Fault tolerant method and system for multiple servers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016277271-A1
Application number	US-201615073744-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 18, 2016
Priority date	Mar 19, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fault tolerant method for multiple servers includes the following steps: sensing, by each server, a voltage of hardware of the server; receiving, by a cabinet manager, data of an operating state of a blade server and data of a voltage of hardware of each server; reading, by a monitoring server, the data of the operating state of the blade server and the data of the voltage of the hardware of a monitored server, where the data is transmitted by the monitored server in a cabinet manager; determining, by the monitoring server, whether the operating state of the blade server of the monitored server is faulty or whether the voltage of the hardware has no power supply; if the operating state of the blade server of the monitored server is faulty or the voltage of the hardware has no power supply, starting, by the monitoring server, a backup virtual machine; and restarting, by the cabinet manager, a faulty server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A fault tolerant system for multiple servers, wherein the system comprises a first server, a second server, and a cabinet manager, and the first server and the second server monitor each other, wherein
the first server comprises: a first voltage sensor, used to sense a voltage of hardware of the first server; a first virtual machine manager, used to manage an operation of a virtual machine in the first server; and a first monitor, used to read data of an operating state of a blade server of the second server and data of a voltage of hardware of the second server, wherein the data is transmitted by the second server monitored by the first server; determine whether the operating state of the blade server of the monitored second server is faulty or whether the voltage of the hardware has no power supply, and send a backup command to the first virtual machine manager so that the first virtual machine manager starts a backup virtual machine; the second server comprises: a second voltage sensor, used to sense a voltage of hardware of the second server; a second virtual machine manager, used to manage an operation of a virtual machine in the second server; and a second monitor, used to read data of an operating state of a blade server of the first server and data of a voltage of hardware of the first server, wherein the data is transmitted by the first server monitored by the second server; determine whether the operating state of the blade server of the monitored first server is faulty or whether the voltage of the hardware has no power supply, and send a backup command to the second virtual machine manager so that the second virtual machine manager starts the backup virtual machine; and the cabinet manager is used to receive the data of the operating states of the blade servers of the first server and the second server and the data of voltages of the hardware of the two servers, transmit the data to the first server or the second server, and restart the faulty first server or the faulty second server.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first server comprises: a first Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC), used to receive the data of the operating state of the blade server and data of the voltage sensed by the first voltage sensor, transmit the data to the cabinet manager, and receive the data, transmitted by the cabinet manager, of the voltage of the hardware of the second server monitored by the first server; a first Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) module, used to receive the data, transmitted by the first IPMC, of the voltage of the hardware of the second server monitored by the first server; a first fault detection library, used to store the data, transmitted by the first IPMI module, of the voltage of the hardware of the second server monitored by the first server; and the first monitor, used to read the data, in the first fault detection library, of the voltage of the hardware of the second server monitored by the first server; the second server comprises: a second IPMC, used to receive the data of the operating state of the blade server and data of the voltage sensed by the second voltage sensor, transmit the data to the cabinet manager, and receive the data, transmitted by the cabinet manager, of the voltage of the hardware of the first server monitored by the second server; a second IPMI module, used to receive the data, transmitted by the second IPMC, of the voltage of the hardware of the first server monitored by the second server; a second fault detection library, used to store the data, transmitted by the second IPMI module, of the voltage of the hardware of the first server monitored by the second server; and the second monitor, used to read the data, in the second fault detection library, of the voltage of the hardware of the first server monitored by the second server.

3 . The system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a virtual machine image file database, used to store execution data of the virtual machines of the first server and the second server, so that the first server or the second server reads virtual machine execution data corresponding to the backup virtual machine.

4 . A fault tolerant system for multiple servers, wherein the system comprises a first server, a second server, and a cabinet manager, and the first server and the second server monitor each other, wherein
the first server comprises: a first watchdog timer, used to begin countdown from a timing value and send out a timing completion signal when the countdown ends; a first virtual machine manager, used to manage an operation of a virtual machine in the first server; a first watchdog updater, used to send a reset signal to the first watchdog timer after a reset time elapses, to update the first watchdog timer so that the first watchdog timer begins countdown from the timing value; and a first monitor, used to receive the timing completion signal that is transmitted by the second server monitored by the first server, and send a backup command according to the timing completion signal to the first virtual machine manager, so that the first virtual machine manager starts a backup virtual machine; the second server comprises: a second watchdog timer, used to begin countdown from the timing value and send out the timing completion signal when the countdown ends; a second virtual machine manager, used to manage an operation of a virtual machine in the second server; a second watchdog updater, used to send the reset signal to the second watchdog timer after the reset time elapses, to update the second watchdog timer so that the second watchdog timer begins countdown from the timing value; and a second monitor, used to receive the timing completion signal that is transmitted by the first server monitored by the second server, send the backup command according to the timing completion signal to the second virtual machine manager, so that the second virtual machine manager starts the backup virtual machine; and the cabinet manager is used to receive the timing completion signal of the first server and the second server and transmit the timing completion signal to the first server or the second server, and restart the faulty first server or the faulty second server.

5 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein
the first server comprises: a first IPMC, used to receive the timing completion signal sent by the first watchdog timer, transmit the timing completion signal to the cabinet manager, and receive the timing completion signal, transmitted by the cabinet manager, of the second server monitored by the first server; a first IPMI module, used to receive the timing completion signal, transmitted by the first IPMC, of the second server monitored by the first server; and the first monitor, used to receive the timing completion signal, transmitted by the first IPMI module, of the second server monitored by the first server; the second server comprises: a second IPMC, used to receive the timing completion signal sent by the second watchdog timer, transmit the timing completion signal to the cabinet manager, and receive the timing completion signal, transmitted by the cabinet manager, of the first server monitored by the second server; a second IPMI module, used to receive the timing completion signal, transmitted by the second IPMC, of the first server monitored by the second server; and the second monitor, used to receive the timing completion signal, transmitted by the second IPMI module, of the first server monitored by the second server.

6 . The system according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a virtual machine image file database, used to store execution data of the virtual machines of the fir

Assignees

• Univ Nat Central

Inventors

• Wang Wei-Jen
• Liang Deron
• Lee Ching-Hwa

Classifications

• H04L41/0668

  by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure · CPC title

• H04L43/0817 Primary

  by checking functioning · CPC title

• H04L41/0654

  using network fault recovery (ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437) · CPC title

• H04L43/0823 Primary

  Errors, e.g. transmission errors · CPC title

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title