Data Center Inventory Management Using Smart Racks
First Claim
1. A system for managing computing resources inventory in a data center, the system comprising:
- a resource management system for managing the computing resources of the data center, the computing resources includes a plurality of hosts and a plurality of virtual machines running on one or more of the plurality of hosts;
a smart rack for housing one or more hosts in the plurality of hosts, the smart rack having sensors for detecting physical movement of the one or more hosts, the smart rack having a control unit to control the sensors and to collect data from the sensors; and
an inventory management system for tracking and storing physical locations of the plurality of hosts and the smart rack, the control unit is coupled to the inventory management system and configured to transmit the collected data to the inventory management system through a network, wherein, the plurality of hosts, the resource management system, the inventory management system and the control unit are coupled together through the network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for managing physical and virtual inventory in a data center is disclosed. The system includes a resource management system for managing computing resources of the data center, an inventory management system for tracking physical locations of the plurality of hosts and the plurality of virtual machines in the data center and a smart rack for housing a plurality of hosts. The computing resources include a plurality of hosts and a plurality of virtual machines running on one or more of the plurality of virtual machines. The smart rack has sensors for detecting movement of each of the plurality of hosts in the data center. The smart rack also has a control unit to control the sensors and collecting data from sensors. The control unit is coupled to the inventory management system and configured to transmit the collected data to the inventory management system through a network. The plurality of hosts, the resource management system and the control unit are coupled together through the network.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A system for managing computing resources inventory in a data center, the system comprising:
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a resource management system for managing the computing resources of the data center, the computing resources includes a plurality of hosts and a plurality of virtual machines running on one or more of the plurality of hosts; a smart rack for housing one or more hosts in the plurality of hosts, the smart rack having sensors for detecting physical movement of the one or more hosts, the smart rack having a control unit to control the sensors and to collect data from the sensors; and an inventory management system for tracking and storing physical locations of the plurality of hosts and the smart rack, the control unit is coupled to the inventory management system and configured to transmit the collected data to the inventory management system through a network, wherein, the plurality of hosts, the resource management system, the inventory management system and the control unit are coupled together through the network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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5. The system of claim 5 wherein the smart rack further includes a wire harness to couple the sensor with the control unit through the sensor hub in each of the plurality of chassis and a sensor adapter in the smart rack.
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18. A smart rack for housing computing resources in a data center, the smart rack comprising:
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a cage for housing a plurality of chassis, each of the plurality of chassis having a plurality of slots, each of the plurality of slots is configured to receive a blade host; a plurality of sensors to detect insertion and removal of the blade host; and a control unit to control and manage the plurality of sensors, the control unit having a network interface to couple the plurality of sensors to a network, the control unit also having a power interface to couple the plurality of sensors to a power source, the control unit having a microcontroller to execute programming instructions to perform polling of the plurality of sensors to collect data, the collected data includes location information of a sensor related to the collected data. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A user interface (UI) to control and depict a plurality of smart racks in a data center, the UI comprising:
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a first graphical display to depict the plurality of smart racks in the data center, the depiction in the first graphical display mimics a physical arrangement of the plurality of smart racks in the data center, the first graphical display including visual indicators to depict error and warning conditions in the plurality of smart racks; a second graphical display to depict a plurality of blade hosts in a smart rack in the plurality of smart racks, the depiction in the second graphical display mimics a physical arrangement of the plurality of blade hosts, the second graphical display including visual indicators to depict error and warning conditions in the plurality of blade hosts; and a third graphical display to display a blade information about a blade host in the plurality of blade hosts, the blade information includes system information, a list of virtual machines hosted on the blade host, physical location of the blade host in the data center, the physical location includes smart rack identification, chassis identification and slot identification in which the blade host resides. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. A method of live migrating all virtual machines from a source smart rack, the method comprising:
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receiving a list of a plurality of physical hosts and a list of virtual machines running on each of the physical hosts; receiving physical locations of each of the physical hosts; selecting physical hosts in the plurality of physical hosts that are housed in the source smart rack; determining spare capacity of a second plurality of physical hosts that are not housed in the source smart rack; and live migrating all virtual machines running on the source smart rack to the second plurality of physical hosts according to spare capacity on the second plurality of physical hosts. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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Specification