System to recover a failed flash of a blade service processor in a server chassis

• US 7,996,706 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2008
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Morrell, Carl A., Woodham, David Robert, Buckler, Gerhard Nikolaus, Franke, Jeffery Michael, Johnson, Donald Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DIEU MINH T
• Application Number:
  US12/024,816
• Publication Number:
  US 20080141236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: 714/2, 714/15, 714/16, 714/4.1, 714/23, 709/238, 709/239, 717/168, 717/178
• US Class Current: 714/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading

Abstract

A system for recovering a server blade, in a multiple server blade computer, that is lost during a flash update operation on a service processor in the server blade. Because of the flash update failure, the lost server blade is unaware of its location on a management pathway, which in an exemplary form may be a midplane or a bus, which connects the server blade and a management module in a server blade chassis. The lost server blade puts a signal on the management pathway indicating that the flash failed. The signal is put on a special channel reserved for such messages. The management module receives the signal, and then determines which of the multiple server blades are lost due to the flash update failure.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a management module;

a plurality of processors;

a management pathway coupling the management module to the plurality of data processing systems;

a list of reserved management pathway locations that are reserved for the plurality of data processing systems on the management pathway;

a presence detect device coupled to the management pathway, wherein if a download of computer code to a first data processing system in the plurality of data processing systems fails and causes a management pathway location for the first data processing system to become undefined by the first data processing system, then the presence detect device detects a failure signal from the first data processing system on a special address on the management pathway, thus resulting in the management module comparing the list of reserved management pathway locations with locations of data processing units that are currently active on the management pathway to restore a management pathway location to the first data processing unit;

a control logic, which is compliant with an I²C bus specification, for restoring the management pathway location to the first data processing system; and

a blocker for blocking communication from the management module to a second data processing system that has failed to download software, wherein the first data processing unit can have its management pathway location restored while the second data processing system is blocked, and the second data processing system can subsequently have its management pathway location restored after unblocking the blocker.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a service processor in the first data processing unit; and

a flash memory in the service processor in the first data processing unit, wherein the computer code is a code update being flashed from the management module to the flash memory.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data processing units are server blades in a server chassis.