TW202334778A - Server - Google Patents

Abstract

A server includes an expander board, a hard disk expander, N hard disk backplanes, a cable, and N control units. The cable allows the two resistors on the expander board to be fully or partially electrically connected to the two resistors on each of the hard disk backplanes, so that a value represented by the logic value of two second terminals of the two resistors on each of the hard disk backplanes is different. Each of the control units determines which one of the N groups of hard disks is supported according to the value corresponding to the hard disk backplane, so as to obtain corresponding multiple light signal information of the operation status included by a serial data output signal output by the hard disk expander.

Description

server

The present invention relates to a server, and in particular, to a server having the characteristics of easy maintenance of a hard disk backplane.

As the computing power of processors (CPUs) improves with each passing day and the demand for cloud computing increases, the capacity and number of hard disks that servers can support also increase. It is known that servers that generally support the Intel architecture can provide additional Serial ATA (SATA) ports in addition to the Platform Controller Hub (PCH). (Serial Attached SCSI, hereinafter referred to as SAS) or SATA interface hard drive, you need to use a fault-tolerant disk array (Redundant Array of Independent Disks, hereinafter referred to as RAID) card or SAS expander (Expander) and combine multiple hard drives Backplane to expand the number of hard drives in the system. Therefore, existing servers usually include multiple hard disk backplanes (Hot Swap Hard-disk Backplane, HSBP) to support the system for storing large amounts of data and computing, and generally have hot swapping or hot plugging functions. for the convenience of users. In addition, due to the limitations of the chassis and the versatility of the server configuration, most hard drive backplanes are designed based on small units. For example, each hard drive backplane can support up to Eight 2.5-inch SAS or SATA interface hard drives, and use three of the hard drive backplanes and a single SAS expander to achieve a server that supports up to 24 2.5-inch SAS or SATA interface hard drives.

Taking the aforementioned server supporting 24 SAS hard drives as an example, three control units are respectively installed on the three hard drive backplanes. Each control unit is, for example, a complex programmable logic device (CPLD). . The SAS expander is electrically connected to the three control units on the three hard disk backplanes through a serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO) bus (hereinafter referred to as the SGPIO bus), and A serial data output signal (SDataOut Signal) (hereinafter referred to as SDataOut signal) of the SGPIO bus is used to sequentially transmit the light information of the 24 SAS hard disks. In existing servers, the three control units on the three hard disk backplanes are electrically connected to the same straps corresponding to different soldered components on the three hard disk backplanes through different pins (Strap pins). Codes generated by code circuits (such as headers or jumpers) so that each control unit receives codes that are different from the other two control units on the other two hard disk backplanes. , or use the three control units on the three hard disk backplanes to burn different firmware respectively, so that each control unit can correctly obtain the corresponding sector position from the SDataOut signal. Light information of the 8 SAS hard drives controlled. However, these conventional methods make the three hard disk backplanes with the same printed circuit board different only because the design of some of the soldering components or firmware of the upper parts must be different, and cannot be used interchangeably, which leads to the failure of the server. The inventory of hard drive backplanes needs to be managed separately, making inventory maintenance difficult and therefore a problem to be solved.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a server with the characteristics of easy maintenance of the hard disk backplane.

Therefore, the present invention provides a server that is suitable for N groups of hard disks and includes an expander board, a hard disk expander (Expander), N hard disk backplanes, a cable, and N control units, N is a positive integer.

The expander board is provided with two resistors. The two resistors each include a first terminal and a second terminal. The first terminals of the two resistors are electrically connected to a corresponding first logic terminal. One of the ground and the power supply is configured such that the second terminals of the two resistors are preset to have a voltage level corresponding to the first logic value. The hard disk expander is disposed on the expander board and is used to electrically connect the N sets of hard disks to control the N sets of hard disks, and is connected through a serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO) Row, output a serial data output signal, the serial data output signal sequentially includes a plurality of light information indicating the operating status of the N groups of hard disks.

The N hard disk backplanes respectively correspond to the N groups of hard disks in spatial positions and support each of the N hard disk backplanes. Each hard disk backplane is provided with two resistors. The two resistors include a first terminal and a first Two ends. Wherein, the first ends of the two resistors are electrically connected to the other one of ground and power corresponding to a second logic value, so that the second ends of the two resistors of each hard disk backplane The terminals are all preset to have voltage levels corresponding to the second logic value, N is a positive integer, and the second logic value is different from the first logic value.

The cable includes a source contact group and a plurality of contact groups. The source contact group is electrically connected to the second ends of the resistors on the expander board. The source contact group is respectively connected to the contacts. The point groups are fully or partially electrically connected, and the contact groups respectively correspond to the N groups of hard disks and are used to electrically connect the second ends of the resistors on the corresponding N hard disk backplanes, The combination of the logic values corresponding to the voltage levels of the two second ends of the two resistors on each hard disk backplane represents a value different from the preset combination of the two second logic values. Combining the corresponding values, the N values correspond to the N groups of hard disks respectively.

The N control units are respectively disposed on the N hard disk backplanes, and are electrically connected to the hard disk expander to receive the serial data output signal, and all execute the same firmware program. Each control unit is also electrically connected to the two second ends of the two resistors on the hard disk backplane to obtain the value, and then determines that the N groups of hard disks are supported based on the value. Which group among them, and then obtain the corresponding light information in the serial data output signal.

In some implementations, when the second end of any resistor on the expander board is connected to the source contact set of the cable line and at least one of the contact sets, When the at least one second end of the at least one resistor on the corresponding hard disk backplane is electrically connected, the second end of the resistor on the expander board is electrically connected. The logic value corresponding to the voltage level of the at least one second terminal of the at least one resistor on the at least one hard disk backplane will be changed to the first logic value.

In some implementations, where N=1, 2, and 3, it is defined that the N groups of hard disks are a first group of hard disks to an Nth group of hard disks, and the cable includes two wires, each of which The conductor includes a source contact, and the two source contacts form the source contact group. The contact groups are defined as a first contact group, a second contact group, and a third contact group, respectively. The first contact group to the third contact group respectively correspond to the first group of hard disks to the third group of hard disks.

In some embodiments, the first contact group includes two first contacts, the second contact group includes two second contacts, and the third contact group includes two third contacts. , it is defined that the N values are respectively a first value corresponding to the first group of hard disks to an N-th value corresponding to the Nth group of hard disks, and the different values from the first value to the third value respectively correspond to the two Whether the first contact point to the two third contact points are electrically connected to the two conductors of the cable line respectively.

In some implementations, the two source contacts of the source contact group are electrically connected to one of the contact groups via the two conductors to form a complete electrical connection, and the source contact group Only one of the two source contacts is electrically connected to the other of the contact groups through the corresponding wire to form a partial electrical connection, and only the other one of the two source contacts of the source contact group is One is electrically connected to the other of the contact groups via the corresponding wire to form a partial electrical connection.

In some implementations, the two first ends of the two resistors on the expander board are electrically connected to ground and have a preset low voltage level, thereby jointly causing the expansion The second terminals of the two resistors on the hard disk backplane are also preset to a low voltage level, and the corresponding first logic value is logic 0. Each of the two resistors on the hard disk backplane is The two first ends of the resistor are both electrically connected to the power supply and have a preset high voltage level, and thus the second ends of the two resistors on the expander board are also preset. For a high voltage level, the second logic value corresponding to the bit is logic 1.

In some implementations, the two second ends of the two resistors defined on the expander board are respectively a 0th bit end and a 1st bit end, when N=3 , it is defined that the two second terminals of the two resistors on each hard disk backplane are a 0th bit terminal and a 1st bit terminal respectively. It is defined that the three hard disk backplanes are respectively a first hard disk backplane, a second hard disk backplane, and a third hard disk backplane.

The 0th bit end and the 1st bit end on the first hard disk backplane are respectively electrically connected to the first contact point of the first contact group and the two conductors. The first value of the 0th bit terminal and the 1st bit terminal on the expander board is equal to binary 00, that is, decimal 0.

The first bit terminal on the second hard disk backplane is electrically connected to the expansion port through one of the two second contacts of the second contact group and one of the two conductors. The 1st bit terminal on the computer board and the 0th bit terminal on the second hard disk backplane are electrically connected to the other one of the two second contacts of the second contact group, but Without any one of the two wires being electrically connected, the second value is equal to 01 in binary, which is 1 in decimal.

The 0th bit terminal on the third hard disk backplane is electrically connected to the expansion port through one of the two third contacts of the third contact group and one of the two conductors. The 0th bit terminal on the drive board and the 1st bit terminal on the third hard disk backplane are electrically connected to the other one of the two third contacts of the third contact group, but Without either of the two wires being electrically connected, the third value is equal to 10 in binary, which is 2 in decimal.

In some implementations, each hard disk backplane is further provided with a light-emitting unit electrically connected to the control unit. When N=3, the serial data output signal sequentially includes the light information of the operating status of the first set of hard disks to the third set of hard disks. Each control unit detects the set hard disk. The logic value of the 0th bit end and the 1st bit end on the disk backboard is used to obtain the corresponding value, and when it is determined that the value is equal to one of 00, 01, and 10, the serial number is obtained The data output signal includes the light information of the corresponding operating status of the first set of hard disks to the third set of hard disks, thereby controlling the light-emitting unit to emit light or not to emit light.

The effect of the present invention is that through the design of the cable, the two resistors on the expander board are fully electrically connected or partially electrically connected to the two resistors on each hard disk backplane, thereby making The logic values of the two second ends of the two resistors on each hard disk backplane represent different values, so that the control unit with the same hardware and firmware program can be configured according to the set value. The value corresponding to the hard disk backplane determines which group of the N groups of hard disks is supported, so as to correctly obtain the corresponding operating status of the serial data output signal output by the hard disk expander. Wait for signal information.

Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that in the following description, similar elements are designated with the same numbering.

Referring to Figure 1, an embodiment of the server of the present invention is suitable for N sets of hard disks and includes an expander board 4, a hard disk expander (Expander) 41, N hard disk backplanes, and a cable 5. N control units and N light-emitting units, N is a positive integer. In this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, N=3 and each group of hard disks includes eight hard disks are taken as an example for illustration. The three groups of hard disks are defined as a first group of hard disks 14, a second group of hard disks 24, and a third group of hard disks 34.

The expander board 4 is provided with two resistors 42 and 43. The two resistors 42 and 43 both include a first terminal 421 and a second terminal electrically connected to a first logic value. 422, 432. In this embodiment, each of the first terminals 421 and 431 is electrically connected to ground, that is, the first logic value is logic 0.

The hard disk expander 41 is, for example, a SAS expander, and is disposed on the expander board 4 and is used to electrically connect the N sets of hard disks through N SAS signals S1 to S3 (that is, through corresponding The SAS signals transmitted by the hard disk bus (for example, PCIE/SAS/SATA bus) respectively control the N groups of hard disks (i.e., the first group of hard disks 14 to the third group of hard disks 34), and through a The SGPIO bus S4 outputs an SDataOut signal. The SDataOut signal sequentially includes a plurality of light signal information on the operating status of the first set of hard disks 14 to the third set of hard disks 34 . In more detail, the SGPIO bus S4 includes a SClock signal, an SLoad signal, an SDataIn signal, and the SDataOut signal. The hard disk expander 41 serves as an initiator to transmit the SClock signal and the SLoad signal. , the SDataIn signal, and the SDataOut signal, and receive the SDataIn signal from a destination (Target).

The N hard disk backplanes respectively correspond to the spatial positions and support the N groups of hard disks. That is to say, the three hard disk backplanes are defined as a first hard disk backplane 1 and a second hard disk backplane respectively. board 2, and a third hard disk backplane 3. The first hard disk backplane 1 to the third hard disk backplane 3 provide hot swapping of the first set of hard disks 14 to the third set of hard disks 34 respectively. place settings. Each hard disk backplane is provided with two resistors 12, 13 (or 22, 23, or 32, 33). The two resistors 12, 13 (or 22, 23, or 32, 33) include electrical resistors. Connected to a first terminal 121, 131 (or 221, 231, or 321, 331) corresponding to a second logical value, and a second terminal 122, 132 (or 222, 232, or 322, 332). In this embodiment, each of the first terminals 121, 131, 221, 231, 321, 331 is electrically connected to the power supply, that is, the second logic value is logic 1. The voltage of the power supply is, for example, 3.3 volts, 5 volts, 12 volts, etc., but is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, each of the first terminals 421 and 431 may also be electrically connected to a power supply, that is, the second logic value is logic 1, and each of the first terminals 121, 131, 221, 231, 321 and 331 are electrically connected to ground, that is, the first logic value is logic 0. This is not limiting, as long as the three hard disk backplanes have the same circuit layout, that is to say, each of the three hard disk backplanes has the same circuit layout. Each first end 121, 131, 221, 231, 321, 331 of the hard disk backplane is electrically connected (electrically connected to ground or power), and each of the first ends 121, 131, 221, 231, 321, 331 of the hard disk backplane is electrically connected to the ground or power supply. The electrical connection (electrical connection to ground or power) of the first terminals 121, 131, 221, 231, 321, 331 corresponds to the corresponding first terminal 421, 431 of the expander board 4. Just reverse the electrical nature of the connection (electrical connection to ground or power).

The cable 5 includes a plurality of conductors 51 and 52, a source contact group 53, and a plurality of contact groups. The cable 5 may also include other conductors besides the conductors 51 and 52 for transmitting other signals. The number of contact groups is equal to the maximum number of hard disks that the hard disk expander 41 can support. For example, in this embodiment, when the hard disks supported by the hard disk expander 41 When the number of groups of disks is three, and three groups are also the maximum number of groups, then the number of contact groups is three, and in other embodiments, when the hard disk expander 41 supports The maximum number of groups of hard disks is also three groups, and when the server is configured with a single group or two groups of hard disks, the number of contact groups remains unchanged (that is, equal to three). In addition, in this embodiment, the number of the conductors 51 and 52 is two. Each of the conductors 51 (or 52) includes a source contact 531 (or 532). The two source contacts 531 and 532 form The source contact group 53. The contact point groups are respectively defined as a first contact point group 54, a second contact point group 55, and a third contact point group 56. The first contact point group 54 to the third contact point group 56 respectively correspond to There should be the first group of hard disks 14 to the third group of hard disks 34 .

In this embodiment, the two second terminals 422 and 432 of the two resistors 42 and 43 defined on the expander board 4 are respectively a 0th bit terminal and a 1st bit terminal, and Each of the second terminals 122, 222, 322 of the resistors 12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33 defined on the first hard disk backplane 1 to the third hard disk backplane 3 One and each of the remaining second ends 132, 232, 332 are a 0th bit end and a 1st bit end respectively. The 0th bit terminal and the 1st bit terminal on the first hard disk backplane 1 pass through the two first contacts 541 and 542 of the first contact group 54 and the two wires 51 respectively. , 52 are electrically connected to the 0th bit terminal and the 1st bit terminal on the expander board 4 respectively. That is to say, the two source contacts 531 and 532 of the source contact group 53 are electrically connected to the first contact group 54 (ie, one of the contact groups) through the two conductors 51 and 52 respectively. The two first contacts 541 and 542 form a complete electrical connection.

The first bit end on the second hard disk backplane 2 passes through the second contact 552 of the second contact group 55 (ie, one of the two second contacts 551, 552) and The wire 52 (ie, one of the two wires 51 and 52 ) is electrically connected to the first bit end on the expander board 4 . The 0th bit terminal on the second hard disk backplane 2 is electrically connected to the second contact 551 of the second contact group 55 (ie, the other one of the two second contacts 551 and 552 ), but does not electrically connect any one of the two wires 51, 52. That is to say, only one of the two source contacts 531 and 532 of the source contact group 53 is electrically connected to the second contact group 55 through a corresponding one of the two conductors 51 and 52 (i.e., the One of the contact groups) to form a partial electrical connection.

The 0th bit end on the third hard disk backplane 3 passes through the third contact 561 of the third contact group 56 (ie, one of the two third contacts 561, 562) and The wire 51 (ie, one of the two wires 51 and 52 ) is electrically connected to the 0th bit terminal on the expander board 4 . The first bit terminal on the third hard disk backplane 3 is electrically connected to the third contact 562 of the third contact group 56 (ie, the other one of the two third contacts 561 and 562 ), but does not electrically connect any one of the two wires 51, 52. That is to say, with respect to the source contact group 53 being partially electrically connected to the second contact group 55 , only the other of the two source contacts 531 and 532 of the source contact group 53 passes through the two source contacts 53 . The other one of the conductors 51 and 52 is electrically connected to the third contact group 56 (ie, the other one of the contact groups) to form a partial electrical connection. That is, when the second contact group 55 When the source contact group 53 is electrically connected only through the conductor 51 , the third contact group 56 is electrically connected to the source contact group 53 only through the conductor 52 that is different from the conductor 51 . In other embodiments, on the contrary, when the second contact point group 55 is electrically connected to the source contact point group 53 only through the wire 52, the third contact point group 56 is only electrically connected to the source contact point group 53 through a different The conductor 51 of the conductor 52 is electrically connected to the source contact group 53 . In addition, the complete electrical connection formed by the source contact group 53 and the first contact group 54 and the partial electrical connection formed by the second contact group 55 (or the third contact group 56) are both It includes direct and indirect electrical connections. Direct electrical connection refers to the electrical connection through these wires, and indirect electrical connection refers to the electrical connection through these wires to other connection lines (such as the first hard disk backplane 1 to the third hard disk backplane 3 and other printed circuit boards) for electrical connection.

Through the arrangement of the resistance values of the resistors 42, 12, and 32, in this embodiment, the resistance value of the resistor 42 is 75 ohms, which matches the impedance of the printed circuit board line. The two terminals 122, 222, and 322 are electrically connected to the corresponding control units 11, 21, and 31 respectively, so that the second terminal 422 (ie, the 0th bit terminal) of the resistor 42 on the expander board 4 With the second terminal 122 (ie, the 0th bit terminal) of the resistor 12 on the first hard disk backplane 1 and the third terminal of the resistor 32 on the third hard disk backplane 3 When the two terminals 322 (ie, the 0th bit terminal) are electrically connected, the second terminals 122 and 322 are grounded through the resistor 42. Therefore, the potential of the second terminals 122 and 322 is a low voltage level (for example, is 0 volts), that is to say, the logic values of the second terminals 122 and 322 are equal to the first logic value (that is, logic 0), and the second terminal 222 is not connected to any of the conductors 51 and 52. The electrical connection is therefore not connected to ground via the resistor 42 or the resistor 43, so the logic value of the second terminal 222 is the second logic value (ie logic 1) that is not affected by the first terminal 421 being grounded. Similarly, through the arrangement of the resistance values of the resistors 43, 13, and 23, in this embodiment, the resistance value of the resistor 43 is 75 ohms, which matches the impedance of the printed circuit board line, and The second terminals 132, 232, and 332 are electrically connected to the corresponding control units 11, 21, and 31 respectively, so that the second terminal 432 of the resistor 43 on the expander board 4 (i.e., the first bit terminal) and the second terminal 132 (ie, the first bit terminal) of the resistor 13 on the first hard disk backplane 1 and the resistor 23 on the second hard disk backplane 2 When the second terminal 232 (that is, the first bit terminal) is electrically connected, the second terminals 132 and 232 are grounded through the resistor 43. Therefore, the potential of the second terminals 122 and 322 is 0 volts. , that is to say, the logic values of the second terminals 132 and 232 are equal to the first logic value (ie logic 0), and the second terminal 332 is not electrically connected to the conductors 51 and 52, and therefore does not pass through the resistor. The resistor 42 or the resistor 43 is grounded, so the logic value of the second terminal 332 is the second logic value (ie, logic 1). In addition, it should be noted that in other embodiments, the resistance value of each resistor 12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 42, 43 can also be 10K ohms, 0 ohms or other resistance values, as long as The resistance value of each resistor 12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 42, and 43 is the same. In addition, the resistance value of each resistor 12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 42, 43 It can be implemented with a single resistor element, or it can be composed of multiple resistors to form an equivalent circuit with an equivalent resistance value to the corresponding resistors 12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 42, 43. Implemented to replace each of the resistors 12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 42, 43.

In this embodiment, the two resistors on each hard disk backplane (ie, the first hard disk backplane 1, the second hard disk backplane 2, or the third hard disk backplane 3) 132, 122 (or 232, 222, or 332, 322) of the two second ends of 13, 12 (or 23, 22, or 33, 32) (i.e., the 1st bit end and the 0th bit end The binary value composed of the logical value of ) represents a decimal value, which is a first value (equal to binary 00, that is, decimal 0), and a second value (equal to binary 01, also It is 1 in decimal place), and a third value (equal to 10 in binary place, which is 2 in decimal place).

That is to say, when the second end 422 (or 432) of any resistor 42 (or 43) on the expander board 4 passes through the source contact group 53 and the contact groups of the cable 5 (i.e., at least one of the first contact group 54 to the third contact group 56) is connected to the corresponding at least one hard disk backplane (i.e., the first hard disk backplane 1 to the third hard disk backplane). When the at least one second end 122, 222, 322 (or 132, 232, 332) of the at least one resistor 12, 22, 32 (or 13, 23, 33) on the dish backplane 3) is electrically connected, The logic value of the at least one second terminal of the at least one resistor on the at least one hard disk backplane will be changed to the first logic value. The different values from the first value to the third value respectively correspond to whether the two first contacts 542, 541 to the two third contacts 562, 561 are electrically connected to the two conductors of the cable 5 respectively. 52, 51. In addition, it should be noted that the source contact group 53 of the cable 5 can be implemented by a connector, and the first contact group 54 can be implemented by another connector. The same The second contact point group 55 can be implemented by another connector, and the third contact point group 56 can also be implemented by another connector. The source contact set 53 of the cable 5 is used to connect or plug into another connector provided on the expander board 4 and electrically connected to the two resistors 42 and 43. The other end of the cable 5 The three connectors (that is, the implementation of the three connectors from the first contact group 54 to the third contact group 56) are respectively used to connect the first hard disk backplane 1, There are three other connectors on the second hard disk backplane 2 and the third hard disk backplane 3 .

The three control units 11, 21, and 31 are respectively disposed on the first hard disk backplane 1 to the third hard disk backplane 3, and are electrically connected to the hard disk expander 41 and the SGPIO bus S4. The disk expander 41 communicates with the corresponding three groups of hard disks by electrically connecting the hard disk buses of the three groups of hard disks on the three hard disk backplanes to obtain the operating status of each corresponding hard disk group. . Then, the hard disk expander 41 outputs an SDataOut signal through the SGPIO bus S4 electrically connected to the three control units 11, 21, 31 on the three hard disk backplanes. The SDataOut signal indicates that each group of hard disks Multiple light information on the operating status of discs 14, 24, and 34 at that time. More specifically, the SDataOut signal includes a plurality of light information corresponding to the operating status of the first set of hard disks 14 to the third set of hard disks 34, and the three control units 11, 21, and 31 serve as the respective The destination receives the SDataOut signal through the SGPIO bus S4, and both execute the same firmware program. Since the SDataOut signal received by each control unit 11, 21, 31 includes the operating status corresponding to the first group of hard disks 14 to the third group of hard disks 34 in sequence, and each of the control units 11, 21 , 31 all execute the same firmware program. Therefore, the firmware program executed by each control unit 11, 21, 31 is preset to determine which preset values the value is equal to, thereby determining the three control units 11 , 21, 31 itself supports and corresponds to which group of hard disks. After receiving the SDataOut signal, the three control units 11, 21, 31 will control the hard disk according to the corresponding first contact group 54 and the second contact group respectively. The contact group 55 or the third contact group 56 receives and determines the value to obtain a decoding position corresponding to the value. That is to say, the conductors 51 and 52 of the cable 5 are electrically connected to the source contact group 53 and the first contact group 54, the second contact group 55 and the source contact group 54 using different electrical connection methods. The third contact group 56 enables the three control units 11, 21, and 31 that are electrically connected to the source contact group 53 through the cable 5 to receive combinations of logical values corresponding to different values, thereby causing the three The control units 11, 21, and 31 analyze the respective corresponding values of the three control units 11, 21, and 31 based on the combination of logical values corresponding to different values received by the control units and a numerical decoding position comparison table controlled by the control units 11, 21, and 31. decoding position, and then the three control units 11, 21, and 31 respectively decode the data of the section corresponding to the decoding position in the received SDataOut signal according to the decoding position corresponding to themselves, to obtain the value. The light signal information of the corresponding set of hard disks is obtained, and the light-emitting unit corresponding to the corresponding hard disks is controlled based on the obtained light signal information. Wherein, the decoding position is an address data or an offset section. Each of the light-emitting units 15, 25, 35 includes, for example, at least one light-emitting diode, and is controlled to emit or not emit light to display the set hard disk backplane (i.e., the first hard disk backplane 1 to the operating status of the set of hard disks (ie, the first set of hard disks 14 to the third set of hard disks 34) supported by the third hard disk backplane 3). Each of the light-emitting units 15, 25, 35 may also include a plurality of light-emitting diodes. For example, each three light-emitting diodes correspond to the three operating states of a single hard disk in a group of hard disks, for example, for storage. Depending on the state, existence state, or abnormal state, each of the light-emitting units 15, 25, and 35 may also include two or more light-emitting diodes according to design requirements.

Each control unit 11 (or 21, 31) is, for example, a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and is also electrically connected to the two resistors 12, 13 (or 22, 23, or 32, 33) of the two second terminals 122, 132 (or 222, 232, or 322, 332) to detect the 0th bit terminal and the The logical value of the first bit end is used to obtain the value corresponding to each control unit 11 (or 21, 31) (that is, the first value to the third value, which are binary 00, 01, and 10), to respectively obtain the light information of the corresponding operating status of the first group of hard disks 14 to the third group of hard disks 34 included in the SDataOut signal according to the value, and then control The light-emitting units 15, 25, and 35 flash, emit light, or do not emit light, and even further control the light-emitting units 15, 25, and 35 to emit light in different colors.

For example, the SDataOut signal transmits eight hard disks of the first group of hard disks 14, eight hard disks of the second group of hard disks 24, and eight hard disks of the third group of hard disks 34 in time sequence. A total of twenty-four hard disks have twenty-four light information, and each light information is represented by a three-bit logical value. According to the protocol of the SGPIO bus S4, the SDataOut signal is Each cycle of the SClock signal transmits a bit of logic value, and a total of 72 bits of logic value are required to transmit the twenty-four light signal information. For example, the control unit 21 determines that the second value is equal to 01, and then obtains the logic values of the twenty-fifth to forty-eighth bits in the SDataOut signal according to the timing of the seventy-two bits, and then obtains The light information corresponding to the second group of hard disks 24.

In addition, it should be noted that in other embodiments, the first logical value and the second logical value may also be logical 1 and 0 respectively, or the first contact group 54 to the third contact The electrical connection modes of the group 56 and the two conductors 51 and 52 respectively can also be exchanged with each other, as long as the corresponding first value to the third value and the firmware program of each control unit 11, 21, 31 are The preset values based on which the judgment is based can also be interacted with accordingly. Furthermore, N can also be other complex numbers greater than 3, as long as the number of the conductors 51 and 52 of the cable 5 is increased, and the two resistors on each hard disk backplane are The values represented by the logic values at the two ends are different, and the above-mentioned related designs can be implemented accordingly if corresponding modifications are made.

In summary, through the design of the cable 5, the two resistors on the expander board 4 are fully or partially electrically connected to the two resistors on each hard disk backplane, and thus The logic values corresponding to the voltage levels of the two second ends of the two resistors on each hard disk backplane form different values, so that the hard disk backplanes with the same hardware and The control units 11, 21, and 31 respectively included in the hard disk backplanes and executing the same firmware program determine that the N groups of hard disks are supported based on the values corresponding to the hard disk backplanes set by themselves. Which group among them is used to correctly obtain the light information included in the SDataOut signal output by the hard disk expander 41 that represents the operating status of the corresponding one of the N groups of hard disks. In addition, the N hard disk backplanes (such as the first hard disk backplane 1 to the third hard disk backplane 3 ) and the components provided thereon (such as the N control units, the resistors, the N The hardware of the light-emitting unit) and the firmware programs executed by the control units 11, 21, 31 are all the same, thereby simplifying inventory management and allowing all the hard disk backplanes to be electrically connected to the expander board 4 They can be interchanged and replaced at will and used flexibly. That is to say, when performing inventory management, you only need to prepare the same hard disk backplane for electrically connecting the expander board 4, and the installation or replacement during the maintenance process after a failure will be changed. It is simple and less error-prone, so it can indeed achieve the purpose of the present invention.

However, the above are only examples of the present invention and should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention. All simple equivalent changes and modifications made based on the patent scope of the present invention and the content of the patent specification are still within the scope of the present invention. within the scope covered by the patent of this invention.

1: First hard drive backplane 11, 21, 31: Control unit 12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 42, 43: Resistors 121, 131, 221, 231, 321, 331, 421, 431: first end 122, 132, 222, 232, 322, 332, 422, 432: Second end 14:The first set of hard drives 15, 25, 35: Light-emitting unit 2: Second hard drive backplane 24: The second set of hard drives 3:Third hard drive backplane 34: The third set of hard drives 4:Expander board 41:Hard drive expander 5: Cable wire 51, 52: Wire 53: Source contact group 531, 532: Source contact 54: First contact group 541, 542: first contact 55: Second contact group 551, 552: Second contact 56:Third contact group 561, 562: Third contact S1, S2, S3: SAS signal S4: SGPIO bus

Other features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the embodiments with reference to the drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the server of the present invention.

1~3: Hard drive backplane

11, 21, 31: Control unit

12, 13, 22, 23, 32, 33, 42, 43: Resistors

121, 131, 221, 231, 321, 331, 421, 431: first end

122, 132, 222, 232, 322, 332, 422, 432: Second end

14:The first set of hard drives

15, 25, 35: Light-emitting unit

24: The second set of hard drives

34: The third set of hard drives

4:Expander board

41:Hard drive expander

5: Cable wire

51, 52: Wire

53: Source contact group

531, 532: Source contact

54: First contact group

541, 542: first contact

55: Second contact group

551, 552: Second contact

56:Third contact group

561, 562: Third contact

S1, S2, S3: SAS signal

S4:SGPIO bus

Claims (8)

A server suitable for N sets of hard drives and includes: An expander board is provided with two resistors, each of the two resistors includes a first end and a second end, wherein the first ends of the two resistors are electrically connected to a corresponding first end. One of the ground and the power supply of the logic value, so that the second ends of the two resistors are preset to have a voltage level corresponding to the first logic value; A hard disk expander (Expander) is disposed on the expander board and is used to electrically connect the N sets of hard disks to control the N sets of hard disks, and output a serial A data output signal, the serial data output signal sequentially includes a plurality of light information indicating the operating status of the N groups of hard disks; N hard disk backplanes respectively correspond to and support the N groups of hard disks in spatial positions. Each hard disk backplane is provided with two resistors. The two resistors include a first terminal and a first terminal. Two terminals, wherein the first terminals of the two resistors are electrically connected to the other one of the ground and the power supply corresponding to a second logic value, so that the two resistors of each hard disk backplane The second terminal is preset to have a voltage level corresponding to the second logic value, N is a positive integer, and the second logic value is different from the first logic value; A cable includes a source contact group and a plurality of contact groups. The source contact group is electrically connected to the second ends of the resistors on the expander board. The source contact group is respectively connected to the The contact groups are fully or partially electrically connected. The contact groups respectively correspond to the N groups of hard disks and are used to electrically connect the second ends of the resistors on the corresponding N hard disk backplanes. , so that the combination of the logic values corresponding to the voltage levels of the two second ends of the two resistors on each hard disk backplane represents a value different from the preset two second logic values. The value corresponding to the combination, the N values respectively correspond to the N groups of hard disks; and N control units are respectively installed on the N hard disk backplanes, and are electrically connected to the hard disk expander to receive the serial data output signal, and all execute the same firmware program. Each control unit also Electrically connect the two second ends of the two resistors on the hard disk backplane to obtain the value, and then determine which group of the N groups of hard disks is supported based on the value. , and then obtain the light information corresponding to the set of hard disks supported by the control unit in the serial data output signal based on the value. The server of claim 1, wherein when the second end of any resistor on the expander board passes through the source contact group of the cable line and at least one of the contact groups , and when forming an electrical connection with the at least one second end of the at least one resistor on the corresponding at least one hard disk backplane, forming an electrical connection with the second end of any one of the resistors on the expander board. The logic value corresponding to the voltage level of the at least one second end of the at least one resistor on the connected hard disk backplane will be changed to the first logic value. As in the server described in claim 2, where N=1, 2, 3, it is defined that the N groups of hard disks are a first group of hard disks to an Nth group of hard disks, and the cable includes two wires, Each conductor includes a source contact, and the two source contacts form the source contact group. The contact groups are defined as a first contact group, a second contact group, and a third contact group respectively. point group, the first contact point group to the third contact point group respectively correspond to the first group of hard disks to the third group of hard disks. The server of claim 3, wherein the first contact point group includes two first contact points, the second contact point group includes two second contact points, and the third contact point group includes two second contact points. Three contacts define the N values as a first value corresponding to the first group of hard disks to an N-th value corresponding to the N-th group of hard disks, and the different values from the first value to the third value are respectively Whether the two first contacts to the two third contacts are electrically connected to the two conductors of the cable respectively. The server as described in claim 4, wherein the two source contacts of the source contact group are electrically connected to one of the contact groups via the two wires to form a complete electrical connection, and the source contact Only one of the two source contacts of the source contact group is electrically connected to the other of the contact groups via the corresponding wire to form a partial electrical connection, and one of the two source contacts of the source contact group Only the other one is electrically connected to the other one of the contact groups via the corresponding wire to form a partial electrical connection. The server of claim 5, wherein the two first ends of the two resistors on the expander board are electrically connected to ground and have a preset low voltage level, and thus the associated The second terminals of the two resistors on the expander board are also preset to a low voltage level, and the corresponding first logic value is logic 0. Each resistor on the hard disk backplane The two first terminals of the two resistors are electrically connected to the power supply and have a preset high voltage level, thereby jointly causing the second terminals of the two resistors on the expander board to also They are all preset to a high voltage level, and the second logic value corresponding to the bit is logic 1. The server as described in claim 6, wherein the two second ends of the two resistors defined on the expander board are respectively a 0th bit end and a 1st bit end, when N =3, the two second ends of the two resistors defined on each hard disk backplane are respectively a 0th bit end and a 1st bit end, defining the three hard disk backplanes. The boards are respectively a first hard disk backplane, a second hard disk backplane, and a third hard disk backplane, and the 0th bit end and the 1st bit on the first hard disk backplane The terminals are respectively electrically connected to the 0th bit terminal and the 1st bit terminal on the expander board through the two first contacts and the two wires of the first contact group, and the first The value is equal to 00 in binary, which is 0 in decimal. The first bit terminal on the second hard disk backplane is electrically connected to the expansion port through one of the two second contacts of the second contact group and one of the two conductors. The 1st bit terminal on the computer board and the 0th bit terminal on the second hard disk backplane are electrically connected to the other one of the two second contacts of the second contact group, but Without any electrical connection to either of the two conductors, the second value is equal to binary 01, which is decimal 1, The 0th bit terminal on the third hard disk backplane is electrically connected to the expansion port through one of the two third contacts of the third contact group and one of the two conductors. The 0th bit terminal on the drive board and the 1st bit terminal on the third hard disk backplane are electrically connected to the other one of the two third contacts of the third contact group, but Without either of the two wires being electrically connected, the third value is equal to 10 in binary, which is 2 in decimal. The server as described in claim 7, wherein each hard disk backplane is further provided with a light-emitting unit electrically connected to the control unit. When N=3, the serial data output signal sequentially includes the first The light information of the operating status of one set of hard disks to the third set of hard disks, each control unit detects the 0th bit and the 1st bit on the hard disk backplane. The logical value of the terminal is obtained to obtain the corresponding value, that is, one of the binary 00, 01, and 10, so as to obtain the first group of hard disks included in the serial data output signal according to the corresponding values. to the corresponding operating status of the third group of hard disks, thereby controlling the corresponding light-emitting unit to emit light or not to emit light.