Determining redundancy of power feeds connecting a server to a power supply

• US 8,683,251 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2010
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Archibald, Matthew R., Buterbaugh, Jerrod K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Myers, Paul R
• Assistant Examiner(s): DALEY, CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US12/905,142
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 361/64, 307/29, 713/340
• US Class Current: 713/340
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2015 Redundant power supplies power supply failure G06F1/30
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3089 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in sensing the monitored data, e.g. interfaces, connectors, sensors, probes, agents software debugging using additional hardware using a specific debug interface G06F11/3656; performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring G06F11/3466

Abstract

Methods, system, and computer program products are provided for determining redundancy of power feeds connecting a server to a power supply. Embodiments include receiving, by a redundancy monitoring manager, from each of a plurality of redundancy monitoring interposers, connection information, wherein each redundancy monitoring interposer comprises a device that provides an electrical contact between a power circuit and one of a power supply, the server, and another power circuit; in dependence upon the connection information, determining, by the redundancy monitoring manager, for each power feed provided to the server, which power circuits supply the power feed; determining, by the redundancy monitoring manager, if any of the power feeds are supplied by the same power circuit; and indicating, by the redundancy monitoring manager, that the server has at least one non-redundant power feed when multiple power feeds of the server are supplied by the same power circuit.

Claims

1. A system for determining redundancy of power feeds connecting a server to a power supply, the system comprising:

a redundancy monitoring manager to;

receive from each of a plurality of redundancy monitoring interposers, connection information, wherein each redundancy monitoring interposer comprises a device that provides an electrical contact between a power circuit and one of a power supply, the server, and another power circuit;

wherein the connection information is received wirelessly from the redundancy monitoring interposers;

in dependence upon the connection information, determine for each power feed provided to the server, which power circuits supply the power feed;

determine if any of the power feeds are supplied by the same power circuit; and

indicate that the server has at least one non-redundant power feed when multiple power feeds of the server are supplied by the same power circuit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the connection information received from a particular redundancy monitoring interposer identifies the power circuits that are connected to the particular redundancy monitoring interposer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one redundancy power interposer determines the connection information by communicating with one of a power circuit, the server, and another redundancy power interposer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein indicating that the server has at least one non-redundant power feed includes displaying a visual representation of the power feeds for the server, wherein the visual representation indicates the non-redundant power feeds and the redundant power feeds.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the redundancy monitoring manager is integrated within one of the redundancy monitoring interposers.

6. A computer program product for determining redundancy of power feeds connecting a server to a power supply, the computer program product disposed upon a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to carry out the steps of:

receiving, by a redundancy monitoring manager, from each of a plurality of redundancy monitoring interposers, connection information, wherein each redundancy monitoring interposer comprises a device that provides an electrical contact between a power circuit and one of a power supply, the server, and another power circuit;

wherein the connection information is received wirelessly from the redundancy monitoring interposers;

in dependence upon the connection information, determining, by the redundancy monitoring manager, for each power feed provided to the server, which power circuits supply the power feed;

determining, by the redundancy monitoring manager, if any of the power feeds are supplied by the same power circuit; and

indicating, by the redundancy monitoring manager, that the server has at least one non-redundant power feed when multiple power feeds of the server are supplied by the same power circuit.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the connection information received from a particular redundancy monitoring interposer identifies the power circuits that are connected to the particular redundancy monitoring interposer.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein at least one redundancy power interposer determines the connection information by communicating with one of a power circuit, the server, and another redundancy power interposer.

9. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein indicating that the server has at least one non-redundant power feed includes displaying a visual representation of the power feeds for the server, wherein the visual representation indicates the non-redundant power feeds and the redundant power feeds.