Patent Publication Number: US-2009222677-A1

Title: Display of blade server operating system information

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates in general to computers, and more particularly to a method and computer program product for providing operating system information for a plurality of blade servers in a blade chassis to a management module for display to a user. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Multiple blade servers are computers that consolidate high-density server boards (blades) in a single blade chassis (blade center chassis). Typically, a blade chassis accommodates multiple hot-swappable blades. The operations of the blades may be coordinated by management modules. Management modules may include a processor for controlling input/output functions, interfacing with a network (such as the Internet or a Local Area Network), and allocating jobs and data to the differing blades. 
     Currently, all blade servers that are part of a blade chassis or a stand-alone server require a user to physically come into contact with the unit if the user needs to perform functions associated with verifying the operating system or related operating system information installed on the blade server. The user must manually power on each blade, and one-by-one, connect to each blade to verify the blade&#39;s operating system information. The user must physically walk to the blade center chassis, and one-by-one, depress a video output button on each blade server. Alternatively, the user must perform the equivalent actions via a management module remote control. 
     The foregoing actions required by a user may present challenges if one of the blade servers is actively using video output, as the blade server temporarily loses video output capabilities during the activities described above. This is due to the video output transferred individually to each blade server in the blade chassis in order to gather operating system information. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     There is currently no centralized method to gather and view operating system information relating to each server blade in a blade server chassis from within the management module itself. In view of the foregoing, a need exists for a system, method and computer program product for providing operating system information for a plurality of blade servers in a blade chassis to a management module. Accordingly, in one embodiment, by way of example only, a method for providing operating system information for a plurality of blade servers in a blade chassis to a management module for display to a user is provided. A first blade server of the plurality of blade servers is queried to determine operating system information for the first blade server. The operating system information is provided to the management module. 
     In another embodiment, again by way of example only, a system for providing operating system information for a plurality of blade servers in a blade chassis to a management module for display to a user is provided. A scanning module is operational on the management module. The scanning module is configured to query a first blade server of the plurality of blade servers to determine operating system information for the first blade server, and provide the operating system information to the management module. 
     In still another embodiment, again by way of example only, a computer program product for providing operating system information for a plurality of blade servers in a blade chassis to a management module for display to a user is provided. The computer program product comprises a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein. The computer-readable program code portions include a first executable portion for querying a first blade server of the plurality of blade servers to determine operating system information for the first blade server, and a second executable portion for providing the operating system information to the management module. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In order that the advantages of the invention will be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an exemplary server blade chassis incorporating a management module in which aspects of the claimed subject matter may be implemented; and 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart diagram of an exemplary method for providing operating system information for a plurality of blade servers in a blade chassis to a management module for display to a user. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The illustrated embodiments below provide mechanisms for incorporating operating system (OS) scan functionality within the management module of a blade server computing environment. The OS information could include such information as operating system, operating system level, operating system version, operating system kernel, operating system patch, and the like. The OS information may be collected by the below mechanisms and stored and listed in a pre-existing or newly created table maintained by the management module. The OS information may be maintained in a simple format. Using the management module, each blade server in the blade server chassis may be queried to return relevant OS information. 
     The mechanisms described below provide for the rapid and efficient gathering of OS information on blade servers within a particular blade server chassis. In computing environments containing a number of blade servers, these mechanisms save resources and time for users and system administrators. Further, normal video output capabilities may continue while the below mechanisms are in operation and the OS information is gathered, eliminating the current requirement of using the chassis video output to point to specific blade servers while gathering OS information. 
       FIG. 1  hereafter provides one example of a computer environment in which the mechanisms of the following embodiments may be implemented. It should be appreciated, however, that  FIG. 1  is only exemplary and is not intended to state or imply any limitation as to the particular architectures in which the exemplary aspects of the various embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the architecture depicted in  FIG. 1  may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the following description and claimed subject matter. 
       FIG. 1  is an exemplary block diagram of a server blade chassis  200   a.  For the sake of clarity, only three server blades  204   a,b,n  are depicted. However, in one embodiment, server blade chassis  200   a  has a midplane  206  capable of connecting fourteen or more server blades  204 . 
     Server blade chassis  200   a  has one or more management modules  202 . In the depicted embodiment, server blade chassis  200   a  has a primary management module  202   a  and a back-up management module  202   b.  Each management module  202  is capable of managing multiple server blades  204 . During normal operations, one of the local management modules  202   a  or  202   b  are coupled to server blades  204   a - n  via a Local Area Network (LAN)  240   a,  a midplane  206 , and a plurality of Baseboard Management Controllers (BMCs)  208  (each server blade  204  having a BMC  208 ) to form an in-band management pathway. LAN  240  and BMC  208  are discussed in further detail below. 
     Management modules  202   a  and  202   b  include scanning modules  203   a  and  203   b.  The functionality of such modules with respect to the present description and claimed subject matter will be also discussed below in further detail. Scanning modules may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. 
     Midplane  206  is a backplane, mounted in the middle of server blade chassis  200   a,  that contains circuitry and sockets  222  into which additional electronic devices or cards, including server blades  204  may be inserted. Midplane  206  contains at least one bus for secure in-band internal communication between management module  202  and server blades  204   a - n,  as well as between and among server blades  204   a - n  themselves, via respective BMCs  208   a - n.    
     When a server blade  204  is inserted into a specific socket  222 , a physical address is established for that server blade  204 . For example, consider server blade  204   a  being inserted into socket  222   a.  A control logic  224   a  detects the presence of server blade  204   a  in socket  222   a.  Logic  224   a  may comport with the Electronics Industry Association (EIA) RS485 Standard for data communication. In other embodiments, Logic  224   a  may be compliant with the Phillips&#39; Inter-IC (Inter-Integrated Circuit) standard (incorporated by reference in its entirety herein and commonly referred to as “I 2 C”), or with an Ethernet network standard. Logic  224   a,  operating in conjunction with management module  202 , assigns a physical address on a bus in midplane  206  to server blade  204   a  when server blade  204   a  is inserted into socket  222   a.  Each server blade  204  may be associated with a unique logic  224  that is connected to midplane  206  as depicted in  FIG. 2   a.  Alternatively, all server blades  204  may use a single logic  224 . 
     Each server blade  204  may have a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address on midplane  206 . That is, midplane  206  may support intercommunication using IP addressing protocol, in which each device connected or coupled to midplane  206  contains an IP address assigned by logic (not shown) that is either within or outside server blade chassis  200 . For example, a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server may be used to assign an IP address to server blade  204   a.  Communication with server blade  204   a  is thereafter via a Network Interface Card (NIC)  226   a  that is associated with server blade  204   a.  The communication pathway using switches  242   a  and NICs  226  may be referred to as an out-of-band (OOB) network. 
     Each server blade  204  may have at least one central processing unit (CPU)  212 , and a non-volatile memory (NVM)  214 . NVM  214  is a Flash Read Only Memory (“Flash ROM” or “Flash Memory”) that can be erased and reprogrammed in units of memory referred to as “blocks.” NVM  214  may also include non-volatile Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) that is similar to Flash Memory, except that EEPROM is erased and rewritten at the byte level and is usually smaller in capacity. 
     When a server blade  204  is shipped from a manufacturer, the NVM  214  may be pre-burned with firmware, including a BIOS as well as software for monitoring the server blade  204 . Such monitoring may include controlling Direct Access Storage Devices (DASD&#39;s), monitoring and controlling voltages throughout the system, determining the power-on status of the server blade  204 , requesting access to a shared keyboard, video, mouse, Compact Disk-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and/or floppy disk drives, as well as monitoring the Operating System (OS) running on the server blade  204 . 
     Management modules  202  are capable of detecting the presence, quantity, type and revision level of each server blade  204 , power module  210 , and midplane  206  in the system. Management modules  202  may also directly control the operation of each server blade  204  and the power module  210 , and may directly (without using the BIOS in the server blades  204 ) or indirectly (using the BIOS) control the operation of cooling fans  215  and other chassis  200   a  components. Management modules  202  are adapted to provide information relating to the configuration, operation, and modification of each server blade  204  in the chassis  200  to a graphical user interface (GUI) (not shown) for display to a user. 
     Each server blade  204  has a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC)  208  that provides local supervisory control of the server blade  204  to which the BMC  208  is associated. Each BMC  208  is able to communicate with a local management module  202  by either using communication path  240   a  (in-band network) or alternatively by using switches  242   a  and NICs  226  (out-of-band network). The local management modules  202   a,    202   b  may utilize a variety of communications paths  240   a,  such as an RS485 path  240   a,  a LAN path  240   a  and an I 2 C path  240   a  to communicate with each blade  204 . 
     LAN  240  is an in-band network also comporting with the Electronics Industry Association (EIA) RS485 Standard for data communication. Management modules  202  (either primary management module  202   a  or back-up management module  202   b  if management module  202   a  is down) communicate via LAN  240  with BMC  208 , which includes logic for coordinating communication with server blades  204  via sockets  222 . That is, the primary communication pathway between management module  202  and server blades  204  is the in-band network that comprises LAN  240 , sockets  222 , and BMC  208 . The secondary communication pathway, which is used in the present invention if all of the local management modules  202  should fail, is the OOB network that comprises switches  242  and NICs  226 . 
     LAN  240   a  may be configured to allow communications between server blades  204   a - n  and the management modules  202   a,    202   b  relating to the remote BIOS settings and BIOS management. The blades  204   a - n  may leverage BMCs  208   a - n  as proxies to communicate with the management modules  202   a,    202   b  through the RS485 protocol. Similarly, the management modules may leverage BMCs  208   a - n  as proxies to communicate with the blades  204   a - n  through the RS485 protocol. In an alternative embodiment, an RS485 connection may be separately made between each blade  204   a - n  and the management modules  202   a,    202   b.  Additionally, other communications protocols and paths may be utilized, such as the aforementioned I 2 C channel or the aforementioned TCP/IP and/or Ethernet channel over switches  242   a.    
     Scanning modules  203   a,    203   b,  may be configured to perform scanning operations on each of the blades  204   a - n  in the server blade chassis  200   a.  For example, the scanning modules  203   a  and  203   b  may be adapted to query each of the blades  204   a - n  to determine OS information on the blades  204   a - n.  The OS information may be then returned to the scanning modules  203   a  and  203   b  operational on management modules  202   a  and  202   b.    
     The information reported to the management modules  202   a,    202   b  by the scanning modules  203   a  and  203   b  may include either high-level or detailed OS information. A particular high-level scan initiated by the scanning modules  203   a,    203   b  may report an OS, such as UNIX. A more detailed scan initiated by the scanning modules  203   a,    203   b  may report additional and/or related information such as OS level, application software version, kernel, patches, and the like as previously described. 
     Blade server installation and removal may be tracked on a per-bay basis within the scanning modules  203   a  and  203   b  and/or the management modules  202   a  and  202   b.  When a particular blade server is removed for service and/or installed, an NVRAM location  205   a,    205   b  associated with the management modules  203   a  and  203   b  may be updated. For example, an entry of 1 may represent no changes since a previous scanning operation, and that the OS information currently stored in the NVRAM  205   a,    205   b  is accurate. An entry of 0 may represent that the blade server was removed from the bay and/or an OS update or a change in the OS has occurred since the previous scanning operation. In addition, a scanning operation may be configured to occur when a blade server in the chassis is rebooted, and the NVRAM  205   a,    205   b  may be updated to mark affected bay(s) accordingly. 
     Turning to  FIG. 2 , an exemplary method  250  is depicted for providing operating system information for a plurality of blade servers in a blade chassis to a management module for display to a user. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, various steps in the method  250  may be implemented in differing ways to suit a particular application. In addition, the described method may be implemented by various means, such as hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof operational on or otherwise associated with the storage environment. For example, the method may be implemented, partially or wholly, as a computer program product including a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein. The computer-readable storage medium may include disk drives, flash memory, digital versatile disks (DVDs), compact disks (CDs), and other types of storage mediums. 
     Method  250  begins (step  252 ) with a determination of whether the blade server chassis is on (step  254 ). If the chassis is determined to be on, the method then determines whether a selected blade server is on (step  256 ). If the chassis is determined to be off, the method then queries whether the chassis should be powered on (step  258 ). This query may be provided to a user, who may request that the chassis be powered on. The user request to power on the chassis may take the form of a predetermined sequence embodied in a computer instruction, for example. 
     If the query returns that the chassis should not be powered on, then the method  250  ends (step  260 ). Otherwise, the method powers on the chassis (step  262 ). The method then, in a step similar to step  256 , queries whether a particular blade server is on (step  264 ). If the particular blade is off, the method queries whether the particular blade should be powered on (step  266 ). Again, this query may be provided to a user, and the user request may come in response (whether predetermined or otherwise) to power the blade server on, in which the blade server is powered on (step  268 ). 
     The management module and/or scanning module may communicate with selected blade servers via an OOB connection, such as the RS-485 connection of LAN  250   a  ( FIG. 1 ) and may issue the required commands to verify OS version(s), application software version(s), and the like using the OOB connection. 
     Once the chassis and a selected blade is determined to be on (pursuant to steps  256 ,  264 , or  268 ), the scanning module(s) perform a scanning operation (step  270 ) on the blade server. The scanning operations may be a high-level, or detailed scan operation as previously described. The OS information is returned to the scanning modules, and provided to the management modules as previously described. Once the scanning operation(s) has completed, the management module NVRAM location is updated and the OS information may be displayed through the management module&#39;s GUI to a user. For example, the OS information may be displayed in the management module&#39;s vital product data (VPD) area. The method then ends (step  282 ). 
     Returning to step  256 , if a selected blade is determined to not be powered on, the method queries whether the selected blade has been removed from the chassis and replaced, for example subsequent to a repair (step  276 ). If so, then the method queries, in similar fashion to step  266 , whether pursuant to a user request, the blade server should be powered on (step  278 ). If yes, the method powers the selected blade server on (step  280 ), performs the scanning operation(s) (again, step  270 ), updates the NVRAM location (again, step  272 ), and displays the OS information (again, step  274 ). If the method determines that the selected blade has not been removed, the NVRAM location is updated with this information (again step  272 ) and the relevant OS information is displayed (again, step  274 ). The method then ends (again, step  282 ). 
     In one embodiment, various steps in the method  250  may be repeated for selected blade servers in the chassis until each blade server has been queried and the OS information for each blade server in the chassis is provided to the management module, the NVRAM location(s) are updated and the OS information is displayed. In another embodiment, the method  250  may be configured to occur at a predetermined frequency. In other embodiments, various portions of the method  250  may be configured to occur at various predetermined frequencies. Again, as one skilled in the art will anticipate, the method  250  may be adapted and implemented in various ways to suit a particular need or application. 
     While one or more embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated in detail, the skilled artisan will appreciate that modifications and adaptations to those embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims.