device making
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49117 Conductor or circuit manufacturing

Abstract

A system and method for provisioning within a system design to allow the storage and IO resources to scale with compute resources are provided.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a chassis having a predetermined physical form factor, wherein the chassis has a plurality of slots into which modules are placed;

compute modules, storage modules, and input/output (I/O) modules, all of which are housed within the plurality of slots; and

a processor configured to identify one or more of the compute modules, one or more of the storage modules, and one or more of the I/O modules to form a scalable system based on a desired computing power, a desired storage power, and a desired input/output power for the scalable system, wherein a quantity of the one or more I/O modules is determined based, at least in part, on a bandwidth requirement for data traversing from and to the scalable system.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more support devices within the chassis that support the one or more compute modules, the one or more storage modules, and the one or more I/O modules housed within the chassis.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more support devices comprise a fan or a power supply.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of slots each comprise a set of physical connectors and a volume of space.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the set of physical connectors comprises one or more peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) connectors.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each I/O module comprises a set of connectors and a translation circuit that translates between I/O protocols.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising hybrid modules configured to be housed within the plurality of slots, wherein each hybrid module includes compute, storage, and I/O functions therein.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more system boards within the chassis.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more system boards are interconnected by board-to-board connectors.

10. A server comprising:

a chassis with a plurality of slots into which modules are placed;

compute modules, storage modules, and input/output (I/O) modules, all of which are housed within the plurality of slots; and

a processor configured to identify one or more of the compute modules, one or more of the storage modules, and one or more of the I/O modules to form a scalable system based on a desired computing power, a desired storage power, and a desired input/output power for the scalable system.

11. The server of claim 10, wherein a quantity of the one or more I/O modules is determined based, at least in part, on a bandwidth requirement for data traversing from and to the scalable system.

12. The server of claim 10, further comprising hybrid modules configured to be housed within the plurality of slots, wherein each hybrid module includes compute, storage, and I/O functions therein.

13. A system comprising:

a chassis having slots into which modules are placed; and

a processor configured to identify modules to form a scalable system based on a desired computing power, a desired storage power, and a desired input/output power for the scalable system, wherein a quantity of the modules is determined based, at least in part, on a bandwidth requirement for data traversing from and to the scalable system.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising support devices within the chassis that support the modules housed within the chassis.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the support devices comprise a fan or a power supply.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the slots comprise a set of physical connectors and a volume of space.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the set of physical connectors comprises peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) connectors.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the modules comprise connectors and a translation circuit that translates between I/O protocols.

19. The system of claim 13, further comprising hybrid modules that include compute, storage, and I/O functions therein.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising system boards within the chassis.