Server Blade Network Boot Bandwidth Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
In server blade networks, administrators face the tedious and costly task of memorizing and entering multiple user identification numbers and passwords for each blade during remote booting and updates, which consumes significant bandwidth due to repeated transmissions over IP networks.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that divert server blade boot requests to a local area network, creating a temporary boot server to store and transmit boot and upgrade instructions, allowing blades to be booted over a local network rather than the IP network, thereby eliminating the need for repeated administrative intervention and reducing bandwidth usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If administrators use FTP and Telnet methods to remotely update each server blade, then the blades can be updated, but the network administrator must memorize and enter multiple USERIDs and passwords for each blade, consuming significant time and network bandwidth
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables server blades to perform self-update operations through automated bootstrapping. Each blade automatically receives boot images and update instructions from a temporary boot server without requiring administrator intervention. The blades autonomously download and apply updates using their own resources, eliminating the need for manual USERID and password entry for each blade.
Solution Approach 2:
The management module pre-configures a temporary boot server with boot images and update instructions before the update process begins. This preliminary setup allows blades to automatically access update information when needed, eliminating the need for administrators to manually prepare and transmit update packages to each blade individually.
2Ease of operation
If boot packets are transmitted to each server blade over the IP network for every blade, then the blades can be booted remotely, but a great deal of network bandwidth is consumed due to repeated transmissions
Solution Approach 1:
A temporary boot server acts as an intermediary between the management module and the server blades. This intermediary stores boot images and update instructions locally, allowing blades to retrieve update information from the temporary server rather than receiving repeated transmissions over the IP network. The temporary server mediates the communication, reducing bandwidth consumption while maintaining ease of remote booting.
Solution Approach 2:
The management module creates a temporary boot server that pre-loads boot images and update instructions before blades need them. This preliminary action allows multiple blades to access update information from the same stored copies, eliminating repeated transmissions over the network and significantly reducing bandwidth consumption.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate transmission requests are sent to each server blade, then each blade can be updated individually, but the IP network becomes burdened with repeated boot packet transmissions
Solution Approach 1:
The temporary boot server serves as an intermediary that consolidates multiple individual blade update requests into a single localized communication path. Instead of the IP network handling separate transmission requests to each blade, the temporary server manages these requests locally, reducing network complexity while maintaining the ability to update each blade individually.
Data Source
AI summary
A system remotely boots a plurality of server blades in a blade center to update each blade. A temporary network is created to provide an out-of-band communication channel between a management module and the plurality of server blades. The management module receives and saves the original boot sequence for each server blade and alters each boot sequence such that each server blade begins with a network boot. After receiving an initial transmission over the network containing server blade boot instructions and storing the boot instructions in a temporary boot server, subsequent server blade boot requests from the network are intercepted and the stored boot instructions are re-routed from the temporary boot server to each of the remaining blades in the blade server thus removing the need for repeated boot packet transmission over the network.