Reliable hardware metering

A computer program product comprising a non-volatile computer readable medium and non-transitory program instructions embodied therein, the program instructions being configured to be executable by a baseboard management controller to cause the baseboard management controller to perform operations comprising:

• monitoring utilization levels for at least one hardware component of a server in which the baseboard management controller is installed;
• periodically transmitting a metering data message over a network connection to an event destination, wherein the metering data message includes the utilization levels of the at least one hardware component during a period of operation;
• performing, in response to detecting a loss of communication with the event destination, lossy compression of the monitored utilization levels for the at least one hardware component of the server, wherein the lossy compression produces one or more utilization value that is representative of the monitored utilization levels and uses less data storage capacity than the monitored utilization levels;
• transmitting the one or more utilization value to the event destination instead of the monitored utilization levels in response to determining that communication with the event destination has been reestablished;
• and
• maintaining a log including a plurality of records, each record including the metering data message that has failed to be communicated to the event destination, wherein each record identifies the metering data message, a failure type that prevented communication of the metering data message, and the utilization levels that have not been successfully communicated to the event destination as result of the failure.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a non-volatile computer readable storage device storing non-transitory program instructions;
• and
• a baseboard management controller configured to process the program instructions, wherein the program instructions are configured to, when processed by the baseboard management controller, cause the baseboard management controller to perform operations comprising:
• monitoring utilization levels for at least one hardware component of a server in which the baseboard management controller is installed;
• periodically transmitting a metering data message over a network connection to an event destination, wherein the metering data message includes the utilization levels of the at least one hardware component during a period of operation;
• performing, in response to detecting a loss of communication with the event destination, lossy compression of the monitored utilization levels for the at least one hardware component of the server, wherein the lossy compression produces one or more utilization value that is representative of the monitored utilization levels and uses less data storage capacity than the monitored utilization levels;
• detecting that the loss of communication with the event destination is a result of a network connectivity failure;
• periodically transmitting, in response to detecting the network connectivity failure, a network heartbeat signal to the event destination;
• monitoring for a network heartbeat reply signal from the event destination, wherein receiving the network heartbeat reply signal indicates that communication with the event destination has been reestablished;
• and
• transmitting the one or more utilization value to the event destination instead of the monitored utilization levels in response to determining that communication with the event destination has been reestablished.