Network & Infrastructure Management

Environmental monitoring and power management

TPI understands that in today’s Internet-driven economy, the enduring business imperatives — to cut cost and improve service levels and availability — are as crucial as ever. The success and competitiveness of many enterprises are increasingly dependent on the performance of their IT infrastructures.* An organization’s IT infrastructure needs to be continually up and running, enabling continual service availability. To support these high availability needs, many businesses have adopted multiple remote management technologies in data centers and remote/branch office locations.

Remote management tools enable remote access to an IT asset’s management or console port (typically through a serial or Ethernet console port, a power/reset circuit, or a keyboard, video, mouse [KVM] port) through separate connections, independent of the IT asset state or its connection to the production network. Therefore, remote management tools provide remote monitoring and control of IT assets even when the managed devices lose connection to the production network.

In addition to serial or KVM connections, an Ethernet-based service processor can also be used for remote server management. Service processors are dedicated processors that run independently from the server’s main processor and operating system. Service processors enable remote access to power control, sensor readings and, in some cases, server configuration, monitoring and control — even when a server is down. Enterprises of all sizes have deployed servers with service processor technology as part of their IT infrastructures. However, this technology is frequently underutilized, as many enterprises are unaware of the potential power of service processors. Some are simply encumbered by compatibility issues caused by numerous proprietary and open source technologies, while others are hampered by enterprise security concerns.

The feature set of service processors varies depending on the service processor type. Nevertheless, there are some features common to all service processors. All service processors provide remote power control (on/off/cycle/status) and enable remote console access via Serial over LAN (SoL). Depending on the service processor type, however, they can also provide more advanced functionality, such as server health monitoring (fan speed and status, temperature, voltages), graceful (OS-level) shutdown capabilities, remote keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) and Virtual Media capabilities. These features are discussed in more detail below.

• Remote power control — Servers can be remotely powered off, on, or cycled through service processors. This is one of the most useful features of service processors. Remote power control is used to restore servers that are locked up, to power down overheated servers, or any other function that requires low-level interaction with the server.
  
  
• Graceful shutdown support — Certain service processors support a remote power control command that actually sends a signal to the server OS to shut down gracefully before actually power cycling or turning off the server. This prevents the possible effects of a “brute force” power cycle or shutdown, such as data corruption in the server hard drives and other undesirable outcomes.
  
  
• Remote SoL console access — The server console can be accessed through the Ethernet interface of its service processor by using a standard telnet or SSH client in the same way it would be available through a regular serial port. If the server supports BIOS redirection to the serial port (which is usually the case with servers equipped with service processors), a user can have full access to the server console from the time it is booted up, through the BIOS and all the way up to the OS login prompt. This is very useful for remote troubleshooting.
  
  
• Health monitoring — Service processors communicate with the appropriate sensor hardware in the server (e.g., fan speed monitors, voltage meters and temperature readers) to access and monitor vital server statistics so that server problems can be detected quickly. The health information can be stored on the server, sent to a remote storage device or communicated directly to the user workstation.
  
  
• Remote ID LED control — Service processors allow the administrator to turn on or off the server’s ID LED, which can be used to identify a specific server in a rack of multiple similar servers. This is especially useful when maintenance is needed on a server and the local technician who has physical access to the server does not have access to server information. In that case, the administrator can turn on the ID LED to visually designate for the local technician which server needs maintenance.
  
  
• Local and server-based authentication — In order to access the service processor features, a user needs to log in to it first. The user database is usually stored locally in the service processor. Some service processors can also communicate with central authentication server mechanisms, such as LDAP and Active Directory.
  
  
• Data encryption — The communication between the service processor and the user may be encrypted if the service processor supports communication protocols that allow for encryption, such as Secure Shell (SSH) or Secure Socket Layer (SSL). Most recent service processors support some level of data encryption.
  
  
• System event log (SEL) — Service processors can store information about events related to the server hardware, such as chassis opening and closing, hard drive functional alarms, RAM test errors and so on. Those event logs can then be verified by the server administrators directly, or be used as the source for automated alerts.
  
  
• Platform event traps (PET) — Service processors can be programmed with information about critical thresholds for server environmental variables, such as the maximum operating temperature, minimum CPU fan speed, etc. Based on those thresholds, it can then send out alerts (traps) to a management system, usually in SNMP format, so that the server administrator can take immediate action to remediate the issue at hand.
  
  
• Data logging — Some service processors provide the ability to log the data flowing through the server’s serial console, regardless of whether there is a user directly connected to that session at that time. This enables administrators to review the history of events that happened to the server before a certain issue occurred, providing a useful audit trail for change tracking and troubleshooting.
  
  
• Virtual KVM — This is similar to the SoL feature, but instead of exposing the server’s text-based serial console to the user, Virtual KVM provides access to the server’s GUI. This is especially important for operating systems that rely heavily on their GUIs, such as Windows.
  
• Virtual Media — Certain service processors allow the server to access storage media such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks and even DVD-ROMs anywhere on the network - just as if they were directly attached to that server. This allows users to quickly move and copy data between their user workstations to the server (and vice versa), which is useful for emergency OS and application patch installations, as well as diagnostic testing and BIOS upgrades. Virtual Media along with Virtual KVM enable a true lights-out management experience using the interfaces and tools that users are already accustomed to in their daily routine.

Today’s leading service processor technologies include:
• Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)
• HP® Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)
• IBM® Remote Supervisor Adapter (RSA)
• Dell® Remote Assistant Card (DRAC)
• Sun® Advanced Lights Out Management (ALOM)
• Sun Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM)

Bottom Line: TPI provides network and infrastructure management solutions that keep you up and running - all the time.

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