Node interconnection apparatus, resource control node, and server system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10310756-B2
Application number	US-201615296054-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2016
Priority date	May 22, 2014
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments of the application provide a node interconnection apparatus, a resource control node, and a server system. The node interconnection apparatus includes a computing node and a resource control node, and a device interconnection interface connecting the two. Each of the computing node and the resource control node comprises a processing unit and a memory, and the resource control node further comprises a resource interface for connecting with one or more storage devices. The resource control node manages storage resources of the storage devices, and when a storage resource is required by the computing node in performing a computing task, the resource control node allocates the storage resource in the storage devices for the computing node. The computing node can be powered off to save the energy, while the resource control node remains powered on, so that the access to the storage devices is not affected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A node interconnection apparatus, comprising:
a computing node, a resource control node, and a device interconnection interface connecting the computing node and the resource control node;
wherein each of the computing node and the resource control node comprises a processing unit and a memory, and the resource control node further comprises a storage interface for connecting to a local storage device and a network interface for connecting to a network storage device via an Ethernet;
wherein the resource control node is configured to manage storage resources of the storage devices, and when a storage resource is required by the computing node in performing a computing task, the resource control node is configured to allocate the storage resource in one or both of the storage devices for the computing node; and
wherein the device interconnection interface is a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface.

2. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in managing the storage resources of the storage devices, the resource control node is configured to:
form a shared storage resource of storage devices connected with the storage interface and the network interface, wherein the shared storage resource comprises multiple physical storage blocks; and
form one or more virtual disks from the multiple physical storage blocks, and wherein in allocating the storage resource for the computing node, the resource control node is configured to:
allocate at least one virtual disk to the computing node.

3. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein in forming one or more virtual disks from the multiple physical storage blocks, the resource control node is further configured to:
allocate a logical address to each virtual disk; and
record a correspondence between the logical address of the virtual disk and a physical address of the virtual disk,
wherein the physical address of the virtual disk corresponds to addresses of the physical storage blocks that form the virtual disk.

4. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a primary power device for supplying electrical power,
wherein the primary power device is configured to directly supply power to the resource control node, and supply power to the computing node via a power switch;
and wherein when the node interconnection apparatus is powered on, the primary power device supplies the power to the resource control node first, and then to the computing node.

5. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the resource control node is further configured to:
after the resource control node is powered on, control the power switch to close a power supply circuit between the primary power device and the computing node, so that the computing node is powered on.

6. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein after the computing node is powered on, the resource control node is further configured to control the power switch to open the power supply circuit between the primary power device and the computing node, so that the computing node is powered off.

7. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the resource control node further comprises a baseboard management controller,
wherein the baseboard management controller is connected to an energy saving management server,
wherein the energy saving management server sends a computing node power-on instruction after it is determined that the resource control node is powered on, and
the baseboard management controller is configured to receive the computing node power-on instruction, and control the power switch to close a power supply circuit between the primary power device and the computing node, so that the computing node is powered on.

8. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein after the computing node is powered on, the baseboard management controller is further configured to receive a computing node power-off instruction from the energy saving management server, and control the power switch to open the power supply circuit between the primary power device and the computing node, so that the computing node is powered off.

9. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a primary power device, configured to supply power to the resource control node and the computing node;
wherein after the resource control node and the computing node are powered on, and before the resource control node is started, the computing node obtains startup mode information, and enters a power saving mode of a basic input/output system (BIOS) according to the startup mode information.

10. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the startup mode information is preset in the resource control node, and the computing node obtains the startup mode information when scanning the resource control node by using the device interconnection interface during startup, wherein:
the startup mode information is preset to a fixed value or a conditional value, the fixed value is the power saving mode of the BIOS, and the condition value is that the power saving mode of the BIOS is used when the resource control node is not started, and a boot mode of the BIOS is used when the resource control node is started.

11. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein when the startup mode information preset in the resource control node is the fixed value, the resource control node is further configured to: after being started, update the startup mode information with the boot mode of the BIOS, and instruct the computing node to restart; and
the computing node is further configured to restart according to a restart instruction of the resource control node, obtain the updated startup mode information, enter the boot mode of the BIOS according to the updated startup mode information, and start an operating system of the computing node.

12. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein when the startup mode information preset in the resource control node is the conditional value, the computing node is further configured to: detect a status of the resource control node; when detecting that the resource control node is in an unstarted state, enter the power saving mode of the BIOS; and when detecting that the resource control node is in a started state, enter the boot mode of the BIOS, and start an operating system of the computing node.

13. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein after the computing node starts the operating system, the computing node is further configured to receive an energy saving operation instruction from an energy saving management server, and enter an energy saving mode of the operating system according to the energy saving operation instruction.

14. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein after being started, the resource control node is further configured to prepare operating system startup information for the computing node by using the storage interface or the network interface; and
during startup of the computing node, the computing node is further configured to obtain, by using the resource control node, the operating system startup information prepared by the resource control node, and start the operating system of the computing node according to the operating system startup information.

15. The node interconnection apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein after the computing node is powered off o

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yu Baifeng
• Yu Zhou
• Gu Jiongjiong

Classifications

• G06F1/3203

  Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06F1/3275

  Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache · CPC title

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F9/4401

  Bootstrapping (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title