System information

6 Hardware Monitor Functionality
System Management for Networked Embedded Systems and Clusters. It is used as the
central cluster management for the HLT computing cluster and some of its benefits are
also used for executing some tasks on the CHARM, too. SysMES does not only collects
sensor information from the computer, but also provides a rule based system management
framework. The framework consists of two basic elements: events and tasks.
Events are sensor values or system information like a change of a setting or the state of
an action. The events are sent by the SysMES clients running on the inspected system.
Tasks are the actions to be initiated by the management servers. The actions are executed
on the servers or on the clients.
The actions can be triggered automatically by a rule or manually by a web front-end.
Figure 6.12 shows the SysMES GUI of the HLT computer cluster. Two SysMES clients
are assigned to every node: one running on the node and one running on the CHARM
card. The green boxes represent a SysMES client and the color of the boxes represents the
state of the node system. The SysMES framework is also used to update the software of
the CHARM card or to start an installation script on the CHARM which setups the host
computer. The following list summarizes the usage of the SysMES on the CHARM:
• Starts software updates on the HLT CHARM cards.
• Powers on or switches off the HLT cluster.
• Executes administration scripts on the CHARM card which install the host computer.
• Starts a BIOS update on the host computer via the CHARM card.
The HLT SysMES GUI provides a front-end to define and execute the above mentioned
tasks. Figure 6.13 shows a screenshot of the task deployment web page of the SysMES GUI.
Simple tasks like a reset of the card can be easily sent to all CHARM cards of the HLT
cluster.
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