Abstract:
The purpose of the present invention is to reduce a workload for mapping a physical mounting location of a network interface with the information added to the network interface. A computer system according to the present invention acquires a device address of a network interface recognized by the OS of a computer and identifies the mounting location of the network interface by using a table describing a mapping relationship between the device address of the network interface and the mounting location thereof (see FIG.  1 ).

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a technique for managing configuration information network interfaces included in computers. 
       BACKGROUND ART 
       [0002]    A management controller that is referred to as a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) is installed in a server computer (hereinafter, a server), purpose of management, a BMC is capable of performing various controls such as for power supplies of servers and the like and of collecting information such as temperature or voltage of the servers. PMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is used as a management interface for BMC to perform various controls for servers and to collect information of the servers. 
         [0003]    A BMC is usually supplied with standby power of the server. Thus a BMC is capable of, regardless of the operational state of the OS (Operating System in the server collecting information in the server and of controlling hardware of the server. 
         [0004]    In addition, a BMC may remotely control power supplies by utilizing communication function. In order to have a BCM work remotely, it is necessary to set an IP address of the BCM previously. Thus server administrators have to identify the relationship between the BMC and the server. 
         [0005]    Conventionally, server administrators manually correlates resource information in the server and registers it using identification information of the BMC for identifying the uniqueness of the BMC (UUID (Universal Unique Identifier) is mainly used) and using identification information for identifying the uniqueness of the server (UUID is mainly used). UUID is an identifier for uniquely identifying servers and is defined by OSF (Open Software Foundation), a standard-setting organization. UUID is stipulated in RFC (Request for Comments) 4122. 
         [0006]    Patent Literatures 1 to 3 listed below describe techniques for acquiring information that is set in devices. 
         [0007]    Patent Literature 1 describes a technique in which a Ping command is sent to an IP address of a device and a MAC (Media Access Control) address of the device is acquired from the response. 
         [0008]    Patent Literature 2 describes a technique for acquiring identification information of an OS from the OS. 
         [0009]    Patent Literature 3 describes a technique in which identification information is acquired from a BCM and an OS and the identification information is associated with the same hardware. 
       CITATION LIST 
     Patent Literature 
       [0010]    Patent Literature 1: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2008-154009 A 
         [0011]    Patent Literature 2: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2007-213271 A 
         [0012]    Patent Literature 3: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2009-135580 A 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Technical Problem 
       [0013]    In the above-listed Patent Literatures 1 to 3, even if the technique for acquiring MAC addresses of the server is used, it is necessary to manually associate the MAC addresses with the mounting location of network interfaces. 
         [0014]    The mounting location of network interface is a portion of the server where each of the network interfaces is mounted. A plurality of network interfaces may be mounted in a server. In addition, a network interface includes a plurality of types such as one implemented as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) device and another one mounted on a mother board. Therefore, in order to manage network interfaces, it is necessary to manage the assign state of MAC addresses as well as to manage the relationship between a portion where a network interface is mounted and a MAC address assigned to the network interface. Conventionally, this management task is manually done using spreadsheet software or the like. 
         [0015]    Some servers can be equipped with tens of network interfaces in a server. Further, more than one hundred servers may be installed in large-scale data centers. In such cases, the conventional management method for manually associating the mounting locations of network interfaces mounted in the server with the MAC addresses may imposes a huge amount of workload. 
         [0016]    As a case where associating the mounting location of network interface with the MAC address is required, an example can be assumed where a plurality of network interfaces is mounted on a server and addresses with different segments are assigned to each of the network interfaces. A network interface configuration of a server by which a hot-standby cluster is constructed may be assumed as a representative example for such cases. 
         [0017]    In a case of cluster configuration, in addition to networks used for typical user operations, a plurality of network configurations is required for each of a server, the network including a network dedicated for managing a BMC of the server, a network dedicated for performing a heart-beat between servers of the cluster, and the like. 
         [0018]    The present invention has been made to solve the problem stated above, and it is an objective of the present invention to reduce operational burdens for associating physical mounting locations of network interfaces with information assigned to the network interfaces. 
       Solution to Problem 
       [0019]    The computer system according to the present invention acquires a device address of a network interface identified by an OS of a computer, and identifies a mounting location of the network interface using a table describing a relationship between the device address of the network interface and the mounting location of the network interface. 
       Advantageous Effects of Invention 
       [0020]    With a computer system according to the present invention, it is possible to identify the mounting location of the network interface by acquiring the device address of the network interface. Since the device address is identified on the computer, it is easy to acquire the information (such as MAC address) assigned to the network interface and to associate the information with the mounting location of the network interface. Namely, it is possible to automatically perform the conventional associating task that was manually performed, thereby reducing the operational burdens of administrators. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0021]      FIG. 1  is a configuration diagram of a computer system  1000  according to an embodiment 1 of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing a configuration of a configuration information DB  103 . 
           [0023]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of an arp information table  1031 . 
           [0024]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of a server information DB  1032 . 
           [0025]      FIG. 5  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of an OS acquisition information DB  1033 . 
           [0026]      FIG. 6  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of a network interface location information DB  1034 . 
           [0027]      FIG. 7  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of a server configuration information DB  1035 . 
           [0028]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart describing a process for a management module  10  to collect configuration information from a BMC of a target server. 
           [0029]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart describing a process for the management module  10  to collect configuration information from an OS of the target server. 
           [0030]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart describing a process for the management module  10  to identify a location of a network interface mounted in the target server. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Embodiment 1: Device Configuration 
       [0031]      FIG. 1  is a configuration diagram of a computer system  1000  according to an embodiment 1 of the present invention. The computer system  1000  includes a management module  10 , a server  11 , and a server  1 N. These devices are connected to a management network  1 A, a information collection network  1 B, and an user network  1 C. 
         [0032]    The management module  10 , a BMC  111  in the server  11 , and a BMC  1 N 1  in the server  1 N are connected to the management network  1 A using network interfaces  10 A,  11 A, and  1 NA respectively. 
         [0033]    The management module  10 , the server  11 , and the server  1 N are connected to the information collection network  1 B using network interfaces  10 B,  11 B, and  1 NB respectively. The network interfaces  10 B,  11 B, and  1 NB are on-board network interfaces that are mounted as a standard configuration regardless of the server configurations. The information collection network  1 B is used only for collecting configuration information of each of the servers. 
         [0034]    The server  11  and the server  1 N are connected to the user network  1 C using network interfaces  11 C and  1 NC respectively. The network interfaces  11 C and  1 NC are mounted in network interface cards  112  and  1 N 2  respectively. The network interfaces  11 D and  1 ND are mounted in network interface cards  113  and  1 N 3  respectively. 
         [0035]    The management module  10  is a device that manages configurations of network interfaces included in the servers in the computer system  1000 . The management module  10  includes the network interfaces  10 A and  10 B, an internal LANSW  101 , a Shadow OS  102 , a configuration information database  103 , a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server  104 , and a PXE (Preboot eXecution Environment) server  105 . The network interfaces  10 A and  10 B, the Shadow OS  102 , the configuration information DB (Database)  103 , the DHCP server  104 , and the PXE server  105  are connected to the internal LANSW  101 . The internal LANSW  101  is connected to each of the components via routes  10 C to  10 H respectively. 
         [0036]    The network interface  10 A is connected to the management network  1 A and the network interface  10 B is connected to the information collection network  1 B. The internal LANSW  101  is a network switch that switches the network connections in the management module  10 . The Shadow OS  102  is an OS that includes minimum functions required for collecting server configuration information. The configuration information DB  103  will be described using  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 7  later. IP addresses are distributed to BMCs of each server in the computer system  1000  through the internal LANSW  101 . The PXE server  105  is used when each of the servers in the computer system  1000  is booted through network. 
         [0037]    “address assign unit” in the present invention corresponds to the DHCP server  104 . “network boot OS storage unit” corresponds to the PXE server  105 . 
         [0038]    Next, the configurations of servers belonging to the computer system  1000  will be described. Since the configurations of each server are the same, the configuration of the server  11  will be described below as an example. 
         [0039]    The server  11  includes the network interfaces  11 A and  11 B, the BMC  111 , the network interface cards  112  and  113 , a processor  114 , and a management DB  115 . Each component is connected to each other by wires. 
         [0040]    The network interface  11 A is connected to the management network  1 A and the network interface  11 B is connected to the information collection network  1 B. The BMC  111  is a management controller that monitors hardware of the server  11  or the like. The BMC  111  is equipped with the network interface  11 A. The network interface cards  112  and  113  are connected to the user network  1 C. The processor  114  is a processor that controls the overall operation of the server  11 . The management DB  115  stores management information including a hardware identifier (described by UUID, for example) of the server  11 . 
         [0041]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing a configuration of the configuration information DB  103 . The configuration information DB  103  is a database that stores configuration information of each server in the computer system  1000 . The configuration information DB  103  stores an arp (address resolution protocol) information table  1031 , a server information DB  1032 , an OS acquisition information DB  1033 , a network interface location information DB  1034 , and a server configuration information DB  1035 . Details of these tables will be described with  FIG. 3  to  FIG. 7  later. 
         [0042]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of the arp information table  1031 . The arp information table  1031  is a table describing a relationship between IP addresses and MAC addresses of each server. The information held in the arp information table  1031  may be acquired by IP communication between the management module  10  and the BMCs. Details will be described later. 
         [0043]    The arp information table  1031  includes a BMC IP address field  10311  and a MAC address field  10312 . The BMC IP address field  10311  stores IP addresses of BMCs included in each server. The MAC address field  10312  stores MAC addresses of the BMCs corresponding to the BMC IP address field  10311 . 
         [0044]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of the server information DB  1032 . The server information DB  1032  is a database that stores configuration information of servers that can be acquired from BMCs included in servers in the computer system  1000 , namely configuration information that can be acquired even when OSs of servers are not working. 
         [0045]    The server information DB  1032  includes a BMC IP address field  10321 , a MAC address field  10322 , an UUID field  10323 , a server model name field  10324 , and a product number information field  10325 . 
         [0046]    The BMC IP address field  10321  stores IP addresses of BMCs included in each server. The MAC address field  10322  stores MAC addresses of BMCs corresponding to the BMC IP address field  10321 . The UUID field  10323  stores hardware identifiers (UUID in this example) of servers that include BMCs corresponding to the BMC IP address field  10321 . The server model name field  10324  stores model numbers of servers that include BMCs corresponding to the BMC IP address field  10321 . The model number mentioned here is a piece of information by which the relationship with the information stored in the network interface location information DB  1034  can be identified. The model number may not be described in number formats and may be described with server product names or the like. The product number information field  10325  stores manufacture numbers of servers that include BMCs corresponding to the BMC IP address field  10321 . 
         [0047]      FIG. 5  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of the OS acquisition information DB  1033 . The OS acquisition information DB  1033  is a database storing configuration information of servers that can be acquired from OSs executed by servers in the computer system  1000 . The OSs mentioned here are the Shadow OSs  102  described later. 
         [0048]    The OS acquisition information DB  1033  includes an UUID field  10331 , a PCI address field  10332 , and a MAC address field  10333 . 
         [0049]    The UUID field  10331  stores hardware identifiers (UUID in this example) of servers. The PCI address field  10332  stores physical device addresses (PCI addresses) of network interfaces identified by OSs of servers specified by the UUID field  10331 . The MAC address field  10333  stores MAC addresses assigned to network interfaces specified by the PCI address field  10332 . 
         [0050]      FIG. 6  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of the network interface location information DB  1034 . The network interface location information DB  1034  is a database describing a relationship between physical locations where network interfaces are mounted in servers and physical device addresses (PCI address in this example) of the network interfaces. The physical locations of the network interfaces and their IP addresses are previously defined for each of model numbers of servers. Thus the computer system  1000  previously sets information stored in the network interface location information DB  1034  for each of the model numbers of servers. 
         [0051]    The network interface location information DB  1034  includes a server model name field  10341 , a PCI address field  10342 , and an intra-server location field  10343 . 
         [0052]    The server model name field  10341  stores model numbers of servers in he compute system  1000 . The PCI address field  10342  stores physical device addresses (PCI address in this example) of network interfaces identified by OSs executed on servers model numbers specified by the server model name field  10341 . The cation field  10343  describes locations in servers where devices specified by the PCI address field  10342  are mounted. 
         [0053]      FIG. 7  is a diagram showing a configuration and a data example of the server configuration information DB  1035 . The server configuration information DB  1035  is a database storing collected configuration information such as physical mounting locations or MAC addresses of network interfaces included in servers in the computer system  1000 . 
         [0054]    The server configuration information DB  1035  includes an UUID field  10351 , a server model name field  10352 , a product number information field  10353 , a PCI address field  10354 , a MAC address field  10355 , and a location field  10356 . 
         [0055]    The UUID field  10351  stores hardware identifiers (UUID in this example) of servers The server model name field  10352  stores model numbers of servers specified by the UUID field  10351 . The product number information field  10353  stores manufacture numbers of servers specified by the UUID field  10351 . The PCI address field  10354  stores physical device addresses (PCI address in this example) of network interfaces included in servers specified by the UUID field  10351 . The MAC address field  10355  stores MAC addresses of network interfaces specified by the PCI address field  10354 . The location field  10356  describes locations in the servers where network interfaces specified by the PCI address field  10354  are mounted. 
       Embodiment 1: Overall Operation 
       [0056]    The management module  10  acquires configuration information of network interfaces included in servers in the computer system  1000  mainly by three steps. Hereinafter, each of the steps will be outlined. 
         [0000]    (Overall Operation: Step  1 : Acquiring Information from BMC) 
         [0057]    The management module  10  finds BMCs of all target servers in the computer system  1000  by issuing packets requesting a response. The management module  10  registers the IP addresses and the MAC addresses of the BMCs of the target servers into the arp information table  1031 . The management module  10  registers the configuration information of the servers acquired from the BMCs into the server information DB  1032 . Details of this step will be described with  FIG. 8  later. 
         [0000]    (Overall Operation: Step  2 : Acquiring Information from OS) 
         [0058]    The management module  10  boots the target servers through network. The management module  10  registers, into the OS acquisition information DB  1033 , the information collected from the target servers&#39; OSs. The OS mentioned here is the Shadow OS  102  included in the management module  10 . Details of this step will be described with  FIG. 9  later. 
       (Overall Operation: Step  3 : Identifying Mounting Location) 
       [0059]    The management module  10  identifies the mounting locations of the network interfaces included in the servers by associating the information acquired from the BMCs and the OSs of the target servers with the information stored in the network interface location information DB  1034 . The management module  10  registers the result of the identification into the server configuration information DB  1035 . Details of this step will be described with  FIG. 10  later. 
       Embodiment 1: Detailed Operation 
       [0060]    Hereinafter, regarding the operation for acquiring configuration information of the network interfaces included in the servers in the computer system  1000 , details of the above-mentioned step  1  to step  3  will be described. It is assumed that the BMCs of each target server are previously configured to utilize the DHCP server  104  in the management module  10  to automatically acquire IP addresses. It is also assumed that each of the BMCs is configured to receive IPMI commands from remote devices. 
         [0061]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart describing a process for the management module  10  to collect configuration information from the BMCs of the target servers. Each of steps in  FIG. 8  will be described below. 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 801 ) 
       [0062]    The management module  10  issues ping commands to all IP addresses that are to be assigned with IP addresses by the DHCP server  104  in the management network  1 A. A ping command has a role to request a response to the destination address. Using the ping command, it is possible to check whether the destination device is working. Namely, this step has significance in finding BMCs of target servers from which the management module  10  collects information. 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 802 ) 
       [0063]    If no response is returned from the destination to which the ping command is issued in step S 801 , the process returns to step S 801  and the management module  10  issues a ping command to the next IP address. If a response is returned, the process proceeds to step S 802 . 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 803 ) 
       [0064]    The management module  10  registers the IP address and the corresponding MAC address acquired by the response to the ping command into the IP address field  10311  and the MAC address field  10312  of the arp information table  1031 , respectively. 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 803 : Additional Note No. 1) 
       [0065]    When issuing a ping command, the management module  10  usually issues an arp command before sending the packet to acquire the MAC address corresponding to the destination IP address. Therefore, it is possible to acquire MAC addresses of the destination devices by issuing ping commands. 
         [0000]    ( FIG. 8 : Step S 803 : Additional note No. 2) 
         [0066]    The result of arp command is usually stored in an arp table. The management module  10  may use the arp table instead of the arp information table  1031 . Alternatively, the arp information table  1031  may be provided in addition to the arp table. Hereinafter, these tables will not be specifically distinguished. 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 804 ) 
       [0067]    The management module  10  checks whether the MAC address field  10322  of the server information DB  1032  stores the same MAC address as acquired in step S 803 . If the same MAC address is stored, the process returns to step S 801  and the same process will be performed for the next IP address. If the same MAC address is not stored, the process proceeds to step S 805 . 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 805 ) 
       [0068]    The management module  10  creates a new record in the server information DB  1032 . The management module  10  registers the IP address and the MAC address acquired in step S 803  into the IP address field  10321  and the MAC address field  10322 , respectively. According to the above-described process, the server including the BMC that responded to the ping command is registered as a target server. Hereinafter, for the sake of convenience, the server  11  is assumed to be a target server. 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 806 ) 
       [0069]    The management module  10  issues an IPMI command to the BMC  111  of the server  11  using the value of the IP address field  10321  of the server information DB  1032 , thereby requesting the BMC  111  to send, to the management module  10 , the information stored in the management DB  115  in the server  11 . A hardware identifier (UUID) of the server  11  is stored in the management DB  115 . 
       (FIG. 8: Steps S 807  to S 808 ) 
       [0070]    The BMC  111  of the server  11  sends, as a response to the IPMI command, the UUID of the server  11  stored in the management DB  115  (S 807 ). The management module  10  registers the UUID received from the BMC  111  into the UUID field  10323  of the server information DB  1032  (S 808 ). 
       (FIG. 8: Step S 808 : Additional Note) 
       [0071]    The management module  10  issues an IPMI command to the BMC  111  using the same sequence as step S 808 , thereby acquiring the server model name and the product number information of the server  11  from the BMC  111 . The management module  10  registers the acquired server model name and product number into the server model name field  10324  and the product number field  10325 . 
         [0072]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart describing a process for the management module  10  to collect configuration information from OSs of target servers. Each step of  FIG. 9  will be described below. 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 901 ) 
       [0073]    The management module  10  issues an IPMI command to the BMC  111  of the target server  11 . The IPMI command requires the server  11  to change the boot order configuration of the server so that the server  11  will boot next time using the PXE server  105 . The BMC  111  receives the IPMI command and changes the boot order of the server  11  for the next time as above. The BMC  111  then responds the result of the IPMI command to the management module  10  and stores the boot order configuration. The management module  10  receives the result of the IPMI command from the BMC  111 . 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 902 ) 
       [0074]    The management module  10  changes the communication route configuration of the internal LANSW  101  so that only the route  10 D,  10 E,  10 F,  10 G, and  10 H can be connected from the network interface  10 B. This prepares the step for issuing network boot requests to the target server  11 . 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 903 ) 
       [0075]    The management module  10  sends, to the BMC  111  of the target server  11 , an IPMI command that instructs to turn on the target server. The BMC  111  turns on the target server of the server  11  according to the IPMI command. This step is intended to provide a power supply to the processor  114  of the target server  11  to prepare for subsequent steps. 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 904 ) 
       [0076]    When the power is supplied to the server  11 , the processor  114  executes firmwares such as an EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) to start, according to the boot order configured by the BMC  111 , a network boot sequence using the network interface  11 B. 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 905 ) 
       [0077]    The processor  114  requests the DHCP server  104  in the management module  10  to assign an IP address to the network interface  1113 . The processor  114  then requests the PXE server  105  in the management module  10  to send an OS image of the Shadow OS  102 . This step is for acquiring information required for network boot sequence. 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 906 ) 
       [0078]    The processor  114  acquires the OS image of the Shadow OS  102  from the PXE server  105 . The processor  114  then boots the Shadow OS  102  on the target server  11 . 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 907 ) 
       [0079]    The processor  114  collects, through a driver interface of the Shadow OS, information about MAC address and PCI address of the all network interfaces  11 B,  11 C, and  11 D managed by the OS of the server  11 . The processor  114  acquires the UUID of the server  11  from the SMBIOS (System Management BIOS) information of the server  11  that can be acquired by the Shadow OS. 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 908 ) 
       [0080]    The Shadow OS executed by the processor  114  communicates with the management module  10  through the information collection network  1 B, and sends the MAC address, PCI address, and UUID acquired by the Shadow OS to the management module  10 . The management module  10  stores the information received from the Shadow OS into the UUID field  10331 , the PCI address field  10332 , and the MAC address field  10333  of the OS acquisition information DB  1033 , respectively. 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 909 ) 
       [0081]    The management module  10  issues, to the BMC  111  of the target server  11 , an IPMI command that instructs to turn off the target server. The BMC  111  turns off the target server of the server  11  according to the IPMI command. 
       (FIG. 9: Step S 910 ) 
       [0082]    The management module  10  restores the communication route configuration of the internal LANSW  101  to the state before step S 902 . The management module  10  sends, to the BMC  111  of the target  11 , an IPMI command that instructs to restore the boot order to the state before step S 901 . The BMC  111  restores the boot order of the server  11  to the previous state according to the IPMI command. 
         [0083]    According to the above-described sequences, the process for collecting information on the Shadow OS and registering it to the management module is completed. 
         [0084]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart describing a process for the management module  10  to identify locations of network interfaces mounted on target servers. Each step of  FIG. 10  will be described below. 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1001 ) 
       [0085]    The management module  10  stores, among records stored in the server information DB  1032 , each of values of the UUID field  10323 , the MAC address field  10322 , and the product number field  10325  into the UUID field  10351 , the MAC address field  10355 , and the product number field  10353  of a new record in the server configuration information DB  1035 . The management module  10  also stores a value “BMC” in the location field  10356  and a value “N/A” in the PCI address field  10354 . 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1001 : Additional Note) 
       [0086]    This step is for storing information that can be acquired from the BMC  111  of the server  11  into the server configuration information DB  1035 . This step is also for filling the value of the UUID field  10351  in order to associate it with the information that will be acquired from the same server in the subsequent steps. 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1002 ) 
       [0087]    The management module  10  identifies, among records stored in the OS acquisition information DB  1033 , a record that has a value of the UUID field  10331  which is the same as that of the UUID field  10351  of the server configuration information DB  1035  stored in step S 1001 . The management module  10  stores the each of values of the UUID field  10331 , the PCI address field  10332 , and the MAC address field  10333  of the identified record of the OS acquisition information DB  1033  into the UUID field  10351 , the PCI address field  10354 , and the MAC address field  10355  of a new record in the server configuration information DB  1035 . 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1002 : Additional Note) 
       [0088]    This step is for storing information that can be acquired from the OS of the server  11  into the server configuration information DB  1035 . The record having the matched UUID is extracted in order to associate the information that can be acquired from the BMC  111  with the information that can be acquired from the OS. Namely, the BMC  111  acquires server model names and the like and the OS acquires the PCI address, then the UUID can be used for checking whether these values are acquired from the same server. 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1003 ) 
       [0089]    The management module  10  stores, in the server model name field  10352  and in the product number information field  10353  of the record that is newly created in step S 1002 , the values of these fields of the record created in step S  1001 . 
       (FIG. 10: Steps S 1002  to S 1003 : Additional Note) 
       [0090]    If the OS of the target server  11  has already identified a plurality of network interface cards and network interfaces and there are a plurality of MAC addresses and PCI addresses, new records as many as the number of them are created in the server configuration information DB  1035  and values are stored with the same sequence. The values of the UUID field  10351 , the server model name field  10352 , and the product number information field  10353  are the same. 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1004 ) 
       [0091]    The management module  10  searches, using the values of the server model name field  10352  and the PCI address field  10354  of the record stored into the server configuration information DB  1035  in step S 1003  as a search key the network interface location information DB  1034 . The management module  10  stores, into the location fie d  10356  of the record of the server configuration information DB  1035  stored in step S 1003 , the value of the location field  10343  of the record acquired by the search. 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1004 : Additional Note No. 1) 
       [0092]    This step is for identifying the mounting location of the network interface using the server model name field  10352  acquired from the BMC  111  and the PCI address field  10354  acquired from the OS as search keys. 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1004 : Additional Note No. 2) 
       [0093]    If the OS of the target server  11  has already identified a plurality of network interfaces, it is necessary to perform this step, as many times as the number of the identified network interfaces. 
       (FIG. 10: Step S 1005 ) 
       [0094]    The management module  10  checks whether there still is an IP address which information has to be collected. If there still is an IP address which information has to be collected, the process returns to step S 801  of  FIG. 8  and the same sequences are repeated. If information of all IP addresses has already been collected the process flow terminates. 
       Embodiment 1: Summary 
       [0095]    As discussed thus far the computer system  1000  according to the embodiment 1 acquires the PCI address of the network interface identified by the OS of the server  11  and searches the network interface location information DB  1034  using the PCI address as a search key, thereby identifying the mounting location of the network interface. This enables automating the task for identifying physical mounting locations of network interfaces that was conventionally performed manually, thereby reducing working burdens of administrators. 
         [0096]    In addition, the computer system according to the embodiment 1 combines the information that can be acquired from the BMC  111  included in the server  11  with the information that can be acquired from the OS executed by the server  11 , thereby acquiring configuration information that cannot be acquired using those pieces of information alone, 
         [0097]    In addition, the computer system according to the embodiment 1 issues ping command to all IP addresses assigned by the DHCP server  104  to find the BMC  111  that is present in the computer system  1000 . This eliminates the necessity for checking servers present in the computer system  1000  one by one manually, thereby reducing working burdens of administrators. 
         [0098]    In addition the computer system according to the embodiment boots the server through network using the PXE server  105  and collects the information identified by the Shadow OS. This eliminates the necessity for each server o boot he normal OS to collect information and it is only required to boot the Shadow OS that has minimum functions required for collecting information. Therefore, processing loads or processing time for collecting information will be reduced. 
       Embodiment 2 
       [0099]    In the embodiment 1, an example is described in which it is assumed that the network interface included in the server is implemented as a PCI device and a PCI address is described as the physical device address of the network interface. However, other physical addresses may be used depending on the specification of the network interface. 
         [0100]    In the embodiment 1, an example is described in which the relationship between IP addresses and MAC addresses in the computer system  1000  is collected using ping commands. However, it is not necessary to use ping commands and other methods may be used as long as the same result can be acquired. 
         [0101]    As described thus far, the invention of the present inventors are specifically described according to the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and various modifications are possible as long as without departing from the spirit of the invention. 
         [0102]    The configurations, functions, or processing units described thus far may be achieved as hardware by designing all or parts of them using, for example, integrated circuits or may be achieved as software with programs implementing functions of them executed by processors. Information such as programs or tables implementing each function may be stored in storage devices such as memories or hard disks or storage medium such as IC cards or DVDs. 
       REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 
       [0103]      1 A: management network,  1 B: information collection network,  1 C: user network,  10 : management module,  10 A to  10  B: network interface,  10 C to  10 H: route,  101 : internal LANSW,  102 : Shadow OS,  103 : configuration information database,  1031 : arp information table,  1032 : server information DB,  1033 : OS acquisition information DB,  1034 : network interface location information DB,  1035 : server configuration information DB,  104 : DHCP server,  105 : PXE server,  11 : server,  11 A to  11 D: network interface,  111 : BMC,  112  to  113 : network interface card,  114 : processor,  115 : management DB,  1 N: server,  1 NA to  1 ND: network interface,  1 N 1 : BMC,  1 N 2  to  1 N 3 : network interface card,  1000 : computer system.