Hardware management systems for disaggregated rack architectures in virtual server rack deployments

{
  "publication_number": "US10348574B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Hardware management systems for disaggregated rack architectures in virtual server rack deployments",
  "abstract": "Hardware management systems for disaggregated rack architectures in virtual server rack deployments are disclosed herein. An example apparatus to manage disaggregated physical hardware resources in a physical rack includes a hardware management system to discover disaggregated physical hardware resources in the physical rack and generate a listing of the disaggregated physical hardware resources, and a physical resource manager to generate a composed resource based on resources from the listing of the disaggregated physical hardware resources, the hardware management system to manage the composed resource.",
  "claims": [
    "1. An apparatus to manage disaggregated physical hardware resources in a physical rack, the apparatus comprising: a hardware management system to: discover a first sub rack unit including a first sub rack unit module having an array of central processing units, the first sub rack unit installed in a first physical rack; discover a second sub rack unit, different than the first sub rack unit, including a second sub rack unit module having an array of physical memory units, the second sub rack unit installed in a second physical rack; and generate a listing of disaggregated physical hardware resources including the central processing units and the physical memory units; and a physical resource manager to generate a composed resource based on resources from the listing of the disaggregated physical hardware resources, the composed resource to include: a first identifier identifying a first subset of the central processing units in the first sub rack unit module, and a second identifier identifying a second subset of the physical memory units in the second sub rack unit module, the physical resource manager to communicate the composed resource to the hardware management system, the hardware management system to power on the composed resource by communicating with the first sub rack unit associated with the first identifier and the second sub rack unit associated with the second identifier.",
    "2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the physical resource manager is to recompose the composed resource to at least one of allocate additional physical hardware resources or de-allocate excess physical hardware resources.",
    "3. An apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the physical resource manager is to recompose the composed resource in response to a change in a workload executed by the composed resource.",
    "4. An apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the physical resource manager is to recompose the composed resource in real time while the composed resource executes a workload.",
    "5. An apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the composed resource is a first composed resource and the physical resource manager is to re-allocate physical hardware resources from a second composed resource to the first composed resource when the first composed resource is associated with a first application having a higher priority than a second application associated with the second composed resource.",
    "6. An apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the physical resource manager is to re-allocate physical hardware resources that are in separate physical racks.",
    "7. A method to manage disaggregated physical hardware resources in a physical rack, the method comprising: discovering, with a hardware management system, a first sub rack unit including a first sub rack unit module having an array of central processing units, the first sub rack unit installed in a first physical rack; and discovering, with a hardware management system, a second sub rack unit, different than the first sub rack unit, including a second sub rack unit module having an array of physical memory units, the second sub rack unit installed in a second physical rack; sending an inventory of disaggregated physical hardware resources from the hardware management system to a physical resource manager, the disaggregated physical hardware resources including the central processing units and the physical memory units; and receiving, from the physical resource manager, a composed resource at the hardware management system, the composed resource generated by the physical resource manager based on ones of the physical hardware resources from the inventory of the disaggregated physical hardware resources, the composed resource including: a first identifier identifying a first subset of the central processing units in the first sub rack unit module, and a second identifier identifying a second subset of the physical memory units in the second sub rack unit module, powering on the composed resource by communicating with the first sub rack unit associated with the first identifier and the second sub rack unit associated with the second identifier.",
    "8. A method as defined in claim 7, further including receiving a recomposed instance of the composed resource, the recomposed instance generated by the physical resource manager to at least one of allocate additional physical hardware resources to the composed resource or de-allocate excess physical hardware resources from the composed resource.",
    "9. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the receiving of the recomposed instance of the composed resource occurs in response to a change in a workload executed by the composed resource.",
    "10. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the receiving of the recomposed instance of the composed resource occurs in real time while the composed resource is executing a workload.",
    "11. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the composed resource is a first composed resource, the recomposed instance of the first composed resource including physical hardware resources re-allocated from a second composed resource to the first composed resource when the first composed resource is associated with a first application having a higher priority than a second application associated with the second composed resource.",
    "12. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least: discover a first sub rack unit including a first sub rack unit module having an array of central processing units, the first sub rack unit installed in a first physical rack; discover a second sub rack unit, different than the first sub rack unit, including a second sub rack unit module having an array of physical memory units, the second sub rack unit installed in a second physical rack; send an inventory of disaggregated physical hardware resources to a physical resource manager, the disaggregated physical hardware resources including the central processing units and the physical memory units; and receive a composed resource from the physical resource manager, the composed resource generated by the physical resource manager based on ones of the disaggregated physical hardware resources from the inventory of the disaggregated physical hardware resources, the composed resource including: a first identifier identifying a first subset of the central processing units in the first sub rack unit module, and a second identifier identifying a second subset of the physical memory units in the second sub rack unit module, power on the composed resource by communicating with the first sub rack unit associated with the first identifier and the second sub rack unit associated with the second identifier.",
    "13. A storage medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to receive a recomposed instance of the composed resource, the recomposed instance generated by the physical resource manager to at least one of allocate additional physical hardware resources to the composed resource or de-allocate excess physical hardware resources from the composed resource.",
    "14. A storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to receive the recomposed instance of the composed resource in response to a change in a workload executed by the composed resource.",
    "15. A storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the composed resource is a first composed resource, the recomposed instance of the first composed resource including physical hardware resources re-allocated from a second composed resource to the first composed resource when the first composed resource is associated with a first application having a higher priority than a second application associated with the second composed resource."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing and, more particularly, to hardware management systems for disaggregated rack architectures in virtual server rack deployments.\n\nVirtualizing computer systems provides benefits such as the ability to execute multiple computer systems on a single hardware computer, replicating computer systems, moving computer systems among multiple hardware computers, and so forth. “Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (also commonly referred to as “IaaS”) generally describes a suite of technologies provided by a service provider as an integrated solution to allow for elastic creation of a virtualized, networked, and pooled computing platform (sometimes referred to as a “cloud computing platform”). Enterprises may use IaaS as a business-internal organizational cloud computing platform (sometimes referred to as a “private cloud”) that gives an application developer access to infrastructure resources, such as virtualized servers, storage, and networking resources. By providing ready access to the hardware resources required to run an application, the cloud computing platform enables developers to build, deploy, and manage the lifecycle of a web application (or any other type of networked application) at a greater scale and at a faster pace than ever before.\n\nCloud computing environments may be composed of many processing units (e.g., servers). The processing units may be installed in standardized frames, known as racks, which provide efficient use of floor space by allowing the processing units to be stacked vertically.",
  "cpc": [
    "G06F 9/5077",
    "H04L 41/0893",
    "H04L 41/0895",
    "H04L 41/12",
    "H04L 41/40"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "H04L 41/0893",
    "H04L 41/12",
    "H04L 41/40",
    "G06F 9/50"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "VMware LLC"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Rahul Kulkarni",
    "Vishnu Mohan Sekhar",
    "Mukund GUNTI",
    "Raj Yavatkar",
    "Donald Newell",
    "Thayumanavan Sridhar"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2016-06-30",
  "publication_date": "2019-07-09",
  "grant_date": "2019-07-09",
  "priority_date": "2015-08-17",
  "application_number": "US-201615198914-A",
  "family_id": "56740582",
  "cited_by_count": 42,
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}