User guide

US 8,549,067 B2
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Intelligent Power Module (IPM) Array —— This was an array of
control blocks with each entry representing an IPM de?ned to
the system. There was room for 32 entries in this array.
Power Control Relay (PCR) Array —— This was an array of
control blocks with each entry representing an PCR de?ned to
the system. There was room for 128 entries in this array.
Group Power Control Relay (GRP) Array —— This was an array of
control blocks with each entry representing an Group of PCRs.
There was room for 64 entries in this array.
Serial Port (SER) Array —— This was an array ofcontrol blocks
with each entry-representing a serial port that can be used to
access the system. There was room for two entries in this
array.
I2C Array —— This was an array ofcontrol blocks with each
entry representing an I2C connection. There was room for two
entries in this array.
The Global RAM Operational Control Block Structures
were globally addressable by all software in the system.
These data structures exist only in RAM and are lost during a
system restart. They were constructed during system initial
iZation using current operational values. All software has read
access to all of the data structures. The data in these control
blocks was operational data and was changed to re?ect the
current operational status of devices in the system. Each of
these control blocks has an “owner” task that performs
updates by writing to the control block. There were six global
operational control blocks as illustrated below. Complete
descriptions of each control block structure follows.
Intelligent Power Module (IPMO) Array —— This was an array of
control blocks with each entry representing an IPM de?ned to
the system. There was room for 32 entries in this array. The
entries in this array correspond directly to the IPM
con?guration control block. These control blocks contain
dynamic information that changes regularly. The relay
coordination task (TskPCntl) “owns” this array.
Power Control Relay (PCRO) Array —— This was an array of
control blocks with each entry representing an PCR de?ned to
the system. There was room for 128 entries in this array.
The entries in this array correspond directly to the PCR
con?guration control block. These control blocks contain
dynamic information that changes regularly. The relay
coordination task (TskPCntl) “owns” this array.
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I2C (I2CO) Array —— This was an array ofcontrol blocks, with
each entry representing an I2C connection. There was room for
2 entries in this array. The entries in this array correspond
directly to the I2C con?guration control block. These
control blocks, contain dynamic information that changes
regularly. The I2C task (TskI2C) “owns” this array.
Serial Port (SERO) Array —— This was an array of control
blocks with each entry representing a serial port that can be
used by the system. There was room for two entries in this
array. The entries in this array correspond directly to the
serial port con?guration control block. These control blocks
contain dynamic information that changes regularly. The
serial port task (TskSER) “owns” this array.
Active Command Line User (UCLI) Array —— This was an array of
control blocks with each entry representing a current active
command line user ofthe system. The SCT was room for 5
entries in this array. These control blocks contain dynamic
information that changes regularly. The user interface task
(TskUSR) “owns” this array. There were multiple instances of
TskUSR so locks were used for this array.
Active HTTP Interface User (U HTP) Array —— This was an array
of control blocks with each entry representing a WEB user.
There was room for 5 entries in this array. These control
blocks contain dynamic information that changes regularly.
The WEB task (TskWEB) “owns” this array.
In FIG. 7, a network remote power management system
700 includes a host system 702 connected over a network 704
to a remote system 706 . A power manager 708, e.g., like outlet
strips 100 and 200 ofFIGS. 1, 2A, and 2B, is used to monitor
and control the operating power supplied to a plurality of
computer-based appliances 714 associated with a network
interface controller (N IC) 716.
Such computer-based appliances 714 are subject to soft
ware freezing or crashing, and as such can become unrespon
sive and effectively dead. It is also some mission-critical
assignment that suffers during such down time. It is therefore
the role and purpose of the network remote power manage
ment system 700 to monitor the power and environmental
operating conditions in which the computer-based appliance
714 operates, and to afford management personnel the ability
to turn the computer-based appliance 714 on and off from the
host system 702. Such power cycling allows a power-on
rebooting of software in the computer-based appliance 714 to
be forced without actually having to visit the site. The oper
ating conditions and environment are preferably reported to
the host 702 on request and when alarms occur.
The power manager 708 further includes a network inter
face controller (NIC) 718, and this may be connected to a
security device 720. If the network 704 is the Internet, or
otherwise insecure, it is important to provide proteation of a
protocol stack 722 from accidental and/or malicious attacks
that could disrupt the operation or control of the computer
based appliance 714. At a minimum, the security device 720
can be a user password mechanism. Better than that, it could
include a discrete network ?rewall and data encryption.