Managing a computer system with blades

• US 20070083861A1
• Filed: 03/25/2004
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sauermann, Volker, Becker, Wolfgang, Zachmann, Guenter, Schwarz, Arne, von Bergen, Axel
• Granted Patent: US 7,610,582 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

Managing a computer system having a plurality of blades by detecting the presence of a new blade in the computer system; installing an operating system on the new blade; configuring the operation system; and copying a service that is running on an earlier detected blade to the new blade. Further features are testing services and operating system on the new blade and cyclically shifting services through the blades.

Claims

1. A method for managing a computer system, the computer system operating with a plurality of blades, the method comprising:

detecting the presence of a new blade in the computer system;

installing an operating system on the new blade;

configuring the operation system; and

copying a service that is running on an earlier detected blade to the new blade.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein installing the operating system is performed by accessing a mass storage that is part of the computer system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein installing is performed by using scripts.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein installing is performed by using scripts that are part of the service that is running on the computer system prior to detecting the new blade.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, between the detecting and installing steps, the following is performed:

monitoring system performance; and

continuing with installing upon reaching a predefined threshold of a measurement value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the measurement values are taken from at least one of the following:

usage of processor resources, processing times, usage of memory, remaining capacity of data storage, and communication parameters of a blade interface.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein monitoring is performed periodically.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein monitoring is performed by monitoring processes that operate consecutively for adjacent blades.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein monitoring is performed by a token ring technique.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the measurement values are related to the blades independently.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the processing times are related to processing times for incoming telephone calls and a call rate.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein computer instructions to perform the detecting step are part of services that are running on the computer system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein computer instructions for the detecting and copying steps are performed according to criteria in the service that is running on the earlier detected blade.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein copying the service comprises copying data accessible from a memory of the earlier detected blade to a memory of the new blade.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein copying the service comprises restarting the service, wherein executable instructions of the service are loaded from a central storage and wherein an image of the process context of the service is transferred to the new blade.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein copying the service comprises modifying the version of the service.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein installing the operating system comprises modifying the system.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed for at least 3 blades, the method further comprising the subsequent execution of a controller service, an engine service, and a monitor service, the services belonging to a same business application.

19. The method of claim 1, controlled by a controller residing on at least one blade, wherein the controller further performs at least one function selected from the group of:

testing the copy of the service on the new blade, and modifying the execution of the service on the earlier detected blade if the copy of the service operates successfully.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein modifying comprises stopping the service on the earlier detected blade.

21. A method for managing a computer system, the system operating with a plurality of computers in at least one group, the method comprising:

assigning a service to a group of computers;

shifting a service that runs on a first computer of the group to run on a second computer in the group; and

re-installing the operating system to the first computer.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein shifting and re-installing is repeated cyclically for all computers in the groups, thereby keeping the number of computers that are re-installing the operating system smaller than the number of computers that are not re-installing the operating system.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein shifting is accompanied by testing the service in parallel operation on the first computer and on the second computer, and disabling the operation of the service by the first computer only if the test is successful.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the assigning step is performed for services of a first class on a first group of computers and for services of a second class on a second group of computers.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the computers are blades.

26. (canceled)

27. (canceled)

28. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions for execution by a processor for the practice of a method for managing a computer system, the instructions being capable of causing the processor to:

detect the presence of a new blade in the computer system;

install an operating system on the new blade;

configure the operation system; and

copy a service that is running on an earlier detected blade to the new blade.

29. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for execution by a processor for the practice of a method for managing a computer system, the instructions being capable of causing a processor to:

assign a service to a group of computers;

shift a service that runs on a first computer of the group to run on a second computer in the group; and

re-install the operating system to the first computer.