A single board management system, method, apparatus and device

Abstract

A single board management system, method, device and equipment, the substrate management controller can be connected with the computing device single board through the management bus. The computing device single board includes a memory and a device manager, and the management information of the computing device single board is recorded in the memory. Inside the computing device single board, the memory and the device manager can be connected with the substrate management controller through the management bus. The substrate management controller obtains the management information from the memory through the management bus, and interacts with the device manager to manage the computing device single board based on the management information. The connection relationship between the substrate management controller and the computing device is simple, the single board of the computing device with different structures is adapted, and the management mode of the computing device single board can be effectively simplified. The management mode of the computing device single board is more efficient.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application, the original application number is 202210188470.X, the original application date is February 28, 2022, and the entire contents of the original application are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the technical field of servers, and in particular to a single board management system, method, device and equipment. BACKGROUND

[0003] Since the 1980s, Microsoft and Intel have formed the Wintel alliance to promote the development of the personal computer (PC) industry. The two companies have closely cooperated in the PC industry to drive faster development of the computing industry, and gradually influenced other computing devices such as servers. The application scenarios of servers and other computing devices are various, the configuration types are various, and the reliability requirements are relatively high. At the same time, servers have a huge commercial volume and are the focus of open industry ecosystem construction.

[0004] Taking a traditional server as an example, the current industrial ecosystem of the traditional server has the following characteristics:

[0005] Low standardization: The traditional server already has a certain component standardization basis, for example, the memory stick, the solid state drive (SSD), the peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) card and other components have their own standards. Component standardization has made a great contribution to the industrial ecosystem and resource sharing, reducing a part of the development work of server manufacturers. However, the proportion of standardized components in the entire server is small, which makes the development of the server mainboard still need to invest more manpower to complete the adaptation of standardized components and non-standardized components.

[0006] Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the standardization of the components of the server. The standardization of the components of the server involves various aspects of the server. The out-of-band management of the server refers to the maintenance of the server and other devices through an independent management channel. The out-of-band management of the server allows system administrators to remotely monitor and manage the server. The out-of-band management of the server mainly involves the management and monitoring of the working environment of the devices (such as processors, memories, hard disks) on the server single board, such as the working environment of the devices including but not limited to temperature, working voltage, fan, power supply state and other information, to ensure that the devices of the server can work in a suitable working environment.

[0007] The out-of-band management of the server is usually implemented by a baseboard management controller (BMC). In order to implement the out-of-band management, the baseboard management controller needs to be connected with a server single board to be connected with various devices on the server single board. However, due to the types of processors and the increasing variety of processors, the architectures of the server single boards with different processors are different, and the interfaces connected with the baseboard management controller in these different server single boards are not uniform, which leads to that the baseboard management controller needs to perform a large amount of adaptation work for the out-of-band management of each type of server single board, and the reuse rate of the baseboard management controller of different types of server single boards is low. SUMMARY

[0008] The present application provides a single board management system, method, device and equipment, to provide a more adaptable out-of-band management BMC and method.

[0009] In a first aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a single board management system, which comprises a baseboard management controller and a computing device single board. The single board management system can be deployed in a computing device, which can be a server, a personal computer, etc.

[0010] The baseboard management controller can be connected with the computing device single board through a management bus. The computing device single board comprises a memory and a device manager, and the management information of the computing device single board is recorded in the memory. Inside the computing device single board, the memory and the device manager can be connected with the baseboard management controller through the management bus.

[0011] The baseboard management controller can obtain the management information from the memory through the management bus, and interact with the device manager to manage the computing device single board based on the management information.

[0012] Through the above system, the connection relationship between the baseboard management controller and the computing device is simple, which is suitable for the single boards of computing devices with different structures, and can effectively simplify the management mode of the computing device single board. The management mode of the computing device single board is also more efficient.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the computing device single board further comprises a first type of device, the first type of device is connected with the device manager, and the device manager can obtain the working information of the first type of device. The baseboard management controller can obtain the working information of the first type of device from the device manager through the management bus.

[0014] Through the system, the substrate management controller can conveniently obtain the working information of the first-type device through the device manager without connecting with the first-type device, the working information of the first-type device is obtained in a simple and efficient manner, and a large amount of adaptation work required by the substrate management controller to match different computing device single boards is avoided, and an out-of-band management process is simplified.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the computing device single board further includes a second-type device, the second-type device can not be connected with the substrate management controller through the device manager, and the second-type device can be directly connected with the substrate management controller through the management bus; the substrate management controller can directly interact with the second-type device through the management bus to obtain working information of the second-type device.

[0016] Through the system, the management bus can not only be connected with the memory and the device manager, but also be connected with the second-type device, the connection manner is relatively simple, the substrate management controller also does not need to perform excessive adaptation work, and the application scenario is effectively expanded.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the management information is information required by the substrate management controller to manage the computing device single board. That is, the management information can be pre-stored in the memory. The specific content of the management information is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, and any information required to manage the computing device single board is applicable to the embodiment of the present application. For example, the management information includes part or all of the following: attribute information of the computing device single board, topology information of the computing device single board, attribute information of the first-type device, and attribute information of the second-type device.

[0018] Through the system, the management information is pre-stored in the memory, and the substrate management controller only needs to perform a simple loading operation to obtain the management information, and the management information is obtained in a simpler manner.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the substrate management controller can interact with the device manager, and the interaction manner of the substrate management controller and the device manager is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the substrate management controller can interact with the device manager based on a command word, so that efficient interaction efficiency is ensured. Different computing device single boards can set a common command word manner. In this way, the substrate management controller can be adapted to different computing device single boards, and the adaptation degree of the substrate management controller and the management method is improved.

[0020] In a possible implementation, the substrate management controller can control the first type of device. For example, the substrate management controller can issue a control command to the device manager to instruct the device manager to control the first type of device. The substrate management controller can directly control the first type of device, and the substrate management controller can issue a control command to the second type of device through the management bus to control the second type of device.

[0021] The substrate management controller upgrades the first type of device or the device manager. For example, the substrate management controller can deliver an upgrade file of the first type of device to the device manager to instruct the first type of device to be upgraded. After obtaining the upgrade file of the first type of device, the device manager upgrades the first type of device by using the upgrade file of the first type of device. The substrate management controller can also deliver an upgrade file of the device manager to the device manager to instruct the device manager to be upgraded. Of course, the substrate management controller can also directly upgrade the second type of device through the management bus.

[0022] Through the above system, the substrate management controller controls or upgrades the device through the management bus or the device manager, simplifies the control and upgrade manner, and ensures efficient management of the single board of the computing device.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the type of the memory. For example, the memory can be a band erasable programmable read-only memory, which is small in size and high in integration.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific structure of the device manager. Any module capable of device management is applicable to the embodiments of the present application. For example, the device manager is a complex programmable logic device or a micro control unit. The specific structure of the device manager is more diverse, and is applicable to different computing device single boards, effectively expanding the application scenarios.

[0025] In a possible implementation, the management bus can be an internal integrated circuit bus or a serial peripheral interface bus, or can be another type of bus. The type of the management bus is more flexible, so that the substrate management controller can be connected with different types of computing device single boards through the management bus, and the adaptation degree of the substrate management controller to different types of computing devices is improved.

[0026] In a second aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a single board management method, which is used for managing a computing device single board. The beneficial effects can be referred to the description of the first aspect and will not be repeated here. The computing device single board comprises a memory and a device manager, and the memory records management information of the computing device single board. In the method, the baseboard management controller can obtain the management information from the memory through a management bus. After obtaining the management information, the baseboard management controller can interact with the device manager through the management bus based on the management information, and manage the computing device single board.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the computing single board comprises a first type of device, the first type of device can be connected with the device manager, and the baseboard management controller can obtain working information of the first type of device from the device manager through the management bus.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the computing single board comprises a second type of device, the first type of device can be directly connected with the baseboard management controller through the management bus, and the baseboard management controller can obtain working information of the second type of device from the second type of device through the management bus.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the management information comprises part or all of the following: attribute information of the computing device single board, topology information of the computing device single board, attribute information of the first type of device, and attribute information of the second type of device.

[0030] In a possible implementation, when the baseboard management controller interacts with the device manager through the management bus, the baseboard management controller can interact with the device manager based on a command word through the management bus.

[0031] In a possible implementation, the baseboard management controller controls the first type of device through the device manager, and can also upgrade the first type of device through the device manager. For example, the baseboard management controller transmits an upgrade file of the first type of device to the device manager, and instructs to upgrade the first type of device. The device manager can upgrade the first type of device by using the upgrade file of the first type of device after receiving the upgrade file of the first type of device. The baseboard management controller can also upgrade or control the device management controller or the second type of device.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the management bus is an I2C bus or an SPI bus.

[0033] In a third aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a single board management device, which has the functions of implementing the behaviors in the method examples of the second aspect, and the beneficial effects can be referred to the description of the first aspect and will not be repeated here. The functions can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. In one possible design, the structure of the single board management device includes a request acquisition unit and a management unit, and optionally further includes an upgrade unit. These units can perform the corresponding functions in the method examples of the second aspect, and the specific implementation can be referred to the detailed description in the method examples, which will not be repeated here.

[0034] In a fourth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a baseboard management controller, which has the functions of implementing the behaviors in the method examples of the second aspect, and the beneficial effects can be referred to the description of the second aspect and will not be repeated here. The structure of the device includes a processor. Optionally, it can further include a memory. The processor is configured to support the single board management device to perform the corresponding methods in the method examples of the second aspect. Optionally, the baseboard management controller can further include a memory. The memory is coupled with the processor, and saves the necessary computer program instructions of the communication device. The processor can invoke the computer program instructions to perform the corresponding methods in the method examples of the second aspect.

[0035] In a fifth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computing device, which includes a baseboard management controller and a computing device single board. The computing device single board can include a processor, a memory and the like. The baseboard management controller has the functions of implementing the behaviors in the method examples of the second aspect, and the beneficial effects can be referred to the description of the first aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0036] In a sixth aspect, the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores instructions, and when the instructions run on a computer, the computer executes the method in the second aspect and the various possible implementation manners of the second aspect.

[0037] In a seventh aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product containing instructions, and when the instructions run on a computer, the computer executes the method in the first aspect and the various possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

[0038] In an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a computer chip, which is connected with a memory, and the chip is used to read and execute the software program stored in the memory, and executes the method in the second aspect and the various possible implementation manners of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0039] Figure 1A schematic diagram of an architecture of a single board management system provided in the present application;

[0040] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an architecture of another single board management system provided in the present application;

[0041] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a command word provided in the present application;

[0042] Figure 4A A schematic diagram of a read request provided in the present application;

[0043] Figure 4B A schematic diagram of a read response provided in the present application;

[0044] Figure 4C A schematic diagram of a write request provided in the present application;

[0045] Figure 5A~5B A schematic diagram of an expansion board provided in the present application;

[0046] Figure 6A~6C A schematic diagram of an architecture of a single board management system provided in the present application;

[0047] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a single board management method provided in the present application;

[0048] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a management system of a BCU provided in the present application;

[0049] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of a single board management device provided in the present application;

[0050] Figure 10 A schematic diagram of a computing device provided in the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] The technical threshold for developing a traditional server motherboard is high. In addition to a central processing unit (CPU), it also includes bus fanout, power fanout, maintenance management and other functions. The CPU-related circuits on these motherboards all come from the reference design provided by the CPU manufacturer, and the reference designs provided by different CPU manufacturers are completely different, which makes the development and design of the motherboard require a large amount of resources and time. In order to meet the demand for rapid updating and upgrading of server and other computing products, the whole machine manufacturer needs to invest more effort in differentiation innovation, but often can only focus on low-level hardware specification comparison. This not only cannot meet the needs of customers in various scenarios and computing power, but also forces the whole machine manufacturer to fall into an inefficient homogenization competition. With the trend of computing power diversity, more processor manufacturers emerge, and more processor products with different architectures are launched, and the iteration speed of various processors also increases rapidly. At the same time, the power consumption of processors also continues to increase, and the traditional server cooling technology cannot meet the demand. In addition, in order to improve system performance, the industry has also launched new media types (for example, Intel has launched 3D Xpoint new non-volatile media, etc.) and forms, which also require new architecture support and adaptation. In order to develop servers that adapt to the above technical trends, the whole machine manufacturer needs to invest a lot of development effort, but due to the differences between different products, the design scheme of the same motherboard or whole machine cannot be reused. Therefore, the industry puts forward higher requirements for the cross-architecture common components of servers, cross-generation evolution, shortening of time to market (TTM), reducing total cost of operation (TCO), etc. The further development of the industry needs to build a more open and standardized server architecture, improve development efficiency, increase component reuse, and provide more flexibility and differentiation.

[0052] The present application proposes an innovative peer-to-peer interconnection architecture (which can also be referred to as a new server architecture or a new architecture). In this architecture, the traditional motherboard is first split into a basic computing unit (BCU) and an extension unit (EXU), and the basic computing unit is used in conjunction with the extension unit to support the specifications and forms of the motherboard required for different scenarios. The same computing device can include one basic computing unit and one extension unit, the same computing device can also include multiple basic computing units and one extension unit, and the same computing device can also include one basic computing unit and multiple extension units. The basic computing unit includes a CPU, a double data rate (DDR) and related power supply, and provides general computing power and peripheral storage, input / output (IO), acceleration and other expansion interfaces. The basic computing unit supports CPUs. Alternatively, the baseboard supports heterogeneous processors, i.e., the baseboard can support different types of processors, such as the baseboard supports CPUs, and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), generic array logic (GALs), systems on chip (SoCs), software-defined infrastructure (SDI) chips, artificial intelligence (AI) chips, and the like, any one of which or any combination of which can be present on the baseboard.

[0053] Further, at least six different forms of baseboards are provided according to business requirements and hardware attributes, which are respectively for different computing performance and memory configuration. For the convenience of description, the six forms of baseboards are referred to as A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 respectively. In the embodiment, the number of processors is represented by “P”, P is an integer greater than 0, and “DPC” represents dual in-line memory module per channel (DIMM Per Channel). For example, the A1 form of baseboard supports one processor, and one DIMM is inserted per channel (referred to as 1P1DPC); the A2 form of baseboard supports one processor, and one or two DIMMs are inserted per channel (referred to as 1P2DPC or 1P1DPC); the B1 form of baseboard supports two processors, and one DIMM is inserted per channel (referred to as 2P1DPC), or one processor, and one or two DIMMs are inserted per channel (referred to as 1P2DPC or 1P1DPC); the B2 form of baseboard supports two processors, and one or two DIMMs are inserted per channel (referred to as 2P2DPC or 2P1DPC), or one processor, and one or two DIMMs are inserted per channel (referred to as 1P2DPC or 1P1DPC); the C1 form of baseboard supports four processors, and one DIMM is inserted per channel (referred to as 4P1DPC), or two processors, and one or two DIMMs are inserted per channel (referred to as 2P2DPC or 2P1DPC); and the C2 form of baseboard supports four processors, and one or two DIMMs are inserted per channel (referred to as 4P2DPC or 4P1DPC), or two processors, and one or two DIMMs are inserted per channel (referred to as 2P2DPC or 2P1DPC). With the development of technology, the CPU package size, memory channel and DIMM number may change, but the standard size and mounting hole of the motherboard will remain unchanged, so that the baseboard can be updated and replaced while ensuring compatibility across generations and series. For example: the B2 form of baseboard supports 2P2DPC (2P32DIMM) when the current CPU has 8 channels of DDR. After the number of CPU memory channels is increased to 12, 2P2DPC (2P48DIMM) cannot be realized. Then, the B2 form can support 2P1DPC (2P24DIMM), and 2P2DPC (2P48DIMM) can be realized by other forms such as C1, because the mounting hole position and the size of the baseboard are standard, and can be directly replaced and installed.

[0054] The expansion board includes a baseboard management controller (BMC) chip, is a management expansion of the baseboard, serves as a management center of the whole system, and provides management functions such as device, security, energy efficiency, and reliability. The BMC can also be referred to as a baseboard management controller. Optionally, the expansion board can also include a management system and a bridge (for example, a platform controller hub (PCH) of an Intel system).

[0055] In the new architecture, the baseboard is connected to the components through a high-speed bus such as a PCIe, a compute express link (CXL), or a unified bus (UB or Ubus), and is connected to the expansion board through a management interface. In specific implementation, the specific connection mode of the baseboard and the components, and the baseboard and the expansion board includes a soft connection mode in which a cable is used to realize the connection, or a hard connection mode in which a connector is used to realize the connection. Further, the components are a general term for a type of electronic devices or electronic equipment. According to different functions, the components include a storage unit (STU), an input output unit (IOU), an acceleration unit (ACU), a memory expansion unit (MEU), a cooling component, a computing component, a management component, and the like. The baseboard supports different series of CPUs such as Kunpeng, The expansion board provides management functions and power supply for the baseboard and each expansion component. The power supply and the radiator can have various different options under the support of the expansion board.

[0056] The storage component includes a hard disk backboard, an expansion board (Expander), a PCIe switch, and the like, expands the system storage, and supports various media and forms such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), a non-volatile memory express (NVMe), and a storage class memory (SCM).

[0057] The IO component includes a riser and the like, expands the system IO, and supports a PCIe card and an Open Compute Project (OCP) card.

[0058] The acceleration component includes a riser, a carrier board, an acceleration card interconnection switch, etc., and provides system acceleration component expansion and interconnection functions.

[0059] The memory expansion component includes a carrier board, a memory expansion chip, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM), an SCM medium, etc., and provides system expansion memory bandwidth and memory capacity functions.

[0060] The cooling component is used for cooling the computing device or the hardware in the computing device, and includes air cooling, liquid cooling, or a combination of the two. It should be understood that the structure, type, and number of the cooling component do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions to be protected by the present application.

[0061] The computing component includes a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, and other devices that provide general computing capabilities.

[0062] The management component includes a baseboard management controller and other devices that provide device management.

[0063] It should be noted that the baseboard or expansion board including the devices such as the processor, the memory, and the baseboard management controller can also be a component.

[0064] On the other hand, in the traditional server architecture, due to the evolution of power supply, memory channel number, IO number, rate, etc., the processor (for example, CPU) socket is generally only compatible with each generation (Tick / Tock two small upgrades), and it is difficult to be compatible across generations. The mainboard provided by the present application can set external interfaces in a standardized manner, and various external expansions can be performed in a soft connection manner such as a cable, which can shield the differences caused by processor-related power supply, different processors and components, and interconnections between components. The changes of the memory and other components are only contained in the mainboard, and the function of the mainboard across generations is realized. In this way, for each manufacturer, when the processor is updated, the matching whole machine, components, etc. can not be replaced, and therefore the matching components have a longer life cycle. For customers, without the need to replace the case and increase the hardware development workload, the latest components can be replaced at any time, and the latest computing power in the industry can be used as soon as possible. For the whole machine manufacturer, after the new server architecture is upgraded across generations and evolved across series, the processor is upgraded or replaced with a different processor manufacturer, and only the baseboard needs to be replaced, which revolutionizes the original development mode and derives a new industry mode.

[0065] In addition to providing a new server architecture, the present embodiment also implements hardware standardization, including baseboard standardization and component interface standardization, in order to support diverse computing power and diverse devices.

[0066] The standardization of the baseboard includes standardization of size, mounting hole position, interface electrical characteristics, management interface protocol and parameters. Table 1 is an example of a baseboard interface description table provided by the present application.

[0067] Table 1

[0068]

[0069]

[0070] The power supply adopts a unified 12V input, and the internal baseboard is converted into various types of power supplies required by DC / DC. Considering the evolution of future I / O and the differentiation of different CPUs, the present embodiment defines a Flexible I / O interface based on the UBC and UBCDD connectors, which is used to replace the original PCIe interface. The Flexible I / O interface can be flexibly configured into PCIE / HCCS / SAS / SATA / Ethernet interfaces according to requirements. The BCU management interface mainly includes common low-speed maintenance interfaces such as I2C, UART, JTAG interfaces, and is compatible with common processor platforms.

[0071] Standardization of internal component interfaces of the computing system: components include expansion boards, power supply components, heat dissipation components, storage components, IO components, acceleration components, memory components, etc. The electrical interfaces, management interfaces and parameters of the components are standardized, and the physical size, installation, position, etc. of the components are not defined and constrained, which will provide a wide range of innovation space and support for differentiation and flexible expansion. In addition to power supply and high-speed signals, the external interface of the component is defined as shown in Table 2:

[0072] Table 2

[0073]

[0074] In addition to the interface between the EXU and the BCU, other interfaces are connected to each component through the EXU. It is worth noting that the present embodiment only defines the function of these interfaces, and does not limit the specific pin layout (PINMAP) method. Any implementation method that can achieve the function is within the protection scope of the present embodiment.

[0075] It is worth noting that the contents of the above tables 1 to 2 are only an example provided to assist in explaining the technical solution of the present application. In specific implementation, the server new architecture, the interface of the baseboard and the low-speed interface of the functional component can each include more or less content.

[0076] In addition, the application further provides a kind of intelligent management software, according to the standardization requirement of computing device, management object template is realized, after server is powered on, management software is automatically detected component and obtains the self-description information of component by standard management bus, then according to management object template, management object instance is created, to realize that management software self-adapting management realizes the intelligentization of management software, support component automatic discovery and automatic adaptation.

[0077] For the convenience of description, the following embodiments take the server as an example for description, and the scheme provided by the application is also applicable to edge server, personal computer (PC) and other computing devices.

[0078] For the server, since the server needs to carry a large amount of business and perform a large amount of data operation, it is required to deploy more components in the server, more processors on the baseboard, larger memory and more hard disks. The working state of the processors, memory and hard disks on the baseboard and various components as the main devices of the server determines the running state of the server. In order to ensure that the main devices of the server can work normally, temperature sensors (to measure the temperature of the devices), voltage sensors (to measure the working voltage of the devices), different types of power supplies (to provide different voltage values), fans (to cool the devices) and other devices are also deployed in the server. An important part of the out-of-band management of the server is the monitoring and management of the working environment of the main devices in the server to ensure that the main devices in the server can work in a suitable working environment, such as the temperature being within the working temperature range of the devices, the voltage meeting the working voltage of the devices, the power supply of different types being normal, the fan being normally running, etc.

[0079] Because different server single boards have different structures, there is no unified interface to realize out-of-band management, which leads to that the baseboard management controller needs to perform a large amount of adaptation work to realize out-of-band management for any server single board, and the flexibility is poor. Therefore, the embodiments of the present application provide a single board management system, method, device and equipment. In the embodiments of the present application, the baseboard management controller can be connected with the server single board through a unified interface through a management bus. That is, the baseboard management controller and the server single board can be connected through only one management bus, the baseboard management controller can obtain the management information required for managing the server single board from the memory deployed on the server single board through the management bus, and can also interact with the device manager on the server single board through the management bus to manage the server single board. The baseboard management controller can obtain the working information of the device connected with the device manager on the server single board, and then realize out-of-band management. In this way, the baseboard management controller can realize out-of-band management for different server single boards without performing a large amount of adaptation work, and simplifies the entire process of realizing out-of-band management by the baseboard management controller.

[0080] As shown in Figure 1 Fig. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a single board management system provided by an embodiment of the present application, which can be deployed in a server, and the single board management system includes a server single board 100 and a baseboard management controller 200.

[0081] It should be noted that the server single board 100 can be the baseboard in the new architecture described above, or any component. It can also be the mainboard in a traditional server. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of the server single board 100, which can be one or multiple. When the single board management system includes multiple server single boards 100, the multiple server single boards 100 can be single boards of the same type. For example, the multiple server single boards 100 are all baseboards, and the multiple server single boards 100 can also be single boards of different types, such as the multiple server single boards 100 including one baseboard, one IO component and one storage component.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present application, the substrate management controller 200 and the server single board 100 are connected through a management bus 300. The management bus 300 can be an I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) bus, or a serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus. The management bus 300 can also be other types of buses. The management bus 300 can be understood as a root management bus 300 of single board management, which can serve as a root management link. The substrate management controller 200 can obtain management information and working information of devices on the server single board 100 through the root management link, to realize management of the server single board 100.

[0083] The server single board 100 is deployed with devices of a server, which include but are not limited to: a processor, a memory, a temperature sensor, an analog to digital converter (ADC), a power interface, a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) slot, a hard disk interface, a fan, a power supply, etc. Different types of server single boards 100 can have different types and numbers of devices deployed thereon.

[0084] It should be noted that the manner of deploying devices on the server single board 100 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the devices of the server can be directly soldered on the server single board 100, or the devices of the server can be connected to the server single board 100 through an interface (such as a UBC high-speed interface). In actual applications, some components (such as IO components, storage components, etc.) can be connected to the base board through an interface, in which case these components can also be considered as devices deployed on the server single board 100.

[0085] In order to realize out-of-band management of the server single board 100, the server single board 100 is further deployed with a device manager 120 and a memory 110. The substrate management controller 200 is connected with the device manager 120 and the memory 110 through the management bus 300.

[0086] The device manager 120 can be connected with part or all of the devices on the server board 100. In the embodiment of the present application, the devices on the server board 100 include two types, one type is the devices connected with the baseboard management controller 200 through the device manager 120, for the convenience of description, the devices of this type are referred to as the first type of devices. The other type is the devices connected with the baseboard management controller 200 directly through the management bus 300, for the convenience of description, the devices of this type are referred to as the second type of devices. For any server board 100, the devices involved in the out-of-band management (the devices involved in the out-of-band management refer to the devices affecting the working environment of the main devices on the server board 100) can all belong to the first type of devices, that is, all the devices on the server board 100 are connected with the device manager 120. Figure 1 The drawing is drawn taking the server board 100 as an example, in which all the devices on the server board 100 belong to the first type of devices. The devices involved in the out-of-band management can also include the first type of devices and the second type of devices. The second type of devices are not connected with the device manager 120, but can be connected with the baseboard management controller 200 through the management bus 300. The connection mode of the server board 100 of this type with the baseboard management controller 200 can be referred to the related description in the subsequent Figure 2 .

[0087] The device manager 120 can interact with the first type of devices to obtain the working information of the first type of devices. For example, the device manager 120 can obtain the temperature of the temperature sensor, the voltage value of the voltage sensor, whether the power supply interface is connected with the power supply, the voltage provided by the power supply (the voltage of the power supply is obtained through the connected ADC, and the ADC converts the analog signal such as voltage into a data signal), whether the PCIe slot is inserted with the component (such as an acceleration card) of the PCIe interface, whether the hard disk interface is connected with the hard disk, whether the fan is running, etc.

[0088] The memory 110 stores the management information of the server board 100, and the management information is the necessary information for the baseboard management controller 200 to implement the out-of-band management. The related description of the management information of the server board 100 will be described below.

[0089] The baseboard management controller 200 is connected with the device manager 120 and the memory 110 through the management bus 300. The baseboard management controller 200 can obtain the management information of the server board 100 from the memory 110, understand the properties of the server board, the properties of the devices, and the topology information of the server board 100, etc. The baseboard management controller 200 can also obtain the working information of the first type of devices through the interaction with the device manager 120. The server board 100 is managed based on the management information (and the working information of the first type of devices).

[0090] For example, the baseboard management controller 200 can obtain the temperature of the temperature sensor, the voltage value of the voltage sensor, whether the power supply interface is connected with the power supply, whether the PCIe slot is inserted with the component (such as an acceleration card) of the PCIe interface, whether the hard disk interface is connected with the hard disk, whether the fan is running, etc. Figure 2As shown in FIG. 1, the single board management system provided by the embodiment of the present application can be deployed in a server, and the single board management system includes a server board 100 and a baseboard management controller 200. The baseboard management controller 200 and the server board 100 are connected through only one management bus 300. The baseboard management controller 200 is connected with a device manager 120, a memory 110, and a second type of device through the management bus 300. The device manager 120 is connected with a first type of device on the server board 100. The baseboard management controller, the device manager 120, the memory 110, the management bus 300, the first type of device, and the second type of device are described above, and the differences are as follows. Figure 1 The single board management system, Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 1, the single board management system provided by the embodiment of the present application can be deployed in a server, and the single board management system includes a server board 100 and a baseboard management controller 200. The baseboard management controller 200 and the server board 100 are connected through only one management bus 300. The baseboard management controller 200 is connected with a device manager 120, a memory 110, and a second type of device through the management bus 300. The device manager 120 is connected with a first type of device on the server board 100. The baseboard management controller, the device manager 120, the memory 110, the management bus 300, the first type of device, and the second type of device are described above, and the differences are as follows.

[0091] In the single board management system, the baseboard management controller 200 and the server board 100 are also connected through only one management bus 300, the connection mode between the baseboard management controller 200 and the server board 100 is simple, and the baseboard management controller 200 is also applicable to different server boards 100.

[0092] The components of the single board management system are described as follows.

[0093] (1), the memory 110.

[0094] In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 110 is used to store the management information of the server board 100 required for out-of-band management. The type of the memory 110 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, and the memory 110 can be an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or other non-volatile memory. The memory 110 is a field replaceable unit description (FRUD), and the FRUD stores the management information required for managing the server board 100. The management information includes attribute information of the server board 100, information of devices to be managed, topology information, alarm information, and the like.

[0095] The management information includes attribute information of the server board 100, topology information of the server board 100, and attribute information of the device.

[0096] The attribute information of the server board 100 is used to describe the hardware information of the server board 100, and the attribute information of the server board includes but is not limited to: a board type, a board identification (ID), a printed circuit board (PCB) version number of the board, and a bill of material (BOM) version number of the board.

[0097] After the baseboard management controller 200 acquires the attribute information of the server board 100, the basic information of the server board 100 can be understood.

[0098] The topology information of the server board 100 describes the connection relationship of the devices on the server board 100, and the topology information of the server board 100 can include an in-band management topology and a management bus topology.

[0099] The in-band management topology can also be referred to as a service bus topology, and the in-band management topology describes the topology information of the service side of the server board 100, that is, the connection relationship between the devices (processors, hard disks, memories) that carry server services in the server board 100, which includes but is not limited to: connection management of devices on a baseboard, connection relationship between the baseboard and components, connection management between components, etc. The in-band management topology includes but is not limited to: signal of a component, information of a processor (such as port number, type, quantity, bit width, etc.), information of a memory (such as port number, type, quantity, bit width, etc.), information of a hard disk (such as hard disk interface, type, quantity, bit width, etc.), and connection mode between the processor, the memory, and the hard disk, etc. The information of the devices related to the service side can be recorded in the in-band management topology.

[0100] The management bus topology can also be referred to as an out-of-band management topology, and the management bus topology describes the topology information of the devices related to the out-of-band management of the server board 100. That is, the connection relationship between the devices (temperature sensors, voltage sensors, ADCs, power supplies, fans) related to the out-of-band management of the server board 100. The management bus topology includes but is not limited to: information of devices (such as the device manager 120 or the second type of device) hung under the management bus 300, and information of devices (that is, the first type of device) connected to the device manager 120. The information of the devices related to the out-of-band management can be recorded in the in-band management topology.

[0101] The baseboard management controller 200 acquires the topology information of the server board 100, and can know the connection relationship of the devices on the server board 100. Based on the topology information of the server board 100, it can be determined that the working information (such as temperature, voltage, and whether the power supply is working) of the first type of device is read by the device manager 120 subsequently, and the working environment described by the working information of the second type of device read directly from the second type of device is the working environment of which device, and then it is judged whether the working environment of the device meets the requirements or the device is faulty, and whether it needs to be alarmed.

[0102] The attribute information of the device, where the device includes the attribute information of the first type of device and the attribute information of the second type of device. In terms of the type of the device, the device includes a chip (such as a processor chip), a connector, a bus, and a slot (the slot refers to a slot into which an input / output device is inserted, such as a PCIe slot, a hard disk slot, etc.).

[0103] The information included in the management information can be referred to Table 3. It needs to be explained that only part of the information in the management information is shown in the above description and Table 1, and the division manner and the information content of the information in the management information are not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Any information required for out-of-band management can be regarded as the management information and stored in the storage 110.

[0104] Table 3

[0105]

[0106]

[0107]

[0108] In the embodiments of the present application, the management information required for out-of-band management is stored in the storage 110, and the address of the storage 110 can be a preset address. When the baseboard management controller 200 is connected to the storage 110 through the management bus 300, the address can be used to interact with the storage 110, and the management information can be read from the storage 110, so as to realize subsequent out-of-band management. The baseboard management controller 200 can acquire the management information more simply and quickly, and the process of out-of-band management is simplified.

[0109] In the embodiments of the present application, the server board 100 The out-of-band management interface is unified into a root management bus, and a fixed address memory 110 (such as EEPROM) can be hung on the root management link as FRUD, in which the management information of the server single board 100 is described, and the baseboard management controller 200 can automatically load the management configuration of the single board by reading the information in the FRUD. On the server single board 100, the server single board 100 uses a SMC as the board-level management center, collects the working information of the first type of devices on the single board, such as the information of sensors, alarm information, upgrade requirements of the server single board 100, and the management requirements of other devices on the single board. The SMC communicates with the baseboard management controller 200 through the root management bus interface in the command word mode. Figure 3

[0110] (2), the device manager 120.

[0111] The device manager 120 can also be referred to as a satellite manager centre (SMC). After the SMC collects the working information of the first type of devices on the single board, the SMC reports the working information to the baseboard management controller 200 through the root management bus interface. The reporting manner can be in the form of a command word. One type of working information can correspond to one command word.

[0112] Figure 3 SMC Figure 3 Figure 3 Figure 4A SMC Figure 4B Figure 4A

[0113] In the embodiments of the present application, the baseboard management controller 200 does not need to be connected to each device that needs to be managed out of band, but obtains the working information of the devices through the device manager 120, and then determines the working environment of the main devices in the server. The baseboard management controller 200 only needs to be connected to the device manager 120, which can greatly simplify the connection manner of the baseboard management controller 200 and the server single board 100, and realize intelligent management of the out-of-band management of the server single board 100. This connection manner is also suitable for different server single boards 100.

[0114] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific structure of the device manager 120. For example, the device manager 120 can be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), or a microcontroller unit (MCU). After the device manager 120 collects the working information of each device connected thereto, the device manager 120 can report the collected information to the baseboard management controller 200 through the management bus 300.

[0115] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the interaction manner between the device manager 120 and the baseboard management controller 200. For example, the device manager 120 and the baseboard management controller 200 can interact in the form of a command word. One type of working information corresponds to one command word. The format of the command word can be shared by different server single boards 100. In this way, the baseboard management controller 200 can interact with the device managers 120 on different server single boards 100 in the same manner, reducing unnecessary adaptation work.

[0116] Next, a design manner of a command word is introduced. Referring to FIG. 3, the command word includes a command word type field, a command word length field, a command word function field, and a command word parameter field. Figure 4BThe command word format defined between the device manager 120 and the substrate management controller 200 mainly includes two parts: an operation code (OP code) and device parameters. This application embodiment does not limit the specific size of the command word; in one possible implementation, the command word can occupy 4 bytes (i.e., 32 bits). The device parameters can occupy 1 byte, and the operation code can occupy 3 bytes.

[0117] The operation code describes the operation required on the device. In this embodiment, the operation may include reading the device's operating information or issuing a command to the device (issuing a command to the device can be understood as writing information to the device). Device parameters indicate the device to be operated. Device parameters may be the device's number or identifier.

[0118] The opcode consists of four fields: function, command, number of reads, and number of reads. Figure 4C The MS character represents this field), and the read / write identifier field ( Figure 4C (This field is represented by RW in Chinese).

[0119] The function field indicates the server board 100 to which the command is applied. This function field is mandatory when there are multiple boards in the board management system. When there is only one board in the board management system, the content of this function field can be set to a default value or an empty value. The function field can occupy 6 bits.

[0120] When different types of server boards 100 exist, different numbers can be used to indicate different types of server boards 100. For example... Figure 4A~4C 1 can indicate an expansion component (an expansion component is a component in a server used to add interfaces or slots). 2 indicates a storage component (a storage component is a component in a server used to connect hard drives and implement data storage functions). 3 indicates the base board. 4 indicates a memory expansion component (a memory expansion component is a component in a server that performs memory functions). 0 is used to represent a general command, that is, a command word applicable to all server boards 100.

[0121] The command field describes the type of operation, indicating which type of operational information to read (such as temperature, voltage, power supply status, fault, or alarm information). The command field needs to be predefined to distinguish different operations. The command field can occupy 16 bits.

[0122] The read times field is used to distinguish whether the operation is multiple read or single read, i.e., to indicate reading the working information of multiple devices or reading the working information of one device. For example, when the field is 0, it represents multiple read, and when the field is 1, it represents single read. The read times field can occupy 1 bit.

[0123] The read-write identification field is used to distinguish whether the operation is read operation or write operation. For example, when the field is 0, it represents that the operation is read operation, and when the field is 1, it represents write operation. The read-write identification field can occupy 1 bit.

[0124] When the substrate management controller 200 needs to read the working parameters of the device, the interaction process between the device manager 120 and the substrate management controller 200 includes that the substrate management controller 200 initiates a read request to the device manager 120, and the device manager 120 feeds back a read response to the substrate management controller 200.

[0125] As shown in FIG. 2, the read request format provided by the embodiment of the present application includes the following fields: Figure 4A~4C As shown in FIG. 3, the read response format provided by the embodiment of the present application includes the following fields: Figure 4C As shown in FIG. 3, the read response format provided by the embodiment of the present application includes the following fields: Figure 4C As shown in FIG. 4, the write request format provided by the embodiment of the present application includes the following fields: Figure 4C The first line is the name of each field, and the second line is the number of bits occupied by each field.

[0126] When the substrate management controller 200 needs to write information to the device, i.e., the substrate management controller 200 issues a command (such as controlling the device to start, stop, or upgrade) to the device, the interaction process between the device manager 120 and the substrate management controller 200 includes that the substrate management controller 200 initiates a write request to the device manager 120, and the write request carries the command (such as control command) or data (upgrade file) to be written.

[0127] As shown in FIG. 4, the write request format provided by the embodiment of the present application includes the following fields: If there are devices (i.e. the second type of devices) on the server single board 100 that cannot be managed through the SMC, they can be directly hung on the root management bus directly outputted by the baseboard management controller 200, and the management characteristics of the devices are automatically loaded by describing them in the FRUD. As shown in FIG. 4, the write request format provided by the embodiment of the present application includes the following fields: Figure 5A The first line is the name of each field, and the second line is the number of bits occupied by each field.

[0128] Figure 5B The meanings of the fields in Table 4 can be referred to Table 4.

[0129] Table 4

[0130]

[0131]

[0132] It should be noted that the above Figure 6AThe fields in the read request, the write request and the read response are only examples. In actual applications, the fields can be increased or decreased according to actual needs when designing the fields in the read request, the write request and the read response.

[0133] In the embodiments of the present application, in addition to the interaction of the working information of the first-type devices between the device manager 120 and the baseboard management controller 200, the baseboard management controller 200 can also issue a control command to the first-type devices through the interaction with the device manager 120 to control the working state of the first-type devices, for example, the control command can control one or more first-type devices to stop working or start working. The control command can be carried as data in the data field as shown in the write request. Figure 6A When the device manager 120 receives the write request, the control command can be identified, and the corresponding first-type device is controlled according to the control command, for example, the first-type device is controlled to stop working or start working.

[0134] The baseboard management controller 200 can also issue an upgrade command to the first-type devices through the interaction with the device manager 120 to instruct the first-type devices to upgrade. The upgrade file required for the upgrade of the first-type devices can be carried as data in the data field as shown in the write request. Figure 6A When the device manager 120 receives the write request, the upgrade file can be identified, and the upgrade file is sent to the corresponding first-type device to instruct the first-type device to upgrade.

[0135] The baseboard management controller 200 can also directly instruct the device manager 120 to upgrade, and the upgrade file required for the upgrade of the device manager 120 can be carried as data in the data field as shown in the write request. Figure 6B When the device manager 120 receives the write request, the upgrade file can be identified, and the upgrade is performed by using the upgrade file.

[0136] 3), the baseboard management controller 200.

[0137] From the above description of the memory 110 and the device manager 120, it can be known that the baseboard management controller can read the management information from the memory 110 through the management bus 300, and can also realize the out-of-band management of the first-type devices through the interaction with the device manager 120.

[0138] Figure 6C Figure 7 The baseboard management controller 200 Figure 8 Figure 8

[0139] In the embodiment of the present application, the second type of device is allowed to exist on the server board 100, and the second type of device can be directly connected with the baseboard management controller 200 through the management bus 300. The baseboard management controller 200 can directly interact with the second type of device through the management bus 300, acquire the working information of the second type of device, and implement out-of-band management on the second type of device.

[0140] The baseboard management controller 200 can determine the second type of device deployed on the server board 100 according to the management information, that is, acquire the information of the second type of device directly hung on the management bus 300. The baseboard management controller 200 can pre-load the management driver (the management driver refers to the software program required for managing the second type of device) of the second type of device based on the management information, so as to implement management on the second type of device.

[0141] In the embodiment of the present application, the baseboard management controller 200 can be deployed on a single board to form a BMC management board (that is, the extension board mentioned above). The BMC management board can serve as the management center of the server, and be used to implement out-of-band management on the server. The appearance of the BMC management board can be as shown in FIG. 6. Figure 7 The BMC management board provides the management interface to the outside, including a debugging serial port, a unit identification (UID) indicator, a management network port, a video graphics array (VGA) interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and the like. The management interface provided by the BMC management board to the outside can be referred to FIG. 7. Figure 9 .

[0142] The function definition and description of the management interface provided by the BMC management board to the outside are shown in Table 5.

[0143] Table 5

[0144]

[0145]

[0146] The BMC management board provides the management interface required for single board management to the inside through the 4C+ connector, including the out-of-band management bus interface. If the management bus is an I2C bus, the out-of-band management bus interface is an I2C interface.

[0147] The BMC management board can also provide other management interfaces, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the types of the other management interfaces. The other management interfaces include part or all of the following: a joint test action group (JTAG) interface, an SPI interface, a network controller sideband interface (NCSI), a platform environment control interface (PECI) debugging serial port, a UID button indicator light, a management network port, and a VGA interface. The types of the other management interfaces are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the number and types of the other management interfaces.

[0148] The BMC management board also provides a low pin count (LPC) interface, a USB interface, and a PECI interface required for in-band management. The BMC management board also has a power supply, a clock circuit, a stray signal circuit, and the like required for substrate management control. The management interface pin definitions provided by the BMC management board are shown in Table 6.

[0149] Table 6

[0150]

[0151]

[0152]

[0153]

[0154] In the table, Power / GND indicates a power supply signal or a ground signal, USB3 indicates support for USB3.0, input indicates signal input, output indicates signal output, VGA indicates a VGA signal, the VGA signal in the above table includes three signals, which are red, green, and blue signals, HCSL indicates high-speed current steering logic. The signal definitions are only exemplary, and different signal definitions can be set according to actual needs in actual use. The following describes the single-board management system provided by the embodiments of the present application by taking three different types of server single-board management system structures to which the server single board 100 belongs as examples.

[0155] First, the server single board 100 is a basic computer unit (BCU).

[0156] As shown in FIG. 2, the server single board 100 includes a BMC management board 200 and a single-board management system 300. Figure 10As shown, this application provides a single-board management system (SMC) capable of out-of-band management of computing processing units (CPUs). The BMC is connected to the BCU's EEPROM and CPLD via an I2C bus. The EEPROM implements the function of the memory 110 in the above embodiment, storing management information of the CPU, such as its attribute information. The CPLD implements the function of the SMC in the above embodiment, such as managing and controlling devices, processing upgrade commands, or control commands. The CPLD connects to devices such as ADCs, temperature sensors, clock circuits, and flash memory. Figure 7 In the process, the CPLD can acquire some signals through some devices on the first conversion chip server board 100. Figure 7 The CPLD can acquire three signals through the first conversion chip server board 100. These three signals include a power good (PG) signal (used to indicate whether power is connected or not), a present signal (such as the present signal can be used to indicate whether a device is connected to the connector), and a fault signal.

[0157] The power OK signal indicates whether power is connected or not. The present signal indicates whether a device is connected to the connector. The fault signal indicates whether a device is faulty, such as a CPU or a power controller. For example, the CPU can be directly connected to the first conversion chip (e.g., a 9555 chip) via a low-speed signal line to provide a CPU alarm signal indicating an error in the CPU. The first conversion chip is used to increase the number of connected devices.

[0158] A CPLD can acquire operational information such as ADC operating information (which is the digital signal converted from the voltage signal by the ADC), temperature, CPU alarm signals, and power supply information. A CPLD can also implement functions such as loading clock circuit frequency and flash memory upgrades.

[0159] The second conversion chip (e.g., the 9545 chip) provides multiple I2C interfaces. Multiple voltage regulator controllers on the computing unit are directly connected to the I2C bus after being extended through the second conversion chip. The topology information in the computing unit within the EEPROM describes the connection relationships between the voltage regulator controllers and the I2C bus. The voltage regulator controllers are used to power the CPU.

[0160] The BMC can directly manage the voltage regulation power controller. The CPLD interacts with the BMC through the I2C bus in a command word-based manner, transmits working information of devices connected to the CPLD, and can also accept control of the BMC to perform operations such as upgrade loading on some devices. The BMC can also perform an upgrade function on the CPLD through the I2C bus.

[0161] The second, the server single board 100 is an IO component (input output unit, IOU).

[0162] As shown in Figure 7 , a single board management system provided by an embodiment of the present application, which can be used to implement out-of-band management for an IO expansion unit. The BMC is connected to the EEPROM and the MCU of the IOU through an I2C bus.

[0163] The EEPROM is used to implement the function of the memory 110 in the above embodiment, and stores the management information of the IOU. The MCU is used to implement the function of the SMC in the above embodiment, such as implementing management control on devices, processing upgrade commands or control commands, etc. The MCU is connected to devices such as a temperature sensor power supply, a power supply, and a PCIe slot. The MCU can obtain temperature and working information such as a first conversion chip PG signal and a presence signal (which can indicate whether a device is inserted into a connector).

[0164] The MCU interacts with the BMC through the I2C bus in a command word-based manner, and transmits working information of devices connected to the MCU. The BMC performs an upgrade function on the MCU through the I2C bus. A PCIe card inserted into the PCIe slot (Slot) slot is directly hung under the I2C bus through a second conversion chip. Topology information in the IOU in the EEPROM describes the connection relationship of the PCIe card directly hung under the I2C bus. The BMC can directly manage the PCIe card.

[0165] The third, the server single board 100 is a storage component (Storage Unit, STU).

[0166] As shown in ​As shown, the single board management system provided by the embodiment of the present application can be used to realize out-of-band management for the storage expansion unit. The BMC is connected with the EEPROM and the CPLD of the BCU through an I2C bus. The EEPROM is used to realize the function of the memory 110 in the above embodiment, and stores the management information of the computing processing unit, such as the attribute information of the computing processing unit. The CPLD is used to realize the function of the SMC in the above embodiment, such as realizing the management control of the device, processing the upgrade command or the control command, etc. The CPLD is connected with the temperature sensor, the ADC, the hard disk, etc., and can acquire the voltage, the temperature, whether the hard disk is connected, and can also acquire the working information such as the PG signal, the in-place signal, the CPU alarm signal, etc. through the fifth conversion chip. The CPLD can also realize the management function of the hard disk, and can acquire the working information of each hard disk through the sixth conversion chip. The CPLD interacts with the BMC through the I2C bus based on the command word mode, and transmits the working information of the device connected with the CPLD. The BMC can acquire the working information of each hard disk of the single board through the command word mode. The BMC can also realize the upgrade function of the CPLD through the I2C bus.

[0167] Based on the single board management system provided above, the single board management method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described below, referring to ​ The method comprises the following steps:

[0168] Step 701: After the substrate management controller 200 is started, the substrate management controller 200 scans the memory 110 of the preset address under the management bus 300 through the management bus 300.

[0169] After the server is powered on, the substrate management controller 200 is started, and the substrate management controller 200 can find the memory 110 of the preset address from the device hung under the management bus 300 through the management bus 300.

[0170] Step 702: After the substrate management controller 200 scans the memory 110, the substrate management controller 200 reads the management information of the server single board 100 from the memory 110 through the management bus 300. The information included in the management information can refer to the description of the foregoing content, and the substrate management controller 200 can understand the hardware information of the server single board 100, the topology information of the server single board 100, and the attribute information of the device of the server single board 100 by reading the management information.

[0171] Step 703: After the server single board 100 is powered on, the device manager 120 on the server single board 100 collects the working information of the first type of device.

[0172] After the server board 100 is powered on, the device manager 120 can interact with the first type of device connected to the device manager 120, and obtain the working information of the first type of device, such as the temperature detected by the temperature sensor, the voltage detected by the ADC, the power OK information obtained from the voltage regulation power supply controller, the fault information of the device (such as the CPU alarm information), and the like.

[0173] Step 704: The baseboard management controller 200 obtains the working information of the first type of device from the device manager 120. If the server board 100 includes the second type of device, the baseboard management controller 200 can also obtain the working information of the second type of device from the second type of device through the management bus 300.

[0174] In step 704, the baseboard management controller 200 can obtain the working information of the first type of device of the server through the device manager 120, or obtain the working information of the second type of device through direct interaction. The baseboard management controller 200 does not need to be connected to each device on the server board 100, and the baseboard management controller 200 obtains the working information of the devices of the server in a simple manner.

[0175] Step 705: The baseboard management controller 200 manages the server board 100 based on the management information and the obtained working information of the devices (such as the working information of the first type of device and the working information of the second type of device).

[0176] The baseboard management controller 200 can understand the connection management of the devices on the server board 100 based on the management information, and determine the working environment (such as the temperature, the voltage, whether the power supply is normal, whether the device is faulty, and the like) of some main devices on the server board 100 based on the working information of the devices. Based on this, the baseboard management controller 200 can determine whether to control the devices on the server board 100, such as starting the fan, restarting the power supply, and the like. The baseboard management controller 200 can send a control command to the device manager 120 to control the first type of device. The baseboard management controller 200 can also directly issue a control command to the second type of device through the management bus 300 to control the second type of device. The manner of issuing the control command can be referred to the foregoing content, and will not be described herein.

[0177] In addition to controlling the devices, the baseboard management controller 200 can also upgrade the devices. For example, the baseboard management controller 200 can send an upgrade command to the device manager 120 to upgrade the first type of device. The baseboard management controller 200 can send an upgrade command to the device manager 120 to upgrade the first type of device. The baseboard management controller 200 can also send an upgrade command to the device manager 120 to upgrade the device manager 120. The baseboard management controller 200 can also directly issue an upgrade command to the second type of device through the management bus 300 to upgrade the second type of device. The manner of issuing the upgrade command can refer to the foregoing content, and will not be described here.

[0178] The baseboard management controller 200 can also determine whether to alarm the user to prompt the user that the device has failed or the temperature is high, the power supply is incorrect, and the like, so that the baseboard management controller 200 can manage the server single board 100 to ensure that the server single board 100 can work normally, or the user can know the state of the server single board 100 in time.

[0179] As shown in ​ , a management system of a BCU module provided by an embodiment of the present application. The management system of the BCU module is used to ensure the management characteristics of the BCU module.

[0180] The management characteristics of the BCU module include the management interface provided by the BCU module to the outside, and the management characteristics of the management module to the BCU module.

[0181] The low-speed signals on the high-speed connector of the BCU module include management signals, which can be used for the out-of-band management of the Riser card of the BCU module. The advantage of this design is that the Riser card can be free of low-speed management signal lines.

[0182] The management of the management module to the BCU module includes out-of-band management and in-band management. The Tianchi management architecture recommends that the independent management characteristics on the BCU module are directly terminated on the BCU module, such as the frequency synthesizer configuration on the BCU module, which is directly loaded on the BCU module and does not need to be managed by the management module.

[0183] As shown in ​ , the BMC on the management module provides an intelligent platform management bus (IPMB) interface to connect the CPU of the BCU module, as an intelligent platform management interface (IPMI) bus channel;

[0184] The BMC on the management module provides an LPC interface to connect the CPU of the BCU module, as a BT bus channel;

[0185] The BMC on the management module provides an I2C interface to connect the CPLD and FRUD of the BCU module, and the BMC realizes basic out-of-band management of the BCU module through the I2C, including information reading in the FRUD, access to the CPLD register of the BCU module as an SMC bus channel, and the like.

[0186] The CPLD chip on the management module provides two hisport interfaces to connect the CPLD of the BCU module, one of which is hisport0 as a logical register interaction channel between the BCU module and the management module, and the other is a hisport over I2C interface, used for the BCU module to expand the management interface.

[0187] The CPLD chip on the BCU module provides multiple I2C interfaces for information reading and configuration of the ADC chip, the clock frequency synthesizer chip, and the temperature sensing chip of the BCU module, that is, the CPLD on the BCU module realizes reading of basic information such as temperature and voltage, and reports the information to the BMC chip through a unified SMC interface, to realize termination of the independent management feature in the module.

[0188] The CPLD chip on the BCU module provides multiple I2C interfaces to connect the UBC high-speed connector, as a management channel of an external expansion module. These externally provided management I2Cs are derived from the hisport over I2C feature provided by the management module, and the management channel can connect the FRU chip and the temperature sensing out-of-band management device on the riser, to realize the out-of-band management feature of the component.

[0189] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, the embodiment of the present application also provides a single board management device, which is used to execute the method performed by the baseboard management controller in the method embodiment as shown in the method embodiment. ​ The related features can be referred to the above method embodiment, and will not be described here. As shown in the method embodiment. ​ The single board management device 900 includes an acquisition unit 901 and a management unit 902.

[0190] The acquisition unit 901 is configured to acquire the management information from the memory through the management bus.

[0191] The management unit 902 is configured to interact with the device manager through the management bus based on the management information, and manage the single board of the computing device.

[0192] In a possible implementation, the computing board includes the first-type device, the device manager is connected with the first-type device, and the obtaining unit 901 can obtain the working information of the first-type device from the device manager through the management bus.

[0193] In a possible implementation, the computing board includes the second-type device, the second-type device is connected with the baseboard management controller through the management bus, and the obtaining unit 901 can obtain the working information of the second-type device from the second-type device through the management bus.

[0194] In a possible implementation, the management information includes part or all of the following: attribute information of the computing device board, topology information of the computing device board, attribute information of the first-type device, and attribute information of the second-type device.

[0195] In a possible implementation, when the management unit 902 interacts with the device manager through the management bus, the interaction can be based on the command word mode.

[0196] In a possible implementation, the apparatus further includes an upgrading unit 903. The upgrading unit 903 can deliver an upgrading file of the first-type device to the device manager, to instruct to upgrade the first-type device. The upgrading unit 903 can also deliver an upgrading file of the device manager to the device manager, to instruct to upgrade the device manager.

[0197] In a possible implementation, the management bus is an I2C bus or an SPI bus.

[0198] It should be noted that the division of the units in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is merely a logical function division, and another division mode can be used in actual implementation. The functional units in the embodiments of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one module. The integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules.

[0199] The present application also provides a computing device 1000 as shown in ​ The computing device 1000 includes a computer board and a baseboard management controller 1500, and the computer board can include a bus 1100, a processor 1200, a communication interface 1300, and a memory 1400. The processor 1200, the memory 1400, and the communication interface 1300 communicate through the bus 1100.

[0200] The processor 1200 can be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an artificial intelligence (AI) chip, a system on chip (SoC), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or the like.

[0201] The memory 1400 can include a volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM). The memory 1400 can also include a non-volatile memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, an HDD, or an SSD. The memory 1400 can also include the memory 110 mentioned in the foregoing, i.e., management information can be stored therein. The memory 1400 can also store software modules required by other running processes, such as an operating system. The operating system can be LINUX TM , UNIX TM , WINDOWS TM , or the like.

[0202] The baseboard management controller 1500 includes a processor 1510 and a memory 1520, and the memory 1520 stores computer program codes, and the processor 1510 executes the computer program codes to perform the method described in the foregoing ​ . The baseboard management controller 1500 can also only include the processor 1510, and the processor 1510 is programmed with computer program codes, and the processor 1510 can perform the method described in the foregoing ​ .

[0203] The descriptions of the processes corresponding to the above respective figures each have their own focuses, and the parts not described in detail in a certain process can be referred to the relevant descriptions of other processes.

[0204] In the embodiments described above, all or some of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or some of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product storing computer program instructions. The computer program instructions are executed in a computer to implement all or some of the embodiments described above. ​ the processes or functions described above.

[0205] The embodiments described above can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, the embodiments described above can be implemented in the form of a computer program product storing computer program instructions. The computer program instructions are executed in a computer to implement all or some of the processes or functions described above. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, from a website, a computer, a server or a data center to another website, computer, server or data center through wired (for example, coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (for example, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) manner. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. containing one or more available medium sets. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (for example, floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (for example, DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium can be a solid state drive (SSD).

[0206] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A computing device single board, characterized in that, include A memory, wherein the memory records the management information of the computing device board; A device manager manages devices deployed on the computing device board; wherein the memory and the device manager are connected to the baseboard management controller (BMC) via a management bus and provide management information to the BMC; wherein the BMC is located outside the computing device board and manages different types of computing device boards through command words, the command words being shared among the different types of computing device boards, and the computing device board being any of the different types of computing device boards.

2. The computing device board according to claim 1, characterized in that, The memory is an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).

3. The computing device board according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The managed information includes Field Replaceable Unit Description (FRUD).

4. The computing device board according to claim 1, wherein the management information includes some or all of the following: The attribute information of the computing device board, the topology information of the computing device board, the attribute information of the first type of device, and the attribute information of the second type of device.

5. The computing device board according to claim 1, characterized in that, The device manager is a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) or a microcontroller unit (MCU).

6. The computing device board according to claim 1, wherein the devices on the computing device board include a first type of devices, the first type of devices are connected to the device manager, and the device manager provides the BMC with the working information of the first type of devices.

7. The computing device board according to claim 1, wherein the devices on the computing device board include a second type of device, the second type of device being connected to the BMC via the management bus, and providing the BMC with the operating information of the second type of device via the management bus.

8. The computing device board according to claim 1, characterized in that, The device manager receives the upgrade file sent by the BMC and upgrades the devices on the computing device board.

9. The computing device board according to claim 1, wherein the management bus is an internal integrated circuit I2C bus or a serial peripheral interface SPI bus.

10. A computing device, characterized in that, The computing device includes a computing device board as described in any one of claims 1-9.

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