Expansion Blade Memory Access Without OS Processor Exposure
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Solution Overview
Problem
In blade systems, adding blade devices to a partition to increase memory availability can lead to higher application license costs due to the exposure of additional logical processors, and existing methods do not efficiently manage memory and processor utilization to avoid this cost increase.
Innovation Solution
Configure compute and expansion logical processors to operate within a single system firmware domain, making the expansion logical processor unavailable to the operating system while remaining available for system firmware tasks, thus allowing the use of expansion device memory without increasing license costs and enabling error collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If expansion blade devices are added to a partition to increase memory availability, then memory capacity is improved, but application license costs increase due to exposure of additional logical processors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the logical processor from the expansion blade device and removes it from the operating system's view, while keeping the memory resource available. This is achieved by configuring the expansion logical processor to operate exclusively in system management mode, effectively separating the processor resource from the memory resource that the operating system can utilize.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the resource availability by creating different access levels: the operating system can access memory resources of expansion blade devices but cannot access their logical processors. This segmentation is implemented through configuration settings that control which resources are exposed to the operating system versus which remain under system firmware control.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If expansion logical processors are made unavailable to the operating system, then license costs are reduced, but the ability to utilize full system resources is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces system firmware as an intermediary layer between the expansion logical processor and the operating system. This intermediary manages the logical processor exclusively in system management mode, allowing the operating system to benefit from increased memory capacity without directly accessing the logical processor, thus maintaining both cost efficiency and resource versatility.
3Adaptability or versatility
If all logical processors are made available to the operating system, then resource versatility is improved, but license costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making different parts of the system available to different levels of control. Specifically, memory resources of expansion blade devices are made available to the operating system, while logical processors remain under system firmware control. This selective availability optimizes both resource utilization and cost management.
Data Source
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AI summary
Examples disclosed herein relate to making memory of compute and expansion blade devices available for use by an operating system (OS). Examples include making available, for use by an OS, a compute logical processor of the compute blade device, identified memory of the compute blade device, and identified memory of an expansion blade device. Examples further include making the expansion logical processor unavailable to the OS.