Virtual mass storage device for server management information

• US 7,590,522 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Issued: 09/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Rhodes, Thomas D., Brown, Andrew, Hansen, Peter A., Cartes, Andrew C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rodriguez; Paul L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thangavelu; Kandasamy
• Application Number:
  US10/867,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20050276092A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 700/27, 709/222, 709/223, 395/502, 703/24, 710/15, 710/72, 710/260, 711/114, 345/502, 345/700, 439/502, 455/575.1
• US Class Current: 703/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/385 for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0626 Reducing size or complexity of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/068 Hybrid storage device

Abstract

A method to communicate provide server management information that emulates a floppy disk drive (FDD) with a management processor. This management processor operably couples to a multi-function integrated circuit having a FDD controller. Monitoring hardware and sensors operably couple to the management processor and write server management information to data files within the emulated FDD. Programs that utilize the server management information may then read this server management information.

Claims

1. A method to provide server management information comprising:

emulating a mass storage device (MSD) using firmware on a baseboard management controller (BMC);

coupling the emulated MSD to MSD signal connections on an Input/Output (I/O) controller connected to a main processing module;

acquiring server management data from sensors coupled to the BMC and storing them on the emulated MSD; and

the main processing module reading the server management data from the emulated MSD, through the Input/Output controller.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the MSD is selected from the group consisting of:

a floppy disk drive (FDD);

a hard disk drive (HDD), comprising an integrated drive electronics (IDE) or enhanced IDE (EIDE) HDD;

a universal serial bus (USB) MSD; and

an optical disk drive.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein emulating the MSD further comprises electrically coupling a MSD interface on the I/O controller to General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins on the BMC that emulates the MSD.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein emulating the MSD further comprises providing a plurality of signals from the emulated MSD to a FDD interface on the I/O controller.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the server management data comprises fan, temperature, ECC memory, errors, storage subsystem statistics, firmware revisions, and/or unit ID information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising representing the server management data within a virtual file allocation table (FAT) file system on the emulated MSD.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the server management data is written to Extensible Markup Language (XML) data files on the emulated MSD.

8. A server with access to server management data through an emulated floppy disk drive (FDD), wherein the server comprises:

a processing module having at least one processor;

a baseboard management controller (BMC) with firmware that emulates the FDD;

sensors coupled to the BMC to sample server management data, and provide the data to the BMC for storing in the emulated FDD; and

an Input/Output (I/O) controller connected to the processing module comprising;

a FDD interface coupled to the BMC; and

a FDD controller;

wherein the processing module reads the server management data acquired by the sensors from the emulated FDD through the Input/Output controller and the BMC through the FDD interface and the FDD controller.

9. The server of claim 8, wherein the BMC further comprises General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins to electrically couple to the FDD interface of the Input/Output controller.

10. The server of claim 8, wherein the BMC provides a plurality of signals to the FDD interface.

11. The server of claim 8, wherein the emulated FDD is a floppy “

B”

drive.

12. The server of claim 8, wherein the server management data comprises fan tachometer outputs, temperature sensor outputs, ECC memory errors, storage subsystem statistics, firmware revisions, and/or unit ID information.

13. The server of claim 8, wherein server management data is represented within a virtual file allocation table (FAT) file system on the emulated FDD.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein the server management data is written to Extensible Markup Language (XML) data files on the emulated FDD.

15. A method to communicate server management information to a server comprising:

emulating a floppy disk drive (FDD) on a baseboard management controller (BMC);

coupling the BMC to an Input/Output (I/O) controller having a FDD controller, whereby the emulated FDD is coupled to the FDD controller;

connecting the Input/Output (I/O) controller to a processing module of the server;

gathering server management data from hardware sensors coupled to the BMC;

writing the server management data to data files within the emulated FDD; and

the server reading the server management data from the emulated FDD through the Input/Output (I/O) controller.