Determining server location in a data center

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10164837-B2
Application number	US-201615180423-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2016
Priority date	Jun 25, 2015
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments generally relate to a method and device of determining a location of a server in a data center by establishing a relationship between a rack unit where each server of the data center is located and a port of a switch and determining the rack unit where the server is located based on a port of a switch connected to the server and the established relationship, and determining a location of the rack unit where the server is located based on relative positions of the switch connected to the server and a plurality of reference points.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining a location of a server in a data center, the method comprising:
establishing a relationship between a rack unit where each server of the data center is located and a port of a switch;
determining the rack unit where the server is located based on the port of the switch connected to the server and an established relationship;
determining a location of the rack unit where the server is located based on relative positions of the switch connected to the server and a plurality of reference points; and
wherein determining the rack unit where the server is located based on a port of a switch connected to the server and an established relationship comprises:
determining the port via which the server is connected to the switch based on the port identifier in a communication protocol used between the server and the port of the switch; and
determining the port via which the server is connected to the switch based on a port identifier included in a predetermined type-length-value of a Link Layer Discovery Protocol used between the server and the port of the switch, wherein the predetermined type-length-value comprises a Port ID.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switch comprises a top of rack switch.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server is determined based on a media access control address.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing a relationship between the rack unit where each server of the data center is located and a port of a switch comprises:
associating each server with a port having a port identifier corresponding to the rack unit where the each server is located.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a geographic location of the data center based on the communication protocol used between the server and the switch; wherein determining the geographic location of the data center comprises:
determining the geographic location of the data center based on the type-length-value in the Link Layer Discovery Protocol used between the server and the switch, and the type-length-value comprises a Chassis ID.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the location of the rack unit where the server is located based on relative positions of the switch connected to the server and a plurality of reference points comprises:
determining distances between the switch and the plurality of reference points; and
determining the location of the rack unit based on the determined distances.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining distances between the switch and the plurality of reference points comprises:
determining distances between the switch and the plurality of reference points based on attenuation of signals of transmitters at the plurality of reference points, wherein the signals are received by the switch, and the transmitter comprises a WiFi access point.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining distances between the switch and the plurality of reference points based on attenuation of signals of transmitters at the plurality of reference points comprises:
determining the distances between the switch and the plurality of reference based on an International Telecommunication Union indoor propagation model.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the location of the rack unit based on the determined distances comprises:
determining the location of the rack unit using a multi-lateration algorithm.

10. A device of determining a location of a server in a data center, the device configured to:
establish a relationship between a rack unit where each server of the data center is located and a port of a switch;
determine the rack unit where the server is located based on the port of the switch connected to the server and an established relationship;
determine a location of the rack unit where the server is located based on relative positions of the switch connected to the server and a plurality of reference points; and
determine the port via which the server is connected to the switch based on the port identifier in a communication protocol used between the server and the port of the switch; and
determine the port via which the server is connected to the switch based on a port identifier included in a predetermined type-length-value of a Link Layer Discovery Protocol used between the server and the port of the switch, wherein the predetermined type-length-value comprises a Port ID;
wherein the device includes one or more processors and memory.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the switch comprises a top of rack switch.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the server is determined based on a media access control address.

13. The device of claim 10 , further configured to
associate each server with a port having a port identifier corresponding to the rack unit where the each server is located.

14. The device of claim 10 , further configured to:
determine a geographic location of the data center based on the communication protocol used between the server and the switch; wherein determining the geographic location of the data center comprises:
determine the geographic location of the data center based on the type-length-value in the Link Layer Discovery Protocol used between the server and the switch, and the type-length-value comprises a Chassis ID.

15. The device of claim 10 , further configured to:
determine distances between the switch and the plurality of reference points; and
determine the location of the rack unit based on the determined distances.

16. The method of claim 15 , further configured to:
determine distances between the switch and the plurality of reference points based on attenuation of signals of transmitters at the plurality of reference points, wherein the signals are received by the switch, and the transmitter comprises a WiFi access point.

17. The device of claim 16 , further configured to:
determine the distances between the switch and the plurality of reference based on an International Telecommunication Union indoor propagation model.

18. A computer program product comprising: a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executable program code, wherein the code enables execution across one or more processors to
establish a relationship between a rack unit where each server of the data center is located and a port of a switch;
determine the rack unit where the server is located based on the port of the switch connected to the server and an established relationship;
determine a location of the rack unit where the server is located based on relative positions of the switch connected to the server and a plurality of reference points; and
wherein determining the rack unit where the server is located based on a port of a switch connected to the server and an established relationship comprises:
determining the port via which the server is connected to the switch based on the port identifier in a communication protocol used between the server and the port of the switch; and
determining the port via which the server is connected to the switch based on a port identifier included in a predetermined type-length-value of a Link Layer Discovery Protocol used between the server and the port of the switch, wherein the predetermined type-length-value comprises a Port ID.

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Peng Layne Lin
• Chen Jing
• Zeng Jie
• Lin Lynn Xin

Classifications

• H04W4/33 Primary

  for indoor environments, e.g. buildings · CPC title

• H04W4/04

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04L41/12 Primary

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• Y02D30/30

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic