In recent years, implementation of “cloud-based” services, high-performance computing (HPC) and other activities employing data centers and the like have seen widespread adoption. Under a typical data center installation, a large number of servers installed in server chassis and server racks are interconnected in communication using network links (e.g., Ethernet) and various switching mechanisms, such as switch blades/modules and “top-of-rack” (ToR) switches. In some installations, additional links, such as InfiniBand or Fibre Channel, may used for storage and other purposes.
Data centers commonly employ a physical hierarchy of compute, network and storage shared resources to support scale out of workload requirements. The de facto control plane to manage such compute, networking and storage shared resource is Ethernet and the network protocol for manageability is TCP/IP based. Each shared resource typically has a management controller to provide manageability access point and addressed via IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. Data centers generally implement VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks) to separate control plane traffic from the data plane traffic.
A hierarchical architecture for the controllers in the control plane is required to prevent multiple management agents from providing conflicting commands to a management controller. For example, an Application Performance manager wants a Sled controller to turbo-up node power, but a Tray level power manager wants to limit tray level power consumption at the current levels.
Currently, there is no automated mechanism available to discover management controller hierarchy, even when a physical containment hierarchy is well defined. It is highly desired that each management controller in the controller hierarchy automatically “learn” of all controllers in its chain of command both at higher and optionally lower levels. This is a fundamental requirement to coordinate manageability actions.
The controller hierarchy can be established within a limited physical scope using separate physical connectivity. Such an approach imposes hardware requirements and is not scalable to support dense form factor requirements of today's data center.