1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to management of a network of servers, and more particularly to tracking the location of servers within a datacenter.
2. Background of the Related Art
Large, sophisticated computer systems are often formed by interconnecting a plurality of smaller computer systems to combine the computing resources of the smaller computer systems. For example, a multi-blade server chassis may provide the combined computing resources of a plurality of blade servers in the server chassis. Multiple server chassis may be supported on racks to form even larger computer systems. A datacenter may include numerous equipment racks on which a large number of server chassis are supported. A large computer system comprised of multiple server chassis typically requires numerous, very specific cable connections to achieve the desired system configuration.
When deploying a large number of systems in a datacenter, it becomes challenging to track and determine the location of all the servers within the datacenter. Conventionally, when an issue arises with a server, a visual alert such as a bluelight identifier on a particular server may be activated to indicate which server has an issue. However, in a large data center, it is possible to have multiple alerts from different servers at a particular moment, making it difficult to determine which of the servers has a particular issue. Alternatively, alerts may be sent out over a local area network (LAN) containing the name of the server having a particular issue along with a description of the issue. However, the name of the server is not always helpful in locating where that particular server is located. Knowledge of the type of server having an issue can also be helpful, except that many servers of the same type may be present in the datacenter.