Network information server

• US 6,260,155 B1
• Filed: 05/01/1998
• Issued: 07/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: QUAD Research
• Original Assignee: QUAD Research
• Inventors: Dellacona, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELISCA, PIERRE E
• Application Number:
  US09/071,282
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 714/2, 714/4, 714/6, 714/7, 714/8, 714/13, 714/14, 714/25, 714/30, 714/39, 714/46, 714/47, 370/220, 370/226, 709/238, 709/239, 709/242, 710/102, 710/103, 380/255, 702/130, 702/142, 702/146, 375/354
• US Class Current: 714/4.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/142 Reconfiguring to eliminate the error group management mechanisms in a peer-to-peer network H04L67/1044
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/20 using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3031 where the computing system component is a motherboard or an expansion card
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247

Abstract

The information server system provides a scalable expansion capability, due to the implementation of a unique mid-plane connector board for all components of the information server system that allows for multiply mirrored components to significantly improve fault tolerance of the server system. An integrated diagnostics monitoring subsystem eliminates the incompatability problems previously associated with performing diagnostics of the server system. A method is also provided for increasing the throughput rate of the user communications interface by installing a hash table database in the end user computer system to bypass a similar but slower function in the end user modem, to place the bulk of the transmission reception load on the main CPU, and synchronizing the modem with the transmission speed of the server unit.

Claims

1. An information server system having a scalable, modular, fault tolerant, hot swappable architecture of a plurality of components for interfacing with a computer network such as the Internet, comprising:

a central processing unit;

a communications interface subsystem connected to the central processing unit;

a mass storage subsystem connected to the central processing unit;

a diagnostics computer subsystem connected to the central processing unit for monitoring when one of the plurality of components of the information server system is removed or added; and

a mid-plane connector board having two opposing sides and a plurality of sockets for connecting the interface cards for the components on each said opposing side of the mid-plane connector board.

2. The information server system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of components of the information server system are connected to the mid-plane connector board of the information server system by interface cards .

3. The information server system of claim 2, wherein said interface cards comprise circuitry to sense when the interface cards are failing or is being removed, and to generate a signal to the diagnostics subsystem of the information server system indicating that the component connected to the connector board by the interface card is to be taken off line, to allow the information server system to switch the components off as they are taken off-line, and to switch them on as they are placed on-line, allowing the information system to be fully hot-swappable.

4. The information server system of claim 3, wherein each said component has a unique electronic serial number, allowing the components to be integrated into the information server system.

5. The information server system of claim 4, wherein said information server system comprises multiply mirrored components to significantly improve fault tolerance of the information server system.

6. The information server system of claim 1, wherein said mid-plane connector board has upper and lower sets of sockets, allowing for components to be mirrored left and right, and top and bottom, to significantly increase fault tolerance of the information server system.

7. The information server system of claim 6, comprising a plurality of mid-plane connector boards, allowing for expansion and scalability of the system.

8. The information server system of claim 1, wherein said mass storage subsystem comprises a plurality of disk storage devices.

12. The information server system of claim 1, wherein said mass storage subsystem comprises a fibre channel disk storage device array subsystem.

13. The information server system of claim 1, wherein each of said components of the information server system has a unique serial number, and said diagnostics computer subsystem monitors the serial numbers for the components on-line.

14. The information server system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors to monitor temperature zones throughout the information server system.

15. The information server system of claim 1, further comprising

a fan, and wherein said diagnostics computer subsystem is connected to the fan for monitoring the fan speeds.

16. The information server system of claim 1, further comprising

a power supply, and wherein said diagnostics computer subsystem is connected to the power supply for monitoring the electronic signature of the power supply.

9. An information server system having a scalable, modular, fault tolerant, hot swappable architecture of a plurality of components for interfacing with a computer network such as the Internet, comprising:

a central processing unit;

a communications interface subsystem connected to the central processing unit;

a diagnostics computer subsystem connected to the central processing unit for monitoring when one of the plurality of components of the information server system is removed or added; and

a mass storage subsystem connected to the central processing unit;

wherein said mass storage subsystem comprises a plurality of disk storage devices, and wherein each of said plurality of disk storage devices is mounted on a bypass interface card that connects to a mid-plane connector board having two opposing sides and a plurality of sockets for connecting interface cards for components on each said opposing side of the mid-plane connector board.

10. The information server system of claim 9, wherein each of said bypass interface cards are sequentially connectable together by jumper cables, so that a plurality of disk storage devices can be connected together.

11. The information server system of claim 10, wherein each of said bypass interface cards include circuitry to sense when a bypass interface card is failing or is being removed, and to generate a signal to the diagnostics subsystem of the information server system indicating that the disk storage device connected to the connector board by the bypass interface card is to be taken off line, to allow the information server system to switch the disk storage components off as they are taken off-line, and to switch them on as they are placed on-line, allowing the information system to be fully hot-swappable.

17. A method for increasing the throughput rates of a user computer having a communications interface via a network with a host server system, the user computer communications interface including a modem of the type utilizing a database hash table for decryption of encrypted data received from the host server system, the method comprising the steps of:

installing a supplementary database hash table in the user computer to replace the function of the hash table in the modem;

accessing the supplementary hash table installed in the computer for decryption of encrypted data received from the host server system; and

synchronizing the modem with the transmission speed of the host server system by gradually increasing the setting of the throughput rate of the modem along with that of data transmission from the host server system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said step of synchronizing the modem with the transmission speed of the host server system further comprises detecting the throughput transmission rate change with a phase lock loop, in order to synchronize the user computer communications interface with the throughput rate of data transmissions from the host server.