Methods, apparatus, and systems for integrated management, graphics and I/O control of server systems
View Patent ↗In one embodiment of the invention, a server system is disclosed for data processing having a printed circuit board with one or more processors to process data; a network interface controller coupled to the one or more processors; and a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) coupled to the one or more processors and the network interface controller. The network interface controller couples the server system to a network for remote client access to the server system. The monolithic integrated circuit couples a remote computer system to the server system via the network. The remote computer system includes a remote storage device, a remote display, a remote keyboard, and a remote mouse to allow remote control and management of the server system.
1. An integrated server system for data processing, the integrated server system comprising:
a printed circuit board including
a plurality of processors to process data to serve one or more clients;
a network interface controller coupled to the one or more processors, the network interface controller configured to couple the server to a network for remote client access to the server; and
a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) coupled to the plurality of processors and the network interface controller, the monolithic integrated circuit configured to couple to a remote computer system including a remote storage device, a remote display, a remote keyboard, and a remote mouse to provide remote control and management of the integrated server system, the monolithic integrated circuit further configured to couple to a local computer system to provide local control and management of the integrated server system.
2. The integrated server system of claim 1 ,wherein
the remote control and management of the integrated server system provided by the monolithic integrated circuit includes
powering off one or more of the plurality of processors.
3. The integrated server system of claim 2 ,wherein
the remote control and management of the integrated server system provided by the monolithic integrated circuit includes
powering back on the one or more of the plurality of processors.
4. The integrated server system of claim 1 , wherein
the remote control and management of the integrated server system provided by the monolithic integrated circuit includes
resetting or rebooting the integrated server system;
booting the integrated server system using the remote storage device;
upgrading, installing or debugging software on the integrated server system; and
selectively turning on and off hardware interfaces within the integrated server system.
5. The integrated server system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an Ethernet physical layer controller coupled to the monolithic integrated circuit, the Ethernet physical layer controller to couple the monolithic integrated circuit to the remote computer system over a wide area network.
6. The integrated server system of claim 5 , wherein
the wide area network is the internet.
7. The integrated server system of claim 1 , further comprising
shared memory storage coupled to the monolithic integrated circuit, the shared memory storage to provide local graphics display, management and control of the integrated server system, and to interface the integrated server system to the remote computer system.
8. The integrated server system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory controller bridge coupled between the network interface controller and the one or more processors; and
second memory storage coupled to the memory controller,
wherein the memory controller to control the storage of data in the second memory storage and the flow of data to the one or more processors.
9. The integrated server system of claim 8 , further comprising:
an input-output (IO) controller bridge coupled between the memory controller bridge and the monolithic integrated circuit, the IO controller bridge to control the flow of data between the memory controller bridge and the monolithic integrated circuit.
10. The integrated server system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a flash memory coupled to the monolithic integrated circuit, the flash memory to non-destructively store boot software for the server system.
11. An integrated server system comprising:
a printed circuit board including
one or more processors to process data to serve clients;
a network interface controller coupled to the one or more processors, the network interface controller configured to couple the server to a network for remote client access to the server;
a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) coupled to the one or more processors and the network interface controller, the monolithic integrated circuit configured to couple to a remote computer system including a remote storage device, a remote display, a remote keyboard, and a remote mouse to provide remote control and management of the integrated server system;
a power supply to generate system power and standby power, the power supply coupled to the monolithic integrated circuit to receive a control signal and provide the standby power to the monolithic integrated circuit, the power supply to power off and power on the system power in response to the control signal to selectively power off and power on the one or more processors respectively; and
wherein the monolithic integrated circuit further to generate the control signal to selectively power off and power on the one or more processors and to receive the standby power to remain powered up while the one or more processors of the integrated server system are powered off.
12. The integrated server system of claim 1 , wherein
the monolithic integrated circuit includes
a graphics controller to display graphics data on a local display;
a frame grabber to capture tiles of changing graphics data within each frame of graphics data, wherein a tile is rectangular subset of a frame of pixels;
a controller to provide baseboard management control of the integrated server system;
a system wakeup controller to generate the control signal to power off and power on system power;
a memory controller coupled to the graphics controller and the frame grabber, the memory controller to share data in a frame buffer memory with the graphics controller to display a video frame on a local display and the frame grabber to display the video frame on a remote display.
13. An apparatus for remotely managing a computer server, the apparatus comprising:
a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) having
a server management controller to provide baseboard management control of a computer server;
a network media access controller coupled to the server management controller, the network media access controller to couple the computer server to a wide-area-network (WAN) for remote management of the computer server;
a graphics controller to receive frames of video data for storage in a frame buffer memory;
a memory controller coupled to the graphics controller, the memory controller to store the frames of video data in the frame buffer memory;
a frame grabber engine coupled to the memory controller, the frame grabber engine to read out video data stored in the frame buffer memory for display on a remote display of a remote computer system; and
wherein the graphics controller further to selectively read out video data stored in the frame buffer memory for display on a local display of a local computer system such that the frame buffer memory is a shared memory.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein
the frame grabber engine further to determine one or more tiles in a current frame of video data stored in the frame buffer memory that have changed from a previous frame of video data; and
the one or more tiles with changed video data are to be communicated through the network media access controller over the wide area network to the remote computer system to construct and display the current frame of video data on the remote display.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein
the monolithic integrated circuit further includes
a system wakeup and power supply controller to generate a power supply control signal to substantially power off the computer server in response to a power off request from the remote computer system.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein
the system wakeup and power supply controller to further generate the power supply control signal to substantially power on the computer server in response to a power on request from the remote computer system.
17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein
commands of a remote keyboard and a remote mouse are communicated to the controller over the wide area network through the network media access controller for remote management of the computer server.
18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein
the monolithic integrated circuit further includes
a serial flash memory interface to couple to a flash memory to read basic input/output system software and initialize the monolith integrated circuit.
19. A method of remotely managing a computer server, the method comprising:
in a monolithic integrated circuit,
monitoring a temperature of the computer server and controlling at least one fan to regulate the temperature of the computer server;
monitoring a power supply voltage of the computer server to determine a failure of an element of the computer server; and
sharing a frame buffer memory to display a frame of video/graphics data on a local display and a remote display.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
in the monolithic integrated circuit,
determining changed tiles of n by m pixels in a frame of video data, a changed tile including one or more pixel changes in a current frame of video data form a prior frame of video data.
21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
in the monolithic integrated circuit,
setting a security bit; and
turning off a local video data output to avoid displaying frames of video data on the local display to reduce memory bandwidth, conserve power, and provide data security.
22. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
in the monolithic integrated circuit,
receiving a request to shut down the computer server; and
generating a power supply control signal to turn off a system power to substantially power down the computer server in response to the request.
23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
in the monolithic integrated circuit,
receiving a request to restart the computer server;
generating a power supply control signal to turn off a system power to substantially power down the computer server in response to the request; and
generating the power supply control signal to turn on the system power to power up the computer server in response to the request.
24. The method of claim 19 , wherein
the frame of video/graphics data includes information regarding the temperature and power supply voltage of the computer server.
25. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
transmitting a portion of the frame of video/graphics data through a media access controller into a wide area network for display on a remote display.
26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising:
receiving a keyboard command through the media access controller and the wide area network from a remote keyboard to control the computer server.
27. The method of claim 26 , further comprising:
receiving a mouse command through the media access controller and the wide area network from a remote mouse to control the computer server.
28. The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
receiving software through the media access controller and the wide area network from a remote storage device to upgrade the software in the computer server.
29. A server farm system with local and remote server management, the server farm system comprising:
a server farm including a plurality of central processing unit (CPU) servers and a plurality of storage network servers, each server of the plurality of central processing unit (CPU) servers and the plurality of storage network servers having
a printed circuit board with
one or more processors to process data to serve one or more clients,
a network interface controller to couple the server to a network for remote client access and remote management and control of the server; and
an integrated intelligent server management chip coupled to the one or more processors and the network interface controller, the integrated intelligent server management chip configured to provide local and remote management and control of the server; and
a remote computer system coupled to the network interface controller of each server in the server farm through a wide area network, the remote computer system including a remote display, a remote keyboard, and a remote mouse to remotely manage and control each of the servers in the server farm.
30. The server farm system of claim 29 , further comprising:
a local computer system coupled to the integrated intelligent server management chip of at least one of the servers of the server farm, the local computer system including a local display, a local keyboard, and a local mouse to locally manage and control each of the servers in the server farm.
31. The server farm system of claim 30 , wherein
the printed circuit board in each of the servers further has
a shared frame buffer memory coupled to the integrated intelligent server management chip to store one or more frames of graphics data, the shared frame buffer memory to provide graphics data for mirrored display on the local display of the local computer system and the remote display of the remote computer system over the wide area network, and
the integrated intelligent server management chip has
a shared memory controller coupled to the shared frame buffer memory to read and write pixel data with the shared frame buffer memory,
a graphics controller coupled to the shared memory controller to control the display of graphics data on the local display of the local computer, and
a frame grabber coupled to the shared memory controller to display graphics data on the remote display of the remote computer over the wide area network.
32. The server farm system of claim 30 , wherein
the printed circuit board in each of the servers further has
a power supply configured to generate standby power for the server and selectively generate system power for the server, the power supply to selectively generate the system power in response to a power supply control signal, and
the integrated intelligent server management chip coupled to the power supply to receive standby power, the integrated intelligent server management chip having
a system wakeup controller to generate the power supply control signal in response to a request by a user at the remote computer, the power supply control signal to switch the system power to the server off and on to reboot the server.
33. The integrated server system of claim 1 ,wherein
the local computer system includes a local display, a local keyboard, and a local mouse.
34. The integrated server system of claim 11 , further comprising
shared memory storage coupled to the monolithic integrated circuit, the shared memory storage to provide local graphics display, management and control of the server system, and to interface the server system to the remote computer system.
35. The integrated server system of claim 34 , wherein
the monolithic integrated circuit includes
a graphics controller to display graphics data on a local display;
a frame grabber to capture tiles of changing graphics data within each frame of graphics data, wherein a tile is rectangular subset of a frame of pixels;
a controller to provide baseboard management control of the integrated server system;
a system wakeup controller to generate the control signal to power off and power on system power;
a memory controller coupled to the graphics controller and the frame grabber, the memory controller to share data in a frame buffer memory with the graphics controller to display a video frame on a local display and the frame grabber to display the video frame on a remote display.
36. The integrated server system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a flash memory coupled to the monolithic integrated circuit, the flash memory to non-destructively store boot software for the integrated server system.