Dual-Band Communication Of Management Traffic In A Blade Server System

• US 20090234936A1
• Filed: 03/14/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Patel, Pravin, Bandholz, Justin Potok, Kerr, Clifton Ehrich, Wilkie, Bruce James
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,652 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4072 Drivers or receivers G06F13/4086 takes precedence; for multistate logic circuits H03K19/0002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40032 Details regarding a bus interface enhancer
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1492 having electrical distribution arrangements, e.g. power supply or data communications

Abstract

In one embodiment, a communication system for a multi-blade server system includes a multi-drop serial bus network interconnecting a management module with each of a plurality of servers in a multi-server chassis. A first transceiver subsystem is configured for communicating over the serial bus network between the management module and each server within a first frequency band. A second transceiver subsystem is configured for simultaneously communicating over the serial bus network between the management module and the servers within a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band. A first signal-filtering subsystem substantially filters out signals in the second frequency band from the first transceiver subsystem. A second signal-filtering subsystem substantially filters out the signals in the first frequency band from the second transceiver subsystem.

Claims

1. A communication system for a rack-mount server system, comprising:

a multi-drop serial bus network interconnecting a management module with each of a plurality of servers in a multi-server chassis;

a first transceiver subsystem configured for communicating over the serial bus network between the management module and each server within a first frequency band;

a second transceiver subsystem configured for simultaneously communicating over the serial bus network between the management module and the servers within a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band;

a first signal-filtering subsystem for substantially filtering out signals in the second frequency band from the first transceiver subsystem; and

a second signal-filtering subsystem for substantially filtering out the signals in the first frequency band from the second transceiver subsystem.

2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the first transceiver subsystem comprises a lower-frequency transceiver included with each server and a lower-frequency transceiver included with the management module configured for communicating with the lower-frequency transceivers included with each server.

3. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the second transceiver subsystem comprises a higher-frequency transceiver included with each server and a higher-frequency transceiver included with the management module configured for communicating with the higher-frequency transceivers included with each server.

4. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the first signal-filtering subsystem comprises a low-pass filter included with each server for filtering out signals in the higher-frequency band sent by the management module to the respective servers and a low-pass filter included with the management module for filtering out signals in the higher-frequency band sent by the servers to the management module.

5. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the first signal-filtering subsystem comprises a low-pass filter included with each server for filtering out signals in the higher-frequency band sent by the management module to the respective servers and a low-pass filter included with the management module for filtering out signals in the higher-frequency band sent by the servers to the management module.

6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the first transceiver subsystem communicates using the RS-485 protocol.

7. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the lower-frequency band on which the first transceiver subsystem communicates is less than or equal to about 1125 kHz.

8. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the transmission rate at which the first transceiver subsystem communicates is no greater than about 250 kbps.

9. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the second transceiver subsystem communicates using a multipoint, radio protocol.

10. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the higher frequency band on which the second transceiver subsystem communicates is about 2.4 GHz

11. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the transmission rate at which the second transceiver subsystem communicates is about 22 Mbs.

12. The communication system of claim 1, further comprising:

a baseboard management controller disposed on each server, wherein the signals in the first frequency band are routed to the baseboard management controller.

13. The communication system of claim 12, wherein the signals in the second frequency band received by the servers are routed to the baseboard management controllers.

14. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the signals communicated by the first transceiver subsystem comprise electronic signals representative of a temperature, a cooling fan speed, a power mode, an operating system (OS) status, or a combination thereof.

15. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the signals communicated by the first transceiver subsystem comprise power-cycling instructions or power reset instructions generated by the management module.

16. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the electronic signals communicated by the second transceiver subsystem comprise video signals or flash update instructions.

17. A method, comprising:

communicating signals over a multi-drop serial bus network between a management module and a plurality of servers within a first frequency band; and

simultaneously communicating other signals over the serial bus network between the management module and the servers within a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band; and

electronically separating the signals in the first frequency band from the signals in the second frequency band at each of the servers and at the management module.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein electronically separating the signals in the first frequency band from the signals in the second frequency band comprises selectively filtering out signals outside the first frequency band and selectively filtering out signals outside the second frequency band.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising communicating in the first frequency band using an RS-485 protocol.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising communicating in the second frequency band using a multipoint, radio protocol.