System and method for providing a tile management controller

• US 10,075,332 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2015
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Palmer, John R., Ahmed, Syed S., Masuyama, Jinsaku
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Celani, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US14/589,485
• Publication Number:
  US 20150256396A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A floor tile for a data center floor includes a memory device and a tile management controller coupled to the memory device. The tile management controller receives configuration information for a server rack located on the floor tile and stores the configuration information in the memory device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a server rack including a rack management controller coupled to a rack communication module, and including a plurality of weight sensors coupled to the rack management controller, each weight sensor affixed to the server rack and configured to provide a first weight of the server rack being borne by a foot of the server rack to the rack management controller, the server rack further including a plurality of interlocks, each interlock co-located with a rack unit location of the server rack, each interlock configured in a first position to permit the installation and removal of equipment from the associated rack unit location, and configured in a second position to prevent the installation and removal of the equipment from the associated rack unit location; and

an active floor tile including a tile management controller configured to process configuration information, the tile management controller coupled to a tile communication module configured to communicate the configuration information, wherein the tile communication module is coupled to the rack communication module, wherein the tile management controller is configured to provide a weight limit to the rack management controller;

wherein the rack management controller is configured to determine a second weight of the server rack based upon first weights, to determine that the second weight is greater than the weight limit, to provide an indication to a data center management system in response to determining that the second weight is greater than the weight limit, to determine a center of gravity of the server rack based upon the weight of the equipment installed in the server rack, determine if the center of gravity is above or below a centerline of the server rack, and to retain the interlocks in the second position when the center of gravity is above the centerline.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the rack communication module and the tile communication module each comprise a complimentary wired communication interface.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the wired interface includes one of an RS-232 interface, an Ethernet interface, a Universal Serial Bus interface, a Firewire interface, a Controller Area Network interface, an I2C interface, and a Serial Peripheral Interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the rack communication module and the tile communication module each comprise a complimentary wireless communication interface.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the wireless interface includes one of a Near Field Communications interface, a WiFi interface, and a Bluetooth interface.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server rack provides the configuration information to the active floor tile.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the configuration information includes one of a grid location of a data center floor upon which the server rack is located, and an Internet Protocol address range for the equipment in the server rack.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the active floor tile provides the configuration information to the server rack.

9. A method comprising:

coupling a rack management controller of a server rack in a data center to a rack communication module of the server rack;

coupling a weight sensor of the server rack to the rack management controller;

providing, by the weight sensor, a weight of the server rack to the rack management controller;

coupling a tile management controller of an active floor tile of the data center to a tile communication module of the active floor tile, wherein the tile management controller is configured to process configuration information, and wherein the tile communication module is configured to communicate the configuration information;

coupling the rack communication module to the tile communication module;

providing, by the tile management controller, a weight limit to the rack management controller;

determining, by the rack management controller, that the weight of the server rack is greater than the weight limit;

providing, by the rack management controller, a first indication to a data center management system in response to determining that the weight of the server rack is greater than the weight limit;

determining, by the rack management controller, that the weight of the server rack has changed;

providing, by the rack management controller, a second indication to the data center management system in response to determining that the weight of the server rack is changed;

determining, by the rack management controller, a center of gravity of the server rack based upon the weight of equipment installed in the server rack;

determining if the center of gravity is above or below a centerline of the server rack; and

retaining a plurality of interlocks of the server rack in a first position when the center of gravity is above the centerline, wherein each interlock is co-located with a rack unit location of the server rack, each interlock configured in the first position to prevent the installation and removal of equipment from the associated rack unit location, and configured in a second position to permit the installation and removal of the equipment from the associated rack unit location.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the rack communication module and the tile communication module each comprise a complimentary wired communication interface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the wired interface includes one of an RS-232 interface, an Ethernet interface, a Universal Serial Bus interface, a Firewire interface, a Controller Area Network interface, an I2C interface, and a Serial Peripheral Interface.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the rack communication module and the tile communication module each comprise a complimentary wireless communication interface.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the wireless interface includes one of a Near Field Communications interface, a WiFi interface, and a Bluetooth interface.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein

the method further comprises providing the configuration information from the server rack to the active floor tile.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration information includes one of a grid location of a data center floor upon which the server rack is located, and an Internet Protocol address range for the equipment in the server rack.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein

the method further comprises providing the configuration information from the active floor tile to the server rack.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including code for performing a method, the method comprising:

coupling a rack management controller of a server rack in a data center to a rack communication module of the server rack;

coupling a weight sensor of the server rack to the rack management controller;

providing a weight of the server rack to the rack management controller;

coupling a tile management controller of an active floor tile of the data center to a tile communication module of the active floor tile, wherein the tile management controller is configured to process configuration information, and wherein the tile communication module is configured to configured to communicate the configuration information;

coupling the rack communication module to the tile communication module;

providing a weight limit to the rack management controller;

determining that the weight of the server rack is greater than the weight limit; and

providing a first indication to a data center management system in response to determining that the weight of the server rack is greater than the weight limit;

determining that the weight of the server rack has changed;

providing a second indication to the data center management system in response to determining that the weight of the server rack is changed;

determining a center of gravity of the server rack based upon the weight of equipment installed in the server rack;

determining if the center of gravity is above or below a centerline of the server rack; and

retaining a plurality of interlocks of the server rack in a first position when the center of gravity is above the centerline, wherein each interlock is co-located with a rack unit location of the server rack, each interlock configured in the first position to prevent the installation and removal of equipment from the associated rack unit location, and configured in a second position to permit the installation and removal of the equipment from the associated rack unit location.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the rack communication module and the tile communication module each comprise a complimentary wired communication interface, wherein the wired interface includes one of an RS-232 interface, an Ethernet interface, a Universal Serial Bus interface, a Firewire interface, a Controller Area Network interface, an I2C interface, and a Serial Peripheral Interface.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the rack communication module and the tile communication module each comprise a complimentary wireless communication interface, wherein the wireless interface includes one of a Near Field Communications interface, a WiFi interface, and a Bluetooth interface.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein:

the server rack includes configuration information;

the method further comprises providing the configuration information from the server rack to the active floor tile; and

the configuration information includes one of a grid location of a data center floor upon which the server rack is located, a weight limit for the server rack, and an Internet Protocol address range for the equipment in the server rack.