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US 9,804,980 B2Granted
System management through direct communication between system management controllers
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorsPhilip D. Chidester, John R. Sieber, Munir U. Ahmad
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An information handling system includes a first managed system including a first processor and a first management controller and a second managed system including a second processor and a second management controller. The first management controller is coupled to directly communicate with the second management controller. In an embodiment, the first management controller is coupled to the second management controller via a first I2C interface.
Claims19
An information handling system, comprising:
- a first managed system including a first processor and a first management controller, the first management controller including a first network interface to receive management commands from a management network, and a first inter-device interface, wherein the first processor is separate from the first management controller;
- and
- a second managed system including a second processor and a second management controller, the second management controller including a second network interface to receive the management commands from the management network, and a second inter-device interface connected to the first inter-device interface, wherein the second processor is separate from the second management controller, and wherein the first and second inter-device interfaces comprise an I2C interface;
- wherein the first management controller is configured to receive a first management command on the first network interface out of band from the first processor, and to provide the first management command to the second management controller on the first inter-device interface, and wherein the second management controller is configured to receive the first management command on the second inter-device interface, and to execute the first management command.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- coupling a first management controller of a first managed system to a second management controller of a second managed system via a first I2C interface;
- coupling a first network interface of the first management controller to a management network;
- coupling the second management controller to the first management controller via a second I2C interface;
- coupling a second network interface of the second management controller to the management network;
- receiving a first Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) command from the management network via the first network interface;
- providing the IPMI command from the first management controller to the second management controller via the first I2C interface;
- providing a second IPMI command from the management network via the second network interface;
- and
- providing the second IPMI command from the second management controller to the first management controller via the second I2C interface.
6 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium including code for carrying out a method, the method comprising:
- coupling a first management controller of a first managed system to a second management controller of a second managed system via a first I2C interface;
- coupling a first network interface of the first management controller to a management network;
- coupling the second management controller to the first management controller via a second I2C interface;
- coupling a second network interface of the second management controller to the management network;
- receiving a first Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) command from the management network via the first network interface;
- providing the first IPMI command from the first management controller to the second management controller via the first I2C interface;
- receiving a second IPMI command from the management network via the second network interface;
- providing the second IPMI command from the second management controller to the first management controller via the second I2C interface;
- wherein the first management controller is a first master on the first I2C interface and the second management controller is a first slave on the first I2C interface.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.