Blade Server System with at Least One Rack-Switch Having Multiple Switches Interconnected and Configured for Management and Operation as a Single Virtual Switch

• US 20080275975A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Pandey, Vijoy, Chao, Tienwei, Leu, Dar-Ren
• Granted Patent: US 8,194,534 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/40 Constructional details, e.g. power supply, mechanical construction or backplane
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/65 Re-configuration of fast packet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches

Abstract

Described is a rack-switch including a rack and a plurality of blade server chassis within the rack. Each blade server chassis has a plurality of server blades in communication with at least one switch. Each switch includes a plurality of external ports. At least two of the external ports of each switch are inter-switch link (ISL) ports. The rack-switch also includes a plurality of inter-switch links. Each inter-switch link electrically connects one ISL port of one of the switches to one ISL port of another of the switches. The plurality of inter-switch links interconnects the switches such that the switches are daisy chained in a loop. The inter-switch links convey Ethernet packets representing server-to-server communications between server blades of different blade server chassis.

Claims

1. A rack-switch, comprising:

a plurality of switches, each switch having a plurality of external ports, at least two of the external ports of each switch being inter-switch link (ISL) ports;

a plurality of server blades, each server blade being in electrical communication with one of the plurality of switches; and

a plurality of inter-switch links, each inter-switch link electrically connecting one ISL port of one of the switches to one ISL port of another of the switches, the inter-switch links interconnecting the switches such that the switches are daisy chained.

2. The rack-switch of claim 1, wherein the ISLs port of each switch are Ethernet ports.

3. The rack-switch of claim 1, further comprising a computing system in communication with a given one of the plurality of switches of the rack-switch, the computing system executing program code to initiate automatic discovery of the plurality of switches of the rack-switch through the given one of the plurality of switches.

4. The rack-switch of claim 1, wherein the plurality of switches executes program code for detecting a loop formed by the plurality of inter-switch links.

5. The rack-switch of claim 1, wherein the plurality of switches execute program code for determining which ISL port in the rack-switch to place in a blocked state.

6. The rack-switch of claim 1, wherein at least one of the external ports of each switch is an uplink port, and wherein the plurality of switches executes program code for determining which one of the uplink ports is to be placed in a forwarding state while each other uplink port is placed in a non-forwarding state.

7. A rack-switch, comprising:

a rack;

a plurality of blade server chassis within the rack, each blade server chassis having a plurality of server blades in communication with at least one switch, each switch having a plurality of external ports, at least two of the external ports of each switch being inter-switch link (ISL) ports; and

a plurality of inter-switch links, each inter-switch link electrically connecting one ISL port of one of the switches to one ISL port of another of the switches, the plurality of inter-switch links interconnecting the switches such that the switches are daisy chained in a loop, the inter-switch links conveying Ethernet packets representing server-to-server communications between server blades of different blade server chassis.

8. The rack-switch of claim 7, further comprising a computing system in communication with a given one of the plurality of switches of the rack-switch, the computing system executing program code to initiate automatic discovery of the plurality of switches of the rack-switch through the given one of the plurality of switches.

9. The rack-switch of claim 7, wherein the plurality of switches executes program code for detecting a loop formed by the plurality of inter-switch links.

10. The rack-switch of claim 7, wherein the plurality of switches execute program code for determining which ISL port in the rack-switch to place in a blocked state.

11. The rack-switch of claim 7, wherein at least one of the external ports of each switch is an uplink port, and wherein the plurality of switches executes program code for determining which one of the uplink ports is to be placed in a forwarding state while each other uplink port is placed in a non-forwarding state.

12. A blade server system, comprising:

a plurality of rack-switches, each rack-switch including;

a plurality of switches, each switch having a plurality of external ports, at least two of the external ports of each switch being inter-switch link (ISL) ports;

a plurality of server blades, each server blade being in electrical communication with one of the plurality of switches; and

a plurality of inter-switch links, each inter-switch link electrically connecting one ISL port of one of the switches to one ISL port of another of the switches, the plurality of inter-switch links interconnecting the switches such that the switches are daisy chained.

13. The blade server system of claim 12, wherein a first one of the plurality of rack-switches is redundant to a second one of the plurality of rack-switches.

14. The blade server system of claim 13, wherein the first one of the plurality of switches executes program code to cause operation to transition from the first one of the plurality of switches to the second one of the plurality of switches when a failover-triggering event is detected.

15. The blade server system of claim 12, wherein the ISL ports of each switch in each of the plurality of rack-switches are Ethernet ports.

16. The blade server system of claim 12, further comprising a computing system in communication with a given one of the plurality of switches of each rack-switch, the computing system executing program code to initiate automatic discovery of the plurality of switches of each rack-switch through the given one of the plurality of switches of that rack-switch.

17. The blade server system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of switches of each rack-switch executes program code for detecting a loop formed by the plurality of inter-switch links of that rack-switch.

18. The blade server system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of switches execute program code for determining which ISL port in the rack-switch to place in a blocked state.

19. The blade server system of claim 12, wherein at least one of the external ports of each switch is an uplink port, and wherein the plurality of switches executes program code for determining which one of the uplink ports is to be placed in a forwarding state while each other uplink port is placed in a non-forwarding state.

20. A method for managing and operating a rack-switch having plurality of switches electrically connected to a plurality of server blades, the method comprising:

electrically interconnecting the plurality of switches in a daisy-chain loop using inter-switch links, each inter-switch link electrically connecting one inter-switch link (ISL) port of one of the plurality of switches to one ISL port of another of the plurality of switches, the inter-switch links carrying Ethernet packets representing server-to-server data communications between server blades;

detecting the daisy-chain loop formed by the inter-switch links; and

blocking one of the ISL ports from transmitting data communications over one of the inter-switch links.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of initiating automatic discovery of the plurality of switches of a rack-switch.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein each switch of the plurality of switches has an uplink port for communicating with an external entity, and further comprising the step of determining which one of the uplink ports is to be placed in a forwarding state while each other uplink port is placed in a non-forwarding state.