KR101849709B1 - Modular bmc system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a modular BMC system which can interconnect to individual servers by separating from a server, and can be realized as an additional module type which is flexible and expandable. The modular BMC system comprises: an interconnected signal processing unit connected to the sever through communication based on a bus, and transmitting and receiving a signal with the server; and a BMC control unit for transmitting a request command to the server through the interconnected signal processing unit, and analyzing a state of the server based on information received in response to the request command so as to transmit the state of the server to a manager terminal.

Description

[0001] MODULAR BMC SYSTEM [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for managing the state of a server, and more specifically, to a board management controller (BMC) for managing the state of a server.

BMC (Board Management Controller) is a controller that monitors and manages the state of hardware and software of a server mounted on a server. The BMC mounted on the server monitors the temperature of the server, the fan speed, the power mode, and the OS status, and informs the administrator through the network or the system interface. A server without a BMC does not have a way to check the status of the server remotely, so the administrator must go to the site where the server is installed to check the status of the server and repair it. Since the monitoring software is run separately from the server, it runs with the server inside the server. Therefore, if the server is down, the monitoring software is also down, You can not recover or reboot the downed server. As a result, servers without these BMCs are unsuitable for large data centers and are used for small-scale use.

On the other hand, the server equipped with the BMC can check the status of the server remotely and can perform operations such as checking the status of the server remotely and directly restoring the status of the server through the BMC operating independently of the server. Therefore, these BMC-equipped servers are generally suitable for large-scale data centers and are actually used in data centers. However, in the conventional BMC-equipped server, the server portion and the BMC portion are constituted by a printed circuit board (PCB) (i.e., a motherboard), which causes a problem of costly waste. Because the server part uses a high-performance CPU, it is usually developed as a high-priced PCB with 20 layers or more. The BMC part usually has a lower performance CPU. In this way, although the BMC part can use a low-performance CPU, a server equipped with a conventional BMC uses a single expensive PCB, which is costly. And very few companies are developing BMC parts, namely BMC chips and software. Therefore, server makers are paying for very few companies' solutions (BMC hardware and software) at very high cost of licenses (about 100 million won). Because only a few companies develop the BMC portion, not only are the software versions very old, but they are also available in embedded software rather than the flexible and scalable BMC software that customers want to use the server realistically, reducing flexibility and scalability.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a modular BMC system which is independent from a server and can be interworked with individual servers and implemented in a separate module form having flexibility and scalability.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a modular BMC (Board Management Controller) system for independently managing a server separately from a server, including: an interworking signal processor for communicating with the server based on a bus; And a BMC controller for transmitting a request command to the server through the interlocking signal processor and analyzing the state of the server based on the information received in response to the request command.

Wherein the interlocking signal processing unit comprises: a bus communication unit for transmitting and receiving signals with at least one hardware and software of the server through a common bus line; A command conversion unit for converting the request command received from the control unit into a bus communication command format corresponding to the common bus line and transmitting the bus communication command format to the server; And a data conversion unit for converting data of a bus communication command format corresponding to the common bus line received from the server into original data and transmitting the data to the BMC control unit.

The BMC controller may include: a power controller configured to supply or shut off the power of the power supply to the server; A temperature controller for transmitting a temperature information request command to the server, receiving temperature information in response thereto, and transmitting a fan speed control command to the server according to the received temperature information; A hardware state measurement unit for transmitting a hardware state information request command to the server and receiving hardware state information in response thereto; A software status measuring unit for transmitting a software status information request command to the server and receiving software status information in response to the software status information request command; And a status information management unit for recording information acquired by the power control unit, the temperature control unit, the hardware status measurement unit, and the software status measurement unit and outputting the information to the administrator terminal through the console port.

The BMC control unit may further include an alarm unit for outputting an alarm when an emergency situation is determined based on the information acquired by the power supply control unit, the temperature control unit, the hardware state measurement unit, and the software state measurement unit.

Wherein the BMC control unit authenticates a manager connected via a network and provides a server management work environment of the manager and controls the power management unit, the temperature control unit, the hardware state measurement unit, and the software state measurement unit And a remote access control unit transmitting the information to the manager through the network.

The BMC control unit may further include a remote firmware control unit for downloading firmware through the network and updating or upgrading the firmware recorded in the memory of the modular BMC system.

According to one embodiment, the BMC portion may be implemented in a modular fashion, independent of the server, thereby reducing costs compared to the prior art mounting the BMC directly to the server.

According to one embodiment, the BMC part can be implemented as a module independent from the server, and the software of the BMC system can be easily upgraded remotely, thereby satisfying various requirements of the customers using the server rather than the conventional technology implemented with the embedded software .

According to one embodiment, the BMC part is implemented in a module form independent of the server and the interface with the server is standardized, thereby interworking with various kinds of servers, thereby enhancing the cost competitiveness of the server manufacturer.

1 is a schematic diagram of a modular BMC system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram showing a configuration of the modular BMC system of FIG.
3 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of the interlocking signal processing unit of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of the control unit of FIG. 2. FIG.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: There will be. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail. Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic diagram of a modular BMC system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 1 (a) shows a server 110 equipped with a conventional BMC. FIG. 1 (b) shows a server 120 and a modular BMC system 130 separated from each other according to an embodiment of the present invention. . As shown in FIG. 1 (a), a conventional server 110 uses one PCB, and the one PCB is divided into a server portion 111 and a BMC portion 112, Respectively. Since the server portion 111 is equipped with a high-performance CPU, a PCB having a price higher than 20 is usually used. Thus, conventional server manufacturers have to make expensive PCBs large for the BMC part 112, which causes an increase in manufacturing costs. 1 (b), according to an embodiment of the present invention, by implementing the BMC in a separate module type system, that is, the modular BMC system 130, the server 120 and the module Type BMC system 130, and the server 120 and the modular BMC system 130 are connected by a USB cable or the like to perform bus communication. Therefore, the server maker can reduce the cost by manufacturing the PCB 120 of the server 120 without considering the BMC portion. The modular BMC system 130 can use a low-performance processor such as an ARM processor or the like and can use an eight-layer PCB. The interface for interworking with the server 120 is standardized regardless of the type of the server 120, and the software can be easily upgraded remotely. This will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the modular BMC system 130 of FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, the modular BMC system 130 includes an interlocking signal processor 210 and a BMC controller 220. The interworking signal processor 210 transmits the request commands of the BMC controller 220 to the server 120 or receives information from the server 120 and transmits the request commands to the BMC controller 220 in communication with the server 120. The BMC controller 220 transmits a request command to the server 120 through the interlocking signal processor 210 and receives information from the server 120 in response to the request command, And transmits the status information to the manager. The BMC controller 220 can manage the server 120 according to a command received from a remote manager.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of the interlocking signal processing unit 210 of FIG. 3, the interlocking signal processing unit 210 includes a bus communication unit 310, a command conversion unit 320, and a data conversion unit 330.

The bus communication unit 310 transmits and receives signals between the server 120 and the BMC control unit 220. The modular BMC system 130 monitors and controls various parts of the server 120. Therefore, in order to support various parts of the server 120 by one communication method, the bus communication unit 310 is configured with bus-based communication capable of transmitting and receiving signals to one communication line. The results of the various parts of the server 120 responding are transmitted to the bus communication unit 310 through one common bus line. Conversely, various request commands from the BMC controller 220 to the server 120 of the modular BMC system 130 or result values processed by the BMC controller 220 are also transmitted to the server 120 via one common bus line of the bus communication unit 310 (120).

The command conversion unit 320 converts the commands into a bus communication format so that various commands of the BMC controller 220 are transmitted to the server 120 through one common bus communication and transfers the converted commands to the bus communication unit 310 . The data conversion unit 330 converts various data of the bus communication format received from the server 120 through the bus communication unit 310 into original data again and transfers the data to the BMC control unit 220.

4 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of the BMC controller 220 of FIG. 4, the BMC control unit 220 includes a power control unit 410, a temperature control unit 420, a hardware status measurement unit 430, a software status measurement unit 440, a status information management unit 450, A remote access control unit 460, a remote firmware control unit 480, and the like. The BMC control unit 220 includes a low-performance processor such as an ARM processor and a memory, and the components of the BMC control unit 220 shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented in software, stored in a memory, and executed by a processor. The memory may include high speed random access memory and may also include one or more magnetic disk storage devices, non-volatile memory such as flash memory devices, or other non-volatile semiconductor memory devices.

The power control unit 410 supplies or cuts off the power of the power supply to the server 120. The power control unit 410 can supply or block the power to the server 120 based on the power supply or power down command received through the remote connection control unit 470 or can be powered on or off by the server 120, respectively. The server 120 and the power supply unit may be connected to a switch, and the power supply control unit 410 may control the power supply by turning on / off the switch. Alternatively, the power of the power supply unit may be directly supplied to the server 120 through the power control unit 410, and the power control unit 410 may supply or cut off the power. The power control unit 410 can notify the alarm unit 460 when a problem occurs in power supply and interruption.

The temperature control unit 420 transmits a temperature information request command to the server 120 through the bus communication unit 310 and receives temperature information in response to the temperature information command. To the server 120, a fan speed control command for controlling the fan speed control command. A temperature sensor is mounted in the server 120 and a temperature sensor returns temperature information in response to a temperature information request command of the temperature controller 420. The temperature controller 420 stores the set value of the fan speed according to the temperature and can control the fan speed using the set value. The temperature control unit 420 transmits the temperature information of the server 120 to the administrator terminal through the remote connection control unit 470. The temperature information may include a temperature value and temperature measurement time information. The temperature control unit 420 may transmit the temperature information to the administrator terminal together with the status information of the software measured by the software status measuring unit 440 so that the administrator can analyze the temperature according to the situation.

The hardware status measuring unit 430 periodically measures the status of various hardware (CPU, memory, disk, etc.) of the server 120 through the bus communication unit 310. The hardware status measuring unit 430 transmits the hardware status information request command to the server 120 through the bus communication unit 310 and receives the status information in response thereto. At this time, the hardware status information request command may include identification information of the hardware for which the status is to be measured. The hardware state measurement unit 430 includes a hardware-based communication interface, a driver capable of controlling the corresponding hardware-based communication interface, and a software daemon for requesting and receiving the hardware state, for measuring the state of the hardware. The hardware status measuring unit 430 transmits the measured hardware status information to the administrator terminal through the remote connection control unit 470. [

The software status measuring unit 440 periodically measures the status of software (OS, server daemon, user application, etc.) executed on the server 120 through the bus communication unit 310. [ The software status measuring unit 440 transmits the software status information request command to the server 120 through the bus communication unit 310 and receives the status information in response thereto. The software status information request command may be a ping signal including identification information of the software. The software state measurement unit 440 includes a separate software daemon that monitors the software running on the server 120 to measure the state of the software and result confirmation software that confirms the monitoring result. The software state measuring unit 440 transmits the state information of the measured software to the administrator terminal through the remote connection control unit 470. [

The state information management unit 450 receives the state information acquired by the power control unit 410, the temperature control unit 420, the hardware state measurement unit 430, and the software state measurement unit 440, And outputs the status information recorded in the log format to the console port. The administrator can confirm the status information through the display device by connecting the display device and the input device to the console port locally rather than remotely. The status information management unit 450 can transmit status information recorded in a log form to the administrator terminal through the remote connection control unit 470. [ The state information management unit 450 may accumulate state information recorded in a log form and predict the state of the server 120 through learning through machine learning or the like.

The alarm unit 460 outputs the alarm information to the server 120 based on the internal logic based on the state information obtained by the power control unit 410, the temperature control unit 420, the hardware state measurement unit 430, Analyzes the emergency status, outputs an alarm when an emergency occurs, and outputs status information. The alarm unit 460 can analyze the emergency state based on the state information recorded by the state information management unit 450. [ The alarm unit 460 can output an alarm through a status display lamp such as an LED or a display device such as an LCD or a speaker. In addition, the alarm unit 460 can transmit an alarm to the administrator terminal through an e-mail or a text message through a network communication function built in the modular BMC system 130.

Generally, the data center with the server 120 is installed in a place where the power supply is smooth and the network function exists, and is in a space separate from the manager. Therefore, in order to efficiently operate the server 120, an administrator can directly visit the data center and work through the console port of the modular BMC system 130, and at the same time, Should be able to do. The remote access control unit 470 can remotely access the administrator terminal through the network communication function of the modular BMC system 130 and receive the remote control command from the administrator terminal, 120, and an alarm. The remote access control unit 470 provides a work environment in which various types of security authentication processing are performed so that only authorized administrators can access the server, the status information of the server 120 is checked, and the server 120 is managed. The remote access control unit 470 is a terminal environment in which the terminal 120 can communicate commands necessary for management of the server 120 as a work environment capable of managing the server 120, Supports web mode for easy expansion and modification. The modular BMC system 130 may include a communication circuit capable of sending and receiving signals to / from a wire or transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves wirelessly. A communication circuit converts electrical signals to electromagnetic waves and vice versa and is capable of communicating with the communication network, other mobile gateways and communication devices through the electromagnetic waves. The communication circuitry may include, but is not limited to, an antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, a subscriber identity module And may include well-known circuits for performing these functions. The communication circuitry may be implemented by means of the Internet, called the World Wide Web (WWW), the intranet and the network and / or a wireless network such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless LAN and / or a metropolitan area network (MAN) And can communicate with other devices. Wireless communication may be implemented in a variety of communication systems such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA) Protocols and techniques, including but not limited to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or any other suitable communication protocol including communication protocols not yet developed at the time of filing of the present application.

When the management instruction of the server 120 is changed, the firmware which is the server management protocol software must be updated or upgraded accordingly. For this, it is necessary to be able to efficiently conduct remote access without visiting the data center directly. The remote firmware control unit 480 securely authenticates a manager connected remotely through the network communication function of the modular BMC system 130 and updates or upgrades the firmware by downloading the firmware according to the input of the manager upon successful security authentication . To upgrade the firmware, the upgrade interface must be implemented in hardware in the flash memory where the firmware is recorded.

While the specification contains many features, such features should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention or the scope of the claims. In addition, the features described in the individual embodiments herein may be combined and implemented in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the singular < Desc / Clms Page number 5 > embodiments herein may be implemented in various embodiments individually or in combination as appropriate.

Although the operations have been described in a particular order in the figures, it should be understood that such operations are performed in a particular order as shown, or that all described operations are performed to obtain a sequence of sequential orders, or a desired result . In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. It should also be understood that the division of various system components in the above embodiments does not require such distinction in all embodiments.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The present invention is not limited to the drawings.

120: Server
130: Modular BMC system
210: interlocking signal processor
220: BMC control unit
310: bus communication section
320:
330: Data conversion unit
410:
420:
430: hardware state measuring unit
440: software state measurement unit
450:
460:
470: remote access control unit
480: Remote firmware control section

Claims (6)

1. A modular BMC (Board Management Controller) system for managing the server independently of a server independently of the type of server,
An interworking signal processing unit communicating with the server based on a bus and transmitting and receiving signals to and from the server; And
And a BMC controller for transmitting a request command to the server through the interlocking signal processor, analyzing the state of the server based on information received in response thereto, and transmitting the analyzed state to the administrator terminal,
The interlocking signal processor,
A bus communication unit for transmitting and receiving signals to and from at least one hardware and software of the server through one standardized common bus line;
A command conversion unit for converting the request command received from the BMC controller into a bus communication command format corresponding to the one common bus line and transmitting the same to the server; And
And a data conversion unit for converting the data of the bus communication command format corresponding to the one common bus line received from the server into original data and transmitting the converted data to the BMC control unit. delete The method according to claim 1,
The BMC control unit,
A power supply controller for supplying or disconnecting power from the power supply to the server;
A temperature controller for transmitting a temperature information request command to the server, receiving temperature information in response thereto, and transmitting a fan speed control command to the server according to the received temperature information;
A hardware state measurement unit for transmitting a hardware state information request command to the server and receiving hardware state information in response thereto;
A software status measuring unit for transmitting a software status information request command to the server and receiving software status information in response to the software status information request command; And
And a status information management unit for recording information acquired by the power control unit, the temperature control unit, the hardware status measurement unit, and the software status measurement unit and outputting the information to the administrator terminal through the console port. The method of claim 3,
The BMC control unit,
Further comprising an alarm unit for outputting an alarm when an emergency situation is determined based on the information acquired by the power supply control unit, the temperature control unit, the hardware state measurement unit, and the software state measurement unit. The method of claim 3,
The BMC control unit,
Wherein the management server is configured to authenticate a manager connected through a network and to provide a server management work environment of the manager and to transmit information acquired by the power control unit, the temperature control unit, the hardware status measurement unit, And a remote access control unit for transmitting the remote control command to the manager. 6. The method of claim 5,
The BMC control unit,
Further comprising a remote firmware control unit for downloading firmware through the network and updating or upgrading the firmware recorded in the memory of the modular BMC system.

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