Automatic failover in modular chassis systems

1. A modular chassis, comprising:

a chassis management controller; and

a plurality of server blades, wherein a first of the plurality of server blades is configured to detect an internal fault to and to transmit a corresponding alert message to the chassis management controller via a midplane connection, and wherein the chassis management controller is configured to:

initiate a migration procedure to transfer one or more workloads from the first server blade to a second of the plurality of server blades, wherein the alert message includes remedial action information, the remedial action information indicating whether the migration procedure is appropriate;

place the first server blade in maintenance mode in response to the remedial action information indicating a critical failure;

select the second server blade among the plurality of server blades;

provision an identity previously assigned to the first server blade to the second server blade;

prevent the first server blade from being manually turned on while in maintenance mode; and

restart the first server blade with a new identity.

2. The modular chassis of claim 1 , wherein the alert message is transmitted without using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and wherein the midplane connection excludes cables.

3. The modular chassis of claim 1 , wherein the alert message indicates a processor or memory failure.

4. The modular chassis of claim 1 , wherein the identity and the new identity include at least one of: a media access control (MAC) address, a world wide port name (WWPN), or a world wide node name (WWNN).

5. The modular chassis of claim 4 , wherein the identity and the new identity are received by the chassis management controller from an external memory containing a pool of unique identities.

6. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a chassis management controller of a modular chassis via a midplane connection, a message from one of a plurality of server blades indicating a fault, wherein each of the plurality of server blades is located in a different slot of the modular chassis;

determining, by the chassis management controller, that the fault invokes a failover procedure;

migrating, under control of the chassis management controller, a workload from the one of the plurality of server blades to another one of the plurality of server blades;

assigning, by the chassis management controller, an identity previously provided to the one of the plurality of server blades to the other one of the plurality of server blades;

shutting down, under control of the chassis management controller, the one of the plurality of server blades; and

preventing, by the chassis management controller, the one of the plurality of server blades from being manually turned on.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the alert message is transmitted without using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and wherein the midplane connection excludes cables.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the fault is a hardware fault.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the identity includes at least one of: a media access control (MAC) address, a world wide port name (WWPN), or a world wide node name (WWNN).

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the identity is obtained by the chassis management controller from an external memory containing a pool of unique identities.

11. A memory device having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a chassis management controller of a modular chassis having a plurality of server blades, cause the chassis management controller to:

receive via a midplane connection a message from one of the plurality of server blades indicating a fault that invokes a failover procedure;

migrate a workload from the one of the plurality of server blades to another one of the plurality of server blades;

assign an identity previously provided to the one of the plurality of server blades to the other one of the plurality of server blades; and

prevent the one of the plurality of server blades from being manually turned on.

12. The non transitory computer readable medium memory device of claim 11 , wherein the alert message is transmitted without using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and wherein the midplane connection excludes cables.

13. The memory device of claim 11 , wherein the fault is a software fault.

14. The memory device of claim 11 , wherein the identity includes at least one of: a media access control (MAC) address, a world wide port name (WWPN), or a world wide node name (WWNN).