JP2006318394A - Management method for uninterruptible power supply device in network system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network system capable of facilitating setting work and shortening operation time. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of uninterruptible power supply devices installed in the network system are connected to a network via communication means respectively. A priority level is set for each uninterruptible power supply device, and the uninterruptible power supply device (master power supply device) with the highest priority level preferentially obtains control information and the like about the uninterruptible power supply device from the outside via the network, and the obtained information is distributed to the uninterruptible power supply device (slave power supply device) with lower priority from the master power supply device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a management method for an uninterruptible power supply in a network system including a plurality of uninterruptible power supplies to supply power to a plurality of servers connected to a common network.

  In a network system configured by connecting multiple servers to a common network line, in general, when a server power failure occurs, at least the server shuts down normally after the power failure. An uninterruptible power supply (hereinafter referred to as UPS) that can continue to supply power to the server is installed until the processing (power failure processing) is completed.

  Further, in a network system equipped with such a UPS, as shown in FIG. 3, conventionally, a network card 20a is built in as a communication means for the UPS 20 to communicate with the network, and a plurality of network cards 20a are provided. By connecting to the network line 10 having the network hub 10a to which the servers 5 to 7 are connected, information can be exchanged between all the servers 5 to 7 and the UPS 20 through the network line 10. (See Patent Document 1).

  In such a network system, power is individually supplied from the UPS 20 to the servers 5 to 7 and the network hub 10a. The UPS 20 is connected to the common network line 10 to which the servers 5 to 7 are connected via the network card 20a. As a result, the UPS 20 can exchange information with all of the servers 5 to 7 through the line 10, so that even if one of the servers, for example, the server 5 is abnormal and has stopped operating, the UPS 20 In such a case, the power failure information is correctly transmitted to the normally operating servers 6 and 7 through the network line 10, so that the servers 6 and 7 normally operate according to the received power failure information. Power failure processing can be performed, and the reliability of power failure processing is increased.

In addition, when the number of servers constituting the network is increased and the scale of the network is increased, the required power cannot be borne by one UPS. Therefore, as shown in FIG. Power is supplied to the servers 6 and 7 that have been increased. The UPS 21 is also provided with a network card 21a, and the UPS 21 is connected to the network line 10 through this card. As a result, the UPS 21 exchanges information with all servers through the network line 10.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-171511

  Up to now, in such a network system, the administrator has been responsible for setting up various setting data necessary for UPS operation and the firmware program for controlling the operation of the UPS and the UPS management work for updating the setting data. Since the UPS is selected manually from the management terminal 1 one by one, there is a problem that setting work is troublesome and a large amount of work time is required when the number of installed UPSs increases.

  In order to solve such problems, it is an object of the present invention to obtain an uninterruptible power supply management method in a network system in which setting work is simple and work time can be shortened.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the first invention is a network system including a plurality of servers connected to a network and a plurality of uninterruptible power supply devices that supply power to each server. Are provided with communication means for communicating with the network respectively, and priorities are set in advance for each uninterruptible power supply, and the uninterruptible power supply with the highest priority is set as the master power supply, and the priority is lower than this. With the uninterruptible power supply as a slave power supply, the master power supply preferentially obtains control information of the uninterruptible power supply from the outside via the network and imports it into itself, and the master power supply acquires the control information acquired by the slave. It is distributed to a power supply device and taken into the slave power supply device.

  According to a second invention, in the first invention, the master power supply device obtains update information from a site that periodically provides firmware update information of the uninterruptible power supply device via the network, and updates its own firmware. And updating the firmware of the slave power supply device by distributing update information to the slave power supply device via the network.

  According to a third invention, in the first invention or the second invention, the master power supply device acquires the update information of the setting information via the network, updates its own setting information, and all of the acquired update information is included in the update information. The setting information common to the uninterruptible power supply is distributed to the slave power supply via the network, and the setting information of the slave power supply is updated.

  According to the present invention, a priority order is set for each of a plurality of UPSs in a network system, and the UPS with the highest priority order (master UPS) preferentially acquires management data from the network, and from the UPS that has acquired this management data. Since the automatic distribution is sequentially performed to the UPS (slave UPS) having a higher priority than the above, the administrator's work only has to be performed for one master UPS, so that the setting work is simplified. Work time can be shortened.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described based on examples shown in the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram of Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In this figure, the same components as those of the conventional apparatus are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  UPSs 20 and 21 are connected to a common network line 10 to which the servers 5 to 9 and the management terminal 1 are connected via network cards 20a and 21a as communication means, respectively, and further UPS manufacturer site 51 via the Internet 40. Is connected.

  The UPSs 20 and 21 supply power to the servers 5 to 7, 8, and 9, and continue to supply power even when the power supply is interrupted until at least each server performs a power failure process and shuts down. The network hub 10a of the network line is supplied with power from the UPS 20 during a power failure and is backed up.

  Priorities are set in advance for the two UPSs 20 and 21 by the administrator. Here, the UPS 20 is set to the priority order 1, which is set as the master UPS, and the UPS 21 is set to the priority order 2 to be the slave UPS.

  The UPS 20 set as the master UPS periodically accesses the UPS provider site 51 on the Internet 40 connected to the UPS 20 via the network line 10 and stores the version number of the UPS firmware stored therein. Activate the patrol program to check. The slave UPS 21 is also periodically communicated to check the firmware version number.

  When the update of the version number is detected at the UPS provider site, the master UPS 20 notifies the management terminal 1 of the firmware update information and prompts the administrator whether to update the firmware. When an update command arrives from the management terminal 1, the UPS 20 acquires the updated firmware of the UPS from the UPS providing site 51, and updates its own firmware to a new version number. Then, the firmware update information is distributed to the slave UPS 21, and the firmware in the UPS 21 is updated.

  The slave UPS 21 determines that there is an abnormality in the master UPS if the version number check is not performed from the master UPS 20 for a certain period or more, and transmits this abnormality to the management terminal 1 for notification to the administrator. The slave UPS 21 having the next highest priority becomes the master UPS and takes over the processing.

  As described above, according to the method of the present invention, the UPS provided in the network system is communicably connected to the network line, and the master UPS having a high priority receives the update information from the outside via the network line. After acquisition, the entire information is updated by distributing it to the slave UPS with a low priority, so that the administrator's trouble is saved and the version number of the UPS firmware is always unified to improve the reliability of system operation. can do.

  FIG. 2 shows a network configuration diagram of Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In the second embodiment, servers 8 and 9 and a UPS 22 for supplying power to these servers are added, and the scale is increased from that of the first embodiment. The added UPS 22 also includes a network card 22a as a communication means, and is connected to the common network line 10 via this card 22a. Priorities are set in advance in this order for the three UPSs 20, 21, and 22.

  When the administrator needs to change the setting data set for each UPS in the network, for example, the operation schedule, the setting data update data is transferred from the management terminal 1 only to the master UPS 20 with the highest priority. To update the setting.

  When the master UPS 20 receives the update command from the management terminal 1 as described above, the master UPS 20 updates its own setting data based on this command, and if there is common update data, the slave UPS 21 having a lower priority than the self UPS 20 And 22 are provided in accordance with the present invention in such a manner that update data is sequentially sent to the setting data.

  When receiving the update data from the management terminal 1, the UPS 20 that becomes the master by this function sends the common update data to other slave UPSs sequentially and instructs the update of the setting data. The UPSs 21 and 22 that have become slave UPSs receive the update data sent from the master UPS 20 and update the setting data.

  When updating the setting data of a plurality of UPSs, according to the present invention, priorities are set in advance for a plurality of UPSs, the UPS having the highest priority is set as a master UPS, and the other UPSs are set as slave UPSs. Then, the administrator instructs the master UPS only to update the setting data from the management terminal 1, so that the update data is sequentially sent from the master UPS to the other slave UPSs to update the setting data. The administrator can update the setting data of all the UPSs in the network by performing the setting update operation only on the master UPS 20. For this reason, the setting data update work time of the administrator's UPS is shortened, erroneous settings can be reduced, and the reliability of the entire system can be improved.

  In the second embodiment, update data is sequentially sent from the master UPS 20 to the slave UPSs 21 and 22, but when the slave UPS 21 receives the update data from the master UPS 20, the data is taken into the self and the next order is received. It is also possible to send update data to the slave UPS 21 in a relay manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a block diagram which shows the network system by Example 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the network system by Example 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the conventional network system. It is a block diagram which shows another conventional network system.

Explanation of symbols

1: Management terminal 3-9: Server 10: Network line 10a: Network hub 20, 21, 22: Uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
20a, 21a, 22a: network card

Claims (3)

  In a network system comprising a plurality of servers connected to a network and a plurality of uninterruptible power supply devices that supply power to each server, communication means for communicating each of the uninterruptible power supply devices with the network And prioritizing each uninterruptible power supply in advance, the uninterruptible power supply with the highest priority as the master power supply, the uninterruptible power supply with the lower priority as the slave power supply, and the master power supply The control information of the uninterruptible power supply is preferentially acquired from the outside via the network and taken into the self, and the control information acquired by the master power supply is distributed to the slave power supply and taken into the slave power supply Management method of uninterruptible power supply of network system.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the master power supply device obtains update information from a site that periodically provides firmware information of the uninterruptible power supply device via a network and updates its own firmware. A management method for an uninterruptible power supply in a network system, wherein update information is distributed to a slave power supply via a network to update firmware of the slave power supply. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the master power supply device acquires setting information update information via the network, updates its own setting information, and the acquired update information is common to all uninterruptible power supply devices. If the setting information is included, the management information is distributed to the slave power supply device via the network, and the setting information of the slave power supply device is updated.

Images