SELECTION OF A REDUNDANT CONTROLLER BASED ON RESOURCE VIEW

• US 20100153679A1
• Filed: 12/16/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Marajian, Ajay Kumar, Jacobs, Brent William, Abdul, Anis M., Patel, Atit D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,245,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals

Abstract

A method, a system and a computer program product for selecting a primary controller for a server system based on the services offered by each controller. A primary controller designator (PCD) utility determines the relative importance of a controller based upon the services provided by the controller and the weighted importance assigned to these services. The PCD utility classifies the services provided by a system-controller according to the following: (1) the number of OS partitions a system-controller is able to communicate with; and (2) the number of hardware devices that a controller has access to. The importance of the services is determined by the host OS partition information and the degree of importance of a partition that utilizes/requires the particular service(s). The PCD utility designates a controller as a “Primary” if the designated “Primary” is capable of providing services that are required for the most important OS partitions, according to the classification of controller services.

Claims

1. In a data processing system, a method comprising:

classifying services provided by a controller based on a set of associated accessible devices;

identifying a level of partition priority for each partition that that utilizes/requires the particular service(s);

determining a relative importance of redundant controllers by using the classification of services and the level of partition priority of partitions that a respective redundant controller is able to satisfy;

selecting a primary controller based on a comparison of the relative importance of one or more redundant controllers; and

assigning the primary controller with management of one or more of;

(a) Initial Program Load (IPL) system functions; and

(b) reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said classifying further comprises:

assigning a weighted value to a controller'"'"'s collective services based on one or more of the following;

(a) a number of OS partitions with which a corresponding controller is able to communicate;

(b) a number of hardware devices to which the corresponding controller has access;

(c) OS partition information; and

(d) respective priority levels of OS partitions for which the controller service is required; and

wherein said OS partition information includes one or more of;

(a) an assigned priority level of the partition;

(b) types of accessible end devices; and

(c) a number of accessible end devices required to start the partition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining further comprises:

comparing redundant controllers at a same level of operation based on one or more of;

(a) an associated weighted value of a corresponding controller'"'"'s collective services; and

(b) an ability of each redundant controller to satisfy one or more highest priority partitions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting further comprises:

assigning a selected controller as a primary controller when the controller is associated with one or more of;

(a) a highest associated weighted value of the corresponding controller services;

(b) an exclusive ability of the selected controller, relative to other redundant controllers, to satisfy a higher priority partition; and

(c) an ability of the selected controller to communicate with controllers at other operating levels.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting further comprises:

selecting primary controllers for one or more of;

(a) various levels of operation; and

(b) different nodes at the various levels of operation; and

when a selected primary System Controller (SC) is unable to communicate with a primary Node Controller (NC) required for a lesser important partition, switching the primary role from said primary NC to a sibling NC in a respective node.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

facilitating a boot process in a data processing system using a temporary system controller.

7. A data processing system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more system controllers;

a memory system;

a network connection to one or more communication devices;

a utility which when executed on the processor or a temporary system controller provides the functions of;

classifying services provided by a controller based on a set of associated accessible devices;

identifying a level of partition priority for each partition that that utilizes/requires the particular service(s);

determining a relative importance of redundant controllers by using the classification of services and the level of partition priority of partitions that a respective redundant controller is able to satisfy;

selecting a primary controller based on a comparison of the relative importance of one or more redundant controllers; and

assigning the primary controller with management of one or more of;

(a) Initial Program Load (IPL) system functions; and

(b) reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) services.

8. The data processing system of claim 7, wherein said functions for classifying further comprises functions for:

assigning a weighted value to a controller'"'"'s collective services based on one or more of the following;

(a) a number of OS partitions with which a corresponding controller is able to communicate;

(b) a number of hardware devices to which the corresponding controller has access;

(c) OS partition information; and

(d) respective priority levels of OS partitions for which the controller service is required; and

wherein said OS partition information includes one or more of;

(a) an assigned priority level of the partition;

(b) types of accessible end devices; and

(c) a number of accessible end devices required to start the partition.

9. The processing system of claim 7, wherein said functions for determining further comprises functions for:

comparing redundant controllers at a same level of operation based on one or more of;

(a) an associated weighted value of a corresponding controller'"'"'s collective services; and

(b) an ability of each redundant controller to satisfy one or more highest priority partitions.

10. The processing system of claim 7, wherein said functions for selecting further comprises functions for:

assigning a selected controller as a primary controller when the controller is associated with one or more of;

(a) a highest associated weighted value of the corresponding controller services;

(b) an exclusive ability of the selected controller, relative to other redundant controllers, to satisfy a higher priority partition; and

(c) an ability of the selected controller to communicate with controllers at other operating levels.

11. The processing system of claim 7, wherein said functions for selecting further comprises functions for:

selecting primary controllers for one or more of;

(a) various levels of operation; and

(b) different nodes at the various levels of operation; and

when a selected primary System Controller (SC) is unable to communicate with a primary Node Controller (NC) required for a lesser important partition, switching the primary role from said primary NC to a sibling NC in a respective node.

12. The processing system of claim 7, further comprising functions for:

facilitating a boot process in a data processing system using a temporary system controller.

13. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program code on said computer readable medium that when executed within a data processing device with redundant controllers operating at different levels having a respective set of end devices, said program code provides the functionality of;

classifying services provided by a controller based on a set of associated accessible devices;

identifying a level of partition priority for each partition that that utilizes/requires the particular service(s);

determining a relative importance of redundant controllers by using the classification of services and the level of partition priority of partitions that a respective redundant controller is able to satisfy;

selecting a primary controller based on a comparison of the relative importance of one or more redundant controllers; and

assigning the primary controller with management of one or more of;

(a) Initial Program Load (IPL) system functions; and

(b) reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) services.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said program code for classifying further comprises program code for:

assigning a weighted value to a controller'"'"'s collective services based on one or more of the following;

(a) a number of OS partitions with which a corresponding controller is able to communicate;

(b) a number of hardware devices to which the corresponding controller has access;

(c) OS partition information; and

(d) respective priority levels of OS partitions for which the controller service is required; and

wherein said OS partition information includes one or more of;

(a) an assigned priority level of the partition;

(b) types of accessible end devices; and

(c) a number of accessible end devices required to start the partition.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said program code for determining further comprises program code for:

comparing redundant controllers at a same level of operation based on one or more of;

(a) an associated weighted value of a corresponding controller'"'"'s collective services; and

(b) an ability of each redundant controller to satisfy one or more highest priority partitions.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said program code for selecting further comprises program code for:

assigning a selected controller as a primary controller when the controller is associated with one or more of;

(a) a highest associated weighted value of the corresponding controller services;

(b) an exclusive ability of the selected controller, relative to other redundant controllers, to satisfy a higher priority partition; and

(c) an ability of the selected controller to communicate with controllers at other operating levels.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said program code for selecting further comprises program code for:

selecting primary controllers for one or more of;

(a) various levels of operation; and

(b) different nodes at the various levels of operation; and

when a selected primary System Controller (SC) is unable to communicate with a primary Node Controller (NC) required for a lesser important partition, switching the primary role from said primary NC to a sibling NC in a respective node.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising program code for:

facilitating a boot process in a data processing system using a temporary system controller.