Systems and methods for scalable storage management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9377967-B2
Application number	US-47318009-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2009
Priority date	May 27, 2009
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods for management of scalable storage architectures are disclosed. The system includes one or more storage backplanes, each storage backplane configured to interface with one or more hard disk drives. The system includes a baseboard management controller, which includes an interface to communicate with one or more of the storage backplanes and programmable logic configured to detect the presence of one or more hard disk drives in an interfaced storage backplane and control one or more status indicators, wherein each status indicator is related to at least one of the hard disk drives in the interfaced storage backplane.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information handling system comprising:
one or more storage controllers;
a plurality of storage backplanes, each storage backplane configured to interface with one or more hard disk drives; and
a baseboard management controller coupled to the one or more storage controllers, wherein the baseboard management controller comprises a virtualized storage enclosure processor, and wherein the baseboard management controller includes:
an interface to communicate with the at least two storage backplanes, wherein the interface receives a value of the one or more cable select lines; and

a processor that executes one or more commands to:
communicate with at least one of the one or more storage controllers using a storage enclosure services protocol;
cause the interface to select one or more hard disk present signals;
detect and store a status associated with each of the one or more cable select lines, wherein the status is received from the one or more storage controllers;
receive and store a hard disk present signal from the interface;
detect the presence of one or more hard disk drives in an interfaced storage backplane by accessing a first register communicably coupled to the interfaced storage backplane; and
control one or more status indicators through a second register communicably coupled to the interfaced storage backplane, wherein each status indicator is related to at least one of the hard disk drives in the interfaced storage backplane, and wherein the first register and the second register share a common sync.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
wherein the one or more of the storage controllers communicate with the baseboard management controller by in-band signaling.

3. The information handling system of claim 2 , wherein the in-band signaling is performed over a PCI express bus.

4. The information handling system of claim 2 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
communicate with the one or more of the storage controllers using the Management Component Transport Protocol.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the interface to communicate with one or more of the storage backplanes comprises a serial general input/output interface.

6. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
control, by the interface, a register to select the one or more hard disk present signals.

7. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
control the operation of an online LED, wherein the online LED is indicative of a state of one or more hard disk drives in one of the storage backplanes.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
control the operation of a fault LED, wherein the fault LED is indicative of a state of one or more hard disk drives in one of the storage backplanes.

9. The information handling system of claim 1 ,
wherein the value of the one or more cable select lines is received from the one or more storage controllers.

10. A baseboard management controller for managing a plurality of storage backplanes each storage backplane configured to interface with one or more hard disk drives, the baseboard management controller comprising:
a virtualized storage enclosure processor;
an interface to the plurality of storage backplanes; and
a processor that executes one or more commands to:
communicate with at least one of one or more storage controllers using a storage enclosure services protocol;
receive, by the interface, a value of one or more cable select lines;
cause the interface to select one or more hard disk present signals;
detect and store a status associated with each of the one or more cable select lines, wherein the status is received from the one or more storage controllers;
receive and store a hard disk present signal from the interface;
detect the presence of one or more hard disk drives in an interfaced storage backplane by accessing a first register communicably coupled to the interfaced storage backplane; and
control one or more status indicators through a second register communicably coupled to the interfaced storage backplane, wherein each status indicator is related to at least one of the hard disk drives in the interfaced storage backplane, and wherein the first register and the second register share a common sync.

11. The baseboard management controller of claim 10 ,
wherein the one or more of the storage controllers communicate with the baseboard management controller by in-band signaling.

12. The baseboard management controller of claim 11 , wherein the in-band signaling is performed over a PCI express bus.

13. The baseboard management controller of claim 11 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
communicate with the one or more of the storage controllers using the Management Component Transport Protocol.

14. The baseboard management controller of claim 10 , wherein the interface to communicate with one or more of the storage backplanes comprises a serial general input/output interface.

15. The baseboard management controller of claim 10 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
control, by the interface, a register to select the one or more hard disk present signals.

16. The baseboard management controller of claim 10 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
control the operation of an online LED, wherein the online LED is indicative of a state of one or more hard disk drives in one of the storage backplanes.

17. The baseboard management controller of claim 10 , wherein the processor further executes the one or more commands to:
control the operation of a fault LED, wherein the fault LED is indicative of a state of one or more hard disk drives in one of the storage backplanes.

18. The baseboard management controller of claim 10 , wherein the value of the one or more cable select lines is received from the one or more storage controllers.

19. A method of managing a plurality of storage backplanes, each storage backplane configured to interface with one or more hard disk drives, the method comprising:
communicating with one or more storage controllers by a baseboard management controller, wherein the baseboard management controller comprises a virtualized storage enclosure processor, and wherein the baseboard management controller includes:
an interface to communicate with at least two storage backplanes, wherein the interface receives a value of the one or more cable select lines;
a processor that executes one or more commands to:
communicate with the one or more storage controllers using a storage enclosure services protocol;
cause the interface to select one or more hard disk present signals;
detect and store a status associated with each of the one or more cable select lines, wherein the status is received from the one or more storage controllers;
receive and store a hard disk present signal from the interface;
detect the presence of one or more hard disk drives in the interfaced storage backplane by accessing a first register communicably coupled to the interfaced storage backplane; and
control one or more status indicators through a second register communicably coupled to the interfaced storage backplane, wherein each status indicator is related to at least one of

Assignees

• Dube Shawn Joel
• Lambert Timothy M
• Brahmaroutu Surender V
• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Dube Shawn Joel
• Lambert Timothy M
• Brahmaroutu Surender V

Classifications

• G06F3/0607

  by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device · CPC title

• G06F3/0689

  Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD · CPC title

• G06F3/0658

  Controller construction arrangements · CPC title

• G06F13/12

  using hardware independent of the central processor, e.g. channel or peripheral processor · CPC title

• G06F3/0629 Primary

  Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems · CPC title