Patent Grant
7791894
As generally referred to in the art, a “server” is a computing device that is configured to perform operations for one or more other computing devices connected over a network. For an entity that requires computing infrastructure for handling relatively large amounts of network data, it is desirable to use servers that are designed to promote organizational/space efficiency and operational performance. In this regard, some servers are designed to be arranged in a “rack,” whereby the rack (or “cabinet”) houses numerous servers that are arranged, or “mounted,” vertically one on top of another (however, not necessarily in contact with one another). Such a server is generally referred to in the art as a “rackmount” server.
Rackmount servers are generally designed having a height corresponding to whole multiples of an industry standard rack mounting height dimension. For example, rackmount servers are generally referred to as “2 U,” “3 U,” “4 U,” etc. systems, where the “U” designation refers to one dimensional increment of 1.75 inches in height along the vertical members of an Electronics Industry Alliance (EIA) industry-standard computer racking/mounting structure. Thus, for example, a 2 U rackmount server is generally designed to be approximately 3.5 inches in height, less a small amount of clearance between vertically-adjacent rackmount servers in the rack (those skilled in the art will note that a standard rack is 19 inches wide; however, racks of other widths are available).
In view of size constraints and limitations of a rackmount server, it is important to combine and arrange components in the rackmount server in a manner that promotes operational performance and space efficiency.
According to one aspect of one or more embodiments of the present invention, a server comprises: a printed circuit board (PCB) disposed along an inside surface of the server, where the PCB has a plurality of connectors adapted to be connected to a plurality of top-loading storage devices; and a controller assembly operatively connected to the PCB from a rear side of the PCB.
According to another aspect of one or more embodiments of the present invention, an apparatus comprises: a chassis; a PCB having a first connector connectable to a second connector integral with a hard disk insertable from a top portion of the chassis; and a controller assembly operatively connectable to a rear side of the PCB, the controller being accessible from a rear side of the chassis.
According to another aspect of one or more embodiments of the present invention, a rackmount storage server comprises: a passive backplane; top-loading hard disks each having a native connector pluggable into the passive backplane; and a controller operatively connected to the passive backplane from a rear side of the passive backplane.
Other aspects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency. Further, in the following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid obscuring the description of embodiments of the present invention.
Generally, embodiments of the present invention relate to a rackmount storage server having a novel combination and/or arrangement of components.
A printed circuit board (PCB) 24, which may be a backplane (passive or active) or motherboard, is arranged to be fitted in the chassis portion 30. Particularly, the PCB 24 may be positioned along an inner bottom surface of the chassis portion 30. The PCB 24 has a plurality of connectors arranged to be connected to a plurality of storage devices (not shown), which may constitute hard disks, or other such devices that are used for the storage of data. Each of the plurality of storage devices (not shown) may have their own native connectors to connect with respective connectors disposed on the PCB 24.
As discernible in
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, one or more of the plurality of storage devices (not shown) may be serial ATA (SATA) disks. Further, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, one or more of the plurality of storage devices (not shown) may be serial attached SCSI (SAS) disks. Further, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, storage devices other than SATA and SAS disks may be used in the rackmount storage server 10.
Further, still referring to
Along a front side of the rackmount storage server 10 are disposed a plurality of cooling devices 28. The cooling devices 28 in
Referring again to the PCB 24 shown in
Further, top cover 22 is arranged to at least partially enclose/house a controller assembly as further described now with reference to
Further, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, the controller assembly 40 may be arranged to support peripheral component interconnect (PCI) (e.g., PCI-X, PCI-Express) expansion slots. Accordingly, the controller assembly 40 may be provided with PCI I/O connectivity from a rear side of the rackmount storage server 10.
Referring back to
Still referring to
Further, in one or more embodiments of the present invention, a built-in or integrated UPS battery may be incorporated in the rackmount storage server 10. The built-in UPS battery may be arranged to allow the rackmount storage server 10 to save data in a main memory to one or more of a plurality of hard disks in the rackmount storage server 10 in the case, for example, of a power failure.
Advantages of the present invention may include one or more of the following. In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a rackmount storage server has a combination of storage devices, a PCB, and a controller assembly that promotes operational performance and/or space and cooling efficiency.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, one or more storage devices may be “plugged in” from a top side of a rackmount storage server thereby possibly easing the insertion and connection of the hard disks into the rackmount storage server. Further, the storage devices are hot-swappable.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a controller assembly of a rackmount storage server may be arranged with PCI card expansion slots for improved and/or desirable I/O.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a relatively large number of top-loading hard disks, e.g., 48 top-loading hard disks, may be used to provide data storage in a rackmount storage server.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a rackmount storage server may use a plurality of redundant cooling units to facilitate air flow in the rackmount storage server.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a rackmount storage server may use a plurality of redundant cooling unit to facilitate airflow throughout an interior region of the rackmount storage server.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a controller of a rackmount storage server may have general purpose architecture to run one or more general purpose applications.
In one or more embodiments of the present invention, an integrated battery in a rackmount storage server may be used to save data from volatile memory (e.g., main memory) to non-volatile memory (e.g., a hard disk) in case of a power failure.
A detailed example of a rackmount storage server in accordance with the present invention is presented below in the form of a product specification. This specification describes the functionality, major components and subsystems, external interfaces, and operation of a server known as the Sun Fire X4500 available from Sun Microsystems, Inc.
With 48 500 GB hard drives, the Sun Fire x4500 system has raw storage capacity of 24 terabytes in 4 U. The Sun Fire x4500 system has two (2) PCI-X expansion slots. Two 10GigE NICs are installed into the slots. There are four (4) 1000BaseT links. The disk array is controlled by a 2-socket (dual-core capable) MP AMD Opteron™ processor subsystem.
An overview of supported Sun Fire x4500 features is shown in Table 1.
The Sun Fire x4500 includes an extensive set of RAS (Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability) Features, such as: hot-swappable and redundant fans and power supplies, remote lights-out server management, remote boot and remote software upgrades. The RAS feature also has Intelligent Systems Management including: SP (Service Processor), TPM (Trusted Platform Module), ECC Memory and Cache, and Predictive Failure Analysis, Hot-swap Fans, Hot-swap Power Supplies, Temperature and Voltage Monitoring, and KVM Redirection over Ethernet.
Sun Fire x4500 consists of two major components as shown in
A more detailed block diagram of the Sun Fire x4500 system is shown in
The Graphics/SP-board 82 plugs into a special slot on the I/O-board 80, and is connected to the Service Processor 83. The Service Processor (SP) 83 monitors the system and can report if there is a problem with the system, even if the main processors are not operating properly. The Service Processor 83 also monitors temperature and voltages, and has an RS-232 console port and an Ethernet management port for connectivity to the outside world. Service Processor 83 software detects fan failure, provides a front panel failure indication, generates a corresponding failure indication to the management system, and illuminates the individual fan failure LED indicator.
As discussed above, the disk backplane 71 contains the power and data connections for all of the hard drives, as well as the connections to the main power supplies, the battery backup unit and fans. All of the hard drives are Serial ATA hard drives and are hot-swappable. The individual power supplies connect to the disk backplane 71 through a power backplane 84. The I/O-board 80 connects to the disk backplane 71 through a combination of a Molex hi-speed dock connector and a PowerBlade connector. For all differential pairs, and for some of the single-ended control signals, two 144-circuit hi-speed dock connectors 90, 91 as shown in
The I/O Card to disk backplane PowerBlade connector pin-out is set forth below in Table 5. The connector has 10 blades with a 30 A limit per blade. There are 20 signals pins. Three blades are used for 12V, giving a 90 A capability. Two blades are used for 5V, resulting in a 60 A capability.
The Mezzanine Connector Pin-outs are set forth below in Tables 6-9.
The Power Backplane-to-Disk Backplane Connector Pin-out is set forth below in Table 10. The connector has 10 blades with a 30 A limit per blade. There are 24 signals pins. Five blades are used for 12V, giving a 150 A capability.
The Power Supply Connector Pin-out is set forth below in Table 11.
The Controller Assembly includes an Inter-IC Communication bus (I2C), which is a 2-pin serial bus used to control some of the basic system management features. The I/O Board and Service Processor include EEPROMs, fan controllers, power supply monitors, etc., which are used to monitor the health and status of the system. In some cases, such as temperature, a separate interrupt immediately alerts the processors in case of a problem.
The CPLD, located on the I/O Board, handles Battery Backup failover. This is done to enable the quickest transition to battery power upon loss of AC power. The CPLD detects the type of unit in each power bay. Power bays 0 and 1 are power supplies. Power bay 2 can either be a power supply or a battery backup unit. The battery backup unit may be, as an example, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) unit. A battery backup unit is indicated by assertion of the PS2_BATT_L signal (driven low). This signal is connected to Pin D4 of the power supply connectors and is grounded inside the battery backup unit.
When power-on sequence is initiated, the power supplies are enabled and the battery is not enabled. When all power supplies indicate failure, the CPLD will assert the ENABLE signal to the battery. The ENABLE signals going to the power supplies remain asserted. The Service Processor detects the switch to battery power and signals the operating system (OS) to power down after a given interval. During that interval, the CPLD will monitor the PS signals. If a power supply recovers and reasserts its POWEROK signal—either AC power is restored or a new power supply is installed—the CPLD disables the battery.
The Service Processor detects the failover to battery power and notifies the OS. The SP detects the failover to battery power by observing the POWEROK signal of the battery. If this is ever asserted, that means the system has switched to battery power. The SP waits for a given interval to determine whether AC power is restored or if a new power supply is inserted. If the time on battery power exceeds the given interval, the SP signals the OS to start a rapid shutdown.
Also, the SP logs the event. Thus, if too many power failure events occur, the SP can flag a problem. The SP also tracks the amount of time that the battery is powering the system, so that the battery can be replaced at the appropriate time. This information is stored in the EEPROM of the BBU. The OS has a rapid shutdown routine triggered by the SP notification. This shuts the system down within 4 minutes.
Connector pin-outs for various SunFire x4500 system connectors are set forth below. The USB connector is shown in
The Serial connector is shown in
The 10/100BaseT connector is shown in
The 10/100/1000BaseT connector is shown in
The S-ATA connector is shown in
The VGA connector is shown in
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/US2007/000905 | Jan 2007 | US |
| Child | 12101805 | US |
