System and method to scale baseboard management controller management of storage instrumentation
An information handling system includes a baseboard management controller (BMC) configured to communicate with a processor via a BMC-to-Operating System (OS) communication link, and a first device coupled to the processor and including a Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) module. The MCTP module provides access to a first manageability feature of the first device. A BMC agent a) receives a first MCTP command from the BMC via the BMC-To-OS communication link, the first MCTP command to configure the first manageability feature, and b) provides the first MCTP command to the MCTP module.
1. An information handling system, comprising:
a processor configured to instantiate a baseboard management controller (BMC) agent including a first Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) module;
a BMC configured to communicate with the processor via a BMC-to-Operating System (OS) communication link, the BMC including a second MCTP module;
a first device coupled to the processor and including a third MCTP module, the third MCTP module to provide access to a first manageability feature of the first device; and
a second device coupled to the processor and including a driver-based second manageability feature of the second device, wherein the second manageability feature is accessed via a second device driver, wherein the processor is further configured to instantiate the second device driver to access the second manageability feature;
wherein the first MCTP module is configured to a) receive a first MCTP command from the second MCTP module via the BMC-To-OS communication link, the first MCTP command to configure the first manageability feature, and b) provide the first MCTP command to the third MCTP module without invoking a first driver associated with the first device, and is further configured to a) receive a second MCTP command from the first MCTP module via the BMC-to-OS communication link, the second MCTP command to configure the second manageability feature, b) translate the second MCTP command to a driver-based instruction, and c) provide the driver-based instruction to the second device driver to configure the second manageability feature.
2. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the first MCTP module is further configured to receive a reply to the first MCTP command from the third MCTP module, and to provide the reply to the second MCTP module via the BMC-to-OS communication link.
3. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the first device comprises a storage device.
4. The information handling system of claim 3 , wherein the storage device includes one of a storage area network, a network attached storage, and a storage server.
5. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the second device comprises one of a network interface card and a host bus adapter.
6. The information handling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a third device coupled to the processor and including a third manageability feature of the third device;
wherein the BMC manages the third manageability feature out-of-band from the processor.
7. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to instantiate an authentication agent configured to authenticate a user via a single-sign-on to the information handling system, and wherein the BMC agent is launched in response to authenticating the user.
8. A method, comprising:
launching, on a processor of an information handling system, a baseboard management controller (BMC) agent including a first Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) module;
establishing, by the processor, a BMC-to-Operating System (OS) communication link between a BMC of the information handling system and the BMC agent;
launching, on the BMC, a second MCTP module;
receiving, by the first MCTP module, a first MCTP command from the second MCTP module via the BMC-To-OS communication link, the first MCTP command to configure a first manageability feature of a first device coupled to the processor, the first device including a third MCTP module;
providing, by the first MCTP module, the first MCTP command to the third MCTP module without invoking a first driver associated with the first device;
receiving a second MCTP command from the second MCTP module via the BMC-To-OS communication link, the second MCTP command to configure a driver-based second manageability feature of a second device coupled to the processor, wherein the second manageability feature is accessed via a second device driver;
translating the second MCTP command to a driver-based instruction; and
providing the driver-based instruction to a device driver to configure the second manageability feature.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving, by the first MCTP module, a reply to the first MCTP command from the third MCTP module; and
providing, by the first MCTP module, the reply to the second MCTP module via the BMC-to-OS communication link.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first device comprises a storage device.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the storage device includes one of a storage area network, a network attached storage, and a storage server.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second device comprises one of a network interface card and a host bus adapter.
13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
managing, by the BMC, a third device coupled to the processor out-of-band from the processor.
14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
authenticating a user onto the processor via a single-sign-on to processor, wherein the BMC agent is launched in response to authenticating the user.
15. A system, comprising:
an information handling system including a processor, a memory for storing code, a baseboard management controller (BMC), a first device, and a second device; and
a datacenter management system coupled to the BMC;
wherein:
the BMC is configured to communicate with the processor via a BMC-to-Operating System (OS) communication link, and includes a first Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) module;
the first device is coupled to the processor and includes a second MCTP module, the second MCTP module to provide access to a first manageability feature of the first device without invoking a first driver associated with the first device;
the second device is coupled to the processor and includes a driver-based second manageability feature of the second device, wherein the second manageability feature is accessed via a second device driver;
the code includes a BMC agent that includes a third MCTP module and that is configured to a) receive a first MCTP command from the first MCTP module via the BMC-To-OS communication link, the first MCTP command to configure the first manageability feature, and b) provide the first MCTP command to the second MCTP module;
the datacenter management system is configured to provide the first MCTP command to the BMC;
the code further includes the second device driver to access the second manageability feature;
the BMC agent is further configured to a) receive a second MCTP command from the first MCTP module via the BMC-to-OS communication link, the second MCTP command to configure the second manageability feature, b) translate the second MCTP command to a driver-based instruction, and c) provide the driver-based instruction to the second device driver to configure the second manageability feature.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein:
the third MCTP module is further configured to receive a reply to the first MCTP command from the third MCTP module, and to provide the reply to the first MCTP module via the BMC-to-OS communication link; and
the BMC is configured to provide the reply to the datacenter management system.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein:
the information handling system further includes a third device coupled to the processor and including a third manageability feature of the third device; and
the BMC manages the third manageability feature out-of-band from the processor.