Disaggregated fault tolerant backplane

1. An apparatus comprising:

a disaggregated fault tolerant backplane having a front side and a back side, wherein at least two daughter card slots are configured on the front side and configured to send and receive slot fanout signals over the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane;

at least two switch boards (SBs) configured to provide electrical power to the at least two daughter card slots via slot power rails, wherein the at least two SBs connect to the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane through at least two SB connectors configured on the back side of the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane; and

at least one main fanout board (MFB) configured to send and receive SB control signals to and from the at least two SBs, wherein the at least one MFB connects to the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane through at least one MFB connector configured on the back side of the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one MFB is further configured to accept MFB control signals from the at least two daughter card slots.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one MFB is further configured to send slot fanout signals to the at least two daughter card slots.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the SB control signals comprise SB switch enable signals and the at least one MFB directs the at least two SBs to provide the electrical power to the at least two daughter card slots.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , the electrical power comprising:

a nominal power supplying a specified voltage and a specified current; and

a redundant power supplying the specified voltage and the specified current, wherein in case of a failure of the nominal power, the apparatus continues to function without interruption;

wherein the nominal power is supplied to the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane, the at least two daughter card slots, the at least two SBs, and the at least one MFB, via nominal power rails and wherein the redundant power is supplied to the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane, the at least two daughter card slots, the at least two SBs, and the at least one MFB, via redundant power rails.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

a backplane nominal power connector, the backplane nominal power connector configured to connect a nominal power supply to the nominal power rails of the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane, the nominal power supply configured to generate the nominal power;

and a backplane redundant power connector, the backplane redundant power connector configured to connect a redundant power supply to the redundant power rails of the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane, the redundant power supply configured to generate the redundant power.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , the backplane nominal power connector and the backplane redundant power connector configured on the front side of the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane.

8. A method comprising:

configuring a front side of a backplane with at least two daughter card slots;

configuring a back side of the backplane to connect to at least two switch boards (SBs) through at least two SB connectors, the SBs configured to provide power to the at least two daughter card slots through at least two slot power rails;

configuring the back side of the backplane to connect to at least one main fanout board (MFB) through at least one MFB connector, the at least one MFB configured to enable and supervise the at least two SBs;

installing the at least two SBs on the back side of the backplane;

installing the at least one MFB on the back side of the backplane; and

installing the backplane, the at least two SBs, and the at least one MFB, in a chassis, the chassis configured to protect and support the backplane, the at least two SBs, and the at least one MFB.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

configuring the backplane to connect to a nominal power supply via a backplane nominal power connector, the backplane nominal power connector connecting to nominal power rails that traverse the backplane to the at least two SB connectors and the at least one MFB connector;

configuring the backplane to connect to a redundant power supply via a backplane redundant power connector, the backplane redundant power connector connecting to redundant power rails that traverse the backplane to the at least two SB connectors and the at least one MFB connector;

connecting the nominal power supply to the backplane nominal power connector;

connecting the redundant power supply to the backplane redundant power connector;

turning on the nominal power supply, thereby providing nominal power to the nominal power rails; and

turning on the redundant power supply, thereby providing redundant power to the redundant power rails.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

configuring the MFB to instruct the at least two SBs to connect one of the nominal power rails and the redundant power rails to the at least two slot power rails through at least one fault tolerant blocking switch; and

powering the at least two daughter card slots from the at least two slot power rails.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

connecting at least one daughter card to one of the at least two daughter card slots.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

on condition that one of the at least two SBs is a nonfunctional SB:

disabling the nonfunctional SB using the MFB;

disconnecting the nonfunctional SB from an associated SB connector;

connecting a functional SB to the associated SB connector; and

enabling the functional SB using the MFB on condition that the at least one MFB is a nonfunctional MFB:

disconnecting the non-functional MFB from an associated MFB connector; and

connecting a functional MFB to the associated MFB connector.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a backplane having a front side and a back side, the backplane comprising:

a nominal power rail providing electrical power to the backplane;

at least two slot power rails;

at least two switch board (SB) connectors configured on the back side, each connected to the nominal power rail and to one of the slot power rails; and

at least two daughter card slot connectors configured on the front side, each connected to one of the slot power rails and to backplane electrical signals; and

at least two switch boards (SBs) configured to connect to the backplane through the SB connectors, each SB comprising:

a SB nominal power;

a SB output power;

a SB backplane connector connected to the SB nominal power and the SB output power and configured such that mating the SB backplane connector with one of the SB connectors attaches the nominal power rail to the SB nominal power and attaches the SB output power to one of the slot power rails;

at least one nominal SB switch enable signal; and

at least one nominal power fault tolerant blocking switch configured to connect the SB nominal power to the SB output power when closed by the at least one nominal SB switch enable signal, thereby conveying the electrical power from the nominal power rail to one of the at least two daughter card slot connectors.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:

at least one main fanout board (MFB) MFB connector configured on the back side of the backplane, the at least one MFB connector connected to the nominal power rail and the backplane electrical signals; and

at least one main fanout board (MFB), the MFB comprising:

a MFB nominal power;

at least one logic fanout controller powered by the MFB nominal power and configured to receive and transmit MFB nominal signals; and

a MFB backplane connector configured to mate with the at least one MFB connector to attach the backplane electrical signals to the MFB nominal signals and to attach the nominal power rail to the MFB nominal power.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , the MFB comprising:

a nominal logic fanout controller configured to receive and transmit MFB nominal signals; and

a redundant logic fanout controller configured to receive and transmit MFB redundant signals;

wherein the nominal logic fanout controller and the redundant logic fanout controller are functionally equivalent.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:

a redundant power rail configured on the backplane, wherein the redundant power rail is isolated from and functionally identical to the nominal power rail;

the at least two SB connectors further connected to the redundant power rail;

the at least two SBs each further comprising:

a SB redundant power;

the SB backplane connector further connected to the SB redundant power and configured such that mating the SB backplane connector with one of the SB connectors attaches the redundant power rail to the SB redundant power;

at least one redundant SB switch enable;

at least one redundant power fault tolerant blocking switch configured to connect the SB redundant power to the SB output power when closed by the at least one redundant SB switch enable, thereby conveying the electrical power from the redundant power rail to one of the at least two daughter card slot connectors.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising:

at least one main fanout board (MFB) connector configured on the back side of the backplane, the at least one MFB connector connected to the nominal power rail, the redundant power rail, and the backplane electrical signals, wherein the backplane electrical signals comprise backplane nominal signals and backplane redundant signals; and

at least one main fanout board (MFB), the MFB comprising:

a MFB nominal power;

a MFB redundant power;

a nominal logic fanout controller powered through a nominal power regulator and nominal power protection and configured to receive and transmit MFB nominal signals, wherein the nominal power regulator is configured to regulate the MFB nominal power and the nominal power protection is configured to protect the nominal logic fanout controller from faults in the MFB nominal power;

a redundant logic fanout controller powered through a redundant power regulator and a redundant power protection and configured to receive and transmit MFB redundant signals, wherein the redundant power regulator is configured to regulate the MFB redundant power and the redundant power protection is configured to protect the redundant logic fanout controller from faults in the MFB redundant power;

wherein the nominal logic fanout controller and the redundant logic fanout controller are functionally equivalent; and

a MFB backplane connector configured to mate with the at least one MFB connector to attach the backplane nominal signals to the MFB nominal signals, to attach the backplane redundant signals to the MFB redundant signals, to attach the nominal power rail to the MFB nominal power, and to attach the redundant power rail to the MFB redundant power.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , the MFB further including cross-strapping circuitry, the cross-strapping circuitry controlled by at least one of the nominal logic fanout controller and the redundant logic fanout controller, the cross-strapping circuitry providing a path to selectively drive at least one of the MFB nominal signals from the redundant logic fanout controller and the MFB redundant signals from the nominal logic fanout controller.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , the MFB further including:

a nominal supervision circuit, the nominal supervision circuit receiving MFB nominal power through the nominal power regulator and the nominal power protection, the nominal supervision circuit sending nominal supervisory signals to the nominal logic fanout controller and the redundant logic fanout controller; and

a redundant supervision circuit, the redundant supervision circuit receiving MFB redundant power through the redundant power regulator and the redundant power protection, the redundant supervision circuit sending redundant supervisory signals to the redundant logic fanout controller and the nominal logic fanout controller.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , The MFB further comprising:

a nominal isolation switch configured to connect the redundant logic fanout controller to the MFB nominal power when closed, the nominal isolation switch controlled by the nominal logic fanout controller;

a redundant isolation switch configured to connect the nominal logic fanout controller to the MFB redundant power when closed, the redundant isolation switch controlled by the redundant logic fanout controller;

a nominal isolation diode configured to block current flow from the MFB nominal power to the redundant power rail when the redundant isolation switch is closed;

a redundant isolation diode, the redundant isolation diode configured to block current flow from the MFB redundant power to the nominal power rail when the nominal isolation switch is closed;

a nominal rail blocking diode, the nominal rail blocking diode configured to block current flow from the MFB redundant power to the nominal power rail when the redundant isolation switch is closed; and

a redundant rail blocking diode, the redundant rail blocking diode configured to block current flow from the MFB nominal power to the redundant power rail when the nominal isolation switch is closed.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a disaggregated fault tolerant backplane having a front side and a back side, wherein at least two daughter card slots are configured on the front side and configured to send and receive slot fanout signals over the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane;

at least two switch boards (SBs) configured to provide electrical power to the at least two daughter card slots via slot power rails,

wherein the at least two SBs connect to the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane through at least two SB connectors configured on the back side of the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane, and

wherein the electrical power comprises:

a nominal power supplying a specified voltage and a specified current; and

a redundant power supplying the specified voltage and the specified current, wherein in case of a failure of the nominal power, the apparatus continues to function without interruption; and

at least one main fanout board (MFB) configured to send and receive SB control signals to and from the at least two SBs, wherein the at least one MFB connects to the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane through at least one MFB connector configured on the back side of the disaggregated fault tolerant backplane.