Out-of-band management method, device, controller, system and storage medium

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide an out-of-band management method, device, controller, system and storage medium. The out-of-band management method includes: determining the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral via a processor; if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid, switching to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and directly performing out-of-band management on the target peripheral. The solution of the embodiment of the present invention avoids situations such as interruption or cessation of management of peripherals when the first out-of-band channel fails, thereby achieving more reliable out-of-band management.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of computer technology, and in particular to an out-of-band management method, device, controller, system and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] As the demand for cloud computing services grows, the types and number of peripherals in data center servers are also increasing. Especially for bare metal servers, most peripherals are in the form of external boards and are configured to communicate with the processor and memory in the server, thereby improving the computing performance of the server while providing resource isolation advantages such as secure hosting and non-virtualized application deployment.

[0003] However, for current data center servers, the reliability of peripheral management is poor, resulting in high system management and operation costs. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide an out-of-band management method, device, controller, system and storage medium to solve or alleviate the above problems.

[0005] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an out-of-band management method, comprising: determining a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management of a target peripheral device via a processor; if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid, switching to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management of the target peripheral device.

[0006] According to a second aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, an out-of-band management device is provided, comprising: a determination module, determining a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management of a target peripheral via a processor; a management module, switching to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management of the target peripheral if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid.

[0007] According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, a management controller is provided, comprising: a bus interface, a communication interface and a switching circuit. The communication interface is used to determine the current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol. The first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on a target peripheral via a processor. If the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid, the switching circuit is used to switch to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and the bus interface is used to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral.

[0008] According to a fourth aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, a management system is provided, comprising: a management controller and a processor according to the third aspect.

[0009] According to a fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the program is executed by a control circuit, the method described in the first aspect is implemented.

[0010] In the scheme of the embodiment of the present invention, since it is possible to switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol when the first out-of-band channel currently fails, the target peripheral device can be directly managed out-of-band, thereby avoiding situations such as interruption or cessation of management of the peripheral device when the first out-of-band channel fails, thereby achieving more reliable out-of-band management. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in the embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0012] Figure 1 It is a schematic block diagram of a typical peripheral out-of-band management system;

[0013] Figure 2 is a schematic flow chart of an out-of-band management method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an out-of-band management method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an out-of-band management method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0016] Figure 5A is a schematic flow chart of an out-of-band management method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 5B is a schematic flow chart of an out-of-band management method according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of an out-of-band management device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a management controller for out-of-band management according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 8 The schematic structural diagram of a management system for out-of-band management according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the field based on the embodiments in the embodiments of the present invention should fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0022] The specific implementation of the embodiment of the present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 1 is a schematic block diagram of a typical peripheral out-of-band management system. As shown in the figure, the peripheral out-of-band management system is configured in a specific server, including a processor 110, a root complex (RC) 120, a management controller 130 and multiple peripherals 140. The server can be set in a computer room, for example, it can be a bare metal server, or it can be a physical server or other virtual server. Among them, the processor 110 can be a central processing unit (CPU), for example, it can include a PCIe management engine, which can be implemented as a circuit or a module. The root complex 120 device connects the processor and the memory subsystem to a PCIe switching structure composed of one or more switching devices. RC can have a connection topology as shown in the figure. The PCIe management engine can communicate with port 4 of RC. Peripheral 140 can be any component other than the processor and memory. Peripheral 140 can be installed in the form of an external board or in other forms. Each peripheral 140 communicates with its respective RC port, for example, peripheral 1, peripheral 2 and peripheral 3 communicate with port 1, port 2 and port 3 respectively. Port 4 of the RC may also communicate with the PCIe interface of the management controller 130 .

[0023] Specifically, when an operation such as restarting is performed on the processor 110, the communication between the PCIe management engine and the port 4 of the RC may be interrupted, and the management controller 130 cannot communicate with the port 4 through the PCIe interface, thereby failing to perform reliable out-of-band management.

[0024] Figure 2 The figure is a schematic diagram of an out-of-band management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 The out-of-band management method may be performed by a management controller. The management controller includes but is not limited to a baseband management controller (Baseboard Management Controller, BMC). The method includes:

[0025] 210: Determine a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on a target peripheral device via a processor.

[0026] It should be understood that the out-of-band management transport protocol includes but is not limited to the Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP). In addition, the out-of-band management transport protocol can be adapted to a variety of physical layer configurations. The first out-of-band management channel can be a physical layer management channel based on the first bus. The first bus includes but is not limited to a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus. PCIe is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. For example, the message of the first bus can be a PCIe Vendor Defined Message (VDM).

[0027] It should also be understood that the target peripheral device can be one or more peripheral devices. The processor described in the text can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), etc.; it can also be a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, and discrete hardware components.

[0028] It should also be understood that the first out-of-band management channel can be used to perform out-of-band management via a switch structure such as a root complex (RC), or it can be a management channel of other switch structures. For example, the first out-of-band management channel can communicate with the target peripheral via the RC port to implement out-of-band management. In addition, the implementation of the functions of the above-mentioned switch structure is related to the specific operating state of the processor. For example, in a state of the processor such as an abnormal operating state or an energy-saving operating state, the function of the switch structure is limited, so that out-of-band management cannot be performed based on the switch structure.

[0029] It should also be understood that the processor can also perform out-of-band management through a structure other than a switching structure such as an RC. For example, the processor includes an out-of-band management agent module, and the out-of-band management controller performs out-of-band management on the target peripheral device via the out-of-band management agent module. For another example, the out-of-band management controller obtains the working status information of the processor from the processor, and performs out-of-band management on the target peripheral device based on the working status information.

[0030] In addition, the first out-of-band management channel and the second out-of-band management channel can be based on the same protocol framework, for example, the first out-of-band management channel and the second out-of-band management channel are different physical layer channels based on the same transport layer protocol. The first out-of-band management channel and the second out-of-band management channel can also be based on different protocol frameworks, for example, the first out-of-band management channel and the second out-of-band management channel are based on different transport layer protocol frameworks.

[0031] 220: If the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid, switch to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device.

[0032] It should be understood that the second out-of-band management channel can be a physical layer management channel based on the second bus. The second bus includes but is not limited to the system management bus (System Management Bus, SMBUS) or the integrated circuit bus (Inter-Integrated Circuit Bus, I2C). Directly performing out-of-band management on the target peripheral device can refer to performing out-of-band management without passing through the switching structure associated with the processor as described above. For example, the management controller can communicate with the target peripheral device based on the second bus interface. For example, the management controller communicates with the second bus interface of each of the multiple peripheral devices respectively. In the normal operating state of the processor, the processor and the target peripheral device perform data transmission based on the first bus interface. For example, the target peripheral device is hung under the switching structure, and the processor communicates data with the target peripheral device through the switching structure.

[0033] In addition, relatively speaking, the channel based on the first bus can be a high-speed channel, for example, a high-speed serial bus channel, and the channel based on the second bus can be a low-speed channel, for example, a simple universal channel such as a low-speed serial bus channel.

[0034] It should also be understood that switching from the first out-of-band management channel to the second out-of-band management channel can be achieved through the switching module of the management controller, and the switching module can be presented as a switching circuit or a switching virtual unit. The function of the switching module can be independent of the function of the encapsulation module of the management controller, or the encapsulation module can be configured to have a switching function. For example, the management controller can obtain the operating status information of the processor and send the operating status information to the encapsulation module, and the transport layer and above of the encapsulation module can be performed in a conventional encapsulation mode. After the encapsulation process (the encapsulation process is only an example, it can also be a decapsulation process, which will not be described in detail in the full text) reaches the transport layer, physical layer encapsulation based on the out-of-band management transmission protocol can be performed according to the operating status information.

[0035] In the scheme of the embodiment of the present invention, since it is possible to switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol when the first out-of-band channel currently fails, the target peripheral device can be directly managed out-of-band, thereby avoiding situations such as interruption or cessation of management of the peripheral device when the first out-of-band channel fails, thereby achieving more reliable out-of-band management.

[0036] In other words, the specific switching structure that the communication based on the first bus relies on is limited by the operating state of the processor, and the communication based on the second bus has poorer communication performance and poorer reliability of communication quality than the communication based on the first bus. Specifically, the solution of the embodiment of the present invention implements a method for coexistence of two MCTP channels on the same peripheral device, so that the MCTP management message transmission between the management controller and the peripheral device can utilize both the high-speed channel based on the first bus and the simple universal channel based on the second bus, and can quickly switch to another channel when one channel fails.

[0037] In addition, especially in the cloud computing bare metal server scenario, the cloud computing provider cannot control the user's shutdown and restart actions, that is, the cloud computing provider cannot control the status of the specific switching structure as the first out-of-band management channel. Therefore, the above-mentioned channel switching greatly improves the reliability of out-of-band management in the bare metal server scenario.

[0038] In one example, the out-of-band management transport protocol is the management component transport protocol MCTP. The first out-of-band management channel is a physical layer channel based on the peripheral component interconnect high-speed PCIe, and the first out-of-band management channel performs out-of-band management on the target peripheral via the processor control root complex RC. The second out-of-band management channel is a physical layer channel based on the system management bus SMBUS or the integrated circuit bus I2C. Since the first out-of-band management channel and the second out-of-band management channel belong to different physical layer channels in the same protocol architecture, the second out-of-band management channel is used to achieve compatibility with the second out-of-band management channel, and the transport layer is not aware of the channel switching.

[0039] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of an out-of-band management method of another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the peripheral out-of-band management system is configured in a specific server, including a processor 310, a root complex 320, a management controller 330 and multiple peripherals 340. The server can be set in a computer room, for example, it can be a bare metal server, or it can be a physical server or other virtual server. Among them, the processor 310 can be a central processing unit, for example, it can include a PCIe management engine, which can be implemented as a circuit or a module. The root complex 320 device connects the processor and the memory subsystem to a PCIe switching structure composed of one or more switching devices. The RC can have a connection topology as shown in the figure. The PCIe management engine can communicate with port 4 of the RC. The peripheral 340 can be any component other than the processor and the memory. The peripheral 340 can be installed in the form of an external board or in other forms. Each peripheral 340 communicates with its respective RC port, for example, peripheral 1, peripheral 2 and peripheral 3 communicate with port 1, port 2 and port 3 respectively. Port 4 of the RC can also communicate with the PCIe interface of the management controller 330.

[0040] In addition, the management controller 330 also includes an I2C (an example of a second bus) interface. The I2C interface communicates with peripheral 1, peripheral 2, and peripheral 3 respectively, and uses the second out-of-band management channel to perform out-of-band management on the peripheral 340. It should be understood that the I2C interface can be one or more, for example, an I2C interface can be configured for each peripheral 340, respectively corresponding to multiple second out-of-band management channels.

[0041] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of an out-of-band management method of another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the processor can run a host operating system. The host operating system can be installed with a transport layer driver and an application layer. The transport layer driver includes but is not limited to a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) driver.

[0042] The management controller may run a management controller operating system. The management controller operating system may be installed with application layer and transport layer management interface drivers. The transport layer management interface driver includes but is not limited to a non-volatile memory high-speed communication management interface (NVM Express Management Interface, NVMe-MI) driver. NVM Express is an open collection of standards and information to fully demonstrate the advantages of non-volatile memory in all types of computing environments from mobile devices to data centers.

[0043] For the first out-of-band management channel, the management controller communicates with the root port B of the processor through the root port C. The root port D of the peripheral communicates with the root port A of the processor. Inside the processor, the root port B and the root port A communicate with each other. Thus, the out-of-band management of the peripheral by the management controller is realized. Specifically, the transport layer management interface driver can realize the transport layer encapsulation of the out-of-band management message (such as the out-of-band management transport protocol of MCTP), and realizes the transmission of the physical layer through the root port C.

[0044] For the second out-of-band management channel, the management controller communicates with the port F of the peripheral device through port E. Specifically, the transport layer management interface driver can implement the transport layer encapsulation of the out-of-band management message (such as the out-of-band management transport protocol of MCTP), and implements the physical layer transmission through the root port E.

[0045] In addition, the management controller can switch between port E and root port C. For example, the management controller includes a physical layer management interface driver, which receives a transport layer encapsulation (e.g., a data packet) from a transport layer management interface driver and encapsulates the transport layer encapsulation accordingly according to the current running state of the processor to obtain a physical layer encapsulation message.

[0046] In addition, the management controller may receive a control message from the processor indicating the current operating state of the processor. The management controller may also receive a control message from the power management system indicating the current operating state of the processor.

[0047] In addition, if the processor is currently in a normal operating state (for example, S0 mode of the X86 architecture), the first bus corresponding to the root port C is used for encapsulation to obtain a first physical layer encapsulation message. If the processor is currently in an abnormal operating state (for example, non-S0 mode of the X86 architecture, that is, any mode of the S1-S5 mode), the second bus corresponding to the root port C is used for encapsulation to obtain a second physical layer encapsulation message.

[0048] In addition, for out-of-band management using the first out-of-band management channel, the processor includes a data information channel and a control information channel. Root port A can be used to transmit control information or data information. If root port A is used to transmit data information, root port B can be used to monitor the data transmission of root port A to obtain control information. Thus, the separation of control information and data information is achieved by using root port B and root port A.

[0049] In another implementation of the present invention, the method further includes: if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently valid, switching to the first out-of-band management channel to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device.

[0050] Since the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device via the processor, when the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently valid, switching to the first out-of-band management channel can perform more reliable out-of-band management on the target peripheral device.

[0051] In other words, the management controller (MC) and the target peripheral (MD) support both the channel based on the first bus and the channel based on the second bus at the protocol layer of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and the management controller can choose to use one channel to send an out-of-band management transmission protocol message to the target peripheral.

[0052] In the system design, the management controller and the target peripheral device support both the first bus hardware interface and the second bus hardware interface. The management controller acts as the bus manager of the two buses of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and implements channel switching through the switching module. The management engine acts as the agent of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to forward the first out-of-band management message of the management controller to the target peripheral device hanging under the specific switching structure.

[0053] In another implementation of the present invention, determining the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol includes: determining the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol by monitoring the current power management state of the processor.

[0054] Since the current power management state of the processor can reflect the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel, the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel can be accurately determined while power management of the processor is being performed.

[0055] Specifically, the current power management state can be collected through an interface such as Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). The ACPI specification defines that an ACPI-compliant computer system can have the following seven states.

[0056] In another implementation of the present invention, determining the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol includes: if the current power management state indicates that the processor is in an abnormal operating state, then determining the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol as the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid.

[0057] Since the first out-of-band management channel for out-of-band management via the processor is unavailable or has poor availability when the current power management state indicates that the processor is in an abnormal operating state, accurate judgment of the current failure of the first out-of-band management channel is achieved.

[0058] Specifically, taking ACPI as an example, in the case of an X86 processor, the normal operating state includes but is not limited to G0 (S0): the normal working state of the computer - the operating system and application programs are running. The CPU (s) executes instructions. In this state (i.e., not entering the G1 sleep mode), the CPU and devices such as hard disks, DVD drives, etc. can repeatedly enter and return from low-energy states, which are called C0-Cn and D0-D3. For example, for laptop computers, all currently unused devices are usually turned off when running on battery; some desktop computers also operate in this way to reduce noise.

[0059] Abnormal operating states include but are not limited to G1 sleep, which can be further divided into four states from S1 to S4. The time required for the system to be awakened from these states to G0 operation (wake-up wait time) is the shortest S1, the shorter S2 and S3, and the longer S4.

[0060] In another implementation of the present invention, switching to the first out-of-band management channel to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device includes: switching to the first out-of-band management channel based on the first bus; sending a first out-of-band management command to the processor through the first bus, so that the processor forwards the first out-of-band management command to the target peripheral device through the first bus.

[0061] Since the first bus is used to send the first out-of-band management command to the processor, and the processor forwards the first out-of-band management command to the target peripheral device through the first bus, efficient data transmission is achieved through the first bus.

[0062] In another implementation of the present invention, switching to a first out-of-band management channel based on a first bus includes: switching to the first out-of-band management channel based on the first bus based on a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the first out-of-band management channel, wherein the method further includes: if a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel does not exist, creating a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the first out-of-band management channel.

[0063] Since a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel is created based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel, unified management of the two mapping relationships corresponding to the two out-of-band management channels is achieved, thereby improving the efficiency of switching between the two out-of-band management channels, and further improving the efficiency of out-of-band management.

[0064] In another implementation of the present invention, switching to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device includes: switching to a second out-of-band management channel based on a second bus of the out-of-band management transmission protocol; and sending a second out-of-band management command to the target peripheral device through the second bus.

[0065] Switching to the second out-of-band management channel based on the second bus of the out-of-band management transmission protocol realizes the fast switching of the physical layer channel under the out-of-band management transmission protocol. In other words, it realizes the seamless switching of the channel and can also achieve good backward compatibility with the existing configuration.

[0066] In another implementation of the present invention, switching to a second out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol includes: determining a current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and switching to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol if the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently valid.

[0067] Since the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel can reflect whether the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, by judging the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel, switching to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol is achieved, thereby realizing a reliable switching operation.

[0068] In another implementation of the present invention, the method further includes: if the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, performing a restart until the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently valid.

[0069] Since the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel can reflect whether the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, when the second out-of-band management channel is currently valid, switching to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol is performed to achieve reliable out-of-band management of the target peripheral.

[0070] In another implementation of the present invention, the method further includes: if the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, reporting a channel failure instruction.

[0071] Since the current failure of the second out-of-band management channel can accurately reflect the failure of the reporting channel when the first out-of-band management channel fails, the instruction to report the channel failure is conducive to eliminating the channel failure.

[0072] In another implementation of the present invention, determining the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol includes: determining the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel based on a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol.

[0073] Since the mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol is important out-of-band management information, judging the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol can effectively eliminate the influencing factors of out-of-band management other than the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel.

[0074] In another implementation of the present invention, the method further includes: if a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel does not exist, creating a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel.

[0075] Based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel, the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel can be accurately and reliably established, and the management of the out-of-band management channel is facilitated to perform operations such as switching of the out-of-band management channel.

[0076] In another implementation of the present invention, the method further includes: if a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel does not exist, directly creating a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel and a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel.

[0077] Directly create a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the first out-of-band management channel and a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel, so that based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel, out-of-band management can be performed using the second out-of-band management channel, and when switching to the first out-of-band management channel, there is no need to create a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the first out-of-band management channel, and out-of-band management can be performed directly based on the mapping relationship using the first out-of-band management channel. This mapping relationship, thereby improving the management efficiency of the out-of-band management channel.

[0078] Figure 5A 1 is a schematic flow chart of an out-of-band management method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the first bus may be a PCIe bus. The second bus may be an SMBUS bus or an I2C bus. It should be understood that the various steps in this example are merely exemplary, and in other examples, some steps may be added, reduced, or replaced.

[0079] In step 511 , the current channel status of the first out-of-band management channel is queried, and the process proceeds to step 512 .

[0080] In step 512, it is determined whether the current channel status of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the channel is available. If not, the process proceeds to step 515; if yes, the process proceeds to step 513.

[0081] In step 513 , a corresponding table between the first mapping relationship and the second mapping relationship is queried, and the process proceeds to step 514 .

[0082] In step 514, a first out-of-band management command is sent via the first bus.

[0083] In step 515 , the channel status of the second out-of-band management channel is queried, and the process proceeds to step 516 .

[0084] In step 516, it is determined whether the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the channel is available. If yes, the process proceeds to step 517; if no, the process proceeds to step 518.

[0085] In step 517, a second out-of-band management command is sent via the second bus.

[0086] In step 518, the channel failure is reported. For example, if the second out-of-band management channel fails, the management controller C reports the error to the system management application, for example, reports the error to the monitoring server of the data center.

[0087] Figure 5B1 is a schematic flow chart of an out-of-band management method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the first bus may be a PCIe bus. The second bus may be an SMBUS bus or an I2C bus. It should be understood that the various steps in this example are merely exemplary, and in other examples, some steps may be added, reduced, or replaced.

[0088] In step 521 , the baseband management controller is started and the process proceeds to step 522 .

[0089] In step 522, it is determined whether the processor is in a normal operating state. If yes, the process proceeds to step 523; if no, the process proceeds to step 525.

[0090] Specifically, the management controller first queries the ACPI power state of the processor. If the ACPI power state is SO, it is in a normal operating state; otherwise, it is in an abnormal operating state.

[0091] Specifically, if the processor is in the S0 state, the state of the first out-of-band management channel of each peripheral device is queried, and if the channel is normal, the first out-of-band management message is directly sent.

[0092] In step 523 , the current channel status of the first out-of-band management channel is queried, and the process proceeds to step 524 .

[0093] In step 524, it is determined whether the current channel status of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the channel is available. If yes, the process proceeds to step 526; if no, the process proceeds to step 525.

[0094] Specifically, if the processor is not in the S0 state, device discovery and MCTP message sending are performed directly through the second bus.

[0095] In step 525 , the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel is queried, and the process proceeds to step 528 .

[0096] In step 526, a second mapping relationship is created based on the first mapping relationship.

[0097] In step 527, a first out-of-band management command is sent via the first bus.

[0098] In step 528, address allocation is performed based on device discovery of the peripheral device of the second out-of-band management channel, and a second mapping relationship is created, and the process proceeds to step 529. It should be understood that the first mapping relationship can be further created by the second mapping relationship.

[0099] In step 529, it is determined whether the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the channel is available. If yes, the process proceeds to step 530; if no, the process proceeds to step 531.

[0100] In step 530, a second out-of-band management command is sent through the second bus. For example, if the channel is abnormal, a second out-of-band management message is sent based on the correspondence between the first mapping relationship and the second mapping relationship.

[0101] In step 531, the channel failure is reported. For example, if the second out-of-band management channel fails, the management controller C reports the error to the system management application, for example, reports the error to the monitoring server of the data center.

[0102] Figure 6 The figure is a schematic block diagram of an out-of-band management device according to another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 Out-of-band management devices include:

[0103] The determination module 610 determines a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on a target peripheral device via a processor;

[0104] The management module 620 switches to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid.

[0105] In the scheme of the embodiment of the present invention, since it is possible to switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol when the first out-of-band channel currently fails, the target peripheral device can be directly managed out-of-band, thereby avoiding situations such as interruption or cessation of management of the peripheral device when the first out-of-band channel fails, thereby achieving more reliable out-of-band management.

[0106] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is further configured to: if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently valid, switch to the first out-of-band management channel to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device.

[0107] In another implementation of the present invention, the determination module is specifically configured to determine a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol by monitoring a current power management state of the processor.

[0108] In another implementation of the present invention, the determination module is specifically used to: if the current power management state indicates that the processor is in an abnormal operating state, determine the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol as the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid.

[0109] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is specifically used to: switch to a first out-of-band management channel based on the first bus; send a first out-of-band management command to the processor through the first bus, so that the processor forwards the first out-of-band management command to the target peripheral device through the first bus.

[0110] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is specifically used to: switch to the first out-of-band management channel based on the first bus based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the first out-of-band management channel, and the management module is also used to: if the mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel does not exist, then create a mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the second out-of-band management channel based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral and the first out-of-band management channel.

[0111] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is specifically used to: switch to a second out-of-band management channel based on a second bus of an out-of-band management transmission protocol; and send a second out-of-band management command to a target peripheral device through the second bus.

[0112] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is specifically used to: determine the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and if the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently valid, switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol.

[0113] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is further used to: if the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, execute restart until the current channel status of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently valid.

[0114] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is further configured to: report a channel failure instruction if the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid.

[0115] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is specifically used to: determine the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel based on a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol.

[0116] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is further used to: if the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel does not exist, create a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel.

[0117] In another implementation of the present invention, the management module is further used to: directly create a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel and a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel if the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel does not exist.

[0118] The device of this embodiment is used to implement the corresponding methods in the aforementioned multiple method embodiments, and has the beneficial effects of the corresponding method embodiments, which will not be repeated here. In addition, the functional implementation of each module in the device of this embodiment can refer to the description of the corresponding parts in the aforementioned method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0119] Figure 7 This is a schematic structural diagram of a management controller for out-of-band management according to another embodiment of the present invention. The management controller includes a bus interface 710, a communication interface 720, and a switching circuit 730. The communication interface 720 is used to determine the current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on a target peripheral via a processor. If the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid, the switching circuit 730 is used to switch to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and the bus interface 710 is used to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral.

[0120] In another implementation of the present invention, the management controller further includes: an encapsulation circuit, configured to encapsulate the out-of-band management transport layer message using the physical layer protocol of the second out-of-band management channel, and send the encapsulated message to the bus interface.

[0121] In another implementation of the present invention, if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently valid, the encapsulation circuit uses the physical layer protocol of the first out-of-band management channel to encapsulate the out-of-band management transport layer message, and sends the encapsulated message to the processor, so as to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device via the processor. Thus, the second out-of-band management channel is used to achieve the imperceptibility of the transport layer when the channel is switched.

[0122] Figure 8 This is a schematic structural diagram of a management system for out-of-band management according to another embodiment of the present invention. The management system includes a management controller 810 and a processor 820. The management system may also include one or more peripherals.

[0123] The management controller 810 includes a first bus interface 813, a second bus interface 812, a communication interface 811 and a switching circuit 814. The communication interface 811 is used to determine the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral via the processor. If the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid, the switching circuit 814 is used to switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and the second bus interface 812 is used to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral.

[0124] The processor 820 includes a first bus interface 821 . The first bus interface 821 can communicate with the first bus interface 813 .

[0125] One or more peripherals may be respectively configured with a first bus management interface and a second bus management interface, and the first bus management interface may communicate with the first bus interface 821 and the first bus interface 813 respectively to implement data information transmission and control information transmission respectively. The second bus management interface may transmit control information with the second bus interface 812 to enable out-of-band management.

[0126] The processor described in the text can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), etc.; it can also be a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. It can implement or execute the methods, steps and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0127] The storage medium may be, but is not limited to, a random access memory medium (RAM), a read-only memory medium (ROM), a programmable read-only memory medium (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory medium (EPROM), an electrically erasable read-only memory medium (Electric Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, EEPROM), etc.

[0128] In particular, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the process described above with reference to the flowchart can be implemented as a computer software program. For example, an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a computer program product, which includes a computer program carried on a storage medium, and the computer program includes a program code configured to execute the method shown in the flowchart. In such an embodiment, the computer program can be downloaded and installed from the network through a communication part, and / or installed from a removable medium. When the computer program is executed by a central processing unit (CPU), the above functions defined in the method of the present invention are executed. It should be noted that the storage medium described in the present invention can be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium or any combination of the above two. The storage medium can be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device or device, or any combination of the above. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, an electrical connection with one or more conductors, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access storage medium (RAM), a read-only storage medium (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only storage medium (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only storage medium (CD-ROM), an optical storage medium, a magnetic storage medium, or any suitable combination of the above. In the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium containing or storing a program that can be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, an apparatus or a device. In the present invention, a computer-readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in a baseband or as part of a carrier wave, in which a computer-readable program code is carried. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination of the above. A computer-readable signal medium may also be any storage medium other than a computer-readable storage medium, which may send, propagate, or transmit a program configured to be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, an apparatus or a device. The program code contained on the storage medium can be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wire, optical cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the above.

[0129] Computer program code configured to perform the operations of the present invention may be written in one or more programming languages ​​or a combination thereof, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Smalltalk, C++, and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as "C" or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a separate software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the case of a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computer (e.g., through the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0130] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate the possible architecture, functions and operations of the systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each box in the flowchart or block diagram can represent a module, a program segment, or a part of a code, and the module, program segment, or a part of the code contains one or more executable instructions configured to implement the specified logical function. There are specific sequential relationships in the above-mentioned specific embodiments, but these sequential relationships are only exemplary. When the specific implementation is implemented, these steps may be less, more or the execution order may be adjusted. That is, in some alternative implementations, the functions marked in the box can also occur in a different order from the order marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two boxes represented in succession can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each box in the block diagram and / or flowchart, and the combination of boxes in the block diagram and / or flowchart can be implemented with a dedicated hardware-based system that performs a specified function or operation, or can be implemented with a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0131] The modules involved in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by software or hardware. The names of these modules do not limit the modules themselves in some cases.

[0132] As another aspect, the present invention further provides a storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which implements the method described in the above embodiment when executed by a processor.

[0133] As another aspect, the present invention further provides a storage medium, which may be included in the device described in the above embodiment; or it may exist independently without being assembled into the device. The above storage medium carries one or more programs, and when the above one or more programs are executed by the device, the device: determines the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management of the target peripheral device via the processor; if the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band channel is currently invalid, then switches to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management of the target peripheral device.

[0134] The expressions "first", "second", "the first" or "the second" used in various embodiments of the present disclosure may modify various components regardless of order and / or importance, but these expressions do not limit the corresponding components. The above expressions are only configured for the purpose of distinguishing an element from other elements. For example, a first user device and a second user device represent different user devices, although both are user devices. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0135] When one element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being "(operably or communicatively) coupled" or "(operably or communicatively) coupled to" or "connected to" another element (e.g., a second element), it is understood that the one element is directly connected to the other element or the one element is indirectly connected to the other element via yet another element (e.g., a third element). Conversely, it is understood that when an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element (the second element), no element (e.g., a third element) is interposed between the two.

[0136] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and an explanation of the technical principles used. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of the invention involved in the present invention is not limited to the technical solution formed by a specific combination of the above technical features, but should also cover other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features or their equivalent features without departing from the above inventive concept. For example, the above features are replaced with the technical features with similar functions disclosed in the present invention (but not limited to) to form a technical solution.

Claims

1. An out-of-band management method, comprising: Determine a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on a target peripheral device via a processor, and the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel is reflected by a current power management state of the processor, and if the current power management state indicates that the processor is in an abnormal operating state, determine the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol as the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid; If the current channel status of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device, where the directly performing out-of-band management on the target peripheral device is used to indicate that out-of-band management is performed without going through the processor.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The method further comprises: If the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band management channel is currently valid, switching to the first out-of-band management channel to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The determining of the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol includes: By monitoring the current power management state of the processor, a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol is determined.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The switching to the first out-of-band management channel to perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device includes: Switching to a first out-of-band management channel based on the first bus; A first out-of-band management command is sent to the processor through the first bus, so that the processor forwards the first out-of-band management command to the target peripheral device through the first bus.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: The switching to the first out-of-band management channel based on the first bus includes: Based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel, switching to the first out-of-band management channel based on the first bus, wherein the method further includes: If the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel does not exist, a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel is created based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The switching to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device includes: Switching to a second out-of-band management channel based on a second bus of the out-of-band management transmission protocol; A second out-of-band management command is sent to the target peripheral device through the second bus.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The switching to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol comprises: Determine the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and if the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently valid, switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The method further comprises: If the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, restarting is performed until the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently valid.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The method further comprises: If the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel indicates that the second out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, a channel failure instruction is reported.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The determining of the current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol includes: Based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, a current channel state of the second out-of-band management channel is determined.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The method further comprises: If the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel does not exist, a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel is created based on the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The method further comprises: If the mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel does not exist, a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the first out-of-band management channel and a mapping relationship between the target peripheral device and the second out-of-band management channel are directly created.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The out-of-band management transmission protocol is the Management Component Transport Protocol MCTP, The first out-of-band management channel is a physical layer channel based on the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), and the first out-of-band management channel performs out-of-band management on the target peripheral via the processor controlling the root complex RC. The second out-of-band management channel is a physical layer channel based on a system management bus SMBUS or an integrated circuit bus I2C.

14. An out-of-band management device, comprising: a determination module, determining a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on a target peripheral device via a processor, and the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel is reflected by a current power management state of the processor, and if the current power management state indicates that the processor is in an abnormal operating state, the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol is determined as the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid; A management module switches to a second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device if the current channel status of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid. The directly performing out-of-band management on the target peripheral device is used to indicate that out-of-band management is performed without passing through the processor.

15. A management controller, comprising: Bus interface, communication interface and switching circuit, wherein the communication interface is used to determine a current channel state of a first out-of-band management channel of an out-of-band management transmission protocol, wherein the first out-of-band management channel is used to perform out-of-band management on a target peripheral device via a processor, and the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel is reflected by a current power management state of the processor, and if the current power management state indicates that the processor is in an abnormal operating state, the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol is determined as the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid; Among them, if the current channel status of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band management channel is currently invalid, the switching circuit is used to switch to the second out-of-band management channel of the out-of-band management transmission protocol, and the bus interface is used to directly perform out-of-band management on the target peripheral device, and the direct out-of-band management of the target peripheral device is used to indicate that out-of-band management is performed without passing through the processor.

16. The management controller according to claim 15, further comprising: The encapsulation circuit is used to encapsulate the out-of-band management transport layer message by adopting the physical layer protocol of the second out-of-band management channel, and send the encapsulated message to the bus interface.

17. The management controller according to claim 16, wherein: If the current channel state of the first out-of-band management channel indicates that the first out-of-band management channel is currently valid, the encapsulation circuit uses the physical layer protocol of the first out-of-band management channel to encapsulate the out-of-band management transport layer message, and sends the encapsulated message to the processor so as to perform out-of-band management of the target peripheral device via the processor.

18. A management system comprising: A management controller and a processor according to any one of claims 15 to 17.

19. A storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein when the program is executed by a control circuit, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 is implemented.

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