Out-of-band management device and method, electronic device, and computer-readable storage medium

Abstract

The present application discloses an out-of-band management device and method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium. The device includes: an interface module, including at least two bus interfaces; a management module, which is used to determine at least one bus interface for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information of the target device connected to the out-of-band management device, wherein the interface module makes each determined bus interface enter a state of communicating with the target device according to the determination result of the management module. The embodiment of the present application integrates multiple interfaces to normalize the interface connected to the target device, realizes the adaptation of the out-of-band management device to different architecture platforms, and based on the normalized interface, also realizes the separation of the out-of-band management device from the target device to become an independent module, which greatly reduces the cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of out-of-band management, and in particular to an out-of-band management device and method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In the server field, in order to meet the diverse needs of users, the hardware specifications of the server are often relatively complex, and while implementing such complex functions, the server also needs to maintain a relatively stable operating state to ensure that the user's use is smooth and safe. To this end, a controller based on platform management (Platform Management) is proposed in the prior art to manage the system operation of the server. For example, the prior art uses a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) as an independent system to help users manage the system operation of the server, which is the well-known "out-of-band management" solution. Therefore, in order to achieve such system operation management, the BMC also needs to be connected to other components in the system through various interfaces. Therefore, in the prior art, the BMC is integrated on the motherboard as a separate module, so that the BMC can use various bus interfaces provided on the motherboard to communicate with components in the system and send management instructions.

[0003] However, since motherboards of different platforms have different hardware specifications, the integrated BMC module in the prior art cannot be replaced or used for server platform motherboards of different specifications. Summary of the invention

[0004] Embodiments of the present application provide an out-of-band management device and method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium to address the defect in the prior art that universal adaptation across processor architectures cannot be achieved.

[0005] To achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present application provides an out-of-band management device, including:

[0006] An interface module, comprising at least two bus interfaces;

[0007] a management module, configured to determine at least one bus interface for communicating with the target device according to target device attribute information of the target device connected to the out-of-band management device,

[0008] The interface module enables each determined bus interface to enter a state of communication with the target device according to the determination result of the management module.

[0009] The embodiment of the present application also provides an out-of-band management method, wherein the out-of-band management method is applied to an out-of-band management device and includes:

[0010] receiving target device attribute information from a target device connected to the out-of-band management device;

[0011] Determining at least one bus interface for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information;

[0012] Each determined bus interface is enabled to enter a state of communicating with the target device.

[0013] The embodiment of the present application also provides an out-of-band management device, including:

[0014] a connection unit having at least two pin groups for connecting to a target device;

[0015] an interface control unit, the control unit being connected to the connection unit via a first bus;

[0016] a management unit, the management unit being in communication connection with the interface control unit,

[0017] The management unit determines at least one pin group for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information of the target device.

[0018] The present application also provides an electronic device, including:

[0019] Memory, used to store programs;

[0020] The processor is used to run the program stored in the memory, and the out-of-band management method provided by the embodiment of the present application is executed when the program is run.

[0021] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program executable by a processor is stored, wherein the program, when executed by the processor, implements the out-of-band management method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0022] The embodiments of the present application provide an out-of-band management device and method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium, wherein an interface module has at least two bus interfaces to determine the bus interface used to communicate with the target device, and enables the determined bus interface to enter a state of communication with the target device. Therefore, the out-of-band management solution of the embodiments of the present application integrates multiple bus interfaces to adapt communication with the target device, thereby realizing normalization of the bus interfaces. Even if different architecture platforms require the use of different bus interfaces, it is possible to determine which buses to use to communicate with the target device based on the received attribute information. Therefore, not only is the adaptation of the out-of-band management device to different architecture platforms achieved through the normalized interface, but also the separation of the out-of-band management device from the target device based on the normalized interface to become an independent module, thereby greatly reducing costs.

[0023] The above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the present application. In order to more clearly understand the technical means of the present application, it can be implemented in accordance with the contents of the specification. In order to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, the specific implementation methods of the present application are listed below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments below. The accompanying drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be considered as limiting the present application. Also, the same reference symbols are used throughout the accompanying drawings to represent the same components. In the accompanying drawings:

[0025] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an application scenario of the out-of-band management solution provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the out-of-band management device provided by the present application;

[0027] Figure 3 A flowchart of an embodiment of the out-of-band management method provided by the present application;

[0028] Figure 4a A schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the out-of-band management device provided by the present application;

[0029] Figure 4b A schematic diagram of the structure of a fixed unit of the out-of-band management device provided by the present application;

[0030] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device embodiment provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to enable a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure and to fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0032] Embodiment 1

[0033] The solution provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to any system with out-of-band management capabilities, such as a server system including a mainboard and related components, etc. Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an application scenario of the out-of-band management solution provided in an embodiment of the present application, Figure 1The scenario shown is only one of the examples to which the technical solution of the present application can be applied.

[0034] In the field of servers, in order to meet the diverse needs of users, the hardware specifications of servers are often relatively complex, and while realizing such complex functions, the server also needs to maintain a relatively stable operating state to ensure that the user's use is stable and safe, and the user also needs to set and manage the server. For this reason, a controller based on platform management (PlatformManagement) is proposed in the prior art to manage the system operation of the server. In particular, the management of the server is achieved through a special network management channel, and the management data is separated from the task data, and an independent communication channel is established for the management data, that is, an out-of-band management channel. In this out-of-band management channel, only management data, statistical information, billing information, etc. are transmitted. By separating the management data from the task data, the management efficiency and reliability can be improved, and it is also conducive to improving the security of the management data.

[0035] For example, in the prior art, a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) is used as an independent out-of-band management device to implement out-of-band management of the system operation of the server by the user. Therefore, in order to implement such system operation management, the BMC also needs to communicate with the components in the server through various bus interfaces. Therefore, in the prior art, the BMC is integrated as a module on the server motherboard, so that the BMC can use various buses provided on the motherboard to communicate with the components and send management instructions.

[0036] However, since motherboards of different platforms have different hardware specifications, the integrated BMC module in the prior art cannot be replaced at will, not to mention using a common BMC module for server platform motherboards of different specifications. In the embodiment of the present application, the platform type used by the target device may refer to the type of platform it is applied to, such as an Internet of Things platform or a cloud computing platform, and the processor architecture used by the target device may refer to the architecture type of the processor used by its motherboard, such as an INTEL or ARM processor.

[0037] For example, Figure 1 As shown in , there are two different types of motherboards, namely, A-architecture type motherboards and B-architecture type motherboards. Therefore, in the prior art, a BMC module matching the motherboard type is usually integrated on the corresponding motherboard when the motherboard leaves the factory.

[0038] That is, in the prior art, the A-architecture motherboard is integrated with a BMC module that is only compatible with the A-architecture motherboard, and the B-architecture motherboard is integrated with a BMC module that is only compatible with the B-architecture motherboard. Therefore, for example, the motherboard manufacturer needs to prepare a variety of corresponding BMC modules according to the types of platform architectures sold on the market. This leads to an increase in production costs. In addition, since the out-of-band management devices in the prior art are integrated in the form of BMC modules on the motherboards of their respective compatible architectures, they cannot be replaced once damaged, and can only be replaced together with the motherboard, which inevitably increases the maintenance cost.

[0039] Therefore, if Figure 1 As shown in the embodiment of the present application, the out-of-band management device is connected to each mainboard via a normalized interface in the form of an external device. Figure 1 As shown in, according to the embodiment of the present application, the interface module of the out-of-band management device is provided with three bus interfaces, namely, bus 1 interface, bus 2 interface, and bus 3 interface. And a docking interface can be correspondingly provided on the A-frame motherboard, and the same docking interface can be correspondingly provided on the B-frame motherboard. Therefore, both the A-frame motherboard and the B-frame motherboard can be connected to the same out-of-band management device through the docking interface.

[0040] In other words, the motherboard manufacturer can only produce one out-of-band management device, that is, the out-of-band management device with the above interface module according to the embodiment of the present application, and when the user orders the A-framework motherboard, the out-of-band management device can be used with it, and when the user orders the B-framework motherboard, the out-of-band management device can also be used with it. Although the A-framework motherboard and the B-framework motherboard allow the out-of-band management device to communicate with them using different bus interfaces, for example, Figure 1 As shown in , the A architecture motherboard uses bus 1 and bus 2, and the B architecture motherboard uses bus 1 and bus 3.

[0041] Therefore, when the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application is used as the out-of-band management device of the A-framework motherboard, the out-of-band management device can use its normalized interface module integrated with various bus interfaces to connect to the docking interface set on the A-framework motherboard. After connecting to the A-framework motherboard, the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application can receive the device attribute information of the A-framework motherboard from the A-framework motherboard through, for example, the lower-speed bus 1 interface, for example, receiving its product type, serial number or its architecture information, etc., and can identify that the bus interface used by the A-framework motherboard for out-of-band management is the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface by searching the built-in database or the cloud database, and for example, the bus 1 interface is a low-speed interface, and the bus 2 interface is a high-speed interface, or for example, the bus 1 is a general interface, and the bus 2 is a CPU-specific bus interface. The present application is not limited to receiving attribute information from the A-framework motherboard as the target device through the interface module. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the attribute information can also be received from the A-framework motherboard through a communication module separated from the interface module.

[0042] Therefore, the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application can activate the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface in the normalized interface, for example, to make them enter the communication state, and thus use these two bus interfaces to communicate with the A-framework motherboard. For example, it can receive its operating status information from the A-framework motherboard, and / or send instructions to the A-framework motherboard, thereby realizing the automatic adaptation of the external out-of-band management device to the A-framework motherboard.

[0043] Similarly, when the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application is used as the out-of-band management device of the B-architecture motherboard, the out-of-band management device can also use its normalized interface module integrated with various bus interfaces to connect to the docking interface set on the B-architecture motherboard. After connecting to the B-architecture motherboard, the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application can also use the bus 1 interface as a universal bus interface to receive the device attribute information of the B-architecture motherboard from the B-architecture motherboard, for example, receive its product number, architecture type, serial number, etc., and / or identify the bus interfaces used by the B-architecture motherboard for out-of-band management as bus 1 and bus 3 by searching the built-in database or cloud database, so that the out-of-band management device can activate the bus 1 interface and the bus 3 interface in the normalized interface, for example, to make it enter the communication state, and thus can use the bus interface to communicate with the B-architecture motherboard.

[0044] Therefore, unlike the solution in the prior art that requires a specially adapted BMC module to be provided for target devices of different architecture platforms, the out-of-band management device in the embodiment of the present application integrates a normalized interface module of multiple bus interfaces, thereby achieving unified adaptation to different architecture platforms, and also thereby achieving separation from the target device such as the motherboard, and realizing an external connection, which not only facilitates the replacement of components of the out-of-band management module when a failure occurs, but also facilitates the separate upgrade and maintenance of the out-of-band management module, greatly reducing production and maintenance costs.

[0045] The out-of-band management solution provided in the embodiment of the present application has an interface module with at least two bus interfaces, and determines the bus interface used to communicate with the target device based on the target device attribute information received from the target device, and makes the determined bus interface enter a state of communication with the target device. Therefore, the out-of-band management solution of the embodiment of the present application integrates multiple bus interfaces to adapt communication with the target device, thereby realizing the normalization of bus interfaces. Even if different architecture platforms require the use of different bus interfaces, it is also possible to determine which buses to use to communicate with the target device based on the received attribute information. Therefore, not only is the adaptation of the out-of-band management device to different architecture platforms achieved through the normalized interface, but also the separation of the out-of-band management device from the target device based on the normalized interface is realized to become an independent module, thereby greatly reducing costs.

[0046] The above embodiments are illustrations of the technical principles and exemplary application frameworks of the embodiments of the present application. The specific technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are further described in detail below through multiple embodiments.

[0047] Embodiment 2

[0048] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the out-of-band management device provided by the present application. The device can be various terminals or server devices with out-of-band management capabilities, or it can be a device or chip integrated on these devices. Figure 2 As shown, the out-of-band management device may include: an interface module 21 and a management module 22 .

[0049] The interface module 21 may include at least two bus interfaces. Figure 1As shown in , in the embodiment of the present application, the interface module 21 can integrate multiple bus interfaces to form a normalized interface, so as to be able to connect to the normalized interface set on the motherboard of each architecture. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the bus interface may include: a universal serial bus, a peripheral component interconnect standard bus, a low pin count bus, a serial communication interface, a universal asynchronous transmission receiver and transmitter interface, a memory card interface, a network controller sideband interface, a reduced media independent interface, an analog-to-digital converter interface, a flash memory interface, a memory interface, etc.

[0050] For example, in Figure 1 In the scenario shown in , there are two mainboards A and B of two architectures and the mainboard of architecture A uses bus 1 interface and bus 2 interface for out-of-band management communication, while the mainboard of architecture B uses bus 1 interface and bus 3 interface for out-of-band management communication. The bus 1 interface may be a low-speed bus interface common to various architecture platforms. Of course, in other embodiments, other types of bus interfaces may also be used as the universal bus interface. Therefore, the interface module 21 may form a normalized interface by integrating these three bus 3 interfaces, and corresponding docking interfaces corresponding to the normalized interface may be correspondingly provided on the mainboard of architecture A and the mainboard of architecture B, so that the interface module 21 may achieve connection with the mainboard by connecting to the mainboard of architecture A and the mainboard of architecture B indiscriminately. In other words, in a scenario such as Figure 1 In the scenario shown in , the architecture A motherboard only needs to use the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface, so the normalized docking interface of the architecture A motherboard can only be provided with the bus 1 and bus 2 docking interfaces, and the bus 3 interface position is left blank. Alternatively, the normalized docking interface of the architecture A motherboard can also be provided with the bus 1, bus 2 and bus 3 interfaces.

[0051] Therefore, the interface module 21 can use such a universal bus interface to receive target device attribute information from the connected target device. The out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application can be connected to the docking interface of the target device such as the motherboard through a normalized interface. Since the normalized interface of the embodiment of the present application includes multiple bus interfaces, and the buses used by motherboards of different architectures for out-of-band management communication are not the same. For example, in Figure 1In the scenario shown in , the architecture A motherboard uses the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface, while the architecture B motherboard uses the bus 1 interface and the bus 3 interface. Therefore, although the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application can be connected through a normalized interface without considering the different requirements of each architecture, it is still necessary to identify the target device after the connection, such as identifying the type of architecture platform used by the motherboard, so as to enable the corresponding bus interface in the interface for communication. To this end, according to the embodiment of the present application, the interface module 21 can receive target device attribute information from the target device connected to the out-of-band management device through a universal bus interface such as the bus 1 interface, such as at least one or more of the platform type used by the target device, the processor architecture used by the target device, and the product serial number of the target device.

[0052] The management module 22 may be used to determine at least one bus interface in the bus interface in the interface module for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information. The management module 22 may determine the bus interface to be used in the normalized interface according to the target device attribute information obtained by the interface module 21. For example, Figure 1 As shown in , when the interface module 21 obtains the motherboard attributes from the architecture A motherboard, the management module 22 can identify that the motherboard uses architecture A based on the motherboard attributes such as the motherboard serial number or the motherboard model, and thus can determine that the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface required to be used by the architecture A motherboard need to be enabled. In other words, the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application is directly connected to the target device using a normalized interface module, such as Figure 1 When the interface on the architecture A motherboard in the embodiment is connected, it actually does not know the bus required to be used by the architecture A motherboard. Therefore, the interface module 21 can receive the target device attribute information from the connected target device through, for example, a universal interface in the interface module or through a separate communication interface, such as Bluetooth or a wireless network or a near-field communication interface, so that the management module 22 can identify the out-of-band management requirements adopted by the target device according to the target device attributes, such as the need to use the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface for out-of-band management communication.

[0053] In addition, the management module 22 can further determine the correspondence between each bus interface and a component in the target device or the usage of each bus interface in the target device according to the target device attribute information. Figure 1In the scenario shown in , the management module 22 determines to use the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface to communicate with the architecture A mainboard according to the attribute information received from the architecture A mainboard, and can further determine according to the attribute information that the bus 1 interface is a low-speed bus and the bus 2 interface is a high-speed bus in the architecture A, so the bus 2 interface can be activated to communicate with the architecture A mainboard at high speed, and the bus 1 interface can continue to be used to communicate with the architecture A mainboard at low speed. Alternatively, it can be determined that the bus 1 interface is used to communicate with the serial port device, and the bus 2 interface is used to communicate with the CPU and memory devices, and so on.

[0054] In addition, in an embodiment of the present application, a communication module specifically used to obtain target device attribute information from the target device may also be additionally provided in the out-of-band management device, and when the out-of-band management device is connected to the target device or approaches the target device, the target device attributes may be obtained through contactless communication or other means and passed to the management module 22 to determine the out-of-band communication requirements of the target device.

[0055] Therefore, unlike the solution in the prior art that requires a specially adapted BMC module to be provided for target devices of different architecture platforms, the out-of-band management device in the embodiment of the present application integrates a normalized interface module of multiple bus interfaces, thereby achieving unified adaptation for different architecture platforms, and also thereby achieving separation from the target device such as the motherboard, achieving an external connection, which is not only convenient for replacing the components of the out-of-band management module when a failure occurs, but also convenient for the separate upgrade and maintenance of the out-of-band management module, greatly reducing the production and maintenance costs. In particular, the out-of-band management device in the embodiment of the present application can be equipped with a normalized interface, so that the BMC integrated with the motherboard of the corresponding architecture in the prior art can be separated from the motherboard to form an external out-of-band management device, and in particular, at least one of the above-mentioned interface module 21 and management module 22 can be made of a low-speed printed circuit board (PCB), which greatly saves manufacturing costs.

[0056] The out-of-band management device provided in the embodiment of the present application has an interface module with at least two bus interfaces, and determines the bus interface used for communicating with the target device based on the target device attribute information received from the target device, and makes the determined bus interface enter a state of communicating with the target device. Therefore, the out-of-band management solution of the embodiment of the present application integrates multiple bus interfaces to adapt to communication with the target device, thereby realizing normalization of bus interfaces. Even if different architecture platforms require the use of different bus interfaces, it is also possible to determine which buses to use to communicate with the target device based on the received attribute information. Therefore, not only is the adaptation of the out-of-band management device to different architecture platforms achieved through the normalized interface, but the separation of the out-of-band management device from the target device is also achieved based on the normalized interface, making it an independent module, thereby greatly reducing costs.

[0057] Embodiment 3

[0058] Figure 3 This is a flowchart of an embodiment of the out-of-band management method provided by the present application. The execution subject of the method can be various terminals or server devices with out-of-band management capabilities, or it can be a device or chip integrated on these devices. Figure 3 As shown, the out-of-band management method may include the following steps:

[0059] S301, receiving target device attribute information from a target device connected to an out-of-band management device.

[0060] In the embodiment of the present application, target device attribute information may be received from the target device connected to the out-of-band management device in step S301. The out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application may be connected to a docking interface of a target device such as a motherboard through a normalized interface, because the normalized interface of the embodiment of the present application includes a variety of bus interfaces, and the buses used by motherboards of different architectures for out-of-band management communication are not the same.

[0061] For example, in Figure 1 In the scenario shown in , the architecture A motherboard uses bus 1 interface and bus 2 interface, while the architecture B motherboard uses bus 1 interface and bus 3 interface. Therefore, although the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application can be connected through a normalized interface without considering the different requirements of each architecture, it is still necessary to identify the target device after the connection, such as identifying the type of architecture platform used by the motherboard, so as to enable the corresponding bus interface in the interface for communication.

[0062] To this end, according to an embodiment of the present application, in step S301, target device attribute information, such as at least one or more of the platform type used by the target device, the processor architecture used by the target device, and the product serial number of the target device, can be received from the target device connected to the out-of-band management device through a universal bus interface such as the bus 1 interface. In the embodiment of the present application, the target device attribute information is not limited to being received only through the universal bus, and the target device attribute information can also be received through an independently set communication module.

[0063] S302: Determine at least one bus interface for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information.

[0064] In the embodiment of the present application, the out-of-band management device can integrate multiple bus interfaces to form a normalized interface, so as to be connected to the normalized interface set on the motherboard of each architecture. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the bus interface may include: a universal serial bus, a peripheral component interconnect standard bus, a low pin count bus, a serial communication interface, a universal asynchronous transmission receiver and transmitter interface, a memory card interface, a network controller sideband interface, a reduced media independent interface, an analog-to-digital converter interface, a flash memory interface, a memory interface, etc.

[0065] For example, in Figure 1 In the scenario shown in , there are two architectures of motherboards A and B and the architecture A motherboard uses bus 1 interface and bus 2 interface for out-of-band management communication, while the architecture B motherboard uses bus 1 interface and bus 3 interface for out-of-band management communication. The bus 1 interface can be a low-speed bus interface common to various architecture platforms. Of course, in other embodiments, other types of bus interfaces can also be used as the universal bus interface. Therefore, the out-of-band management device can form a normalized interface by integrating these three bus 3 interfaces, and the docking interfaces corresponding to the normalized interface can be correspondingly set on the architecture A motherboard and the architecture B motherboard, so that the out-of-band management device can be connected to the motherboard by connecting to the architecture A motherboard and the architecture B motherboard without distinction. In other words, in such a scenario as Figure 1 In the scenario shown in , the architecture A motherboard only needs to use the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface, so the normalized docking interface of the architecture A motherboard can only be provided with the bus 1 and bus 2 docking interfaces, and the bus 3 interface position is left blank. Alternatively, the normalized docking interface of the architecture A motherboard can also be provided with the bus 1, bus 2 and bus 3 interfaces.

[0066] In step S302, at least one bus interface in the bus interfaces in the interface module for communicating with the target device may be determined according to the target device attribute information received in step S301. Figure 1 As shown in , after the motherboard attributes are obtained from the architecture A motherboard in step S301, in step S302, it can be identified that the motherboard uses architecture A according to the motherboard attributes such as the motherboard serial number or the motherboard model, and therefore it can be determined that the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface required to be used by the architecture A motherboard need to be enabled. In other words, the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application is directly connected to the target device using a normalized interface, such as Figure 1When the docking interface on the architecture A motherboard in the embodiment is detected, it actually does not know the bus required to be used by the architecture A motherboard. Therefore, in step S301, the target device attribute information can be received from the connected target device through, for example, a universal interface in the interface module or through a separate communication interface, such as Bluetooth, a wireless network, or a near-field communication interface. Then, in step S302, the out-of-band management requirements adopted by the target device can be identified based on the target device attributes, such as the need to use the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface for out-of-band management communication.

[0067] In addition, in step S302, the corresponding relationship between each bus interface and the component in the target device or the usage mode of each bus interface in the target device can be further determined according to the target device attribute information. Figure 1 In the scenario shown in , in step S302, it can be determined to use bus 1 interface and bus 2 interface to communicate with architecture A motherboard according to the attribute information received from architecture A motherboard in step S301, and it can be further determined according to the attribute information that bus 1 interface is a low-speed bus and bus 2 interface is a high-speed bus in architecture A, so in the following step S303, bus 2 interface is activated to communicate with architecture A motherboard at high speed, and bus 1 interface is continued to be used to communicate with architecture A motherboard at low speed. Alternatively, it can be determined that bus 1 interface is used to communicate with serial port devices, bus 2 interface is used to communicate with CPU and memory devices, and so on.

[0068] S303: Make each determined bus interface enter a state of communicating with the target device.

[0069] Therefore, after determining the bus interface required for out-of-band management communication of the target device in step S302, in step S303, the determined interfaces can be respectively put into a state of communication with the target device according to the result in step S302. In other words, in step S302, the requirements for out-of-band management communication of the target device are actually determined according to the properties of the target device acquired in step S301, for example, the need to use USB 2.0 and 1.1 buses to communicate with the south bridge chip on the motherboard, and use NC-CSI / RMII buses to communicate with the shared NIC (aggregate network interface card), etc. Therefore, in step S303, the corresponding buses in the normalized interface of the interface that has been connected to the target device can be respectively enabled according to such determination results in step S302, that is, they can be put into a state of communication with the corresponding components.

[0070] Therefore, after each bus is enabled in step S303 according to the determination result in step S302 and enters a state of communication with the target device or its corresponding component, the buses can be used to communicate with the target device. For example, the operation information of the corresponding component can be collected through each bus, and the instructions for the corresponding component can be sent to the component through each bus.

[0071] Therefore, unlike the solution in the prior art that requires a specially adapted BMC module to be provided for target devices of different architecture platforms, the out-of-band management method in the embodiment of the present application can integrate multiple bus interfaces to form a normalized interface, thereby achieving unified adaptation for different architecture platforms, and also thereby achieving separation from the target device such as the motherboard, achieving an external connection, which is not only convenient for replacing the components of the out-of-band management module when a failure occurs, but also convenient for the separate upgrade and maintenance of the out-of-band management module, greatly reducing the production and maintenance costs. In particular, the out-of-band management device in the embodiment of the present application can be equipped with a normalized interface, so that the BMC integrated with the motherboard of the corresponding architecture in the prior art can be separated from the motherboard to form an external out-of-band management device, and in particular, at least one of the above-mentioned interface module 21 and management module 22 can be made of a low-speed printed circuit board (PCB), which greatly saves manufacturing costs.

[0072] The out-of-band management method provided in the embodiment of the present application integrates at least two bus interfaces to form a normalized interface, and determines the bus interface used to communicate with the target device based on the target device attribute information received from the target device, and makes the determined bus interface enter a state of communication with the target device. Therefore, the out-of-band management method of the embodiment of the present application integrates multiple bus interfaces to adapt communication with the target device, thereby realizing the normalization of the bus interface. Even if different architecture platforms require the use of different bus interfaces, it is also possible to determine which buses to use to communicate with the target device based on the received attribute information. Therefore, not only is the adaptation of the out-of-band management device to different architecture platforms achieved through the normalized interface, but also the separation of the out-of-band management device from the target device based on the normalized interface is realized to become an independent module, thereby greatly reducing costs.

[0073] Embodiment 4

[0074] Figure 4a This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the out-of-band management device provided by the present application. The device can be implemented in the form of a separate printed circuit board card, and of course can also be implemented in other forms, as long as the device can have the following features: Figure 4a The components shown in and can be implemented as Figure 3 The out-of-band management method shown in . Figure 4aAs shown, the out-of-band management device may include: a connection unit 41 , an interface control unit 42 , a management unit 43 and an input / output interface unit 44 .

[0075] The connection unit 41 may have at least two pin groups for connecting to the target device. In the embodiment of the present application, the connection unit 41 may have multiple pins or pin groups in the form of, for example, a gold finger interface, and accordingly, a target device such as a server motherboard may have a slot corresponding to the pin or pin group. The connection unit 41 may connect to the target device by inserting the pin groups contained therein into the slots provided on the motherboard.

[0076] The interface control unit 42 can be connected to the connection unit 41 through the first bus. In the embodiment of the present application, the out-of-band management device is formed as a separate external card by means of the connection unit 41. Therefore, in the prior art solutions, for example, the out-of-band management module of the BMC uses the input and output (IO) interface on the mainboard to communicate with other peripherals. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the interface control unit 42 can be used on the out-of-band management device to receive information of the device still connected to the input and output interface of the mainboard from the connection unit 41 inserted into the mainboard through the first bus. In particular, when the connection unit 41 is inserted into the slot of the target device, the interface control unit 42 can receive the target device attribute information from the target device through the pin group of the connection unit 41.

[0077] The management unit 43 may be used to communicate with the interface control unit 42. The management unit 43 may determine at least one pin group in the pin groups of the connection unit 41 for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information. Figure 1 As shown in , when the interface control unit 42 obtains the motherboard attributes from the architecture A motherboard through the connection unit 41, the management unit 43 can identify that the motherboard uses architecture A based on the motherboard attributes such as the motherboard serial number or the motherboard model, and thus can determine the pin groups corresponding to the bus 1 interface and the bus 2 interface that need to be enabled for the architecture A motherboard. In other words, the out-of-band management device according to the embodiment of the present application is directly connected to the target device using the normalized connection unit 41, for example Figure 1 When the interface control unit 42 connects to the slot on the architecture A motherboard, it actually does not know the bus required by the architecture A motherboard, that is, the pin group in the connection unit 41. Therefore, the interface control unit 42 can receive the target device attribute information from the connected target device through the universal pin group in the pin group of the connection unit 41, so that the management unit 43 can identify the out-of-band management requirements adopted by the target device according to the target device attributes, such as the need to use pin groups 1 and 2 for out-of-band management communication.

[0078] The input / output interface unit 44 is connected to the interface control unit 42 via the second bus. In the embodiment of the present application, by setting the interface control unit 42 in the independent out-of-band management device, communication control for external interfaces and / or external devices can be provided on a separate out-of-band management board. In particular, the input / output interface originally set on the server mainboard, such as a network interface, an audio interface, a serial communication interface, etc., can be set on the board of the out-of-band management device, and communication control can be performed with the help of the interface control unit 42 set on the out-of-band management device, and the input / output interface unit 44 can further receive signals from the mainboard and / or send signals to the mainboard through the connection unit 41 inserted into the slot of the mainboard. Therefore, in this way, the separation design of the input / output module and the mainboard is realized, so that when individual interfaces in the input / output interface unit 44 are damaged, maintenance without stopping can be achieved by replacing the out-of-band management device, and even when the interface cannot be repaired, the out-of-band management device can be replaced without replacing the entire mainboard, which not only greatly reduces the maintenance cost but also ensures the stability of system operation.

[0079] In addition, a fixing unit 45 may be further provided in the out-of-band management device of the embodiment of the present application. Figure 4b : is an interface schematic diagram of a fixing unit according to an embodiment of the present application. The fixing unit 45 can be arranged on one or both sides in the width direction of the out-of-band management device, and is used to fix the out-of-band management device to the target device when the connection unit 41 of the out-of-band management device is inserted into the slot of the target device, so as to enhance the stability of the connection between the connection unit 41 and the target device. For example, the fixing unit 45 can have a strip-shaped body 451 arranged along the longitudinal length of the out-of-band management device, and the strip-shaped body 451 can be perpendicular to the connection unit 41, and a limiting slot 452 can be arranged at the end of one side of the connection unit 41. The limiting slot 452 can be engaged with the limiting protrusions arranged at both ends of the slot of the target device as the connection unit 41 is inserted into the slot of the target device, so as to play a role in fixing the out-of-band management device on the target device. In addition, the fixing unit 45 can further be provided with a limiting pin 453 at the end of one side of the connection unit 41. The limiting pin 453 can similarly be inserted into, for example, a slot on the target device or fixing holes provided on both sides of the slot as the connection unit 41 is inserted, so as to fix the out-of-band management device together with the limiting slot 452 or alone.

[0080] In addition, the fixing unit 45 may be further provided with a self-locking component 454 at the end of one side of the input-output interface unit 44. The self-locking component 454 may form a locked state with the shell of the target device, such as a chassis, when the out-of-band management device is inserted into the target device, and the user must press or rotate the top of the self-locking component 454 to unlock it from the chassis, thereby preventing the user from accidentally pulling the out-of-band management device out of the target device.

[0081] The out-of-band management device provided by the embodiment of the present application forms a normalized interface through a connection unit with a pin group, and the interface control unit controls the communication of the connection unit and the input-output unit through a bus, so that the management unit can determine the pin group used to communicate with the target device according to the target device attribute information of the target device. Therefore, the out-of-band management device of the embodiment of the present application adapts communication with the target device through the connection unit with a pin group, thereby realizing the normalization of the bus interface. Even if different architecture platforms require the use of different bus interfaces, it is also possible to determine which pin groups to use to communicate with the target device according to the received attribute information, thereby not only realizing the adaptation of the out-of-band management device to different architecture platforms through the normalized interface, but also realizing the separation of the out-of-band management device from the target device based on the normalized interface, and becoming an independent module, which greatly reduces the cost.

[0082] Embodiment 5

[0083] The internal functions and structure of the out-of-band management device are described above. The device can be implemented as an electronic device. Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device embodiment provided by this application. Figure 5 As shown, the electronic device includes a memory 51 and a processor 52 .

[0084] The memory 51 is used to store programs. In addition to the above programs, the memory 51 can also be configured to store various other data to support operations on the electronic device. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on the electronic device, contact data, phone book data, messages, pictures, videos, etc.

[0085] The memory 51 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk.

[0086] The processor 52 is not limited to a central processing unit (CPU), but may also be a processing chip such as a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an embedded neural network processor (NPU) or an artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The processor 52 is coupled to the memory 51 and executes the program stored in the memory 51 to execute the out-of-band management method of the third embodiment.

[0087] Further, if Figure 5 As shown, the electronic device may also include: a communication component 53, a power component 54, an audio component 55, a display 56 and other components. Figure 5 Only some components are shown schematically, which does not mean that the electronic device only includes Figure 5 Components shown.

[0088] The communication component 53 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the electronic device and other devices. The electronic device can access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, 3G, 4G or 5G, or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 53 receives a broadcast signal or broadcast-related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 53 also includes a near field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communication. For example, the NFC module can be implemented based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology and other technologies.

[0089] The power supply component 54 provides power to various components of the electronic device. The power supply component 54 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power to the electronic device.

[0090] The audio component 55 is configured to output and / or input audio signals. For example, the audio component 55 includes a microphone (MIC), and when the electronic device is in an operating mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode, the microphone is configured to receive an external audio signal. The received audio signal can be further stored in the memory 51 or sent via the communication component 53. In some embodiments, the audio component 55 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

[0091] The display 56 includes a screen, which may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen to receive input signals from a user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, slide, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor may not only sense the boundary of a touch or slide action, but also detect the duration and pressure associated with the touch or slide operation.

[0092] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps of implementing the above-mentioned method embodiments can be completed by hardware related to program instructions. The aforementioned program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the steps of the above-mentioned method embodiments are executed; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: ROM, RAM, disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

[0093] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein with equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. An out-of-band management device, comprising: An interface module, comprising at least two bus interfaces; a management module, configured to determine at least one bus interface for communicating with a target device connected to the out-of-band management device according to target device attribute information of the target device; the target device attribute information includes a platform type used by the target device, and the platform type includes an Internet of Things platform or a cloud computing platform; the at least one bus interface includes a universal bus interface for communicating with target devices of each platform type, and the universal bus interface is used to obtain the target device attribute information; The interface module enables each determined bus interface to enter a state of communication with the target device according to the determination result of the management module.

2. The out-of-band management device according to claim 1, wherein: The interface module is further configured to receive the target device attribute information from a target device connected to the out-of-band management device.

3. The out-of-band management device according to claim 1, wherein: The at least one bus interface determined is a bus interface corresponding to each component in the target device, and The interface module is further used to enable each determined bus interface to enter a state of communication with its corresponding component.

4. The out-of-band management device according to claim 1, wherein: The target device attribute information further includes a processor architecture used by the target device or a product serial number of the target device.

5. The out-of-band management device according to claim 1, wherein: The bus interface includes a universal serial bus, a peripheral component interconnect standard bus, a low pin count bus, a serial communication interface, a universal asynchronous transmission receiver and transmitter interface, a memory card interface, a network controller sideband interface, a reduced media independent interface, an analog-to-digital converter interface, a flash memory interface or a memory interface.

6. The out-of-band management device according to claim 1, wherein: The out-of-band management device further comprises a communication module; at least one of the interface module, the communication module and the management module is made of a low-speed printed circuit board.

7. An out-of-band management method, wherein: The out-of-band management method is applied to an out-of-band management device and includes: receiving target device attribute information from a target device connected to the out-of-band management device; Determine at least one bus interface for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information; the target device attribute information includes a platform type used by the target device, and the platform type includes an Internet of Things platform or a cloud computing platform; the at least one bus interface includes a universal bus interface for communicating with target devices of each platform type, and the universal bus interface is used to obtain the target device attribute information; Each determined bus interface is enabled to enter a state of communicating with the target device.

8. The out-of-band management method according to claim 7, wherein: The at least one bus interface determined is a bus interface corresponding to each component in the target device, and The step of causing each determined bus interface to enter a state of communication with the target device includes causing each determined bus interface to enter a state of communication with a corresponding component.

9. The out-of-band management method according to claim 7, wherein: The target device attribute information further includes a processor architecture used by the target device or a product serial number of the target device.

10. An out-of-band management device, comprising: a connection unit having at least two pin groups for connecting to a target device; an interface control unit, the control unit being connected to the connection unit via a first bus; A management unit, the management unit being communicatively connected to the interface control unit and configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 7 to 9; The management unit determines at least one pin group for communicating with the target device according to the target device attribute information of the target device.

11. The out-of-band management device according to claim 10, further comprising: An input-output interface unit is connected to the interface control unit via a second bus.

12. The out-of-band management device according to claim 10, further comprising: A fixing unit is provided on one or both sides of the out-of-band management device in a width direction to fix the out-of-band management device to a target device when the connection unit of the out-of-band management device is inserted into a slot of a target device.

13. An electronic device comprising: Memory, used to store programs; A processor, configured to run the program stored in the memory to execute the out-of-band management method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 9.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program executable by a processor, wherein: When the program is executed by a processor, the out-of-band management method according to any one of claims 7 to 9 is implemented.

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