Computer Program Product for Recovery of a Failed Flash of a Blade Service Processor in a Server Chassis

• US 20080126563A1
• Filed: 02/01/2008
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Morrell, Carl A., Woodham, David Robert, Buckler, Gerhard Nikolaus, Franke, Jeffery Michael, Johnson, Donald Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 7,970,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading

Abstract

A computer program product is presented for recovering a server blade, in a multiple server blade computer, that is lost during a flash update operation on a service processor in the server blade. Because of the flash update failure, the lost server blade is unaware of its location on a management pathway, which in an exemplary form may be a midplane or a bus, which connects the server blade and a management module in a server blade chassis. The lost server blade puts a signal on the management pathway indicating that the flash failed. The signal is put on a special channel reserved for such messages. The management module receives the signal, and then determines which of the multiple server blades are lost due to the flash update failure.

Claims

1. A computer program product, residing on a computer usable medium, comprising:

program code for attempting to download computer code from a management module to a first data processing unit, the first data processing unit being one of a plurality of data processing units managed by the management module, the plurality of data processing units being coupled to the management module by a management pathway;

program code for in response to the computer code failing to properly download and thus resulting in the first data processing unit being unable to define its management pathway location on the management pathway, transmitting a failure signal from the first data processing unit to the management module using a special address on the management pathway;

program code for comparing management pathway locations of currently active data processing units with a list of all management pathway locations reserved for all of the plurality of data processing units, the currently active data processing units being from the plurality of data processing units;

program code for deducing the first data processing unit'"'"'s management pathway location as being a management pathway location that is on the list of all management pathway locations but is not a management pathway location of one of the currently active data processing units;

program code for identifying a second data processing unit that does not know its management pathway location as a result of a failed computer code download;

program code for blocking communication from the management module to the second data processing unit;

program code for providing a first management pathway location to the first data processing unit.

program code for subsequently unblocking communication between the second data processing unit and the management module; and

program code for providing a second management pathway location to the second data processing unit.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising program code for providing a management pathway location to the first data processing unit after deducing the first data processing unit'"'"'s management pathway location.