Data center management with rack-controllers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10404523-B2
Application number	US-201615366554-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2016
Priority date	Mar 9, 2015
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

Provided is a process, including: receiving, with a rack-controller, via a first network, an application program interface (API) request; based on the API request, selecting, with the rack-controller, one of a plurality of routines to effectuate control via the second network of at least some of the plurality of rack-mounted computing devices; executing, with the rack-controller, the selected routine and, as a result, sending one or more commands via the second network encoded in a second protocol different from the first protocol to effectuate an action indicated by the API request.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a rack-controller effectuate operations to control a plurality of rack-mounted computing devices, the operations comprising:
receiving, with the rack-controller, via a first network, at least two application program interface (API) requests, wherein:
the rack-controller is configured to control the plurality of rack-mounted computing devices mounted in a plurality of different rack units of one or more racks;
the rack-controller is configured to control the rack-mounted computing devices via a second network of one or more out-of-band networks distinct from an in-band network with which data is conveyed between rack-mounted computing devices or between rack-mounted computing devices and the internet and different from the first network;
the rack-controller includes a gateway between the first network and the second network; and
the at least two API requests are encoded in a first protocol;

based on a first one of the API requests, selecting, with the rack-controller, a first one of a plurality of routines to effectuate control via the second network of a first group of the plurality of rack-mounted computing devices, the plurality of routines including:
a first routine that reads a sensor via the second network on one of the rack-mounted computing devices;
a second routine that reads a sensor via the second network on the rack but not on one of the rack-mounted computing devices;
a third routine that scans computing devices on the second network and produces an inventory of the scanned computing devices on the second network;
a fourth routine by which a configuration of an extensible firmware interface (EFI) of a given one of the rack-mounted computing device is adjusted; and
a fifth routine by which a rack-mounted computing device is power cycled;

based on a second one of the API requests, selecting, with the rack-controller, a second one of the plurality of routines to effectuate control via the second network of a second group of the plurality of rack-mounted computing devices, wherein the second selected routine is the fifth routine; and
executing, with the rack-controller,
the first selected routine and, as a result, sending one or more commands via the second network encoded in a second protocol different from the first protocol to effectuate an action indicated by the first API request, and
the second selected routine, and, as a result, sending one or more commands via the second network encoded in a third protocol different from the first protocol to power cycle the second group of the plurality of rack-mounted computing devices, receiving via the second network one or more power-on-self-test (POST) codes, and sending via the first network an indication of the one or more POST codes.

2. The medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the rack-controller is an out-of-band computer having an operating system stored in persistent memory;
the rack-controller is coupled to a rack in which the rack-mounted computing devices are disposed;
the number of rack-mounted computing devices controlled by the rack-controller exceeds seven;
the rack-controller is not on the in-band network;
the first network is an out-of-band Ethernet network;
the second network comprises a direct-current (DC) power-line network with which both power and data are conveyed via a DC power bus;
the first protocol is a hypertext transport protocol and the API is a representational state transfer API;
the sensor read by the first routine is a temperature sensor;
the configuration of the EFI specifies a boot device of the given rack-mounted computing device;
at least some of the routines do not use a baseboard management controller of the rack-mounted computing devices;
the first selected routine is the first routine; and
executing, with the rack-controller, the first selected routine comprises:
receiving, with the rack-controller, a response from the temperature sensor in units other than units of temperature;
converting, with the rack-controller, the response into units of temperature; and
sending, with the rack-controller, via the first network, an HTTP response including the converted response in units of temperature.

3. The medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the second network connects a control plane of a rack over which a plurality of servers mounted in the rack are controlled; and
the first network is an out-of-band network over which a data center is managed based on workload and environmental data gathered from a plurality of racks via a plurality of respective instances of the first network.

4. The medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the first selected routine is the third routine; and
executing, with the rack-controller, the first selected routine comprises:
sending, with the rack-controller, via the second network, to each device on the second network, a command to send an identifier; and
receiving, with the rack-controller, during each of a plurality of durations of time reserved for respective ones of the devices to use a shared physical medium of the second network, an identifier from the respective devices.

5. The medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the first selected routine is the third routine; and
executing, with the rack-controller, the first selected routine comprises:
sending, with the rack-controller, via the second network, and a modem coupled a mid-plane of a server, a command to a computing device coupled to the server and the modem, the command causing the computing device to execute a scan of other computing devices coupled to a system management bus of server; and
receiving, with the rack-controller, from the modem, via the second network, identifiers of at least some computing devices detected in scan.

6. The medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the first selected routine is the fourth routine; and
executing, with the rack-controller, the first selected routine comprises:
receiving, with the rack-controller, via the first network, a new version of the EFI;
sending, with the rack-controller, via the second network, the new version of the EFI to a given one of the rack-mounted computing devices and instructions to store the new version of the EFI at given boot target of a plurality of candidate boot targets of the given one of the rack-mounted computing devices;
sending, with the rack-controller, via the second network, to the given rack-mounted computing device, an instruction to change a boot target of the EFI to the given boot target; and
sending, with the rack-controller, via the second network, an instruction to reboot the given one of the rack-mounted computing devices.

7. The medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the first selected routine is the fourth routine; and
executing, with the rack-controller, the first selected routine comprises:
changing a boot target of an EFI of at least one of the rack-mounted computing devices without making the change via an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) of at least one of the rack-mounted computing devices.

8. The medium of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
gathering, with the rack-controller, via the second network, agentless monitoring metrics from each of the rack-mounted computing devices, the metrics including processor utilization of the respective rack-mounted computing devices.

9. The medium of claim 8 , wherein:
the agentless monitoring metrics are not reported by an operating system or a process running within the operating system of the rack-mounted computing devices, and wherein the metrics include memory utilization and an indication of processor temperature.

10. T

Assignees

• Vapor Io Inc

Inventors

• Cencini Andrew Brian
• White Steven
• Crawford Cole Malone

Classifications

• H05K7/20745

  within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device · CPC title

• H05K7/20145

  Means for directing air flow, e.g. ducts, deflectors, plenum or guides · CPC title

• H05K7/1497

  Rooms for data centers; Shipping containers therefor · CPC title

• G06F1/189 Primary

  Power distribution · CPC title

• G06F1/26

  Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) · CPC title