Techniques for updating memory of a chassis management module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9594641-B2
Application number	US-201414465248-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 21, 2014
Priority date	Aug 23, 2013
Publication date	Mar 14, 2017
Grant date	Mar 14, 2017

Abstract

A technique for data roll-back includes in response to a first external static memory device being coupled to a first chassis management module and the first chassis management module being coupled to a middle plane board, determining whether the first external static memory device operates normally. In response to the first external static memory device operating normally, a controller of the first chassis management module writes data in the first external static memory device into a non-volatile memory of the first chassis management module to perform data roll-back.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:
a chassis;
a middle plane board disposed in the chassis, the middle plane board having a first side;
a server coupled to the middle plane board;
a chassis management module coupled to the first side of the middle plane board in a removable manner, the chassis management module storing data related to components in the chassis; and
an external static memory device removably coupled to the chassis management module, wherein an update of the data related to the components in the chassis is stored in the external static memory device in response to the coupling of the external static memory device to the chassis management module and the coupling of the chassis management module to the middle plane board.

2. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first middle plane board slot is disposed on the first side and the chassis management module is coupled to the first middle plane board slot of the middle plane board in a hot-swap way, and wherein the chassis management module includes a chassis management module slot and the external static memory device is coupled to the chassis management module slot in a hot-swap way.

3. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the middle plane board further includes a second side, opposite the first side, and the server is removably coupled to the first side or the second side of the middle plane board.

4. The electronic apparatus of claim 3 , wherein a second middle plane board slot is disposed on the second side, and the server is coupled to the second middle plane board slot of the middle plane board in a hot-swap way.

5. The electronic apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a third middle plane board slot is disposed on the first side, and the server is coupled to the third middle plane board slot of the middle plane board in a hot-swap way.

6. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the chassis management module comprises a controller and a non-volatile memory, and wherein the update of the data related to the components in the chassis is stored in the external static memory device by the controller.

7. The electronic apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the external static memory device is configured to be removed from the chassis management module and inserted into a second chassis management module, and wherein data in the external static memory device is written by the controller into a corresponding portion of the non-volatile memory to perform data roll-back in response to the coupling of the second chassis management module to the middle plane board.

8. The electronic apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the server further comprises a management module, and wherein the chassis management module retrieves an operation state of the server from the management module of the server and monitors and manages the server according to the operation state.

9. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the management module of the server comprises a baseboard management controller (BMC) or an integrated management module (IMM).

10. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory includes a protected area for storing unerasable codes that include vital product data (VPD) and a flash area for storing user setting and event logs.

11. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electronic apparatus comprises a blade server system and the server comprises a blade server.

Assignees

• Globalfoundries Inc

Inventors

• Chao Hsu-Ming
• Cheng Ai-Yu
• Hsieh Tsung-Hsuan
• Liao Tsung-Kuel

Classifications

• H05K7/1498

  Resource management, Optimisation arrangements, e.g. configuration, identification, tracking, physical location (thermal management H05K7/20836) · CPC title

• G06F11/1451 Primary

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title

• H05K7/1494 Primary

  having hardware for monitoring blades, e.g. keyboards, displays (methods or software therefore H05K7/1498) · CPC title

• G06F2201/84

  Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data · CPC title

• G06F2212/7207

  management of metadata or control data · CPC title