MODULAR INTEGRATED COMPUTING AND STORAGE

• US 20090327477A1
• Filed: 06/26/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Madison, Carl T. JR., Kostraba, John R. JR., Trachy, David L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,756,964 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0879 Manual configuration through operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks

Abstract

A modularized computing system includes a plurality of modular components that are coupled together forming a network. Each modular component includes a standard network interface. The system further includes an initialization module, a monitor module, a storage medium, and a management module. As a module unit is coupled to the network, the initialization module automatically configures the component to an operable state. The monitor module monitors network operations including performance parameters of each modular component based on a plurality of system policies. Based on information gathered by the monitor module, the management module actively modifies network structure and resource allocation to optimize network performance.

Claims

1. A modularized computing system comprising:

a plurality of modular components coupled together forming a network wherein each component includes an interface common throughout the network;

an initialization module coupled to the network and capable of communicating with each of the plurality of modular components;

a monitor module coupled to the network and configured to monitor network operations conducted by the plurality of modular components;

a storage medium configured to store a plurality of system policies; and

a management module coupled to the monitor module, the initialization module, and the storage medium.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of modular components includes compute components and storage components.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein a new modular component added to the network is recognized by the monitor module and automatically initialized by the initialization module.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the monitor module communicates component performance parameters of each of the plurality of modular components to the management module.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the management module modifies the network responsive to at least one of the plurality of modular components failing to comply with predefined performance utilization parameters established in the plurality of system policies.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein modification of the network includes dynamically adding and/or removing modular components to the network.

7. The system of claim 4 wherein responsive to the monitor module detecting at least one of the plurality of modular components failing to comply with the plurality of system policies, logically making said at least one modular component unavailable to network applications.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the network includes a plurality of physical interconnects and wherein a plurality of logical data interconnects coupling together each of the plurality of modular components can be superimposed on the plurality of physical interconnects.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the plurality of logical data interconnects can be dynamically modified by the management module to optimize data processing and/or storage application performance.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the management module modifies operational tasks of the plurality of modular components in the network based on compliance by each of the plurality of modular components with the plurality of system policies.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein operational task modification of each of the plurality of modular components is automated.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein operational task modification of each of the plurality of modular components is conducted dynamically.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein operational task modification of each of the plurality of modular components is accomplished manually.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein an operator modifies operational tasks of the plurality of modular components in the network based on compliance by each of the plurality of modular components with the plurality of system policies.

15. A computer implemented method for managing a modular computing system, the method comprising:

forming a network comprising a plurality of modular components wherein each component includes an interface that is common throughout the network;

initializing each of the plurality of modular components based on a standard set of system policies stored in a storage medium coupled to the network;

monitoring network operations conducted by the plurality of network components; and

managing network operations including utilization of the plurality of network components.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of modular components includes compute and/or storage components and wherein the standard set of system policies includes predefined performance indices and initialization procedures.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 15 wherein monitoring includes communicating component performance parameters of each of the plurality of modular components to a management module.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 17 further comprising modifying, by the management module, the network responsive to at least one of the plurality of modular components failing to comply with predefined performance utilization parameters established in the standard set of system policies.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 17 further comprising detecting at least one of the plurality of modular components failing to comply with the plurality of system policies and, responsive to said detection, logically removing said at least one modular component from network applications.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 17 further comprising modifying operational tasks of the plurality of modular components in the network based on compliance by each of the plurality of modular components with the standard set of system policies.