A direct-connected hard disk system, a hard disk daughter board and a server

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of servers, and specifically discloses a direct-connected hard disk system, a hard disk daughter board and a server. By designing a detachable hard disk daughter board and a backplane board card, the hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board card through a first hard disk status signal connector. The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board is directly connected to the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line. The downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the hard disk. The hard disk status signal and power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector. Compared with the traditional direct-connected hard disk backplane, a general backplane board card can be used across generations. Only the corresponding hard disk daughter board needs to be added according to the number and type of hard disks. Moreover, the high-speed signal link is shortened, the impedance design difficulty is reduced, and heat dissipation is facilitated, which is beneficial to reducing the overall machine noise and power consumption.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of servers, and particularly to a direct-connected hard disk system, a hard disk daughter board and a server. Background Art

[0002] The direct-connected hard disk backplane is one of the key components of a server system and is a bridge for the server motherboard to connect to the storage unit (hard disk). Currently, the direct-connected hard disk backplane needs to access the high-speed transmission signals of the hard disk to provide functions such as power supply, status monitoring, and expanding the number of hard disks for the hard disk. However, limited by the numerous types of hard disk forms, bandwidths, and rates, the device layout and wiring methods of each backplane are different and cannot be reused with each other, resulting in the need to constantly change the structural design of the direct-connected hard disk backplane as the storage architecture of the server is continuously updated.

[0003] How to improve the versatility of the direct-connected hard disk backplane of a server is a technical problem that needs to be solved by those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a direct-connected hard disk system, a hard disk daughter board and a server for improving the versatility of the direct-connected hard disk backplane of a server.

[0005] To solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a direct-connected hard disk system, including a hard disk daughter board and a backplane board;

[0006] The hard disk daughter board includes a hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector, and the hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board through the first hard disk status signal connector;

[0007] The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is used to connect to the hard disk, and the hard disk status signal and power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board through the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0008] On the one hand, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal cable.

[0009] On the other hand, the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board are pluggable connections.

[0010] On the other hand, it further includes a limiting device fixed on the backplane board for fixing the hard disk daughter board. The hard disk daughter board is provided with a buckle and a buckle release structure, and the limiting device is provided with a limiting structure corresponding to the buckle and the buckle release structure.

[0011] On the other hand, the high-speed signal link of the hard disk connector and the hard disk status signal line between the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector are installed at 90°.

[0012] On the other hand, the high-speed signal line includes a high-speed clock signal line and a high-speed data signal line.

[0013] On the other hand, the high-speed signal line is a high-speed data signal line.

[0014] On the other hand, the reset pin and the device hot-swap management pin of the first hard disk status signal connector are connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through the wire bonding connector and the cable of the hard disk daughter board.

[0015] On the other hand, the backplane board card includes a second hard disk status signal connector, the backplane controller, a two-wire serial bus connector, an asset information storage chip, a temperature sensor, and a power connector;

[0016] Wherein, the second hard disk status signal connector is used to connect the first hard disk status signal connector to the backplane controller;

[0017] The two-wire serial bus connector is used to connect the server motherboard to the backplane controller, and the asset information storage chip and the temperature sensor are connected to the two-wire serial bus connector;

[0018] The power connector is used to connect the power supply of the server motherboard and convert the power supply into the power supply required by the backplane board card for output.

[0019] On the other hand, the backplane board card further includes a two-wire serial bus channel switching chip. The first end of the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip is connected to the second end of the two-wire serial bus connector. The first end of the two-wire serial bus connector is connected to the out-of-band monitoring system of the server motherboard. The second end of the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip is connected to the first hard disk status signal connectors of a plurality of corresponding hard disk daughter boards through a plurality of the second hard disk status signal connectors.

[0020] On the other hand, the hard disk daughter board is connected to the hard disk in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0021] On the other hand, after being horizontally arranged, a plurality of the hard disk daughter boards are uniformly installed on the backplane board card.

[0022] To solve the above technical problems, the present invention further provides a hard disk daughter board, including:

[0023] Hard disk connector, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, and the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is used to connect to the hard disk;

[0024] The first hard disk status signal connector is connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board card and is used to transmit the hard disk status signal and the power signal;

[0025] The hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector adopt a split design, and the hard disk status signal of the hard disk connector is connected to the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0026] On the one hand, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal cable.

[0027] On the other hand, the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card are in a plug-in connection.

[0028] On the other hand, the high-speed signal link of the hard disk connector and the hard disk status signal line between the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector are installed at a 90°.

[0029] On the other hand, the hard disk daughter board is connected to the hard disk in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0030] To solve the above technical problems, the present invention also provides a server, including a server motherboard, a direct-connected hard disk system, and a hard disk;

[0031] The direct-connected hard disk system includes a hard disk daughter board and a backplane board card;

[0032] The hard disk daughter board includes a hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector, and the hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector;

[0033] The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is used to connect to the hard disk, and the hard disk status signal and the power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0034] On the one hand, the backplane board card is installed horizontally with respect to the server motherboard, and the hard disk daughter board is installed vertically on the backplane board card.

[0035] On the other hand, the backplane board card is installed vertically with respect to the server motherboard, and the hard disk daughter board is installed horizontally with respect to the server motherboard and vertically on the backplane board card.

[0036] The direct-connected hard disk system provided by the present invention has the beneficial effect that a detachable hard disk daughter board and a backplane board are designed. The hard disk daughter board includes a hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector. The hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board through the first hard disk status signal connector. The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server main board through a high-speed signal line. The downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the hard disk. The hard disk status signal and power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board through the first hard disk status signal connector. Compared with the traditional direct-connected hard disk backplane, with the iterative update of the server storage architecture, the backplane board can be used across generations as a general structure, and only the corresponding hard disk daughter boards need to be added according to the number and type of hard disks, realizing a hard disk direct connection solution with strong reusability, and reducing the on-board wiring between the hard disk and the server main board that originally passed through the hard disk backplane, shortening the high-speed signal line, which is beneficial to reducing the impedance design difficulty and is conducive to heat dissipation design. Especially for the high-density hard disk backplane scenario, it has good ventilation performance, which is beneficial to reducing the overall machine noise and power consumption.

[0037] The present invention also provides a hard disk daughter board and a server, which have the above beneficial effects and will not be elaborated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the following drawings are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0039] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of a traditional direct-connected hard disk backplane;

[0040] Figure 2 It is a schematic structural diagram of a direct-connected hard disk backplane provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 3 It is a schematic assembly structural diagram of a direct-connected hard disk system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 4 It is a schematic installation structural diagram of the direct-connected hard disk system and the hard disk provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 5 It is a side view of an installation slot provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 6 It is a schematic structural diagram of another perspective of an installation slot provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the installation structure of a hard disk daughter board and an installation slot provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] Figure 8 Schematic three-dimensional structure diagram when the hard disk daughter board and the installation slot provided by an embodiment of the present invention are separated;

[0047] Figure 9 For Figure 8 Enlarged structure diagram of part A in the hard disk daughter board shown;

[0048] Figure 10 Schematic diagram of a connection method of a direct-connected hard disk backplane provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0049] Figure 11 Another schematic diagram of a connection method of a direct-connected hard disk backplane provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0050] Figure 12 Side view of the chassis when the backplane board is horizontally installed provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0051] Figure 13 Front view of the chassis when the backplane board is horizontally installed provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0052] Figure 14 Side view of the chassis when the backplane board is vertically installed provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0053] Figure 15 Front view of the chassis when the backplane board is vertically installed provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0054] Reference numerals:

[0055] 1 - Backplane board, 21 - Hard disk daughter board, 211 - Hard disk slot, 213 - Gold finger, 214 - Plug-in component, 2141 - Wire end stop surface, 216 - Avoidance groove, 217 - Elastic component, 2171 - Locking part, 2172 - Connecting leg, 2173 - Pulling belt connecting edge, 2174 - Limiting edge, 2175 - Limiting block, 218 - Pulling belt channel, 22 - Installation slot, 221 - Signal connection end, 222 - Pin, 223 - Gold finger slot, 224 - Signal terminal, 225 - Plug-in cavity, 226 - Guide chute, 2261 - Arc chamfer, 227 - Board end stop surface, 228 - Lock, 229 - Board end guide edge, 23 - Cable, 3 - Hard disk, 4 - Server main board, 401 - Downlink connector, 402 - Cable connector. Detailed implementation manners

[0056] The core of the present invention is to provide a direct-attached hard disk system, a hard disk daughter board and a server, which are used to improve the versatility of the direct-attached hard disk backplane of the server.

[0057] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0058] The direct-attached hard disk backplane (hereinafter referred to as the hard disk backplane) is a key component in data center and server storage solutions. It supports large-scale data storage and high-performance data processing requirements by providing multiple hard disk connection ports and high-speed data transmission capabilities. In a server, the direct-attached hard disk backplane is an electronic device used to connect the hard disk to the server motherboard. It provides a fixed position for the hard disk and connects the hard disk to the interface on the motherboard. This backplane is usually designed with multiple hard disk connection ports to support high-speed data access. The design of the direct-attached hard disk backplane needs to consider the size of the hard disk, the interface type, the power supply system, the backplane size, and the mechanical structure, etc.

[0059] Specifically, the main functions of the direct-attached hard disk backplane include the following four aspects:

[0060] (1) Access and transmit signals, providing a transmission path for high-speed hard disk signals and management signals. An upstream connector is provided on the direct-attached hard disk backplane to connect to the signals at the source end, such as the signals output by the disk logical array controller; a downstream connector is provided on the direct-attached hard disk backplane for connecting to the signals at the hard disk end.

[0061] (2) Provide power supply for the hard disk. The power supply interface of the direct-attached hard disk backplane can provide working power for the hard disk and the devices on the direct-attached hard disk backplane. Some direct-attached hard disk backplanes also support the function of powering on the hard disks in sequence.

[0062] (3) Support hard disk alarm. The monitoring and management chip carried on some direct-attached hard disk backplanes is responsible for uploading the working status of the hard disk and the alarm signals of the hard disk to the source-end controller through the transmission path; it can also receive the control instructions from the source-end controller and issue the instructions to the hard disk end or light up various status indicator lights on the direct-attached hard disk backplane.

[0063] (4) Expand the number of hard disks. Some direct-attached hard disk backplanes support expansion interfaces, and the expansion interfaces can be connected to the next-level backplane to support a larger number of hard disks.

[0064] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of a traditional direct-attached hard disk backplane.

[0065] The traditional direct-attach hard disk backplane consists of a single board. As Figure 1 shown, the main components on the board of the traditional direct-attach hard disk backplane include an upstream connector, a hard disk connector, and a backplane controller. Among them, the upstream connectors 0 to n on the direct-attach hard disk backplane are respectively connected to the downstream connectors 0 to n of the server motherboard through cables, which are used to transmit high-speed signals between the central processing unit and the hard disks. On the direct-attach hard disk backplane, the hard disk connectors 0 to n are respectively connected to the upstream connectors 0 to n through traces on the board. That is to say, the high-speed signal link between a hard disk and the central processing unit at least includes the traces on the board between the central processing unit and the downstream connector on the server motherboard, the cable between the downstream connector on the server motherboard and the upstream connector on the direct-attach hard disk backplane, and the traces on the board between the upstream connector on the direct-attach hard disk backplane and the hard disk connector on the direct-attach hard disk backplane. The other end of the hard disk connector provides a hard disk interface, which can be correspondingly connected to hard disks 0 to n.

[0066] In addition, the traditional direct-attach hard disk backplane also includes a monitoring bus connected to the out-of-band management system of the server motherboard to receive out-of-band monitoring of the operating status of the direct-attach hard disk backplane and the connected hard disks by the out-of-band management system. In addition, the traditional direct-attach hard disk backplane also includes a power connector connected to the power system of the server motherboard, which is used to convert the power provided by the server motherboard into the power supply with various voltage standards required on the direct-attach hard disk backplane.

[0067] On the traditional direct-attach hard disk backplane, due to the large variety of hard disk forms, bandwidths, and rates, the device layout and wiring methods of each backplane are different and cannot be reused with each other. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve a general design for hard disks and it is difficult to achieve cross-generation reuse. Moreover, the heat dissipation performance of this kind of high-density backplane is not good. For example, in the case of a high-density layout hard disk backplane (such as a 12 * 2.5-inch hard disk configuration), the overall power consumption of the whole machine is relatively high, and a vertical backplane layout method is mostly adopted, which is perpendicular to the air flow direction, resulting in a low aperture ratio of the hard disk backplane, and it is often very challenging to improve the heat dissipation performance. In order to ensure heat dissipation, it is only possible to avoid installing hard disks in all hard disk slots to prevent the hard disks from blocking the heat dissipation holes on the direct-attach hard disk backplane. As introduced above, since the high-speed signals from the source end of the server motherboard need to pass through the backplane layers to reach the hard disk connector side, when the hard disk needs to support a high rate, the material and number of layers of the printed circuit board (PCB) used for the direct-attach hard disk backplane also increase, and the larger the area of the direct-attach hard disk backplane, the higher the cost increase. This causes the cost of the direct-attach hard disk backplane to increase sharply with the increase of the hard disk rate and the number of hard disks. The long high-speed signal link between the central processing unit of the server motherboard and the hard disks not only brings the problem of increasing the cost of the direct-attach hard disk backplane, but also easily leads to inconsistent high-speed signal links for different hard disks, increasing the difficulty of impedance design.

[0068] In summary, the traditional direct - attached hard - disk backplane composed of a single whole board has many disadvantages such as high cost, poor heat dissipation, difficult design, and low reuse rate.

[0069] To optimize the structural design of the direct - attached hard - disk backplane, the design solution of the direct - attached hard - disk system provided in the embodiments of the present invention no longer adopts the traditional design solution of the direct - attached hard - disk backplane. Instead, it designs a detachable hard - disk daughter board and a backplane board. The high - speed signals of the central processing unit of the server motherboard are directly interconnected through the hard - disk daughter board and the hard - disk connector and then transmitted to the hard disk. The hard - disk status signals (low - speed signals) and power signals on the traditional direct - attached hard - disk backplane are interconnected between the backplane board provided in the embodiments of the present invention and the hard - disk daughter board to achieve the decoupling design of the three signals. Specifically, the hard - disk daughter board includes a hard - disk connector and a first hard - disk status signal connector. The hard - disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board through the first hard - disk status signal connector. The upstream data interface of the hard - disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high - speed signal line. The downstream data interface of the hard - disk connector is connected to the hard disk. The hard - disk status signal and power signal of the hard - disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board through the first hard - disk status signal connector. Compared with the traditional direct - attached hard - disk backplane, with the iterative update of the server storage architecture, the backplane board can be used across generations as a general structure, and only the corresponding hard - disk daughter boards need to be added according to the number of hard disks and the type of hard disks, realizing a hard - disk direct - connection scheme with strong reusability. Moreover, it reduces the on - board wiring on the hard - disk backplane between the hard disk and the server motherboard, shortens the high - speed signal line, is beneficial to reducing the impedance design difficulty, and is conducive to the heat - dissipation design. Especially for the high - density hard - disk backplane scenario, it has good ventilation performance, which is beneficial to reducing the overall machine noise and power consumption.

[0070] Based on the above architecture, the direct - attached hard - disk system provided in the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0071] Figure 2 It is a schematic structural diagram of a direct - attached hard - disk system provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0072] As Figure 2 shown, the direct - attached hard - disk system provided in the embodiments of the present invention includes a hard - disk daughter board and a backplane board. The hard - disk daughter board includes a hard - disk connector and a first hard - disk status signal connector. The hard - disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board through the first hard - disk status signal connector. The upstream data interface of the hard - disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high - speed signal line. The downstream data interface of the hard - disk connector is used to connect the hard disk. The hard - disk status signal and power signal of the hard - disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board through the first hard - disk status signal connector.

[0073] In a specific implementation, the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention consists of multiple reusable hard disk daughter boards and a backplane board. After installing the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention in a server, the server motherboard is interconnected with the hard disk daughter boards, and the hard disk daughter boards are also respectively interconnected with the hard disks and the backplane board.

[0074] In some alternative implementation manners of the embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk daughter board may be composed of a hard disk connector, a first hard disk status signal connector, and a printed circuit board for installing the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0075] In some other alternative implementation manners of the embodiments of the present invention, since the connections required for the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector on the hard disk daughter board provided by the embodiments of the present invention can be achieved by cables without routing on the board, the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector can also be detachably installed on the backplane board through other installation manners.

[0076] In the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, for convenient installation, the hard disk daughter boards can be designed to be connected to the hard disks one by one. That is, a hard disk connector is arranged on one hard disk daughter board, and this hard disk connector is used to connect one hard disk. Then, a first hard disk status signal connector is also arranged on the hard disk daughter board, which is used to transmit the hard disk status signal and the power signal related to this hard disk.

[0077] Then, as Figure 2 shown, it is assumed that the direct-connected hard disk system includes a total of n hard disk daughter boards, which are respectively hard disk daughter board 0 to hard disk daughter board n. One side is correspondingly connected to the downlink connectors 0 to n on the server motherboard, and the other side is correspondingly connected to the second hard disk status signal connectors 0 to n on the backplane board.

[0078] In the embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk connector is used to transmit the signals between the central processing unit on the server motherboard and the hard disk. The signals between the hard disk and the server motherboard are usually high-speed signals, and different high-speed signal lines are required according to different hard disk types.

[0079] For the upstream data interface side of the hard disk connector, in some alternative embodiments of the present invention, the high-speed signal lines may include high-speed clock signal lines and high-speed data signal lines. For example, for a hard disk with a Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS or NVM Express, hereinafter referred to as NVMe) interface, the high-speed signal lines it uses are usually the peripheral component interconnect express (PCI-Express, PCI-Express or PCIe). In this case, the high-speed signal lines between the hard disk connector and the server motherboard may include PCI-Express data signals and PCI-Express clock signals, as Figure 2 shown by the blue cable in. Among them, the PCI-Express signals include PCI-Express read signals and PCI-Express write signals. For the hard disk daughter board 0, the PCI-Express signals can be denoted as PCIE_S0_TX / RX, and the PCI-Express clock signal can be denoted as PCIE_S0_CLK... For the hard disk daughter board n, the PCI-Express signals can be denoted as PCIE_Sn_TX / RX (where TX represents transmission and RX represents reception), and the PCI-Express clock signal can be denoted as PCIE_Sn_CLK.

[0080] For the upstream data interface side of the hard disk connector, in some other alternative embodiments of the present invention, the high-speed signal lines may only be high-speed data signal lines. For example, for a hard disk with a Serial Attached SCSI (hereinafter referred to as SAS) / Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (hereinafter referred to as SATA) interface, the high-speed signal lines it requires are only high-speed data signal lines and do not require clock signal lines.

[0081] In terms of the connection method, as Figure 2 shown, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector can be connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through high-speed signal cables, thereby further improving the flexibility of the direct-attached hard disk system installation and the stability of the high-speed signal link.

[0082] For the downstream data interface side of the hard disk connector, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is designed according to the type of hard disk to be connected. The interface of the hard disk is usually a gold finger structure. After the pins therein are inserted into the positions on the hard disk slot, they can be connected to the components on the server side (such as data pins connected to the central processing unit) through the circuit on the hard disk backplane. In the embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk connector may include a hard disk slot for connecting the hard disk.

[0083] According to the type of communication interface, the types of hard disks can be divided into SAS interface or SATA interface hard disks, and NVMe interface hard disks. According to the type of storage medium, the types of hard disks can be further divided into hard disk drives (HDD) and solid state disks (SSD or Solid State Drive). Among them, hard disk drives are mainly SAS interface or SATA interface. Solid state disks include SAS interface, SATA interface and NVMe interface hard disks. Then, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector can be designed according to the type of hard disk to be connected. When it is necessary to change the type of hard disk, only the type of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board needs to be changed. For example, when designing a hard disk daughter board for an NVMe hard disk, a hard disk connector with a GENZ 1C / 2C / 4C hard disk interface can be selected. Among them, GENZ is a high-density and high-performance hard disk connector that supports multiple channel configurations, including 1C, 2C, 4C and 4C+, where 1C represents a channel configuration with 56 positions (pins), supports a signal rate of up to 56G PAM4, and is applicable to various applications such as servers / storage devices, high-performance computing, switches and routers, etc.

[0084] For the convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present invention, the connectors for transmitting low-speed signals for interacting with the hard disk are denoted as the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector.

[0085] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the first hard disk status signal connector can be connected to the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card by a cable.

[0086] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the first hard disk status signal connector can also be a plug-in connection with the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card. That is, one of the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector can use a male connector, and the other can use a female connector. For example, the first hard disk status signal connector can use a gold finger, and the second hard disk status signal connector can be correspondingly designed as a gold finger slot.

[0087] To ensure the stable operation of the hard disk, the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector are connected in a plug-in manner, so as to fix the hard disk daughter board on the backplane board, and then fix the hard disk in the direct-attached hard disk system.

[0088] To fix the hard disk daughter board on the backplane board, the direct-attached hard disk system provided by the embodiment of the present invention may further include a limiting device fixed on the backplane board for fixing the hard disk daughter board. The hard disk daughter board is provided with a buckle and a buckle release structure, and the limiting device is provided with a limiting structure corresponding to the buckle and the buckle release structure. When installing the hard disk daughter board on the backplane board, after plugging the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector, the buckle of the hard disk daughter board is locked with the limiting structure of the limiting device, so as to firmly fix the hard disk daughter board on the backplane board. When it is necessary to disassemble the hard disk daughter board, the locking state between the buckle of the hard disk daughter board and the limiting structure of the limiting device is released through the buckle release structure, so as to conveniently remove the hard disk daughter board from the backplane board.

[0089] To facilitate heat dissipation, in the embodiment of the present invention, the high-speed signal link of the hard disk connector and the hard disk status signal line between the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector can be installed at a 90°.

[0090] In the embodiment of the present invention, the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector are used to transmit low-speed signals and power signals between the hard disk and the backplane controller. The low-speed signals mainly refer to the hard disk status signals between the hard disk and the backplane controller, such as sideband signals.

[0091] In high-speed interconnection technologies such as PCIe, sideband signals usually refer to those signals that do not belong to the signals specified by the standard protocol but have specific meanings for the connected devices. These signals may include, but are not limited to, power management signals, configuration signals, status indication signals, etc., and they are transmitted through dedicated pins. In the embodiment of the present invention, the hard disk status signal line of the hard disk connector may include a hard disk status indication signal line and a hard disk status control signal line.

[0092] The hard disk status indication signal line is used to transmit the status signal output for the hard disk, such as the hard disk present signal. To distinguish between hard disk daughter board 0 to hard disk daughter board n, the hard disk present signals corresponding to each hard disk daughter board can be denoted as S0_PRSNT_N to Sn_PRSNT_N.

[0093] The hard disk status control signal line is used to transmit control signals for the hard disk. For example, the hard disk status control signal line can be the hard disk status indicator control signal line corresponding to the hard disk status indicator provided on the hard disk daughter board. To distinguish between hard disk daughter boards 0 to n, the hard disk status indicator control signals corresponding to each hard disk daughter board can be denoted as S0_LED to Sn_LED.

[0094] In addition, to facilitate the out-of-band management system of the server to monitor the hard disk status, the hard disk status control pins can also include Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) pins. To distinguish between hard disk daughter boards 0 to n, the I2C pins of the hard disk connectors on each hard disk daughter board can be denoted as S0_I2C to Sn_I2C.

[0095] In addition, to enable the backplane controller to manage each hard disk, the hard disk status control pins can also include reset pins, which are used for the backplane controller to reset the corresponding hard disk after receiving the control signal. To distinguish between hard disk daughter boards 0 to n, the reset pins of the hard disk connectors on each hard disk daughter board can be denoted as S0_RST_N to Sn_RST_N.

[0096] The power pins of the hard disk connector provide the power voltage required to transmit the hard disk, and can include +12V voltage (P12V) and +3.3V standby power (+3.3V Standby, P3V3_STBY), as Figure 2 shown by the red cable.

[0097] In addition, the hard disk status signal can also include device hot-swap management signal and high-speed signal bus reset signal, so that the central processing unit of the server motherboard can control the hard disk status through the backplane controller. Then as Figure 2 shown, the first hard disk status signal connector can also include a reset pin and a device hot-swap management pin, and the reset pin and the device hot-swap management pin of the first hard disk status signal connector can be connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard. As Figure 2 shown by the hard disk status signal between the first hard disk status signal connector and the wire bonding connector, the reset pin and the device hot-swap management pin of the first hard disk status signal connector can be connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through the wire bonding connector of the hard disk daughter board and the cable.

[0098] Via the downlink connector of the server motherboard, the reset signal of the high-speed signal corresponding to the reset pin of the first hard disk status signal connector and the device hot-swap management signal corresponding to the device hot-swap management pin can be signals output by the complex programmable logic device (CPLD) of the server motherboard. The host computer of the complex programmable logic device can be a central processing unit or a baseboard management controller (BMC) of an out-of-band management system.

[0099] In the embodiment of the present invention, the backplane board is a general backplane design, and there is no need to arrange hard disk connectors and hard disk high-speed signal lines thereon. Then, in some alternative embodiments of the embodiment of the present invention, the backplane board may include a second hard disk status signal connector, a backplane controller, and a power connector; wherein, the second hard disk status signal connector is used to connect the first hard disk status signal connector to the backplane controller; the backplane controller is used to perform tasks such as universal backplane management (UBM), power management, and hard disk hot-swap support; the power connector is used to connect the power supply of the server motherboard and convert the power supply into the power supply required by the backplane board for output.

[0100] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiment of the present invention, the backplane board may include a second hard disk status signal connector, a backplane controller, a two-wire serial bus connector, an asset information storage chip (Field Replaceable Unit, FRU), a temperature sensor (Thermal Sensor), and a power connector; wherein, the second hard disk status signal connector is used to connect the first hard disk status signal connector to the backplane controller; the two-wire serial bus connector is used to connect the server motherboard to the backplane controller, and the asset information storage chip and the temperature sensor are connected to the two-wire serial bus connector; the power connector is used to connect the power supply of the server motherboard and convert the power supply into the power supply required by the backplane board for output.

[0101] As introduced above, the signals between the first hard disk status signal connector and the hard disk connector mainly include sideband signals (denoted as hard disk status signals in the embodiments of the present invention) and power signals. Among them, the sideband signals may include hard disk present signal, hard disk status indicator control signal, two-wire serial bus signal, and reset signal. In addition, the first hard disk status signal connector may further include a high-speed signal reset signal and a device hot-swap management signal that are connected to a complex programmable logic device of the server motherboard through a wire bonding connector, a cable, and a downstream connector of the server motherboard. Correspondingly, the signals between the second hard disk status signal connector and the first hard disk status signal connector may include hard disk present signal, hard disk status indicator control signal, two-wire serial bus signal, reset signal, high-speed signal reset signal, device hot-swap management signal, and power signal. The hard disk status signals between the second hard disk status signal connector and the first hard disk status signal connector may be as shown in Figure 2 the black cable between the second hard disk status signal connector and the first hard disk status signal connector. The power signals between the second hard disk status signal connector and the first hard disk status signal connector may include +12V voltage (P12V) and +3.3V standby power (+3.3V Standby, P3V3_STBY), as shown in Figure 2 the red cable between the second hard disk status signal connector and the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0102] Furthermore, in the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, the backplane board may further include a two-wire serial bus channel switching chip (I2C Switch). The first end of the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip is connected to the second end of the two-wire serial bus connector. The first end of the two-wire serial bus connector is connected to the out-of-band monitoring system of the server motherboard. The second end of the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip is connected to the first hard disk status signal connectors of multiple corresponding hard disk daughter boards through multiple second hard disk status signal connectors.

[0103] As shown in Figure 2 , the two-wire serial bus of the out-of-band management system of the server motherboard is switched to be connected to different hard disk daughter boards through the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip under the control of the channel switching control signal, so as to read the status of the hard disks connected to each hard disk daughter board, and realize out-of-band monitoring of the hard disks. The channel switching control signal (S0_I2C~Sn_I2C) may be issued by the backplane controller or the out-of-band management system of the server motherboard.

[0104] In addition, the asset information storage chip and temperature sensor on the backplane board can also be mounted on the out-of-band management system of the server motherboard through the two-wire serial bus connector of the backplane board to the two-wire serial bus of the backplane board, so as to realize functions such as asset information management and operating temperature monitoring of the backplane board by the out-of-band management system of the server motherboard.

[0105] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the out-of-band management system of the server motherboard may include a baseboard management controller, such as Figure 2 As shown, the baseboard management controller of the server motherboard can be connected to the two-wire serial bus connector of the server motherboard through the System Management Bus (SMBus), and communicate through the two-wire serial bus connector of the server motherboard, the cable and the two-wire serial bus connector of the backplane board to the two-wire serial bus channel of the backplane board, so as to realize the monitoring of the operating state of the backplane board and the monitoring of the operating states of each hard disk daughter board and even each hard disk through the backplane board.

[0106] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, to relieve the pin pressure of the baseboard management controller, the first end of the two-wire serial bus connector of the backplane board can also be connected to the baseboard management controller of the server motherboard through the complex programmable logic device of the server motherboard.

[0107] In addition, the server motherboard provides a power connector to supply power to the backplane board. The power connector provides power supply of various voltage standards to chips such as the backplane controller of the backplane board, and supplies power to the hard disk connectors on each hard disk daughter board through the second hard disk status signal connector and the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0108] The direct-attached hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention designs a detachable hard disk daughter board and a backplane board. The hard disk daughter board includes a hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector. The hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board through the first hard disk status signal connector. The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line. The downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the hard disk. The hard disk status signal and power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board through the first hard disk status signal connector. Compared with the traditional direct-attached hard disk backplane, with the iterative update of the server storage architecture, the backplane board can be used across generations as a general structure, and only the corresponding hard disk daughter board needs to be added according to the number of hard disks and the type of hard disks, realizing a hard disk direct connection scheme with strong reusability, and reducing the original on-board wiring passing through the hard disk backplane between the hard disk and the server motherboard, shortening the high-speed signal line, which is beneficial to reducing the impedance design difficulty and is conducive to heat dissipation design. Especially for the high-density hard disk backplane scenario, it has good ventilation performance, which is beneficial to reducing the overall machine noise and power consumption.

[0109] And comparing with the Figure 2 and Figure 1 introduced traditional direct-attached hard disk backplane, it can be clearly seen that on the direct connection path between the central processing unit of the server motherboard and the hard disk, the on-board wiring passing through the backplane between the hard disk and the server motherboard is reduced, thus shortening the high-speed signal link, which is beneficial to reducing the difficulty of impedance design. Since the backplane board only needs to lay low-speed signals and power signals and does not need to lay high-speed signals, and the design cost is greatly reduced, and the high-speed signals between the central processing unit of the server motherboard and the hard disk can be transmitted through cables, which is beneficial to realizing the consistency of the high-speed signal links of each hard disk, thereby reducing the difficulty of impedance design.

[0110] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present invention continue to describe the installation structure of the direct-attached hard disk system.

[0111] Adopting the design scheme of the direct-attached hard disk system provided by the above embodiments of the present invention, the direct-attached hard disk system is no longer like the traditional direct-attached hard disk backplane that can only be laid as a whole board, but can flexibly combine the connection method and installation method between the hard disk daughter board and the backplane board to provide greater flexibility for the layout inside the server chassis.

[0112] In some optional embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk daughter board can be horizontally installed on the backplane board, then the assembled direct-attached hard disk system occupies a large planar space.

[0113] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the assembly structure of a direct-attached hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention; Figure 4Schematic diagram of the installation structure of the direct-connected hard disk system and the hard disk provided by the embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 Side view of an installation slot provided by the embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the structure of an installation slot from another perspective provided by the embodiment of the present invention; Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the installation structure of a hard disk daughter board and an installation slot provided by the embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 Schematic three-dimensional structure diagram when the hard disk daughter board and the installation slot are separated provided by the embodiment of the present invention; Figure 9 For Figure 8 Enlarged structure diagram of part A in the shown hard disk daughter board.

[0114] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiment of the present invention, to make full use of the three-dimensional space, as Figure 3 shown, in the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the hard disk daughter board 21 can be vertically installed on the backplane board 1. On this basis, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board 21, that is, the hard disk slot 211, can be set at a position other than the end of the hard disk daughter board 21 connected to the backplane board 1. For example, the hard disk slot 211 can be located at the top of the hard disk daughter board 21 or on one side of the hard disk daughter board 21. Figure 4 A situation where the hard disk slot 211 is set on one side of the hard disk daughter board 21 is given. That is, multiple hard disk daughter boards 21 can be vertically installed side by side on the backplane board 1, and the hard disks are inserted into the hard disk slots 211 of the hard disk daughter boards 21 one by one. The installation structure of the composed direct-connected hard disk system and the hard disk 3 can make full use of the three-dimensional space in the chassis. The left and right directions of the hard disk daughter board 21 can be parallel to the air flow direction in the heat dissipation channel to reduce the influence of the hard disk slot 211 and the cable 23 end on the air flow and ensure the heat dissipation effect; at the same time, the hard disk slot 211 can be suspended on the side of the backplane board 1, so as to avoid interference between the hard disk 3 and the backplane board 1 when installing the hard disk 3. At this time, the bottom height of the hard disk 3 can be lower than the height of the position where the backplane board 1 is located, and the utilization of the chassis space is more flexible, that is, the installation position of the hard disk 3 can be not affected by the position of the backplane board 1.

[0115] Then as Figure 3 、 Figure 4 shown, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board 21 can be set on the opposite side of the hard disk slot 211 on the hard disk daughter board 21, and the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the downstream connector 401 of the server motherboard 4 by using the cable 23.

[0116] To facilitate the installation and disassembly between the hard disk daughter board 21 and the backplane board 1, the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiment of the present invention can also include an installation slot 22. As Figure 3As shown, the installation slot 22 can be vertically installed on the backplane board 1 and provide a slot for installing the hard disk daughter board 21.

[0117] The hard disk daughter board 21 and the installation slot 22 can be connected by plugging or through other structural components. By setting the installation slot 22 to install the hard disk daughter board 21 on the backplane board 1, on the basis of being able to stably install the hard disk daughter board 21 on the backplane board 1, the flexibility brought by the cable 23 used by the hard disk daughter board 21 to connect to the server motherboard 4 can also be fully utilized. In this way, one end of the hard disk daughter board 21 is provided with a hard disk slot 211 to connect the hard disk 3, and the other end is connected to the server motherboard 4 through the cable 23, which facilitates the disassembly and assembly of the hard disk 3 and the connection of the cable 23. Then, combining the installation structure of the hard disk daughter board 21 and the installation slot 22 can ensure the connection stability between the hard disk and the components on the hard disk daughter board 21. At the same time, the detachable connection between the hard disk daughter board 21 and the installation slot 22 facilitates the user to select the required hard disk daughter board 21 according to needs to adapt to different types of hard disks 3.

[0118] In some optional embodiments of the present invention, as Figure 5 、 Figure 6 shown, the bottom of the installation slot 22 can be provided with pins 222, and the backplane board 1 can be provided with positioning holes so that the positions of the pins 222 of the installation slot 22 correspond to the positioning holes one by one. Thus, after the pins 222 are fixedly connected to the positioning holes, the installation slot 22 can be installed on the backplane board 1. The cross-section of the installation slot 22 can be rectangular. By arranging the pins 222 at the four corners of the bottom of the installation slot 22, the connection stability between the installation slot 22 and the backplane board 1 can be ensured.

[0119] If the first hard disk status signal connector of the hard disk daughter board 21 is a gold finger 213, then as Figure 6 shown, the bottom of the installation slot 22 can be provided with a gold finger slot 223 corresponding to the gold finger 213. As Figure 7 shown, the bottom of the installation slot 22 can be provided with a signal connection end 221 connected to the signal terminal 224 of the gold finger slot 223. The signal connection end 221 is used to connect to the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board 1. Thus, through the first hard disk status signal connector (gold finger 213) of the hard disk daughter board 21, the signal terminal 224 of the gold finger slot 223 of the installation slot 22, the signal connection end 221 of the installation slot 22, and the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board 1, the signal connection between the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector is realized, and further the signal connection between the hard disk 3 and the trace on the backplane board 1 is realized.

[0120] Of course, the structure of the installation slot 22 and the connection relationship between the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector realized through the installation slot 22 can also be selected in other ways. For example, the installation slot 22 can be directly welded to the backplane board 1, or the installation slot 22 can be fixed to the backplane board 1 through other structural members.

[0121] As Figure 8 shown, in order to facilitate the assembly between the hard disk daughter board 21 and the installation slot 22, a plug-in component 214 for installation in the installation slot 22 can be provided on the side of the hard disk daughter board 21 facing away from the hard disk slot 211. The first hard disk status signal connector (gold finger 213) of the hard disk daughter board 21 is located at the bottom of the plug-in component 214. Correspondingly, a plug-in cavity 225 for inserting the plug-in component 214 is provided at the top of the installation slot 22, and the gold finger slot 223 in the installation slot 22 is located within the plug-in cavity 225. Thus, when the plug-in component 214 of the hard disk daughter board 21 is inserted into the plug-in cavity 225 of the installation slot 22, the plug-in component 214 will drive the gold finger 213 to move to cooperate with the gold finger slot 223 in the plug-in cavity 225, thereby realizing the connection between the gold finger 213 and the signal terminals 224 on the gold finger slot 223.

[0122] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the bottom height of the plug-in component 214 is higher than the bottom height of the side of the hard disk daughter board 21 close to the hard disk slot 211, that is, a height difference is formed between the bottom of the plug-in component 214 and the bottom of the side of the hard disk daughter board 21 close to the hard disk slot 211, so as to provide an avoidance space for the installation slot 22. Such a setting is to reduce the overall height of the direct-connected hard disk system after installation, thereby reducing the space occupied by the direct-connected hard disk system. Further, after the installation slot 22, the plug-in component 214 of the hard disk daughter board 21 and the backplane board 1 are assembled, the bottom height of the side of the hard disk daughter board 21 close to the hard disk slot 211 is lower than the surface of the backplane board 1. Specifically, the hard disk daughter board 21 can be in an inverted L-shaped structure, and an avoidance space is formed between the two side edges of the hard disk daughter board 21. One side edge of the installation slot 22 is located in the avoidance space, making the structural layout more compact and further saving space.

[0123] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, guiding steps can be provided on both sides of the plug-in component 214, and guiding sliding grooves 226 are formed on both side walls of the installation slot 22. The shapes of the guiding steps and the guiding sliding grooves 226 are adapted to each other for the guiding steps to slide along the guiding sliding grooves 226. Specifically, through the cooperative sliding of the guiding steps and the guiding sliding grooves 226, when the plug-in component 214 is inserted into the plug-in cavity 225 of the installation slot 22, the guiding sliding grooves 226 can provide a track for the guiding steps, thereby ensuring the position accuracy of the plug-in component 214 and improving the installation efficiency and accuracy.

[0124] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, a first guiding step and a second guiding step are respectively provided on both sides of the plugging component 214. The first guiding step and the second guiding step are respectively located on the left and right sides of the plugging component 214, and the left-right direction of the plugging component 214 is the same as the left-right direction of the hard disk daughter board 21; first guiding chutes 226 and second guiding chutes 226 are respectively provided on both side walls of the installation groove 22. The first guiding chutes 226 and the second guiding chutes 226 are provided on the left and right sides of the installation groove 22, and the left-right direction of the installation groove 22 is also the same as the left-right direction of the hard disk daughter board 21; moreover, the slot widths of the first guiding chute 226 and the second guiding chute 226 are different. The first guiding step is in fit connection with the first guiding chute 226, and the second guiding step is adapted to the second guiding chute 226, that is, the thicknesses of the first guiding step and the second guiding step in the front-back direction of the plugging component 214 are different. The front-back direction of the plugging component 214 refers to the direction perpendicular to the air flow direction and parallel to the backplane board 1; the above settings can prevent the installation position of the plugging component 214 or the installation groove 22 from being misassembled.

[0125] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, avoidance grooves 216 may be provided on both sides of the plugging component 214. The guiding steps protrude into the avoidance grooves 216 from the plugging component 214. That is to say, on the left and right sides of the plugging component 214, not only guiding steps are provided, but also there is a spaced arrangement between the left and right sides of the plugging component 214 and the structure on the side of the hard disk daughter board 21 close to the hard disk slot 211. Such a setting is to divide the plugging component 214 into a plugging part, which is convenient for assembly with the installation groove 22; further, the height of the guiding step along the installation direction of the hard disk daughter board 21 is less than the height of the avoidance groove 216 along the installation direction of the hard disk daughter board 21. That is to say, when the plugging component 214 moves towards the installation groove 22, the avoidance groove 216 first cooperates with the guiding chute 226, and then as the plugging component 214 continues to be pushed, the guiding step enters the guiding chute 226 and slides along the guiding chute 226; the above settings, after the plugging component 214 and the installation groove 22 are assembled, the bottom position of the installation groove 22 located at the guiding chute 226 can enter the avoidance groove 216, further improving the limit in the left-right direction between the installation groove 22 and the hard disk daughter board 21; more specifically, the slot width of the guiding chute 226 is less than the width of both side walls of the installation groove 22, and limiting edges 2174 are formed on both sides of the guiding chute 226, and the limiting edges 2174 cooperate with the side part of the plugging component 214 for limiting.

[0126] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, an introduction arc portion may be provided at one end of the guiding step close to the mounting groove 22, and arc chamfers 2261 are provided on both sides of one end of the guiding sliding groove 226 close to the guiding step; the arc chamfers 2261 are used to guide the introduction arc portion when the guiding step moves towards the guiding sliding groove 226, ensuring that the plugging component 214 can be smoothly inserted into the mounting groove 22, and improving the assembly efficiency.

[0127] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, as Figure 8 shown, a wire end stop surface 2141 may be provided at the bottom of the plugging component 214, and the gold finger 213 protrudes from the wire end stop surface 2141, that is, the boss where the gold finger 213 is located is on the wire end stop surface 2141. A board end stop surface 227 is provided inside the mounting groove 22, and the gold finger slot 223 is opened on the board end stop surface 227; when the wire end stop surface 2141 is in contact with the board end stop surface 227, the signal terminal 224 is electrically connected to the gold finger 213. Through the settings of the wire end stop surface 2141 and the board end stop surface 227, the moving limit positions of the plugging component 214 and the mounting groove 22 can be restricted, avoiding damage to the gold finger 213 or the signal terminal 224 due to the plugging component 214 being inserted into the mounting groove 22 with an excessive size.

[0128] As described in the above embodiments of the present invention, the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention may further include a limiting device fixedly provided on the backplane board 1 for fixing the hard disk daughter board 21. The hard disk daughter board 21 is provided with a buckle and a buckle release structure, and the limiting device is provided with a limiting structure corresponding to the buckle and the buckle release structure. Then, in some embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the buckle may be an elastic component 217 provided on one of the hard disk daughter board 21 and the mounting groove 22, and the limiting structure may be a lock 228 provided on the other. A locking portion 2171 is provided on the elastic component 217 and is matched with the lock 228; specifically, by using the elastic component 217, when the hard disk daughter board 21 and the mounting groove 22 are assembled, the elastic component 217 undergoes elastic deformation until the locking portion 2171 on the elastic component 217 is matched with the lock 228. Assembling in the manner of the elastic component 217 and the lock 228 has high disassembly and assembly efficiency and is convenient for installation; further, as Figure 8 、 Figure 9 shown, the lock 228 may be provided on the mounting groove 22, the lock 228 may be a lock hole, and the locking portion 2171 may be a locking boss, and the sizes of the lock hole and the locking boss are adapted to each other.

[0129] The snap - off structure described in the above - mentioned embodiments, which is used to drive the snap to move to unlock the snap and the limiting structure, can specifically be an unlocking component for driving the elastic component 217 to move to unlock the lock 228 and the locking part 2171. This unlocking component can be arranged on the hard disk daughter board 21 and is connected to the elastic component 217. By setting the unlocking component connected to the elastic component 217 and using the driving effect of the unlocking component on the elastic component 217, the locking part 2171 on the elastic component 217 is separated from the lock 228 to complete the unlocking. By setting the unlocking component, it is applicable to the situation where the installation space is small and manual unlocking is not possible. For the convenience of unlocking, both the elastic component 217 and the unlocking component are arranged on the hard disk daughter board 21. Of course, when the space permits, the elastic component 217 can also be manually driven to unlock.

[0130] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the elastic component 217 can be a shrapnel. One end of the elastic component 217 is located on the hard disk daughter board 21, and the other end is connected to the unlocking component. Specifically, the elastic component 217 is installed on the front side or the rear side of the hard disk daughter board 21. The bottom of the elastic component 217 is provided on the hard disk daughter board 21, and there is a deformation space between the top and the hard disk daughter board 21. When the hard disk daughter board 21 moves towards the installation slot 22, the elastic component 217 will move towards the direction close to the hard disk daughter board 21 and enter the insertion cavity 225 of the hard disk daughter board 21. Along with the elastic component 217 being elastically deformed under the action of the front wall or the rear wall of the hard disk daughter board 21, when the position of the locking part 2171 moves to the position of the lock 228, the locking part 2171 is engaged with the lock 228. At this time, under the action of its own elastic force, the elastic component 217 firmly restricts the lock 228 on the locking part 2171. At this time, the hard disk daughter board 21 just completes the assembly with the installation slot 22, that is, the gold finger 213 just cooperates and connects with the signal terminal 224.

[0131] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the unlocking component can be a pull - belt (not shown in the figure). The hard disk daughter board 21 can also be provided with a pull - belt channel 218. After the pull - belt passes through the pull - belt channel 218 and bypasses the pull - belt connection hole, it returns to the pull - belt channel 218. The pull - belt channel 218 is located on the top of the hard disk daughter board 21 and is arranged close to the elastic component 217. Specifically, the pull - belt passes through the pull - belt channel 218. One end of the pull - belt is the pulling end, and the other end is the connecting end. The pulling end of the pull - belt is located in the upper part of the hard disk daughter board 21, which is convenient for manually pulling the pull - belt. The connecting end of the pull - belt is connected to the elastic component 217. The connecting part of the pull - belt can be connected to the top of the elastic component 217. By pulling the pull - belt, it will drive the elastic component 217 to move towards the direction close to the hard disk daughter board 21, thereby driving the separation of the lock 228 and the locking part 2171 to complete the unlocking process of the elastic component 217.

[0132] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, such as Figure 9 shown, a strap connection hole may be provided at the top of the elastic member 217, the strap is threaded through the strap connection hole, and the strap can extend to the side of the hard disk daughter board 21 away from the installation groove 22, facilitating manual pulling of the strap; the strap should have a certain hardness, which is not only convenient for observing through the strap channel 218, but also can prevent the strap from adhering to the hard disk daughter board 21, facilitating manual operation of the strap.

[0133] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, locking latches 228 may be provided on both the front and rear sides of the installation groove 22, that is, the installation groove 22 may be a symmetric structure, which is convenient for processing, and the installation direction between the installation groove 22 and the backplane board 1 may not be restricted, improving the assembly efficiency.

[0134] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, several connecting legs 2172 may be provided on one side of the elastic member 217 close to the mounting groove 22. For example, the number of connections may be two. By using the connecting legs 2172 to connect with the mounting groove 22, the deformation of the elastic piece is easier and the assembly is convenient; the connecting legs 2172 are arc-shaped and are located on the hard disk daughter board 21. By using the arc-shaped connecting legs 2172, a deformation space can be formed between the elastic member 217 and the hard disk daughter board 21; the middle part of the side of the elastic member 217 facing away from the mounting groove 22 is connected to the unlocking member, that is, a pull strap connecting edge 2173 is provided at the middle position of the top of the elastic member 217, and a pull strap connecting hole is provided on the pull strap connecting edge 2173. Setting the pull strap connecting hole at the middle position of the top of the elastic member 217 can ensure the stability of the elastic member 217 during unlocking; specifically, the number of the locking parts 2171 and the number of the lock catches 228 may be multiple, for example, two, to improve the reliability of the locking effect; limiting edges 2174 are provided on both sides of the top of the elastic member 217; a limiting block 2175 cooperating with the limiting edge 2174 is also provided on the hard disk daughter board 21. Specifically, the limiting block 2175 is located outside the limiting edge 2174. The arrangement of the limiting block 2175 and the limiting edge 2174 can prevent the deformation space between the elastic member 217 and the mounting groove 22 from being too large, which will neither affect the assembly of the hard disk daughter board 21 nor ensure the firm locking between the hard disk daughter board 21 and the mounting groove 22; further, an introduction inclined surface is provided on the side of the locking part 2171 close to the mounting groove 22, and a locking flat surface is provided on the other side. The lock catch 228 is clamped with the locking flat surface, and the introduction inclined surface can guide the elastic member 217 to elastically deform. Furthermore, in order to facilitate the driving of the elastic member 217 by the unlocking member, the pull strap connecting edge 2173 is bent toward the side away from the hard disk daughter board 21, so that the distance between the pull strap connecting edge 2173 and the hard disk daughter board 21 is increased. When the pull strap is pulled, the pull strap will drive the pull strap connecting edge 2173 to move, and then drive the elastic member 217 to move, completing the unlocking of the elastic member 217 and the lock catch 228.

[0135] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, a board end guiding edge 229 may also be provided at the top of the mounting groove 22. The board end guiding edge 229 extends in an arc shape outward from the opening of the insertion cavity 225 of the mounting groove 22. When the insertion part 214 of the hard disk daughter board 21 moves toward the insertion cavity 225, the board end guiding edge 229 can play a guiding role to ensure that the insertion part 214 is smoothly inserted into the insertion cavity 225.

[0136] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk daughter board 21 may also be provided with an avoidance chamfer. On the one hand, the avoidance chamfer can avoid the installation slot 22, and on the other hand, it can also prevent interference with the backplane board card 1, so that the bottom of the side of the hard disk daughter board 21 where the hard disk slot 211 is provided can be lower than the surface of the backplane board card 1, reducing the height of the hard disk daughter board 21 in the direction perpendicular to the backplane board card 1, thereby saving space.

[0137] Specifically, in a specific embodiment, when installing the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, the backplane board card 1 can be first installed and connected to the server motherboard 4, and then the installation slot 22 is installed; alternatively, the installation slot 22 can also be first installed on the backplane board card 1, and then the backplane board card 1 is installed and connected to the server motherboard 4; when connecting the installation slot 22 and the backplane board card 1, first insert the pins 222 of the installation slot 22 into the positioning holes, and then weld and fix the positioning holes and the pins 222; select the corresponding hard disk daughter board 21 according to the type of the hard disk 3 to be assembled, insert the plug-in component 214 of the hard disk daughter board 21 into the plug-in cavity 225 of the installation slot 22 until the locking portion 2171 of the elastic component 217 cooperates with the lock 228 on the installation slot 22; then install the hard disk 3 in the hard disk slot 211 of the hard disk daughter board 21. When it is necessary to disassemble the hard disk daughter board 21, the elastic component 217 can be driven to move by manually pulling the pulling belt, and the locking portion 2171 is separated from the lock 228. At this time, the hard disk daughter board 21 can be pulled out of the installation slot 22 to complete the disassembly process.

[0138] Figure 10 Schematic diagram of the connection method of a direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention.

[0139] In the above embodiments of the present invention, it is introduced that the hard disk daughter board 21 can be vertically installed on the backplane board card 1 through the installation slot 22. The first hard disk status signal connector can be designed in the form of a gold finger 213 and connected to the second hard disk status signal connector on the backplane board card 1 through the signal terminal 224 of the gold finger slot 223 in the installation slot 22.

[0140] On this basis, as Figure 10As shown in the figure, when installing the direct - attached hard - disk system provided by the embodiment of the present invention, during the installation of the direct - attached hard - disk system, the installation slot 22 is vertically installed on the back - plane board 1. The hard - disk daughter - board 21 is plugged into the gold - finger slot 223 of the installation slot 22 of the back - plane board 1 through the first hard - disk status signal connector in the form of a gold - finger 213, so as to be connected to the second hard - disk status signal connector on the back - plane board 1 through the signal terminal 224 in the gold - finger slot 223. The hard disk is plugged into the hard - disk slot 211 on the hard - disk connector of the hard - disk daughter - board 21, and the other end of the hard - disk connector is connected to the server main board 4 through the cable 23. Then, through the hard - disk connector and the first hard - disk status signal connector on the hard - disk daughter - board 21, high - speed signals, side - band signals, and power can be transmitted to the hard disk 3.

[0141] Among them, a high - speed signal link between the hard disk 3 and the server main board 4 is formed by the hard - disk connector and the cable 23. The high - speed signal can include the high - speed serial computer expansion bus data signal. The high - speed serial computer expansion bus signal includes the high - speed serial computer expansion bus read signal and the high - speed serial computer expansion bus write signal; the high - speed clock signal can be the high - speed serial computer expansion bus clock signal.

[0142] Side - band signals and power are transmitted to the hard disk through the hard - disk connector and the first hard - disk status signal connector. The side - band signals can include the hard - disk status indication signal and the hard - disk status control signal. The hard - disk status indication signal can be the hard - disk present signal. The hard - disk status control signal can be the hard - disk status indicator control signal corresponding to the hard - disk status indicator provided on the hard - disk daughter - board 21. The hard - disk status control signal can also include the reset signal. The side - band signals can also include the device hot - plug management signal and the high - speed signal bus reset signal. The power can include +12V voltage (P12V) and +3.3V standby power (+3.3V Standby, P3V3_STBY).

[0143] Among them, the power provided by the back - plane board 1 for the hard disk comes from the power supply of the server main board 4. The power supply of the server main board 4 provides power for the back - plane board 1, and after being converted into the power supply voltage required by the hard disk 3 by the power connector on the back - plane board 1, it is provided to the hard disk 3 through the second hard - disk status signal connector on the back - plane board 1 and the first hard - disk status signal connector on the hard - disk daughter - board 21.

[0144] In addition, the server main board 4 also interacts with the back - plane controller on the back - plane board 1 through the wire - bonding connector, the first hard - disk status signal connector on the hard - disk daughter - board 21, and the second hard - disk status signal connector on the back - plane board 1, so as to realize the monitoring of the status of the hard disk 3.

[0145] Figure 11 It is a schematic diagram of the connection method of another direct - attached hard - disk system provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

[0146] As Figure 11 shown, by using the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiment of the present invention, after the hard disk is plugged into the hard disk slot 211 of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board 21, it can be connected to the downlink connector 401 of the server main board 4 through the cable 23 at the other end of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board 21, that is, the Figure 10 cable connector 402 in is plugged into the downlink connector 401 of the server main board 4, so that through the cable 23 and the hard disk connector, the hard disk 3 and the central processor on the server main board 4 can perform high-speed signal transmission.

[0147] By applying the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the installation method of the direct-connected hard disk system can be flexibly set according to the space in the server chassis.

[0148] Figure 12 Figure 12 is a side view of the chassis when the backplane board card 1 provided by the embodiment of the present invention is horizontally installed.

[0149] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiment of the present invention, as Figure 12 shown, the backplane board card 1 can be installed horizontally with respect to the server main board 4, and the hard disk daughter board 21 is vertically installed on the backplane board card 1.

[0150] As Figure 12 shown, the red cable is the cable between the hard disk daughter board 21 and the downlink connector 401 of the server main board 4. Referring to the cable 23 as Figure 3 shown, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board 21 and the cable led out from the wire bonding connector can be encapsulated into a cable bundle and then connected to the downlink connector 401 of the server main board 4. Through the encapsulated cable bundle, it is convenient to connect the hard disk daughter board 21 and the server main board 4.

[0151] Figure 12 The blue cable in represents the cable between the power supply of the server main board 4 and the power connector of the backplane board card 1. Figure 12 The black cable in represents the cable between the two-wire serial bus connector of the server main board 4 and the two-wire serial bus connector on the backplane board card 1.

[0152] Figure 13 Figure 14 is a front view of the chassis when the backplane board card 1 provided by the embodiment of the present invention is horizontally installed.

[0153] Applying the solution of vertically installing the hard disk daughter board 21 on the backplane board card 1 and horizontally installing the backplane board card 1 with respect to the server main board 4 in the server chassis as Figure 12 shown, then as Figure 13 shown, from the front window of the chassis, it can be seen that the hard disks 3 are vertically installed in a row.

[0154] Figure 14 This is a side view of the chassis when the backplane board card 1 is vertically installed provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0155] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, as Figure 14 shown, the backplane board card 1 can also be installed perpendicular to the server motherboard 4, and the hard disk daughter board 21 is horizontal to the server motherboard 4 and vertically installed on the backplane board card 1.

[0156] As Figure 14 shown, the red cable is the cable between the hard disk daughter board 21 and the downstream connector 401 of the server motherboard 4. Referring to the cable 23 as Figure 3 shown, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board 21 and the cable led out from the wire bonding connector can be encapsulated into a cable bundle and then connected to the downstream connector 401 of the server motherboard 4. Through this encapsulated cable bundle, it is convenient to connect the hard disk daughter board 21 to the server motherboard 4.

[0157] Figure 14 The blue cable in represents the cable between the power supply of the server motherboard 4 and the power connector of the backplane board card 1. Figure 14 The black cable in represents the cable between the two-wire serial bus connector of the server motherboard 4 and the two-wire serial bus connector on the backplane board card 1.

[0158] Figure 15 This is a front view of the chassis when the backplane board card 1 is vertically installed provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0159] Applying the solution of vertically installing the hard disk daughter board 21 on the backplane board card 1 and vertically installing the backplane board card 1 on the server motherboard 4 in the server chassis as Figure 14 shown, then as Figure 15 shown, through the front window of the chassis, it can be seen that the hard disks are horizontally installed in multiple rows.

[0160] Then, according to the shape and available space of the server chassis, the installation positions of the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, as well as the installation positions of the hard disk daughter board 21, the backplane board card 1 and the hard disks on the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, can be arranged flexibly.

[0161] To ensure the stability of the installation, in some optional embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk daughter board 21 can be evenly installed on the backplane board 1. As introduced in the above embodiments of the present invention, for the convenience of design and management, the hard disk daughter board 21 is designed to be connected to the hard disks 3 one by one. Therefore, the number of hard disk daughter boards 21 installed on the backplane board 1 is the same as the number of hard disks 3 connected to the central processing unit of the server motherboard 4. According to the installation method of the hard disk daughter board 21 on the backplane board 1, if the hard disk daughter board 21 is horizontally installed along the long side of the backplane board 1, multiple rows of hard disk daughter boards 21 can be installed on the backplane board 1, thereby increasing the number of hard disk daughter boards 21 to install a larger number of hard disks 3.

[0162] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present invention continue to describe the control method based on the improved direct-connected hard disk system structure.

[0163] Applying the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, according to the description of the above embodiments of the present invention, when the direct-connected hard disk system is installed in the server chassis and the hard disks are inserted into the hard disk connectors of the hard disk daughter boards of the direct-connected hard disk system. After the server is powered on, the direct-connected hard disk system is powered on, performs the initialization of the connected hard disks, and completes the training operation of the high-speed signal lines through the high-speed signal link to complete the actions of the physical layer and the link layer (link). After the central processing unit on the server motherboard recognizes the hard disks, it allocates address space and drive letters to the hard disks, so as to execute read / write instructions and other tasks under the operating system (Operating System, OS).

[0164] If the high-speed signal line between the hard disk connector and the server motherboard is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus, a high-speed signal link between the hard disk and the server motherboard is established by initializing the Transaction Layer, Data Link Layer, and Physical Layer.

[0165] Among them, the Transaction Layer is responsible for creating or parsing Transaction Layer Packets (TLP), handling flow control, Quality of Service (QoS), transaction sorting, etc. It supports four types of transactions: memory read / write, I / O read / write, and configuration read / write. The Transaction Layer is also responsible for the management of virtual channels and traffic classes to support real-time, isochronous, and priority data transmission.

[0166] The Data Link Layer is responsible for link management, including error detection, link status monitoring, flow control, and power management. The Data Link Layer adds a sequence number and a Link Layer CRC (LCRC) to the TLP generated by the Transaction Layer for error detection and correction. In addition, the Data Link Layer is also responsible for the ACK / NAK protocol to ensure the successful transmission of data packets.

[0167] The physical layer is used to handle the actual physical transmission of data, including data encoding and decoding, signal transmission and reception, as well as link training and status management. The physical layer uses differential signal transmission and adopts specific encoding schemes (such as 8b / 10b encoding or 128b / 130b encoding) to ensure data integrity and link stability.

[0168] The PCIe bus uses an end-to-end connection method, and both the sending end and the receiving end contain sending logic (TX) and receiving logic (RX). In a data path (Lane) of the physical link of the PCIe bus, it consists of two groups of differential signals, a total of 4 signal lines. Among them, the TX component of the sending end is connected to the RX component of the receiving end using a group of differential signals. This link is also called the sending link of the sending end and the receiving link of the receiving end; while the RX component of the sending end is connected to the TX component of the receiving end using another group of differential signals. This link is also called the receiving link of the sending end and the sending link of the receiving end. A PCIe link can be composed of multiple Lanes.

[0169] The clock signal line in the PCIe bus is used to ensure the correct transmission of data in the PCIe link.

[0170] If the high-speed signal line between the hard disk connector and the server motherboard is a SAS / SATA signal line, the SAS protocol is adopted, and its hierarchical structure includes:

[0171] Physical Layer: Defines the physical characteristics of SAS cables, connectors and interfaces, including electrical characteristics and test conditions for SAS transceivers in the SAS PHY layer.

[0172] PHY Layer: Responsible for transmitting the bit stream of the upper-layer protocol, including encoding schemes, power supply / reset sequences, etc. This layer processes the original electrical signals.

[0173] Link Layer: Controls the connection management of the PHY layer, including error detection and correction, link initialization, rate matching, etc. According to the different protocols processed, the link layer is divided into the SSP (Serial SCSI Protocol) link layer, the STP (Serial ATA Tunneled Protocol) link layer and the SMP (SCSI Management Protocol) link layer.

[0174] Port Layer: As the interface between the link layer and the transport layer, it processes requests, interrupts and connection establishment. The port layer is responsible for managing the communication between the SAS port and the PHY.

[0175] Transport Layer: Responsible for the encapsulation and decomposition of SAS frames. The transport layer receives SAS frames from the port layer, parses them, and then sends the data to the application layer. It also processes the data coming from the application layer.

[0176] Application Layer: Describes how to use SAS under different types of applications, generates requests and sends them to the transport layer, and receives the response results from the transport layer. The application layer includes the SCSI application layer, ATA application layer, and management application layer.

[0177] The SAS protocol uses serial communication and designs an efficient data transmission and clock synchronization mechanism. Data transmission and clock synchronization are achieved through the data lines themselves. SAS uses high-speed serial connections, and each port contains one or more pairs of differential signal lines for transmitting and receiving, which are responsible for transmitting data and clock information. Therefore, for a hard disk daughter card designed for SAS / SATA hard disks, only high-speed data signal lines can be set between the hard disk connector and the server motherboard, without setting high-speed clock signal lines. By using the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, out-of-band monitoring of the hard disk operating status can be achieved through the out-of-band management system of the server. The baseboard management controller in the out-of-band management system can be connected to the two-wire serial bus connector of the server motherboard through the system management bus, and communicate to the two-wire serial bus channel of the backplane board card through the two-wire serial bus connector of the server motherboard, cable, and the two-wire serial bus connector of the backplane board card, so as to monitor the operating status of the backplane board card and monitor the operating status of each hard disk daughter board and even each hard disk through the backplane board card.

[0178] It can also be achieved that the baseboard management controller in the out-of-band management system monitors the operating status of each hard disk daughter board and even each hard disk through the complex programmable logic device on the server motherboard, the two-wire serial bus connector on the server motherboard, the two-wire serial bus, and the two-wire serial bus connector of the backplane board card.

[0179] When there are multiple hard disks to be monitored, the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip on the backplane board card switches the two-wire serial bus connected to the baseboard management controller to different devices connected to this two-wire serial bus, so that the baseboard management controller can access the hard disk status, backplane board card status, etc. For example, the baseboard management controller can access whether the hard disk on the direct-connected hard disk system is present through an out-of-band management interface (such as the system management bus).

[0180] Under the control of the baseboard management controller, the backplane board card can receive commands from the central processor side on the server motherboard to control the on / off, lighting mode, etc. of the hard disk status indicator.

[0181] Based on the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a hard disk daughter board, which may include:

[0182] A hard disk connector, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, and the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is used to connect to the hard disk;

[0183] A first hard disk status signal connector, connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board card, for transmitting hard disk status signals and power signals;

[0184] The hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector adopt a split design, and the hard disk status signal of the hard disk connector is connected to the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0185] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiment of the present invention, the hard disk daughter board may be composed of a hard disk connector, a first hard disk status signal connector, and a printed circuit board for installing the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0186] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiment of the present invention, since the connections required for the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector on the hard disk daughter board provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be realized by cables without routing on the board, the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector can also be detachably installed on the backplane board card through other installation methods.

[0187] The hard disk daughter board can be connected to the hard disks one by one. That is, a hard disk connector is provided on one hard disk daughter board, and this hard disk connector is used to connect one hard disk. Then a first hard disk status signal connector is also arranged on the hard disk daughter board for transmitting the hard disk status signals and power signals related to this hard disk.

[0188] In the embodiment of the present invention, the hard disk connector is used to transmit signals between the central processing unit on the server motherboard and the hard disk. The signals between the hard disk and the server motherboard are usually high-speed signals, and different high-speed signal lines are required according to different hard disk types.

[0189] Then for the upstream data interface side of the hard disk connector, in some alternative embodiments of the embodiment of the present invention, the high-speed signal line may include a high-speed clock signal line and a high-speed data signal line. For example, for an NVMe hard disk, the high-speed signal lines adopted between the hard disk connector and the server motherboard may include a high-speed serial computer expansion bus data signal and a high-speed serial computer expansion bus clock signal.

[0190] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the high-speed signal lines may only be high-speed data signal lines. For example, for SAS / SATA hard disks, the required high-speed signal lines only need high-speed data signal lines and do not require clock signal lines.

[0191] In terms of the connection method, the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector can be connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal cable, thereby further improving the flexibility of the installation of the direct-connected hard disk system and the stability of the high-speed signal link.

[0192] For the downstream data interface side of the hard disk connector, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is designed according to the type of hard disk to be connected. The interface of the hard disk is usually a gold finger structure. After the pins therein are inserted into the positions on the hard disk slot, they can be connected to the components on the server side (such as data pins connected to the central processing unit) through the circuit on the hard disk backplane. Then, in the embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk connector may include a hard disk slot for connecting the hard disk.

[0193] In the embodiments of the present invention, the first hard disk status signal connector of the hard disk daughter board is connected to the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card for transmitting hard disk status signals and power signals.

[0194] In some alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the first hard disk status signal connector may be connected to the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card by a cable.

[0195] In some other alternative embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention, the first hard disk status signal connector may also be a plug-in connection with the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card. That is, one of the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector may use a male connector and the other may use a female connector. For example, the first hard disk status signal connector may use a gold finger, and the second hard disk status signal connector may be correspondingly designed as a gold finger slot.

[0196] To ensure the stability of the hard disk operation, the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector are connected in a plug-in manner, thereby fixing the hard disk daughter board on the backplane board card, and further fixing the hard disk in the direct-connected hard disk system.

[0197] For the convenience of heat dissipation, in the embodiments of the present invention, the high-speed signal link of the hard disk connector and the hard disk status signal line between the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector may be installed at 90°.

[0198] Since the hard disk daughter board provided by the embodiments of the present invention corresponds to the direct-connected hard disk system provided by the above embodiments of the present invention, for further embodiments of the hard disk daughter board, please refer to the description of the embodiments of the direct-connected hard disk system part.

[0199] The above details various embodiments of the direct-attached hard disk system provided by the present invention. On this basis, the present invention also discloses a server corresponding to the above direct-attached hard disk system.

[0200] The server provided by the embodiment of the present invention may include a server motherboard, a direct-attached hard disk system, and a hard disk; the direct-attached hard disk system includes a hard disk daughter board and a backplane board card; the hard disk daughter board includes a hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector, and the hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector; the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is used to connect to the hard disk, and the hard disk status signal and power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector.

[0201] In practical applications, according to needs, multiple hard disk daughter boards can be installed on the backplane board card. Each hard disk daughter board can be arranged in a row and installed on the backplane board card, or multiple rows of hard disk daughter boards can be flexibly arranged on the backplane board card.

[0202] When using the server provided by the embodiment of the present invention to install the direct-attached hard disk system, the hard disk daughter board is plugged into the second hard disk status signal connector in the form of a gold finger slot on the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector in the form of a gold finger, the hard disk is plugged into the hard disk slot on the hard disk connector of the hard disk daughter board, and the other end of the hard disk connector is connected to the server motherboard through a cable. Then, through the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector on the hard disk daughter board, high-speed signals, sideband signals, and power can be transmitted to the hard disk.

[0203] Among them, a high-speed signal link is formed between the hard disk and the server motherboard through the hard disk connector and the cable. The high-speed signal may include a high-speed serial computer expansion bus data signal, and the high-speed serial computer expansion bus signal includes a high-speed serial computer expansion bus read signal and a high-speed serial computer expansion bus write signal; the high-speed clock signal may be a high-speed serial computer expansion bus clock signal.

[0204] Sideband signals and power are transmitted to the hard disk through the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector. The sideband signals may include a hard disk status indication signal and a hard disk status control signal. The hard disk status indication signal may be a hard disk present signal. The hard disk status control signal may be a hard disk status indicator control signal corresponding to the hard disk status indicator provided on the hard disk daughter board. The hard disk status control signal may further include a reset signal. The sideband signals may further include a device hot plug and unplug management signal and a high-speed signal bus reset signal. The power may include a +12V voltage (P12V) and a +3.3V standby power supply (+3.3VStandby, P3V3_STBY).

[0205] Among them, the power supply provided by the backplane board for the hard disk comes from the power supply of the server motherboard. The power supply of the server motherboard provides power for the backplane board, and after being converted into the power supply voltage required by the hard disk through the power connector on the backplane board, it is provided to the hard disk through the second hard disk status signal connector on the backplane board and the first hard disk status signal connector on the hard disk daughter board.

[0206] In addition, the server motherboard also interacts with the backplane controller on the backplane board through the wire bonding connector, the first hard disk status signal connector on the hard disk daughter board, and the second hard disk status signal connector on the backplane board, so as to realize the monitoring of the status of the hard disk.

[0207] Using the server provided by the embodiment of the present invention, after the hard disk is plugged into the slot on the hard disk connector of the hard disk daughter board, it can be connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through the cable at the other end of the hard disk connector of the hard disk daughter board, that is, the cable plug is plugged into the downstream connector of the server motherboard, so that through the cable and the hard disk connector, the hard disk and the central processing unit on the server motherboard can perform high-speed signal transmission.

[0208] Applying the server provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the installation methods of the server motherboard, the direct-connected hard disk system, and the hard disk can be flexibly set according to the space in the server chassis.

[0209] In some optional implementation manners of the embodiment of the present invention, the backplane board can be installed horizontally with respect to the server motherboard, and the hard disk daughter board is vertically installed on the backplane board.

[0210] The red cable is the cable between the hard disk daughter board and the downstream connector of the server motherboard. The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board and the cable led out from the wire bonding connector can be encapsulated into a cable bundle and then connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard. Through this encapsulated cable bundle, it is convenient to connect the hard disk daughter board and the server motherboard.

[0211] In some other optional implementation manners of the embodiment of the present invention, the backplane board can also be installed vertically with respect to the server motherboard, and the hard disk daughter board is horizontal with respect to the server motherboard and vertically installed on the backplane board.

[0212] The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector on the hard disk daughter board and the cable led out from the wire bonding connector can be encapsulated into a cable bundle and then connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard. Through this encapsulated cable bundle, it is convenient to connect the hard disk daughter board and the server motherboard.

[0213] To ensure the stability of the installation, in some optional embodiments of the present invention, the hard disk daughter board can be evenly installed on the backplane board. As introduced in the above embodiments of the present invention, for the convenience of design and management, the hard disk daughter board is designed to be connected to each hard disk one by one. Therefore, the number of hard disk daughter boards installed on the backplane board is the same as the number of hard disks connected to the central processing unit of the server motherboard. According to the installation method of the hard disk daughter board on the backplane board, if the hard disk daughter board is horizontally installed along the long side of the backplane board, multiple rows of hard disk daughter boards can be installed on the backplane board, thereby increasing the number of hard disk daughter boards to install a larger number of hard disks.

[0214] Since the server provided in the embodiments of the present invention corresponds to the direct-attached hard disk system provided in the above embodiments of the present invention, for further embodiments of the server, please refer to the description of the embodiments of the direct-attached hard disk system part.

[0215] The server provided in the embodiments of the present invention designs a detachable hard disk daughter board and a backplane board in the direct-attached hard disk solution. A hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector are deployed on the hard disk daughter board, and a backplane controller is deployed on the backplane board. The hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the server motherboard through the hard disk connector. The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard, the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is connected to the hard disk, and the hard disk status pin of the hard disk connector is connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board through the first hard disk status signal connector. Thus, with the iterative update of the server storage architecture, the backplane board can be used across generations as a general structure, and only the corresponding hard disk daughter boards need to be added according to the number and type of hard disks, realizing a hard disk direct-attached solution with strong reusability, low development difficulty, reducing the types of backplane designs, and having good ventilation and heat dissipation performance for high-density hard disk backplane scenarios, which is beneficial to reducing the overall machine noise and power consumption; and since the backplane board does not need to increase the design cost as the signal rate of the supported hard disks increases, and the on-board wiring between the hard disk and the server motherboard through the backplane is cancelled, shortening the high-speed signal link, which is beneficial to reducing the difficulty of impedance design.

[0216] The above has introduced in detail a direct-attached hard disk system, a hard disk daughter board, and a server provided by the present invention. The embodiments in the specification are described in a progressive manner. Each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts among the embodiments can be referred to each other. For the server disclosed in the embodiments, since it corresponds to the direct-attached hard disk system disclosed in the embodiments, the description is relatively simple. For the relevant parts, please refer to the description of the direct-attached hard disk system part. It should be noted that for those of ordinary skill in the art in this technical field, without departing from the principle of the present invention, several improvements and modifications can be made to the present invention, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0217] It should also be noted that in this specification, relational terms such as first and second are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the term "comprising", "including" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device comprising a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. Without further limitation, an element defined by the statement "comprising an..." does not exclude the presence of another identical element in the process, method, article or device comprising such element.

Claims

1. A direct-connected hard disk system, characterized in that, It includes a hard disk daughter board and a backplane board card; The hard disk daughter board includes a hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector, and the hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector; The hard disk daughter boards are connected to the hard disks in one-to-one correspondence, and multiple hard disk daughter boards are horizontally arranged and vertically installed side by side on the backplane board card. After the direct-attached hard disk system and the hard disks are installed in the chassis, the left-right direction of the hard disk daughter boards is parallel to the air flow direction in the heat dissipation channel; The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, and the high-speed signal line is a high-speed signal cable; the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is a hard disk slot for connecting a hard disk; the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is arranged on the opposite side of the hard disk slot on the hard disk daughter board; The reset pin and the device hot pluggable management pin of the first hard disk status signal connector are connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through the wire bonding connector of the hard disk daughter board and a cable; The hard disk status signal and the power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card; the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector are used to transmit the hard disk status signal and the power signal between the hard disk and the backplane controller; The high-speed signal link of the hard disk connector and the hard disk status signal line between the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector are installed at a 90° angle.

2. The direct-connected hard disk system according to claim 1, wherein The first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card are in a plug-in connection.

3. The direct-connected hard disk system according to claim 1, characterized in that It further includes a limiting device fixed on the backplane board card for fixing the hard disk daughter board. The hard disk daughter board is provided with a buckle and a buckle release structure, and the limiting device is provided with a limiting structure corresponding to the buckle and the buckle release structure.

4. The direct-attached hard disk system according to claim 1, wherein The high-speed signal line includes a high-speed clock signal line and a high-speed data signal line.

5. The direct-attached hard disk system according to claim 1, wherein The high-speed signal line is a high-speed data signal line.

6. The direct-connected hard disk system according to claim 1, wherein The backplane board card includes a second hard disk status signal connector, the backplane controller, a two-wire serial bus connector, an asset information storage chip, a temperature sensor and a power connector; Among them, the second hard disk status signal connector is used to connect the first hard disk status signal connector to the backplane controller; The two-wire serial bus connector is used to connect the server motherboard to the backplane controller, and the asset information storage chip and the temperature sensor are connected to the two-wire serial bus connector; The power connector is used to connect the power supply of the server motherboard and convert the power supply into the power supply required by the backplane board card for output.

7. The direct-attached hard disk system according to claim 6, wherein The backplane board card further includes a two-wire serial bus channel switching chip. The first end of the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip is connected to the second end of the two-wire serial bus connector. The first end of the two-wire serial bus connector is connected to the out-of-band monitoring system of the server motherboard. The second end of the two-wire serial bus channel switching chip is connected to the first hard disk status signal connectors of multiple corresponding hard disk daughter boards via multiple second hard disk status signal connectors.

8. A hard disk daughter board, characterized in that Comprising: A hard disk connector, the upstream data interface of which is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, and the high-speed signal line is a high-speed signal cable; The downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is a hard disk slot for connecting a hard disk; the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is arranged on the opposite side of the hard disk slot on the hard disk daughter board; A first hard disk status signal connector, which is used to connect to the backplane controller of the backplane board card through the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card, and is used to transmit the hard disk status signal and power signal between the hard disk and the backplane controller; the reset pin and the device hot-swap management pin of the first hard disk status signal connector are connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through the wire bonding connector and cable of the hard disk daughter board; The hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector are designed separately, and the hard disk status signal of the hard disk connector is connected to the first hard disk status signal connector; the high-speed signal link of the hard disk connector and the hard disk status signal line between the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector are installed at 90°; The hard disk daughter board is used to be connected to the hard disks in one-to-one correspondence, and multiple hard disk daughter boards are horizontally arranged and vertically installed side by side on the backplane board card. After the hard disk daughter board, the backplane board card and the hard disks are installed in the chassis, the left-right direction of the hard disk daughter board is parallel to the air flow direction in the heat dissipation channel.

9. The hard disk daughter board according to claim 8, wherein, The first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card are in a plug-in connection.

10. A server, characterized in that, Comprising a server motherboard, a direct-attached hard disk system and hard disks; The direct-attached hard disk system includes a hard disk daughter board and a backplane board card; The hard disk daughter board includes a hard disk connector and a first hard disk status signal connector, and the hard disk daughter board is detachably connected to the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector; The hard disk daughter board is connected to the hard disks in one-to-one correspondence, and multiple hard disk daughter boards are horizontally arranged and vertically installed side by side on the backplane board card. After the direct-attached hard disk system and the hard disks are installed in the chassis, the left-right direction of the hard disk daughter board is parallel to the air flow direction in the heat dissipation channel; The upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is directly connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through a high-speed signal line, and the high-speed signal line is a high-speed signal cable; the downstream data interface of the hard disk connector is a hard disk slot for connecting a hard disk; the upstream data interface of the hard disk connector is arranged on the opposite side of the hard disk slot on the hard disk daughter board; The reset pin and the device hot-swap management pin of the first hard disk status signal connector are connected to the downstream connector of the server motherboard through the wire bonding connector of the hard disk daughter board and the cable; The hard disk status signal and the power signal of the hard disk connector are connected to the backplane controller of the backplane board card through the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector of the backplane board card; the first hard disk status signal connector and the second hard disk status signal connector are used to transmit the hard disk status signal and the power signal between the hard disk and the backplane controller; The high-speed signal link of the hard disk connector and the hard disk status signal line between the hard disk connector and the first hard disk status signal connector are installed at a 90° angle.

11. The server according to claim 10, wherein The backplane board card is installed horizontally with respect to the server motherboard, and the hard disk daughter board is installed vertically on the backplane board card.

12. The server according to claim 10, wherein The backplane board card is installed vertically with respect to the server motherboard, and the hard disk daughter board is installed horizontally with respect to the server motherboard and vertically on the backplane board card.

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