Scalable internet engine

• US 6,606,253 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2002
• Issued: 08/12/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Galactic Computing Corp.
• Inventors: Smith, Philip S., Chen, Steve S., Jackson, Russell A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gandhi, Jayprakash N.
• Application Number:
  US10/244,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20030016515A1
• Time in Patent Office: 330 Days
• Field of Search: 361/728-730, 361/724-727, 361/752, 361/753, 361/759, 361/796, 361/797, 361/801, 439/61, 439/62, 312/223.2, 312/223.3, 211/41.17
• US Class Current: 361/796
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements

Abstract

A scalable Internet engine is comprised of a large number of commercially available server boards each arranged as an engine blade in a power and space efficient cabinet. The engine blades are removably positioned in a front side of the cabinet in a vertical orientation. A through-plane in the middle of a chassis assembly within the cabinet provides common power and control peripheral signals to all engine blades. I/O signals for each engine blade are routed through apertures in the through-plane to interface cards positioned in the rear of the cabinet. The scalable engine can accommodate different types of server boards in the same chassis assembly because of a common blade carrier structure. Different types of commercially available motherboards are mounted in the common blade carrier structure that provides a uniform mechanical interface to the chassis assembly. A specially designed PCI host board that can plug into various types of motherboards has a first connector for connecting to the through plane and second connector for connecting to the interface cards. Redundant hot-swappable high-efficiency power supplies are connected to the common power signals on the through plane. The host board includes circuitry that distributes the power signals to the server board for that engine blade by emulating the ATX power management protocol. Replaceable fan trays are mounted below the engine blades to cool the engine. Preferably, the cabinet accommodates multiple rows of engine blades each in a sub-chassis that are stacked on top of each other, as well as rack mounted networks switches and disk drives.

Claims

1. A scalable Internet processor engine system comprising:

a plurality of engine blades housed in a cabinet, each engine blade including a commercially available ATX motherboard removably positioned in a front side of the cabinet with a planar surface of the motherboard in a generally vertical orientation, the commercially available ATX motherboard including;

a first connector and a second connector operably positioned along a rear edge of the engine blade; and

a PCI slot, wherein each engine blade further comprises a host board operably connected to the PCI slot and oriented with a planar surface generally parallel to the planar surface of the motherboard, the host board having the first connector and the second connector on a rear edge of the host board and management circuitry that emulates an ATX power management protocol to supply power to the motherboard.

2. The engine processor system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of interface cards housed in the cabinet, each interface card removably positioned in a rear side of the cabinet with a planar surface of the interface card in a generally vertical orientation and having a interface card connector adapted for mating with at least a portion of the second connector of one of the plurality of engine blades.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first connector includes connections for power and control peripheral signals common to each of the plurality of engine blades and the second connector includes connections for I/O signals to the corresponding interface card for that engine blade.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a plurality of hot swappable power supplies removably positioned in the cabinet and operably connected to the connections for power.

5. An engine blade for mounting in a chassis of a scalable engine, the engine blade comprising:

a blade carrier structure that provides a uniform mechanical interface to the chassis;

one of a plurality of different commercially available ATX motherboards having a planar surface with a PCI connector on the planar surface mounted in the blade carrier structure wherein the different motherboards have different dimensions of the planar surface all of which are capable of being mounted in the blade carrier structure; and

a host board operably connected to the PCI connector and mounted in the blade carrier structure with a planar surface parallel to the planar surface of the motherboard, the host board including connectors on an edge of the host board that provide a uniform electrical interface to the engine and management circuitry that emulates an ATX power management protocol to supply power to the motherboard.

6. The engine blade of claim 5, wherein the blade carrier structure comprises:

a base plate having a front edge, a rear edge and a pair of side edges;

a pair of supports operably attached to each side of the base plate proximate the rear edge of the base plate, the supports defining a width of the blade carrier structure that is larger than a distance between the planar surfaces of the motherboard and the host board;

a front plate operably attached at one side along the front edge of the base plate and having a width substantially equal to the width of the blade carrier structure; and

a pair of rails, each rail operably attached at a front end to the front plate and at a rear end to one of the pair of supports.

7. The engine blade of claim 6, wherein the base plate includes a projection defined along the pair of side edges that is adapted to mate with a pair of tracks in the chassis to provide the uniform mechanical interface to the chassis.

8. The engine blade of claim 6, wherein at least of portion of the connectors on a rear edge of the host board operably connect the motherboard to at least one interface card having a PCI connector.

9. The engine blade of claim 6, wherein the base plate is metal and the engine blade further includes an insulation sheet positioned between the base plate and the motherboard and oriented parallel to the planar surfaces of the motherboard and the host board.

10. A scalable engine system comprising:

a plurality of chassis, each chassis having a front side and a rear side;

a plurality of engine blades housed in each chassis, each engine blade including a motherboard mounted in a common blade carrier structure that provides a uniform mechanical interface to the chassis wherein the blade carrier structure is removably positioned in the front side of the chassis and includes connectors operably positioned along a rear edge of the engine blade;

at least one signal path connecting the control peripheral signals between each of the plurality of chassis; and

a control console wherein one of the engine blades in one of the chassis is a management engine blade that manages control peripheral signals to all of the other engine blades and selective connection of at least a portion of the control peripheral signals to the control console.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a plurality of interface cards housed in the chassis, each interface card removably positioned in the rear side of the chassis and having a interface card connector adapted for mating with at least a portion of the connectors of one of the plurality of engine blades.