TW201715331A - Server and method for auto repairing a baseboard management controller - Google Patents

Abstract

A server includes a baseboard management controller (BMC), a controller chipset and a basic input/output system (BIOS). The BMC has a reset pin for receiving a reset signal to perform a power reset. The controller chipset is electrically connected to the reset pin of the BMC and the BIOS. The BIOS, while performing the power-on self test, periodically sends an inquiry signal via the controller chipset to the BMC. Then the BIOS wait for a response signal to be sent from the BMC; if no response signal is received, the BIOS performs the power reset for the BMC by sending the reset signal through the controller chipset to the BMC.

Description

Server and method for automatically repairing substrate management controller

The invention relates to a system and a method for automatically repairing electronic materials, in particular to a server and a method for automatically repairing a substrate management controller.

The existing Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) is applicable to servers and supports the industry standard of Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) to monitor the status of hardware devices on the server board. Such as ambient temperature, fan speed, power supply, etc. However, when an abnormality occurs in the substrate management controller, such as a system function crash or a hardware problem, the prior art needs to send a manpower to the server to check the heartbeat light of the baseboard management controller when the light is not lit. At this time, the personnel judged that the baseboard management controller has crashed and repaired, which not only increases the maintenance time but also labor costs, and thus becomes an important issue to be solved.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a server.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic A method of repairing the substrate management controller.

Thus, the server of the present invention includes a substrate management controller, a control chip set, and a basic input and output unit.

The baseboard management controller has a reset port that receives a reset signal to reset the power supply.

The control chip set is electrically coupled to the reset port of the substrate management controller.

The basic input/output unit is electrically connected to the control chip set, and when the power is turned on, sends an inquiry command to the base management controller via the control chip set, and determines whether a reply command from the baseboard management controller is received. If not, the basic input/output unit sends a reset signal via the control chipset to the reset management port of the baseboard management controller to reset the power of the baseboard management controller.

Furthermore, the method for automatically repairing the substrate management controller of the present invention comprises a step (A), a step (B), a step (C), and a step (D).

This step (A) is that the server is powered on.

The step (B) is that the basic input/output unit issues an inquiry command via the control chip set to the substrate management controller.

The step (C) is that the basic input/output unit determines whether a reply command from the baseboard management controller is received.

The step (D) is that if the determination result of the step (C) is negative, the basic input/output unit issues a reset signal via the control chip set to the substrate management controller.

The effect of the present invention is that when the basic input/output unit queries the baseboard management controller but does not receive a reply when the server is powered on, the basic input/output unit resets the power of the baseboard management controller. This achieves the effect of automatic maintenance, which saves manpower and shortens inspection time.

1‧‧‧Baseboard Management Controller

2‧‧‧Control chipset

3‧‧‧Basic input and output unit

4‧‧‧Internal integrated circuit bus interface

A~J‧‧‧ steps

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the embodiments of the present invention, wherein: Figure 1 is a system block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the server of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating An embodiment of the method of the present invention for automatically servicing a substrate management controller.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a server of the present invention includes a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) 1, a control chip set 2, a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) 3, and An Inter-Integrated Circuit Bus (I ² C Bus) 4 is integrated.

The substrate management controller 1 has a reset pin that receives a reset signal to reset the power supply, and a ready pin that outputs an initialization indication signal. The initialization indication signal is preset to a non-ready potential before the substrate management controller has completed initialization, and is converted to a ready potential after the substrate management controller 1 is initialized.

The control chip set 2 has a plurality of general-purpose input/output pins (GPIO pins), wherein one common input/output port is electrically connected to the reset switch of the substrate management controller 1, and another general-purpose input and output The battery is connected to the ready state of the baseboard management controller 1 to receive the initialization indication signal. In this example, the control chipset 2 is implemented as a Platform Controller Hub (PCH).

The basic input/output unit 3 is electrically connected to the control chip set 2 through a Serial Peripheral Interface Bus (SPI), and determines whether the baseboard management controller 1 is ready for initialization within a boot preparation time. In the present embodiment, the basic input/output unit 3 communicates with the baseboard management controller 1 via a smart platform management interface command (IPMI command) via the control chip set 2. The boot preparation time refers to the period of time after the server is powered on until the basic input/output unit 3 starts to perform a power-on self test (POST), and the length of the boot preparation time is set. It mainly depends on when the substrate management controller 1 sends an initialization indication signal, which is generally about sixty seconds to ninety seconds.

The internal integrated circuit bus interface 4 electrically connects the substrate management controller 1 and the control chip set 2 to transmit a smart platform management interface command between the substrate management controller 1 and the control chip set 2.

Referring to Figure 2, the method of automatically servicing the substrate management controller of the present invention is implemented in the server shown in Figure 1. The various steps of the method are described in detail below.

First, in step A, the server is powered on.

Next, in step E, the basic input/output unit 3 reads an initialization indication signal from the substrate management controller 1 via the control chip set 2 during the boot preparation time to determine whether the baseboard management controller 1 is initialized. Ready. In more detail, the basic input/output unit 3 reads the initialization indication signal every one second interval, and determines whether the baseboard management controller 1 is changed according to whether the initialization indication signal is changed from the not ready potential to the ready potential. Whether initialization is ready. If the determination is YES, the process proceeds directly to step B. If the determination is no, the process proceeds to step F.

Next, in step F, the basic input/output unit 3 determines whether the power-on preparation time reaches an upper limit of the power-on preparation time. If it is not greater than the upper limit of the power-on preparation time of the basic input/output unit 3, return to step E, and continuously read the initialization indication signal to determine whether the baseboard management controller 1 is initialized or not; if the power-on preparation time limit has been exceeded (for example, Ninety seconds), even if the baseboard management controller 1 is not initialized, it goes directly to step B. As a result, although the baseboard management controller 1 has a system function collapse or a hardware problem, so that the initialization indication signal is not changed to the ready level, the basic input/output unit 3 continues the boot process.

Next, in step B, the basic input/output unit 3 starts performing the power-on self-detection, and at this time issues an inquiry command via the control chip set 2 to the substrate management controller 1. The inquiry command can be implemented by inquiring the instruction of the baseboard management controller 1 version information.

Next, in step C, the basic input/output unit 3 judges Whether or not a reply command from the substrate management controller 1 is received to confirm whether the substrate management controller 1 is alive. The reply command is the version information returned by the baseboard management controller 1. If the determination in the step C is YES, the process proceeds to the step G; if the determination in the step C is NO, the process proceeds to the step D.

In step D, if the basic input/output unit 3 does not receive the reply command of the substrate management controller 1 in step C, it is determined that the baseboard management controller 1 is not alive and cannot operate normally, and the basic input and output are provided. The unit 3 issues the reset signal via the control chipset 2 to the reset port of the substrate management controller 1 to reset the power of the substrate management controller 1.

Next, in step J, the substrate management controller restarts itself after receiving the reset signal, and re-enters step E, and the basic input/output unit 3 determines whether the baseboard management controller 1 is ready for initialization. Therefore, by the inspection mechanism of the basic input/output unit 3, when the substrate management controller 1 cannot operate normally, it is not necessary to judge the operation condition by the human power inspection lamp number, and the basic input/output unit 3 directly restarts the substrate management. Controller 1 saves labor costs and shortens maintenance time.

In step G, if the basic input/output unit 3 receives the reply command from the substrate management controller 1 in step C, the basic input output unit 3 waits for a predetermined time and proceeds to step H.

Next, in step H, the basic input/output unit 3 determines whether the boot self-detection performed is finished, and if the basic input/output unit 3 determines that the boot self-detection phase is still in progress, returns to step B, and Step B, step C, and step G are repeated, that is, the basic input/output unit 3 periodically repeats the inquiry command every time the predetermined time is elapsed during the startup self-detection process to confirm the substrate management. Controller 1 has been initialized and remains alive. If the basic input/output unit 3 judges that the power-on self-detection phase has ended, it proceeds to step I.

Next, in step I, the basic input/output unit 3 completes the power-on self-detection, that is, the handover system control right to the operating system.

In summary, when the server is powered on, the basic input/output unit 3 reads the initialization indication signal at the power-on preparation time to determine whether the baseboard management controller 1 is initialized and ready for self-detection. The interrogation command is periodically repeated periodically to confirm that the baseboard management controller 1 has been initialized and remains alive. If the reply command of the baseboard management controller 1 is not received, the basic input/output unit 3 issues the reset signal to the reset switch of the baseboard management controller 1, and resets the power of the baseboard management controller 1. Thereby, the effect of the automatic inspection is achieved, thereby saving labor and shortening the inspection time, so that the object of the present invention can be achieved.

The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, that is, the simple equivalent changes and modifications made by the patent application scope and patent specification content of the present invention, All remain within the scope of the invention patent.

1‧‧‧Baseboard Management Controller

2‧‧‧Control chipset

3‧‧‧Basic input and output unit

4‧‧‧Internal integrated circuit bus interface

Claims (8)

A server includes: a substrate management controller having a reset port for receiving a reset signal to reset the power; a control chip set electrically connected to the reset switch of the base management controller; and a basic input The output unit electrically connects the control chip set, and when the power-on is started to perform a power-on self-test, sends an inquiry command to the baseboard management controller via the control chipset, and determines whether the slave management controller is received. A reply command, if not, the basic input/output unit issues the reset signal via the control chipset to the reset of the substrate management controller to reset the power of the substrate management controller. The server of claim 1, wherein if the basic input/output unit determines that the reply command from the baseboard management controller is received, the basic input/output unit waits for a predetermined time to determine the booting performed. Whether the self-test is over, if not, the inquiry command is repeated. The server of claim 1, wherein the baseboard management controller further has a ready output for outputting an initialization indication signal, and the control chip set is electrically connected to the ready management of the baseboard management controller to receive the initialization indication signal. The basic input/output unit reads an initialization indication signal from the baseboard management controller via the control chipset during a boot preparation time before the boot self-detection is performed. According to the determination whether the baseboard management controller is initialized, if yes, the basic input/output unit issues the inquiry command, and if not, the basic input/output unit determines whether the power-on preparation time reaches an upper limit of the power-on preparation time, and if so, Issue the inquiry command. The server of claim 3, wherein the initialization indication signal is preset to a non-ready potential, and is converted to a ready potential after the substrate management controller is initialized, wherein the basic input/output unit is initialized according to the initialization Whether the indication signal is changed from the not ready potential to the ready potential to determine whether the baseboard management controller is initialized or not. The server of claim 1, further comprising: an internal integrated circuit bus interface, electrically connecting the control chip set and the substrate management controller to transmit an inquiry command from the control chip set to the substrate management control And transmitting a reply command from the baseboard management controller to the control chipset. A method for automatically repairing a substrate management controller is performed by a server, the server comprising a substrate management controller, a control chip set electrically connected to the substrate management controller, and a basic input electrically connected to the control chip set The output unit, the method for automatically repairing the baseboard management controller comprises: (A) the server is powered on; (B) the basic input/output unit performs a power-on self-test, and sends an inquiry command to the control chip set to the Substrate management controller; (C) the basic input/output unit determines whether a reply command from the baseboard management controller is received; and (D) if the determination result of the step (C) is negative, the basic input/output unit issues a reset signal via The control chipset is to the substrate management controller. The method for automatically repairing the substrate management controller according to claim 6, further comprising: (G) if the determination result of the step (C) is YES, the basic input/output unit waits for a predetermined time, and (H) the basic input and output The unit determines whether the power-on self-test performed is completed, and if not, repeats step (B). The method for automatically repairing the substrate management controller according to claim 6, further comprising the step (E) and the step (F) after the step (A): (E) the basic input/output unit before performing the boot self-detection During the power-on preparation time, it is determined whether the baseboard management controller is initialized or not, and if the determination is yes, the process proceeds to step (B); and (F) if the determination result of the step (E) is negative, the basic input/output unit It is judged whether the boot preparation time reaches an upper limit of the boot preparation time, and if otherwise, returns to the step (E), and if yes, proceeds to the step (B).