CN102467425A - Method for obtaining fault signal of storage device by using baseboard management controller - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for acquiring a fault signal of a storage device by utilizing a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) comprises the following steps: defining a detector monitored by the BMC, wherein a value of the detector is used for indicating the state of the storage device; converting a storage device fault signal generated by a storage device controller into an electric signal by using a hardware coding means; and reading the electrical signal by the input-output expander and designating a value of the read electrical signal as a value of the detector. The invention utilizes the method that the BMC obtains the fault signal of the storage device to generate an electric signal, lights the corresponding LED group and informs the BMC through the detector. Therefore, the disk failure lighting mechanism controlled by hardware is integrated into the event managed by BMC, so that the management interface is unified and the management efficiency is improved.

Description

Method for Obtaining Fault Signal of Storage Device Using Baseboard Management Controller

technical field

The invention relates to a method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device, in particular to a method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC).

Background technique

With the popularization of computers and the rapid development of network technology, the services that can only be provided by ordinary computers or equipment are not enough, so the server technology has been developed. A server is a computer platform that is good at processing network technology. It can be connected to various network systems and provide various application services to computers connected through the network system. Most servers have large-capacity storage devices to provide services such as multimedia playback, network hard drives, or enterprise databases. It can be seen that the storage device is a very important component in the server, and once a failure occurs, it will cause serious adverse effects on the server and even the services provided to customers.

In order to manage the server, the technology of Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) came into being. The administrator can monitor the server through IPMI and the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) configured in the server. However, after the storage device fails, the current server sends a failure signal through the independently operated hardware and then lights up the light on the server. The failure signal of the storage device is not transmitted to the management software through the intelligent platform management interface. That is to say, the existing fault signal is directly controlled by hardware decoding. Therefore, existing servers cannot integrate parallel fault signals and management mechanisms, nor can they efficiently notify administrators of fault events.

Contents of the invention

In order to solve the above problems, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC). The method for obtaining the failure signal of the storage device by using the BMC is applicable to a server with a BMC and a storage device. The method of using the baseboard management controller to obtain the fault signal of the storage device includes: defining a detector monitored by the BMC, wherein the value of the detector is used to represent the state of the storage device; using a hardware coding method to control a storage device of the storage device A storage device fault signal generated by the device is converted into an electrical signal; and an input/output expander (input/output expander, I/Oexpander) reads the electrical signal, and specifies the value of the read electrical signal as the value of the detector .

According to an implementation example, the hardware coding means may be a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), and the input and output expander reads electrical signals from the CPLD. The storage device controller can monitor the status of the storage device and send a storage device failure to the CPLD accordingly. The storage device controller can send electrical signals to the CPLD through a serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO). The BMC detector can read electrical signals from the input and output expander through the internal integrated circuit bus (inter integrated circuit bus, I2C bus).

In addition, the method for obtaining the failure signal of the storage device by using the BMC may further include: making the CPLD light up (drive) a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) group corresponding to the storage device according to the electrical signal.

According to an embodiment example, the method for obtaining the failure signal of the storage device by using the BMC may also include: executing a storage device management program according to the value of the detector.

Wherein the storage device management program may include: notifying a remote management program connected to the BMC through an Intelligent Platform Management Bus (IPMB). The storage device management program may also include: suspending at least one storage unit of the storage device according to the electrical signal. The storage device may include multiple storage units, and the electrical signals correspond to these storage units.

To sum up, after using the BMC to obtain the fault signal of the storage device to generate an electrical signal, light up the corresponding LED group and notify the BMC through the detector. Therefore, the disk failure lighting mechanism controlled by the hardware is integrated into the events managed by the BMC, so that the management interface can be unified and the management efficiency can be improved.

The present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments, but not as a limitation of the present invention.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a server of an embodiment example;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a baseboard management controller;

3 is a flow chart of another embodiment of a method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a baseboard management controller;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a server in another embodiment.

Among them, reference signs

20 servers

21 Baseboard Management Controller

212 detectors

22 storage device

222, 222a, 222b, 222c storage unit

23 South Bridge

232 storage device controller

25 input and output expanders

24 hardware encoding means

26 LED groups

262, 262a, 262b, 262c LED lights

30 remote computers

32 remote management programs

Detailed ways

The detailed features and advantages of the present invention are described in detail below in the embodiments, the content of which is sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art to understand the technical content of the present invention and implement it accordingly, and according to the content disclosed in this specification, the scope of claims and the drawings , any person skilled in the art can easily understand the related objects and advantages of the present invention.

The invention relates to a method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a baseboard management controller (BMC), which is suitable for a server with a baseboard management controller (BMC) and a storage device.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of a server of an implementation example. Server 20 comprises BMC21, storage device 22 and a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU, not shown) a south bridge (south bridge) 23, wherein south bridge 23 is connected with storage device 22 by a storage device controller 232 sexually connected. The storage device 22 can be, for example, various large-capacity hard disks, or a disk array (redundant array of inexpensive disk, RAID) system. The server 20 can also be connected with a remote computer (remote computer) 30 through the network, and the remote computer 30 can manage the server 20 through a remote management program 32 and BMC 21.

The server 20 can support an intelligent platform management interface (Intelligent Platform Management Interface, IPMI), and run an operating system through the aforementioned hardware. Wherein the server 20 can use operating systems such as Linux of Unix, FreeBSD or Windows (window operating system) Server 2003 of Microsoft (Microsoft), also can be disk operating system (Disk Operating System, DOS) or extensible firmware interface (can be Extensible Firmware Interface, Extensible Firmware Interface, EFI) system. And the server 20 can also be various server products of various brands, which is not limited by the present invention.

In more detail, the intelligent platform management interface is a standard architecture of a server management platform, which includes BMC 21, a system interface (System Interface), a non-volatile storage unit (Non-volatile Storage), an intelligent platform management Bus (Intelligent Platform Management Bus, IPMB) and an intelligent chassis management bus (Intelligent Chassis Management Bus, ICMB) and other five components. And the most important of these is the BMC 21. BMC 21 is like an independent computer, including its own processor, memory and other resources. And the operation of BMC 21 all uses its own resources, and can not occupy other resources of the hardware module of server 20. For example, the remote computer 30 can use the iLO system of Hewlett-Packard (HP), the iDRAC system of Dell (DELL), or the ESB2 system of Intel (Intel).

Please cooperate with FIG. 1 and refer to FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for obtaining a failure signal of a storage device by using a BMC according to an embodiment. First, define a detector (sensor) 212 monitored by the BMC 21, wherein the value of the detector 212 is used to indicate the status of the storage device 22, such as whether it is faulty or not (step S100). The BMC 21 itself may include multiple other detectors to monitor hardware such as the CPU of the server 20, and this detector 212 is additionally defined in step S100.

The storage device controller 232 monitors the status of the storage device 22 at any time; and when the storage device 22 fails, the storage device controller 232 can generate and send a storage device failure signal to a hardware encoding means 24 of the server 20 . Using the hardware encoding means 24, the server 20 converts the storage device failure signal sent by the storage device controller 232 of the storage device 22 into an electrical signal (step S110).

Wherein the hardware encoding means 24 may be a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD). The CPLD can contain multiple programmable logic arrays (Programmable Array Logic, PAL), and is used to realize various operations and combinational logic (combinational logic). The interconnection lines between each PAL can also be planned and programmed programmatically. CPLD uses this all-in-one (All-In-One) integration method, so that it can realize a circuit composed of thousands of logic gates, or even hundreds of thousands of logic gates. However, in this embodiment example, the CPLD is programmed to execute the functions required by the hardware coding means 24 . For example, the CPLD can receive an electrical signal sent by the storage device controller 232 through a serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO), and then recode it into an electrical signal.

Next, the electrical signal is read by an input/output expander (I/O expander) 25, and the value of the read electrical signal is designated as the value of the detector (step S120). That is to say, the input-output expander 25 can read the electrical signal by the CPLD, and the detector 212 of the BMC 21 can read the electrical signal by the input-output expander 25. The BMC 21 and the input/output expander 25 can be connected by an internal integrated circuit bus (I2C bus, I2C bus). The detector 212 periodically reads the electrical signal through the I2C bus, and uses the content of the electrical signal as its own value.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a flowchart of a method for obtaining a failure signal of a storage device by using a BMC according to another embodiment. The method of utilizing the BMC to obtain the fault signal of the storage device can also make the hardware coding module 24 (such as CPLD) light up (that is, drive) a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED) group 26 corresponding to the storage device 22 according to the electrical signal (step S130 ).

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a server. The storage device 22 may include a plurality of storage units 222, such as a storage unit 222a, a storage unit 222b, and a storage unit 222c; and the LED group 26 may include a plurality of LED lights 262 having the same number as the storage units 222, such as an LED light number 262a , LED light number 262b and LED light number 262c. The recoded electrical signals correspond to these storage units 222 and are used to light up the LED lights 262 . Through step S130 , the administrator of the server 20 can easily know the fault condition of the storage device 22 .

The method of obtaining the failure signal of the storage device by using the BMC can execute a storage device management program according to the value of the detector 212 (step S140). The BMC 21 can record the failure event of the storage device 22, and perform follow-up processing according to the storage device management procedure. The storage device management program can suspend at least one faulty storage unit 222 of the storage device 22 according to the electric signal, or notify the remote management program 32 of the remote computer 30 connected to the BMC 21 through the IPMB.

It should be noted that there is no limitation on the execution sequence of step S130 and step S140.

The following is an implementation example of the actual operation of the method for obtaining the failure signal of the storage device by using the BMC.

For example, when the storage unit 222b fails, the storage device controller 232 will accordingly send a storage device failure signal. The hardware encoding means 24 converts the failure signal of the storage device into an electrical signal after receiving it. For example, all the storage units 222 can be represented by a sequence of binary codes, and "0" means normal, and an electrical signal identification of "010" indicates that only the storage unit 222b is faulty. The hardware encoding means 24 then transmits the electrical signal to the I/O expander 25, and lights the LED 262b as a red light according to the "010" electrical signal. The LED lights 262a and 262b corresponding to the storage units 222a and 222b that have not failed can be turned off or kept green to indicate a normal state.

The BMC 21 regularly reads the value of the detector 212, which can also be regarded as reading the value output by the input-output expander 25 through the detector 212. If the values of the detector 212 are all 0, it means everything is normal. And when the BMC 21 receives the electrical signal whose value is not 0, it executes the storage device management program to notify the administrator via the network and the remote computer 30 . In this way, the administrator can repair or replace the faulty storage unit 222b in real time.

To sum up, the method of using the BMC to obtain the fault signal of the storage device uses the hardware coding method to generate an electrical signal, which is not only used to light up the corresponding LED group, but also notifies the BMC through the detector. That is to say, the previously independent hardware-controlled disk failure lighting mechanism is integrated into the events managed by the BMC, so that the management interface can be unified. In this way, it is possible to solve the messy multi-horse-drawn management method of the existing technology, manage the server in a more concise and efficient way, and efficiently notify the administrator when a failure event occurs.

Certainly, the present invention also can have other multiple embodiments, without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, those skilled in the art can make various corresponding changes and deformations according to the present invention, but these corresponding Changes and deformations should belong to the scope of protection of the appended claims of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A method for utilizing a baseboard management controller BMC to obtain a storage device fault signal, suitable for a server having a baseboard management controller BMC and a storage device, characterized in that the baseboard management controller is used to obtain a storage device fault signal The methods include: defining a detector monitored by the BMC, wherein the value of the detector is used to represent the status of the storage device; converting a storage device fault signal generated by a storage device controller of the storage device into an electrical signal by means of a hardware encoding; and The electric signal is read by an input-output expander, and the value of the read electric signal is designated as the value of the detector. 2. The method of utilizing a baseboard management controller to obtain a fault signal of a storage device according to claim 1, wherein the hardware encoding means is a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and the input-output expander is read by the CPLD the electrical signal. 3. The method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a baseboard management controller according to claim 2, wherein the storage device controller monitors the state of the storage device, and accordingly sends the fault signal of the storage device to the CPLD . 4 . The method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a baseboard management controller according to claim 3 , wherein the storage device controller sends the electrical signal to the CPLD through serial general-purpose input and output. 5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The CPLD is made to turn on a light emitting diode group corresponding to the storage device according to the electric signal. 6 . The method for obtaining a failure signal of a storage device by using a BMC according to claim 1 , wherein the detector of the BMC reads the electrical signal from the I/O expander through an internal integrated circuit bus. 7. The method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a baseboard management controller according to claim 1, further comprising: Execute a storage device management program according to the value of the detector. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the storage device management program comprises: A remote management program connected to the BMC through an intelligent platform management bus IPMB is notified. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the storage device management program comprises: Pausing at least one storage unit of the storage device according to the electric signal. 10 . The method for obtaining a fault signal of a storage device by using a baseboard management controller according to claim 1 , wherein the storage device comprises a plurality of storage units, and the electrical signal corresponds to the storage units. 11 . the

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