Service processor gateway system and appliance

1. An out-of-band management system for computer networks, the system comprising:

one or more network nodes equipped with a service processor and a management port accessible externally through a dedicated management interface other than a data transmission interfaces wherein the dedicated management interface further comprises an Ethernet-type interface;

a service processor gateway management appliance, directly connected to an Ethernet Switching System via a first Ethernet port and directly connected to the management ports of the network nodes via corresponding point-to-point Ethernet connections different from the first Ethernet port, that isolates the management ports of the network nodes from direct access by a data network;

the service processor gateway management appliance being connected to a separate network management system via a direct out-of-band connection; and

the service processor gateway further comprising a processor and a software application, executed by the processor, that provides one or more of a command line interface, a web interface and a protocol-based interface for access by one of a human operator and a network management system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software application of the service processor gateway further comprises a connectivity module with a plurality of computer instructions executed by the processor that converts one or more low-level protocols utilized by one or more management interfaces of the service processors into a common protocol to generate common management data suited for transmission over a TCP/IP network to the network management system.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software app 1 ication of the service processor gateway further comprises a module with a plurality of computer instructions executed by the appliance tat encrypts the common management data in order to prevent the common management data from being intercepted when in transit to the network management system.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software application of the service processor gateway further comprises a module with a plurality of computer instructions executed by the appliance that communicates with an enterprise directory system to authenticate a user before giving them access to the management interfaces.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software application of the service processor gateway further comprises a module with a plurality of computer instructions executed by the appliance that converts command and control requests from the command-line, web or protocol based interfaces to one or more management protocols specific to a particular service processor.

6. A service processor gateway appliance, comprising:

a processor;

a memory connected to the processor;

a plurality of Ethernet interfaces, wherein each interface is configured to establish a point to point connection directly with a management port of a network node having a service processor, that isolates the management port of the network node from direct access by a data network;

an interface for a connection to an Ethernet Switching System;

an interface for a direct out-of-band connection to a separate network management system;

a software application, stored in the memory and executed by the processor, comprising one or more portions with each portion having a plurality of lines of computer instructions; and

the one or more portions further comprising a connectivity portion that converts a management interface of each service processor into a common protocol to generate common management data, a service portion that interfaces with one or more management protocols from an external source and exchanges commands and data with the external source, and an application portion that manipulates the common management data based on the commands from the external source and generates management output data to the one or more management protocols.

7. The appliance of claim 6 , wherein the connectivity portion further comprises one or more protocol portion wherein each protocol portion converts management data from a particular service processor with a particular protocol into a common management data protocol.

8. The application of claim 7 , wherein the protocol portions further comprise one or more of an intelligent platform management interface portion, an integrated lights out portion, an advanced lights out portion, a web proxy portion, a command line interface portion and a blade portion.

9. The appliance of claim 6 , wherein the service portion further comprises one or more service protocol portions wherein each service protocol portion converts commands and data from an external source having a particular protocol into a common management protocol.

10. The application of claim 9 , wherein the service protocol portions further comprises one or more of a secure shell portion, a secure socket layer portion, an extended markup language protocol portion, a secure hypertext transfer protocol portion, a data center markup language portion and a simple network management protocol portion.

11. The application of claim 6 , wherein the application portion further comprises an access gateway portion that provides direct access to a user interface of the service processor connected to the service processor gateway.

12. The application of claim 6 , wherein the application portion further comprises a command/control portion that provides platform-independent set of commands to the user and translates these uniform commands into commands that are specific to the type of service processor.

13. The appliance of claim 6 , wherein the application portion further comprises a reporting portion and the appliance further comprises a data repository that stores data associated with the reporting portion, wherein the reporting portion collects data in the data repository and provides reports, notification of exceptions, and visualization of the management data.