International Business Machines Corporation

Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Dhruv Manmohandas Desai

Daryl Carvis Cromer

Howard J Locker

James Peter Ward

James Edward Hughes

William Joseph Armstrong

John Michael Borkenhagen

William Gavin Holland

Richard Wayne Cheston

David R Engebretsen

Martin Joseph Crippen

Philip Rogers Hillier, Iii

Steven M Tri

James A O'Connor

Brandon Jon Ellison

Gary Roy Shippy

Nickolas John Gruendler

David Carroll Challener

Michael Leo Scollard

Andy Lloyd Trotter

Malcolm Scott Ware

Eric Richard Kern

Richard Alan Dayan

David Benson Rhoades

Christopher Landon Wood

Michael Joseph Steinmetz

Carl A Morrell

Jan Michael Janick

Pravin S Patel

Bruce Alan Smith

Bradley David McCredie

Randall Scott Springfield

Makoto Ono

Mark Charles Davis

Charles W Kaufman

William Joseph Piazza

Jimmy Grant Foster, Sr

Gregory Brian Pruett

Sumeet Kochar

David R Safford

Pankaj Rohatgi

Thomas M Brey

Patrick M Bland

Antonio Abbondanzio

Alfredo Aldereguia

Scott Neil Dunham

Gregory William Dake

Randolph Scot Kolvick

Challis Llewellyn Purrington

Robert Russell Wolford

Ernest Nelson Mandese

Brandon John Ellison

Edward Klodnicki

Benjamin Russell Grimes

Hernando Ovies

Lloyd H Massman

Brian E Bigelow

William G Hollan

James A O'Connoor

Joesph E Bolan

Akitoshi Katoh

Techniques are disclosed for managing a switch fabric. In one embodiment, a server system is provided that includes a midplane, one or more server cards, switch modules and a management controller. The midplane may include a fabric interconnect for a switch fabric. The one or more server cards and the switch modules may be operatively connected to the midplane. The switch modules may be configured to switch network traffic for the one or more server cards. The management controller may be configured to manage the switch modules via the fabric interconnect.

Switch fabric management

Techniques are disclosed for reducing impact of a repair action in a switch fabric. In one embodiment, a server system is provided that includes a first interposer card that operatively connects one or more server cards to a midplane. The first interposer card may include a switch module that switches network traffic for the one or more server cards. The first interposer card may be hot-swappable from the midplane, and the one or more server cards may be hot-swappable from the first interposer card.

Reducing impact of a repair action in a switch fabric

Techniques are disclosed for reducing impact of a switch failure in a switch fabric. In one embodiment, a server system is provided that includes a midplane, one or more server cards and one or more switch cards. The midplane may include a fabric interconnect for a switch fabric. The one or more server cards may be coupled with the midplane, where each server card is hot-swappable from the midplane. The one or more switch cards may also be coupled with the midplane, where each switch card is also hot-swappable from the midplane. Each switch card includes one or more switch modules, and each switch module is configured to switch network traffic for at least one server card.

Reducing impact of a switch failure in a switch fabric via switch cards

Techniques are disclosed for reducing impact of a switch failure and/or a repair action in a switch fabric. In one embodiment, a server system is provided that includes a first interposer card that operatively connects one or more server cards to a midplane. The first interposer card may include a switch module that switches network traffic for the one or more server cards. The first interposer card may be hot-swappable from the midplane, and the one or more server cards may be hot-swappable from the first interposer card. The server system may further include an interconnect between the first interposer card and a second interposer card.

Reducing impact of repair actions following a switch failure in a switch fabric

Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for memory access to a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) form factor flash memory are provided. Embodiments include receiving, by a controller from a processor through cacheable memory in the processor, a read request; transmitting, by the controller, the read request to the DIMM form factor flash memory; polling, by the controller, a read queue in the DIMM form factor flash memory until data is ready for the read request; copying from the DIMM form factor flash memory, by the controller, the data corresponding to the read request to a read queue in the controller; transmitting, by the controller on an interface between the controller and the processor, an invalidate command for the cacheable memory; and in response to receiving the invalidate command, reading by the processor the data stored in the read queue in the controller.

Memory access to a dual in-line memory module form factor flash memory

A method and system and calibration technique for power measurement and management over multiple time frames provides responsive power control while meeting global system power consumption and power dissipation limits. Power output of one or more system power supplies is measured and processed to produce power values over multiple differing time frames. The measurements from the differing time frames are used to determine whether or not system power consumption should be adjusted and then one or more devices is power-managed in response to the determination. The determination may compare a set of maximum and/or minimum thresholds to each of the measurements from the differing time frames. A calibration technique uses a precision reference resistor and voltage reference controlled current source to introduce a voltage drop from the input side of a power supply sense resistor calibration is made at the common mode voltage of the power supply output.

Method, system and calibration technique for power measurement and management over multiple time frames

A calibration technique provides for precision calibration of system power measurement. The calibration technique uses a precision reference resistor and voltage reference controlled current source to introduce a voltage drop from the input side of a power supply sense resistor. Calibration measurements are thereby made for voltages substantially equal to the voltage of the power supply output, so that differential measurements are made at substantially the same common-mode voltage by appropriate selection of the relationship of the resistance of the precision reference resistor and the resistance of the sense resistor, where the common-mode voltage of the measurement is substantially equal to the power supply output voltage.

Calibration technique for power measurement and management over multiple time frames

A method and system are disclosed to enable and control power reduction in a blade/chassis system. A 'maximum power reduction' attribute is stored in the VPD of the blade (or can otherwise be input to or retrieved or calculated by the management entity). The management module of the chassis in which the blades and power supplies are located uses this information to manage the power reduction of blades when the system is operating in an over-subscription mode and a power supply fails. If throttling is required, the system knows the amount of power reduction available for each blade and controls the throttling by spreading it out among the blades in the system so that, ideally, no blade will cease operation altogether.

Programmable throttling in blade/chassis power management

A method and system are disclosed to enable and control over-subscription in a blade/chassis system and to provide the capability to recover in the event of the loss of a redundant power supply. An over-subscription policy is determined by a system administrator and is set in the chassis management module. Information regarding the maximum power allocation needed for each blade being powered by the power supply system is identified by the blade and stored in its VPD or otherwise made available to the chassis management module. The management module of the chassis in which the blades and power supplies are located uses this information to manage the subscription of blades and the over-subscription of blades when appropriate. If throttling is required, the system also allows a predetermined blade priority to be used to identify which blades will be reduced in power.

Power management using spare capacity of redundant power supply in blade environment

A network includes a plurality of wall plates, each of the wall plates couples a network resource such as a computer or a network attached device to the network and includes an RFID circuit to detect proximate devices having an RFID tag. The proximate devices can be network attached devices or non network attached devices such as desks, phones, and artwork. Logic is included within each wall plate which includes wall plate physical location information. The logic is designed to respond to a broadcast signal. In so doing, the physical location of any resource can be determined. The physical location of all known resources are provided to an inventory application in the network, thereby allowing network administrators and users to remotely determine the physical location (room, floor, building, etc.) of any and all known resources attached to the network. Likewise, local computer users are able to identify the network resources located in their vicinity.

Determining the physical location of resources on and proximate to a network

Growing community of inventors

Cary, NC, United States of America

Dhruv Manmohandas Desai