Method of powering up or powering down a server to a maintenance state
First Claim
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1. A method of powering on a computer having a plurality of microcontrollers, the method comprising the acts of:
- sending a remote power on command from a second computer to a remote interface microcontroller;
transmitting the command from the remote interface microcontroller to a maintenance microcontroller, wherein the remote interface microcontroller and the maintenance microcontroller are connected by a microcontroller bus;
executing the command on the maintenance microcontroller in the first computer; and
sending a power on signal from the maintenance microcontroller to the first computer thereby powering on the first computer to a maintenance state, wherein the maintenance state does not require operating system software to be executing on the first computer.
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Abstract
A fault tolerant method of powering up and powering down a server through either a local or remote client machine. The remote machine accesses the server by use of a dial-in modem connection, while the local machine accesses the server by a local serial connection. The power up operation brings the server to a maintenance state such that diagnostics or recovery can be performed even though the server operating system software is not operational. Power down is used when certain types of diagnostic, maintenance, or administrative tasks need to be done.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of powering on a computer having a plurality of microcontrollers, the method comprising the acts of:
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sending a remote power on command from a second computer to a remote interface microcontroller; transmitting the command from the remote interface microcontroller to a maintenance microcontroller, wherein the remote interface microcontroller and the maintenance microcontroller are connected by a microcontroller bus; executing the command on the maintenance microcontroller in the first computer; and sending a power on signal from the maintenance microcontroller to the first computer thereby powering on the first computer to a maintenance state, wherein the maintenance state does not require operating system software to be executing on the first computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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8. A method of powering off a computer having a plurality of microcontrollers, the method comprising the acts of:
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providing a command for remotely powering off a first computer having at least one power supply; sending the command from a second computer to a remote interface microcontroller; transmitting the command from the remote interface microcontroller to a maintenance microcontroller, wherein the remote interface microcontroller and the maintenance microcontroller are connected by a microcontroller bus; executing the command on the maintenance microcontroller in the first computer; and sending a power off signal from the maintenance microcontroller to the first computer power supply thereby powering off the first computer to a diagnostic state, wherein one or more of said microcontrollers continues to be powered such that diagnostic operations can be performed with respect to the first computer. - View Dependent Claims (9, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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10. A method of powering on or powering off a computer, the method comprising the acts of:
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providing a powering on or powering off command at the second computer directed to the first computer; encapsulating the command in a communications protocol; transmitting the encapsulated command to a remote interface microcontroller; transmitting the command from the remote interface microcontroller to a maintenance microcontroller, wherein the remote interface microcontroller and the maintenance microcontroller are connected by a microcontroller bus;
executing the command on the maintenance microcontroller in the first computer; andsending a power on or power off signal from the maintenance microcontroller to the first computer thereby powering on or off the first computer to a maintenance state or a diagnostic state, respectively, wherein the diagnostic state does not require operating system software to be executing on the first computer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification