AUTOMATIC SERVER POSITION DETERMINATION

• US 20120209988A1
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pagan, William G., Snyder, Devon D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,856,320 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for determining the location of a target computer device, such as a server in an array of interconnected servers. In one embodiment, a method comprises selecting a first server defining a first point of an axis of a reference coordinate system and selecting a second server defining a second point of the axis. A first cable is connected from the target server to the first server and a second cable is connected from the target server to the second server. The location of the target server is determined according to the length of the first cable, the length of the second cable, and the locations of the first and second servers. The axis may be designated using an axis cable, by connecting a first end of the axis cable to the first server and connecting a second end of the axis cable to the second server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in an array of computer devices having a plurality of rows and columns, selecting a first computer device defining a first point of an axis of a reference coordinate system and selecting a second computer device defining a second point of the axis;

connecting a first cable from a target computer device whose location is to be determined to the first computer device and connecting a second cable from the target computer device to the second computer device;

determining the length of each of the first and second cables; and

determining the location of the target computer device within the reference coordinate system according to the length of the first cable, the length of the second cable, and the locations of the first and second computer devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the first computer device defining the first point of the axis by connecting a first end of an axis cable to the first computer device; and

selecting the second computer device defining the second point of the axis by connecting a second end of the axis cable to the second computer device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

automatically designating the first computer device as the origin in response to detecting the connection of the first end of the axis cable to the first computer device prior to detecting the connection of the second end of the axis cable to the second computer device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

automatically determining the length of the axis cable; and

determining the location of the second computer device according to the length of the axis cable.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location the target computer device with respect to the reference coordinate system comprises:

identifying a first subset of computer devices in the array that are connected to the first computer device by a cable equal to the length of the first cable;

identifying a second subset of computer devices in the array that are connected to the second computer device by a cable equal to the length of the second cable; and

determining the location of the target computer device as the intersection of the first and second subset of computer devices.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

interconnecting the array of computer devices in a fully meshed configuration, such that each computer device in the array is connected by a first cable to the first computer device and by a second cable to the second computer device, and the target computer device may be any computer device in the array.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

routing the cables in a taxi-cab configuration comprising substantially only ninety-degree cable bends along a pathway between computer devices; and

interconnecting the computer devices using cables that differ in length by multiples of a fixed increment.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

routing the cables in a straight line configuration comprising substantially no cable bends.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

using triangulation to determine the location of the target computer device in the array of computer devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the column and row spacing of the computer devices in the array are substantially equal.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a cable length of any of the cables by transmitting a signal through the cable and measuring a length-dependent behavior of the signal.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

electronically storing a cable length of each cable on a storage device included on the cable; and

automatically reading the cable length from the storage device in response to connecting one or both ends of the cable to one of the computer devices in the array.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the target computer device to be located comprises one of a plurality of servers or one of a plurality of multi-server chassis.

14. A computer program product including computer usable program code embodied on a computer usable medium for locating a target computer device in an array, the computer program product including:

computer usable program code for designating a first computer device as a first point of an axis of a reference coordinate system and designating a second computer device as a second point of the axis;

computer usable program code for registering the connection of a first cable from a target computer device to the first computer device and detecting the connection of a second cable from the target computer device to the second computer device;

computer usable program code for determining the length of each of the first and second cables; and

computer usable program code for determining the location of the target computer device within the reference coordinate system according to the length of the first cable, the length of the second cable, and the locations of the first and second computer devices.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

computer usable program code for selecting the first point of the axis in response to the connection of a first end of an axis cable to the first computer device; and

computer usable program code for selecting the second point of the axis in response to the connection of a second end of the axis cable to the second computer device.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code for automatically designating the first computer device as the origin in response to detecting the connection of the first end of the axis cable to the first computer device prior to detecting the connection of the second end of the axis cable to the second computer device.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer usable program code for automatically determining the length of the axis cable; and

computer usable program code for determining the location of the second computer device according to the length of the axis cable.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer usable program code for determining the location the target computer device with respect to the reference coordinate system comprises:

computer usable program code for identifying a first subset of computer devices in the array that are connected to the first computer device by a cable equal to the length of the first cable;

computer usable program code for identifying a second subset of computer devices in the array that are connected to the second computer device by a cable equal to the length of the second cable; and

computer usable program code for determining the location of the target computer device as the intersection of the first and second subset of computer devices.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

computer usable program code for determining a cable length of any of the cables by transmitting a signal through the cable and measuring a length-dependent behavior of the signal.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

computer usable program code for automatically reading a cable length of each cable from a storage device on the cable in response to connecting one or both ends of the cable to one of the computer devices in the array.