JP5862047B2 - Remote operation system, data processing method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote operation system for remotely operating a control panel of a server device using a terminal device. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a data processing method and program used in a server device having a control panel in a remote operation system.

  Some server devices include a control panel. The control panel includes, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal panel and various operation buttons. The control panel is used for, for example, turning on / off the power of the cell card and grasping the operating state of the cell card. The cell card includes a plurality of processors, a plurality of memories, a chip set, and the like.

  On the other hand, techniques for remotely operating a server device or the like from a terminal device are known (Patent Documents 1 to 5).

JP-A-2005-234808 JP 2007-213192 A JP-A-1-134510 JP-A-10-289007 Japanese Patent No. 4435772

  Basically, the control panel is attached to the housing of the server device. Therefore, the user needs to move to the installation location of the server device and press the operation button while looking at the display device. Therefore, a technique capable of remotely operating the control panel of the server device using a terminal device is desired. Patent Documents 1 to 5 do not disclose the remote operation of the control panel of the server device.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a remote operation system for remotely operating a control panel of a server device using a terminal device. Furthermore, the present invention provides a data processing method and program used in a server apparatus having a control panel in a remote operation system.

  The remote operation system of the present invention includes a server device and a terminal device for remotely operating the server device. The server device includes a control panel unit including a display device and a register, and a baseboard management controller (hereinafter referred to as BMC) that controls the control panel unit. The BMC receives a command output from the terminal device, stores the command in the register, and when the receiving unit receives the command, the control signal is a trigger signal that prompts an interrupt to the BMC. A trigger unit that outputs to a panel unit; a generation unit that receives an interrupt from the control panel unit, reads the command stored in the register, and generates display screen data corresponding to the command; and the display screen data A transmission unit for transmitting the information to the display device and the terminal device.

  The data processing method of the present invention is a data processing method used in the server device of a remote operation system having a server device and a terminal device for remotely operating the server device. The server device includes a control panel unit including a display device, a register, and a BMC that controls the control panel unit. The data processing method of the present invention includes a receiving step of receiving a command output from the terminal device and storing the command in the register, and a triggering step of outputting a trigger signal for urging the BMC to the control panel unit Receiving the interrupt from the control panel unit, reading the command stored in the register, generating display screen data corresponding to the command, and generating the display screen data from the display device and the terminal Transmitting to the device.

  The program of the present invention is a program to be executed by a computer of the server device in a remote operation system having a server device and a terminal device for remotely operating the server device. The server device includes a control panel unit including a display device, a register, and a BMC that controls the control panel unit. The program of the present invention receives a command output from the terminal device, stores the command in the register, a trigger procedure that outputs a trigger signal for urging the BMC to the control panel unit, In response to an interrupt from the control panel unit, the command stored in the register is read, a generation procedure for generating display screen data corresponding to the command, and the display screen data to the display device and the terminal device And causing the computer to execute a transmission procedure for transmission.

  According to the present invention, the control panel of the server device can be remotely operated using the terminal device.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a remote operation system A. FIGS. 2A to 2C are diagrams each illustrating an example of a display screen of the display device 112. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the server device 1. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example of the remote operation system A in the remote operation mode. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example of the remote operation system A in the direct operation mode.

(Embodiment)
[Configuration example of remote control system A]
Embodiments will be described. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a remote operation system A. The remote operation system A includes a server device 1, a terminal device 2, and a network 3.

  An outline of the server device 1 will be described. The server device 1 includes a plurality of cell (CELL) cards in order to improve calculation processing capability and fault tolerance. One cell card includes a plurality of processors, a plurality of memories, a chip set, and the like. In addition, the cell card includes a BMC. BMC is an abbreviation for Baseboard Management Controller. For example, the BMC performs power on / off control of the cell card (simply referred to as power on / off), grasps the operating status of the cell card (simply referred to as operating status), and monitors the hardware.

  The server device 1 includes a control panel 11 in its housing. The control panel 11 includes an operation unit 111 and a display device 112.

  The operation unit 111 includes a plurality of operation buttons for inputting data to the BMC. Typical operation buttons include the following. Here, the cursor is displayed on the display screen of the display device 112.

“Up”: Move the cursor up one line “down”: Move the cursor down one line “enter”: Confirm

  The display device 112 is a liquid crystal panel, for example. The display device 112 displays, for example, an operation screen that prompts the BMC to input data and an output screen of the BMC.

  The terminal device 2 is typically a personal computer. In the present embodiment, the terminal device 2 remotely operates the server device 1 using a telnet (Telecommunication network). For example, SSH (Secure Shell) or the like can be used instead of Telnet.

  The network 3 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network). The server 3 and the terminal device 2 are connected to the network 3 by wire or wireless. The server device 1 and the terminal device 2 perform data communication with each other via the network 3. The protocol used in the network 3 is, for example, TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

[Direct operation mode / Remote operation mode]
The server device 1 has a direct operation mode and a remote operation mode. The two modes can be switched automatically or manually.

  The direct operation mode is a mode for performing various operations using the operation unit 111. The various operations referred to here include, for example, an operation for turning on / off the power supply and an operation for viewing the operating status of the server device 1.

  Here, an operation of turning off the power in the direct operation mode will be described as an example. FIGS. 2A to 2C are diagrams each illustrating an example of a display screen of the display device 112.

  In the direct operation mode, the user performs the following operations using the operation unit 111. In the initial stage, the display device 112 displays the display screen PIC1 shown in FIG. The contents of the display screen PIC1 are as follows.

“Main Menu”: Title “Shutdown”: Option indicating that the server apparatus 1 is turned off “Power On”: Option indicating that the server apparatus 1 is turned on “Return”: Returning to the display screen higher than “Main Menu” Showing options

  In the initial stage, the cursor B is at the bottom of “Main Menu”. First, the user presses the operation button “down”. As shown in the display screen PIC2 shown in FIG. 2B, the cursor B moves to the lower part of “Shutdown”.

  Next, the user presses the operation button “enter”. Since “Shutdown” is confirmed, the display device 112 displays the display screen PIC3 shown in FIG. The contents of the display screen PIC3 are as follows.

“Shutdown Menu”: Title “Execute”: Option indicating execution “Return”: Option indicating returning to the display screen PIC2 shown in FIG.

  At the present stage, the cursor B is at the bottom of “Execute”. Therefore, the user presses the operation button “enter”. By this operation, “Execute” is confirmed. Then, the power is turned off.

  In the direct operation mode, the user needs to move to the installation location of the server device 1. The user must directly operate the operation unit 111 while directly viewing the display screen of the display device 112.

  In order to eliminate this inconvenience, a remote operation mode is provided. The remote operation mode is a mode for remotely operating the control panel 11 of the server device 1 using the terminal device 2. By using the remote operation mode, the user can operate the control panel 11 without moving to the installation location of the server device 1.

  In addition, the server device 1 supports batch processing. In particular, in the remote operation mode, processing can be continuously performed by creating a batch file describing a plurality of commands on the terminal device 2 side.

  Hereinafter, the server device 1 will be described on the assumption of the remote operation mode unless otherwise specified.

[Configuration Example of Server Device 1]
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the server device 1. The server device 1 has an MGMT 12 in addition to the control panel 11. MGMT is an abbreviation for Management Board.

[Configuration example of MGMT12]
A configuration example of the MGMT 12 will be described. The MGMT 12 includes a ROM 121, a memory 122, and a BMC 123. The MGMT 12 is a board for controlling the entire cell card on which the MGMT 12 is mounted. In other words, the MGMT 12 has a function as a computer.

  The ROM 121 is, for example, a nonvolatile flash memory. The ROM 121 stores BMCFW 1211. BMCFW is an abbreviation for Baseboard Management Controller Firmware.

  The BMCFW 1211 is firmware that controls the operation of the MGMT 12. In this embodiment, as an example, built-in Linux (“Linux” is a registered trademark) is adopted in BMCFW 1221.

  The memory 122 is a volatile memory represented by a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). The memory 122 is a work area of the BMC 123, and the BMCFW 1211 of the ROM 121 is expanded.

  The BMC 123 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an I / O (Input / Output) port, and the like. Examples of the I / O port include a serial port, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, and a LAN connector. The BMC 123 expands the BMCFW 1211 stored in the ROM 121 in the memory 122. The BMC 123 controls the overall operation of the MGMT 12 according to the BMCFW 1211.

[Configuration example of BCM 123]
A configuration example of the BCM 123 will be described. The BCM 123 includes a reception unit 1231, a trigger unit 1232, a generation unit 1233, and a transmission unit 1234. The trigger unit 1232 and the generation unit 1233 constitute a control unit CNTL that gives an instruction to the control panel control unit 113.

  The receiving unit 1231 receives the command CMD transmitted from the terminal device 2 via an I / O port (not shown). The receiving unit 1231 performs the following two processes after receiving the command CMD.

  First, the reception unit 1231 stores the received command CMD in the register 1131. Second, the reception unit 1231 outputs a command storage completion signal S1 to the trigger unit 1232. The command storage completion signal S1 is a signal indicating that the storage of the command CMD in the register 1131 is completed.

  Typical commands CMD include the following.

“Lcd button up”: Move the cursor up one line “lcd button down”: Move the cursor down one line “lcd buttonton”: Confirm

  These three commands CMD correspond to the operation buttons “up”, “down”, and “enter”, respectively.

  The trigger unit 1232 plays a role of causing the control panel control unit 113 to issue a hardware interrupt from the control panel control unit 113 to the BMC 123. Therefore, the trigger unit 1232 outputs the trigger signal TRG to the control panel control unit 113 when receiving the command storage completion signal S1 from the reception unit 1231. The trigger signal TRG is a signal that prompts the control panel control unit 113 to interrupt the BMC 123.

  When receiving the interrupt signal HWI from the control panel control unit 113, the generation unit 1233 performs the following processing. The interrupt signal HWI is a signal for performing a hardware interrupt from the control panel control unit 113 to the BMC 123.

  First, the generation unit 1233 accesses the register 1131 and reads the command CMD stored in the register 1131. Secondly, the generation unit 1233 controls the display screen corresponding to the read command CMD. Here, the control refers to, for example, raising and lowering a cursor displayed on the display screen of the display device 112 (see FIGS. 2A to 2C). The generation unit 1233 generates a display screen that reflects the result of this control. Thirdly, the generation unit 1233 outputs the display screen data PIC to the transmission unit 1234. The display screen data PIC is display screen data.

  The transmission unit 1234 inputs display screen data PIC from the generation unit 1233. The transmission unit 1234 transmits the display screen data PIC to the display device 112 and the terminal device 2 via an I / O port (not shown).

[Configuration Example of Control Panel 11]
A configuration example of the control panel 11 will be described. The control panel 11 includes a control panel control unit 113 in addition to the operation unit 111 and the display device 112.

  The control panel control unit 113 includes a register 1131. The control panel control unit 113 is composed of, for example, a microprocessor. The control panel control unit 113 controls the operation of the entire control panel 11. In particular, when the control panel control unit 113 receives the trigger signal TRG from the trigger unit 1232, the control panel control unit 113 outputs the interrupt signal HWI to the generation unit 1233 triggered by the reception of the trigger signal TRG.

  In addition, the control panel control unit 113 performs the following processing in the direct operation mode. First, the control panel control unit 113 inputs an operation signal S2 from the operation unit 111 as a user instruction. The operation signal S2 is an analog signal generated when the operation button of the operation unit 111 is pressed. Second, the control panel control unit 113 stores a digital signal corresponding to the operation signal S2 in the register 113 as a command CMD. Third, the control panel control unit 113 outputs an interrupt signal HWI to the generation unit 1233 in response to the operation signal S2. After outputting the interrupt signal HWI, the control panel control unit 113 outputs the command CMD stored in the register 113 to the generation unit 1234.

  The register 1131 is a storage device for storing the command CMD. The storage capacity of the register 1131 is a capacity that can reliably store the command CMD.

  The display device 112 inputs the display screen data PIC from the transmission unit 1234 and displays the display screen data PIC.

[Terminal device 2]
The terminal device 2 will be described. The terminal device 2 displays the console screen 21 on a display device (not shown). The console screen 21 is a screen for using Telnet on the command line. The terminal device 2 basically performs the following processing.

  First, the terminal device 2 transmits a command CMD to the receiving unit 1231. Secondly, the terminal device 2 receives the display screen data PIC from the transmission unit 1234 and displays the display screen data PIC on the console screen 21. Third, every time the terminal device 2 receives the display screen data PIC, it records a log to that effect.

  In addition, the terminal device 2 includes a batch file 22. When the terminal device 2 executes the batch file 22 on Telnet, processing corresponding to a plurality of commands can be continuously executed by the server device 1.

[Operation example of remote operation system A: remote operation mode]
FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example of the remote operation system A in the remote operation mode. The processing of steps ST2 to ST10 is data processing of the server device 1, and is described in the BMCFW 1221 as a program.

  Here, a power-off operation is taken as an example. As described above, in the direct operation mode, the user presses an operation button of the operation unit 111 described below.

First operation button: “down”
Second operation button: “enter”
Third operation button: “enter”

  On the other hand, in the remote operation mode, the user operates the terminal device 2 to input the following command CMD to the Telnet console screen 21 and confirm this.

First command CMD: “lcdbutton down”
Second command CMD: “lcdbtonton enter”
The third command CMD: “lcdbbutton enter”

  First, the operation of the remote control system A in the first command input will be described. The user inputs the command CMD: “lcdbutton down” on the console screen 21 of the Telnet, and confirms this. The terminal device 2 transmits this command CMD to the receiving unit 1231 (ST1).

  The receiving unit 1231 receives the command CMD transmitted from the terminal device 2 (ST2). The receiving unit 1231 stores the command CMD in the register 1131 (ST3). Further, the reception unit 1231 outputs a command storage completion signal S1 to the trigger unit 1232.

  The trigger unit 1232 receives the command storage completion signal S1 from the reception unit 1231 and outputs the trigger signal TRG to the control panel control unit 113 (ST4).

  Control panel control unit 113 receives trigger signal TRG from trigger unit 1232 (ST5). Upon receiving the trigger signal TRG, the control panel control unit 113 outputs the interrupt signal HWI to the generation unit 1233 (ST6).

  The generation unit 1233 receives the interrupt signal HWI from the control panel control unit 113 (ST7). Then, the generation unit 1233 accesses the register 1131 and reads the command CMD stored in the register 1131 (ST8).

  The generation unit 1233 controls the display screen corresponding to the read command CMD. The generation unit 1233 generates a display screen reflecting the result of this control (ST9).

  At the present stage, the command CMD is “lcdbutton down”. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the generation unit 1233 generates the display screen PIC2 in which the cursor B is moved to “Shutdown”. The generation unit 1233 outputs the display screen PIC2 to the transmission unit 1234 as display screen data PIC.

  Transmitter 1234 transmits display screen data PIC to display device 112 and terminal device 2 (ST10).

  The display device 112 displays the display screen data PIC (ST11).

  The terminal device 2 displays the display screen data PIC on the console screen 21 (ST12). Then, the terminal device 2 records a log indicating that the display screen data PIC has been received (ST13).

  The display screen PIC2 shown in FIG. 2B is displayed on the display device 112 and the terminal device 2 by the first command input. The cursor B moves from “Main Menu” to “Shutdown”.

  Subsequently, the user inputs the second command CMD: “lcdbbutton enter” and confirms it. By repeating the processing of steps ST1 to ST13 using this command CMD, the display screen PIC3 shown in FIG. 2C is displayed on the display device 112 and the terminal device 2.

  Subsequently, the user inputs the third command CMD: “lcdbbutton enter” and confirms it. By using the command CMD and repeating the processing of steps ST1 to ST13, a display screen indicating that “Execute” has been confirmed is displayed on the display device 112 and the terminal device 2. Then, the power is turned off.

  If the batch file 22 in which the above three commands CMD are described is used, the power can be turned off only by an operation for executing the batch file 22. Batch processing is suitable when many commands are input continuously. In addition, batch processing has the advantage that it can be automatically executed at a pre-specified time. From the above viewpoint, the batch processing has a remarkable effect on the efficiency of work.

[Operation example of remote operation system A: direct operation mode]
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example of the remote operation system A in the direct operation mode. The direct operation mode is different from the remote operation mode in two points.

  The first is to use an operation button of the operation unit 111 instead of the terminal device 2. Second, the trigger for causing the control panel control unit 113 to output the interrupt signal HWI is not the trigger signal TRG but the pressing of the operation button. Therefore, in the direct operation mode, there is no processing of steps ST1 to ST4 shown in FIG. Further, there is no processing of steps ST12 and ST13.

  The operation of the remote operation system A in the direct operation mode is as follows. When the user presses the operation button, the control panel control unit 113 inputs an operation signal S2 from the operation unit 111 (ST5a). The control panel control unit 113 stores a digital signal corresponding to the operation signal S2 in the register 113 as a command CMD.

  The control panel control unit 113 outputs the interrupt signal HWI to the generation unit 1233 in response to the input of the operation signal S2 (ST6).

  The subsequent steps ST7 to ST11 are the same as those in the remote operation mode. However, in step ST10a, the transmission unit 1234 transmits the display screen data PIC only to the display device 112.

  The operation of the remote operation system A has been described above. In the remote operation mode, the BMC 12 does not directly process the command CMD received by itself, but temporarily stores the command CMD in the register 113 of the control panel 112. This is because the same processing as in the direct operation mode is performed. As described above, in the direct operation mode, pressing of the operation button by the user is stored in the register 113 as the command CMD.

  The trigger unit 1232 performs the process of step ST4 in order to cause the generation unit 1233 to generate a display screen corresponding to the command CMD. That is, the trigger unit 1232 causes the control panel control unit 113 to issue a hardware interrupt from the control panel control unit 113 to the BMC 123. Upon receiving this hardware interrupt, the generation unit 1233 generates a display screen. Then, the transmission unit 1234 transmits the display screen data PIC not only to the display device 112 but also to the terminal device 2.

  From this, the terminal device 2 can display the same display screen as the display device 112. The user can remotely operate the control panel 11 of the server device 1 while looking at the console screen 21 of the terminal device 2.

(Modification of the embodiment)
A modification of the embodiment will be described. In this modification, the server device 1 is remotely operated by using a Web (World Wide Web) application. By introducing the Web application to the terminal device 2 and synchronizing the server device 1 and the terminal device 2, the processes of steps ST1 to ST13 can be executed.

  The user transmits a command CMD to the server device 1 using the Web browser of the terminal device 2. The server device 1 generates display screen data PIC corresponding to the received command CMD and transmits it to the terminal device 2. The terminal device 2 displays the received display screen data PIC on the Web browser.

  Unlike the command-line Telnet, the Web application corresponds to a graphical user interface (GUI: Graphical User Interface). Therefore, operability and visibility are excellent. In addition, the operation by the operation unit 111 can be sequentially reflected on the Web application. If this is applied, for example, an instruction can be given to the operator of the operation unit 111 at a location away from the server device 1.

  In the above embodiment, the remote operation system which operates the control panel 11 of the server apparatus 1 remotely was illustrated. The present invention can also be applied to an electronic device including a display device and a register instead of the control panel 11.

1: Server device 11: Control panel 111: Operation unit 112: Display device 113: Control panel control unit 1131: Register 12: MGMT
121: ROM
122: Memory 123: BMC
1231: Reception unit 1232: Trigger unit 1233: Generation unit 1234: Transmission unit 2: Terminal device 21: Console screen 22: Batch file 3: Network

Claims (4)

A server device;
A terminal device for remotely operating the server device;
Have
The server device
A control panel unit comprising: a display device; an operation unit that inputs to a baseboard management controller (hereinafter referred to as BMC); and a register that stores a command corresponding to the input of the operation unit ;
It said BMC for controlling the control panel unit,
Have
The BMC is
A receiving unit that receives a command output by the terminal device and stores the command output by the terminal device in the register;
A trigger unit that outputs to the control panel unit a trigger signal that prompts an interrupt to the BMC when the receiving unit receives a command output by the terminal device ;
A generation unit that receives an interrupt from the control panel unit, reads a command output from the terminal device stored in the register, and generates display screen data corresponding to the command output from the terminal device ;
A transmission unit for transmitting the display screen data to the display device and the terminal device;
Having a remote control system. The terminal device
Web (World Wide Web) application,
The remote operation system according to claim 1, wherein the web application is used to communicate with the server device. A server device;
A terminal device for remotely operating the server device;
A data processing method used in the server device of a remote operation system having:
The server device
A control panel unit including a display device, an operation unit for inputting to a baseboard management controller (hereinafter referred to as BMC), and a register for storing a command corresponding to the input of the operation unit ;
It said BMC for controlling the control panel unit,
Have
A reception step of receiving a command output by the terminal device and storing the command output by the terminal device in the register;
A trigger step for outputting a trigger signal for prompting an interruption to the BMC to the control panel unit;
A generation step of receiving an interrupt from the control panel unit, reading a command output by the terminal device stored in the register, and generating display screen data corresponding to the command output by the terminal device ;
A transmission step of transmitting the display screen data to the display device and the terminal device;
A data processing method. A server device;
A terminal device for remotely operating the server device;
A program to be executed by a computer of the server device in a remote operation system comprising:
The server device
A control panel unit including a display device, an operation unit for inputting to a baseboard management controller (hereinafter referred to as BMC), and a register for storing a command corresponding to the input of the operation unit ;
It said BMC for controlling the control panel unit,
Have
A reception procedure for receiving a command output by the terminal device and storing the command output by the terminal device in the register;
A trigger procedure for outputting a trigger signal for urging the BMC to the control panel unit;
A generation procedure for receiving an interrupt from the control panel unit, reading a command output by the terminal device stored in the register, and generating display screen data corresponding to the command output by the terminal device ;
A transmission procedure for transmitting the display screen data to the display device and the terminal device;
A program for causing the computer to execute.

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