Centralized server rack management using USB

• US 7,761,622 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2007
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2007
• 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: Nguyen, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai; Henry W. H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sun; Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/828,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20090031051A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 710/62
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A multi-server computing system includes a plurality of server modules mounted in an enclosure; each server has a universal serial bus (USB) interface. An enclosure onboard administration (OA) module is also mounted in the enclosure and has an addressable communication interface for connection to a remote management system and a USB interface connected to each of the plurality of servers. The USB interface of the enclosure OA operates as a master and the USB interface of each of the plurality of servers acts as a slave to the enclosure OA, such that each of the server modules can be managed by the remote management system using a single communication address.

Claims

1. A multi-server computing system, comprising:

a plurality of server modules mounted to an enclosure, each server module comprising;

a base management controller comprising;

a universal serial bus (USB) interface; and

an enclosure onboard administration (OA) module mounted to the enclosure having an addressable communication interface to communicate with a remote management system and a USB interface connected to each of the plurality of servers via the respective USB interface of the base management controllers of the server modules, wherein the enclosure OA module is to receive maintenance commands from the remote management system via the addressable communication interface using a communication address assigned to the enclosure OA module, at least some of the maintenance commands intended for different ones of the server modules, and the enclosure OA module is to communicate the maintenance commands to the different ones of the server modules via the USB interface.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the enclosure OA module further comprises a wireless interface for wireless communication with a local management system.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the USB interface comprises a wireless USB interface.

4. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising one or more power supplies each having a USB interface connected to the USB interface of the enclosure OA module, the enclosure OA module can monitor the status of each power supply via the USB interface.

5. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising one or more peripheral devices each having a USB interface connected to the USB interface of the enclosure OA module, the enclosure OA module can monitor the status of each peripheral device via the USB interface.

6. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising a second plurality of server modules mounted in one or more additional enclosures, each server module of the second plurality of server modules having a USB interface connected to the USB interface of the enclosure OA module.

7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the USB interface of the enclosure OA module operates as a master and the USB interface of each of the plurality of server modules operates as a slave to the enclosure OA module.

8. A multi-server computing system, comprising:

a plurality of server modules mounted to an enclosure, each server module comprising;

a base management controller comprising;

a wireless universal serial bus (WUSB) interface; and

an enclosure onboard administration (OA) module mounted to the enclosure having an addressable communication interface to communicate with a remote management system and a WUSB interface operable to wirelessly connect to each of the plurality of servers via the respective WUSB interface of the base management controller of each server module, wherein the enclosure OA module is to receive maintenance commands from the remote management system via the addressable communication interface using a communication address assigned to the enclosure OA module, at least some of the maintenance commands intended for different ones of the server modules, and the enclosure OA module is to communicate the maintenance commands to different ones of the server modules via the WUSB interface.

9. The computing system of claim 8, further comprising one or more power supplies, each of the power supplies having a WUSB interface operable to connect to the WUSB interface of the enclosure OA module, wherein the enclosure OA module can monitor the status of each power supply via the WUSB interface of the enclosure OA module.

10. The computing system of claim 8, further comprising one or more peripheral devices, each of the peripheral devices having a WUSB interface operable to connect to the WUSB interface of the enclosure OA module, wherein the enclosure OA module can monitor the status of each peripheral device via the WUSB interface of the enclosure OA module.

11. The computing system of claim 8, further comprising a second plurality of server modules mounted to one or more additional enclosures, each server of the second plurality of server modules having a WUSB interface operable to connect to the WUSB interface of the enclosure OA module.

12. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the WUSB interface of the enclosure OA module operates as a master and the WUSB interface of each of the plurality of server modules operates as a slave to the enclosure OA module.

13. A server, comprising:

a universal serial bus (USB) host port in communication with the processor and operable as a host device to communicate with the peripheral USB slave devices, wherein the processor is to receive a plurality of device maintenance commands addressed to the processor, at least some of the device maintenance commands intended for different ones of the peripheral USB slave devices; and

a base management controller comprising;

a USB device port in communication with the USB host port to receive a respective one of the device maintenance commands intended for the peripheral USB slave device associated with the base management controller.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein the processor and memory are located in a server system enclosure, and wherein the processor is in communication with the base management controller and a plurality of other base management controllers in the server system enclosure via the USB host port.

15. A method for managing a plurality of server modules, comprising:

the administration device in communication with each of the server modules via a respective universal serial bus (USB) connection;

receiving, at the administration device from a remote location, a first maintenance command addressed to the first network communication address, the first maintenance command intended for a first one of the plurality of server modules;

receiving, at the administration device from the remote location, a second maintenance command addressed to the first network communication address, the second maintenance command intended for a second one of the plurality of server modules;

forwarding, by the administration device, the first maintenance command to the first one of the plurality of server modules via a first one of the USB connections and the second maintenance command to the second one of the plurality of server modules via a second one of the USB connections.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a power supply maintenance command at the administration device using the first network communication address; and

forwarding the power supply maintenance command to a power supply via a USB connection between the administration device and the power supply.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a peripheral device maintenance command at the administration device using the first network communication address; and

forwarding the peripheral device maintenance command to a peripheral device connected to one of the plurality of server modules via a respective one of the USB connections.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein at least some of the USB connections are wireless USB connections.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the administration device is communicatively coupled to the plurality of server modules via only the USB connections.