Emerson Ships IPMI Platform Management Software For MicroTCA

Jan. 22, 2007

SpiderWareM3 software can Monitor, Manage and Maintain (M3) multiple Advanced Mezzanine Card blades residing in multiple MicroTCA and AdvancedTCA chassis. SpiderWareM3 simplifies integration, testing, configuration, and maintenance.

William G. Wong

Emerson Network Power's SpiderWareM3 (see the Figure) platform shelf manager management software targets MicroTCA systems. It can Monitor, Manage and Maintain (M3) multiple Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) blades residing in multiple MicroTCA and AdvancedTCA chassis. It can be linked to existing high-availability (HA) middleware.

SpiderWareM3 can simplify integration and testing, and provides a management framework that simplifies configuration and maintenance. The software provides complete IPMI-based platform management. It acquires information on a system's health including voltage, fan speed, temperature, and power supply status using the AMC blade's I²C-based IPMI interface. When problems are detected it can take corrective action such as optimizing cooling and system power allocation, performing remote shutdown/restart on a slot-by-slot basis, and logging events.

SpiderWareM3 consist of three parts: the M3Server, the M3Daemon and the M3GUI. The M3Server runs on a local MicroTCA platform or on a remote server acting as the central system controller. The M3Daemon runs on a microcontroller on each AMC module. The M3GUI runs on a client, usually a PC, and provides a user interface to the M3Server that monitors the AMC modules via the M3Daemons.

The M3Server works with any IPMI device, not just those running the M3Daemon software. This allows the software to work with non-Emerson or non-SpiderWareM3-enabled modules. For more information, visit Emerson Network Power.

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

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