Differentiating among multiple management control instances using addresses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9985820-B2
Application number	US-201514700206-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2015
Priority date	Feb 22, 2015
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

A network adapter includes one or more ports and circuitry. The ports are configured to connect to a communication network. The circuitry is coupled to a network node that includes multiple hosts, and is configured to exchange management packets between a control server and a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) that runs at least first and second BMC instances that are assigned respective different first and second IP addresses or MAC addresses and are associated respectively with first and second hosts, and to exchange, over the communication network via the one or more ports, data packets between the hosts and one or more remote nodes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network adapter, comprising:
one or more ports, which are configured to connect to a communication network; and
circuitry, which is coupled to a network node that comprises multiple hosts, and which is configured to exchange management packets between a control server and a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) that runs at least first and second BMC instances that are assigned respective different first and second IP addresses or MAC addresses and are associated respectively with first and second hosts of the network node, and to exchange, over the communication network via the one or more ports, data packets between the hosts and one or more remote nodes, wherein the circuitry comprises a packet filter configured to separate between the data packets and the management packets based at least on the IP addresses or MAC addresses assigned to the first and second BMC instances,
wherein the circuitry is configured to exchange the management packets by maintaining respective associations between the first and second BMC instances and the first and second hosts, and
wherein the network adapter comprises physical interfaces of two or more different types for exchanging the management packets, and wherein the circuitry is configured to select a physical interface for each of the first and second BMC instances based on the respective associations.

2. The network adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second BMC instances share a single MAC address, and wherein the circuitry is configured to maintain the associations by holding a respective different IP address for each of the first and second BMC instances.

3. The network adapter according to claim 2 , wherein the packet filter is configured to route the management packets related to the first or second BMC instance based at least on one of the respective IP address and the single MAC address.

4. The network adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to maintain the associations by holding a respective different MAC address for each of the first and second BMC instances.

5. The network adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to exchange the management packets by routing the management packets, using the packet filter, to and from the first or second BMC instance based on the associations.

6. The network adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to emulate, using the associations, a separate respective NIC for each of the first and second BMC instances.

7. The network adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to transition from using a physical interface of a first type by one of the first and second BMC instances to using a physical interface of a second different type by the same BMC instance.

8. The network adapter according to claim 7 , wherein the circuitry is configured to transition from using the physical interface of the first type when the physical interface of the first type becomes unavailable.

9. A network adapter, comprising:
one or more ports, which are configured to connect to a communication network; and
circuitry, which is coupled to a network node that comprises multiple hosts, and which is configured to exchange management packets between a control server and a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) that runs at least first and second BMC instances that are assigned respective different first and second IP addresses or MAC addresses and are associated respectively with first and second hosts of the network node, and to exchange, over the communication network via the one or more ports, data packets between the hosts and one or more remote nodes, wherein the circuitry comprises a packet filter configured to separate between the data packets and the management packets based at least on the IP addresses or MAC addresses assigned to the first and second BMC instances, and
wherein the circuitry is configured to identify, using the packet filter, a management packet that is destined for multiple BMC instances, to send the identified management packet to the BMC only once when the BMC supports duplication of packets to multiple BMC instances, and to send a respective duplicate of the identified management packet to each of the BMC instances to which the identified packet is destined, otherwise.

10. A method for remote management, comprising:
in a network node that comprises multiple hosts and a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) that runs at least first and second BMC instances that are assigned respective different first and second IP addresses or MAC addresses and are associated respectively with first and second hosts of the network node, exchanging over a communication network management packets between a control server and the BMC using a network adapter; and
exchanging using the network adapter, over the communication network, data packets between the hosts and one or more remote nodes;
wherein exchanging the data packets and the management packets comprises separating, using a packet filter in the network adapter, between the data packets and the management packets based at least on the IP addresses or MAC addresses assigned to the first and second BMC instances,
wherein exchanging the management packets comprises maintaining respective associations between the first and second BMC instances and the first and second hosts, and
wherein the network adapter comprises physical interfaces of two or more different types for exchanging the management packets, and wherein exchanging the management packets comprises selecting a physical interface for each of the first and second BMC instances based on the respective associations.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the first and second BMC instances share a single MAC address, wherein maintaining the associations comprises holding a respective different IP address for each of the first and second BMC instance.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein exchanging the management packets comprises routing, by the packet filter, the management packets related to the first or second BMC instance based at least on one of the respective IP address and the single MAC address.

13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein maintaining the associations comprises holding a respective different MAC address for each of the first and second BMC instances.

14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein exchanging the management packets comprises routing the management packets, by the packet filter, to and from the first or second BMC instance based on the associations.

15. The method according to claim 10 , and comprising emulating, using the associations, a separate respective NIC for each of the first and second BMC instances.

16. The method according to claim 10 , wherein selecting the physical interface comprises transitioning from using a physical interface of a first type by one of the first and second BMC instances to using a physical interface of a second different type by the same BMC instance.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein selecting the physical interface comprises transitioning from using the physical interface of the first type when the physical interface of the first type becomes unavailable.

18. A method for remote management, comprising:
in a network node that comprises multiple hosts and a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) that runs at least first and second BMC instances that are assigned respective different first and second IP addresses or MAC addresses and are associated

Assignees

• Mellanox Technologies Ltd
• Mellanox Technologies Ltd

Inventors

• Itkin Yuval

Classifications

• H04L41/04 Primary

  Network management architectures or arrangements · CPC title

• H04L45/74

  Address processing for routing · CPC title

• H04L61/2038

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/6022

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/2015

  Electricity · mapped topic