Virtual Drawers Decouple Server CPU Management from Physical Packaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional large servers are limited by the fixed physical drawer concept, which leads to inefficiencies in workload management, as they cannot efficiently accommodate varying workload requirements and introduce bottlenecks due to fixed CPU and resource allocations across physical drawers.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of virtual drawers decouples management from physical packaging, allowing dynamic grouping of CPU chips into virtual drawers with varying numbers and architectures, enabling flexible workload management, fault recovery, and maintenance through a leaf-spine topology and virtual drawer tables.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If physical drawers are used to package servers with fixed CPU allocations, then hardware management is simplified, but workload management flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the physical drawer into multiple virtual drawers, allowing each physical drawer to be divided into several virtual drawers that can be independently managed and assigned to different workloads. This segmentation enables flexible workload management while maintaining the physical packaging structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates virtual copies of drawer structures through virtualization. Virtual drawers are software-defined abstractions that replicate the functionality of physical drawers without requiring physical duplication, enabling multiple virtual instances from a single physical unit.
2Stability of the object's composition
If CPUs are fixed to physical drawers, then hardware stability is improved, but dynamic resource allocation is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic resource allocation by allowing virtual drawers to be created, modified, and assigned to different workloads at runtime. The virtualization layer enables CPUs to be dynamically reassigned between virtual drawers without physical reconfiguration, maintaining hardware stability while enabling flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtualization layer as an intermediary between the physical hardware and workload management. This intermediary layer (virtual drawers) decouples the fixed physical structure from dynamic resource allocation needs, allowing flexible CPU assignment without affecting hardware stability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If virtual drawers are introduced to enable dynamic grouping, then workload flexibility is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal virtual drawer interface that can accommodate different workload types and configurations through a standardized abstraction layer. This universal interface handles various workload requirements uniformly, managing complexity by providing a consistent mechanism for dynamic grouping regardless of specific workload characteristics.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method comprises receiving an index number for each of a plurality of physical processing units, each of the plurality of physical processing units communicatively coupled to each of a plurality of switch chips in a leaf-spine topology; assigning at least one of the plurality of physical processing units to a first virtual drawer by updating an entry in a virtual drawer table indicating an association between the respective index number of the at least one physical processing unit and an index of the first virtual drawer; and performing a drawer management function based on the virtual drawer table.