METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACTIVATING A BLADE SERVER IN A BLADE SERVER SYSTEM

• US 20110029652A1
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chhuor, CheKim, Zhou, Ning Jie, Zhong, Hai Jun, Xu, Yi Zhen
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45541 Bare-metal, i.e. hypervisor runs directly on hardware

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided for activating a blade server in a blade server system. The method comprises receiving a request for activating the blade server and obtaining a hardware feature of the blade server. The method further comprises determining a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server in accordance with a correspondence relationship between the hardware feature of the blade server and the virtual machine management program and remotely activating the blade server via a management bus by using the determined virtual machine management program. In accordance with the method, a suitable built-in virtual machine management program may be determined according to user requirements, and system security and stability upon blade server activation may be ensured.

Claims

1. A method for activating a blade server in a blade server system, the method comprising:

receiving a request for activating the blade server;

obtaining a hardware feature of the blade server;

determining a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server in accordance with a correspondence relationship between the hardware feature of the blade server and the virtual machine management program; and

remotely activating the blade server via a management bus by using the determined virtual machine management program.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the correspondence relationship in the blade server system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined virtual machine management program is stored in the blade server system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server comprises:

in response to determining that a plurality of virtual machine management programs corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server are stored in the blade server system, selecting a virtual machine management program from the plurality of virtual machine management programs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server comprises:

in response to determining that there is no virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the blade server system, transmitting to a remote server a request for a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server; and

in response to determining that there is a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the remote server, obtaining the virtual machine management program from the remote server, storing the virtual machine management program in the blade server system, and selecting the virtual machine management program.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server further comprises updating the correspondence relationship.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server comprises:

in response to determining that there is no virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the blade server system, transmitting to a first remote server a request for a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server;

in response to determining that there is no virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the first remote server, requesting a remote server address update such that a second remote server may be accessed;

receiving the remote server address update;

transmitting to the second remote server the request for a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server; and

in response to determining that there is a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the second remote server, obtaining the virtual machine management program from the second remote server, storing the virtual machine management program in the blade server system, and selecting the virtual machine management program.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server further comprises updating the correspondence relationship.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more steps of the method are executed by a management module of the blade server system.

10. An apparatus for activating a blade server in a blade server system, the apparatus comprising:

a receiving module for receiving a request for activating the blade server;

an obtaining module for obtaining a hardware feature of the blade server;

a storage module for storing at least one virtual machine management program;

a determining module for determining a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server in accordance with a correspondence relationship between the hardware feature of the blade server and the virtual machine management program; and

a processing module for remotely activating the blade server via a management bus by using the determined virtual machine management program.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the storage module is further used for storing the correspondence relationship.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determining module comprises an updating module for updating the correspondence relationship.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determined virtual machine management program is stored in the storage module.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determining module is further used for:

in response to determining that a plurality of virtual machine management programs corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server are stored in the storage module, selecting a virtual machine management program from the plurality of virtual machine management programs.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determining module is further used for:

in response to determining that there is no virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the storage module, transmitting to a remote server a request for a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server; and

in response to determining that there is a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the remote server, obtaining the virtual machine management program from the remote server, storing the virtual machine management program in the storage module, and selecting the virtual machine management program.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determining module is further used for:

in response to determining that there is no virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the storage module, transmitting to a first remote server a request for a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server;

in response to determining that there is no virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the first remote server, requesting a remote server address update such that a second remote server may be accessed;

receiving the remote server address update;

transmitting to the second remote server the request for a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server; and

in response to determining that there is a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server stored in the second remote server, obtaining the virtual machine management program from the second remote server, storing the virtual machine management program in the storage module, and selecting the virtual machine management program.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is located in a management module of the blade server system.

18. A computer program product for activating a blade server in a blade server system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program code instructions stored therein comprising:

a first set of instructions for receiving a request for activating the blade server;

a second set of instructions for obtaining a hardware feature of the blade server;

a third set of instructions for determining a virtual machine management program corresponding to the hardware feature of the blade server in accordance with a correspondence relationship between the hardware feature of the blade server and the virtual machine management program; and

a fourth set of instructions for remotely activating the blade server via a management bus by using the determined virtual machine management program.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein one or more of the sets of instructions are executed by a management module of the blade server system.