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Service Processor Management |
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What is a Service Processor?A service processor is a separate, dedicated internal processor located on the motherboard of a server, a PCI card, or on the chassis of a blade server or telecommunications platform. It operates independently from the server’s CPU and operating system (OS), even if the CPU or OS is locked up or otherwise inaccessible.  Service processors monitor a server’s on-board instrumentation (temperature sensors, CPU status, fan speed, voltages), provide remote reset or power-cycle capabilities, enable remote access to basic input/output system (BIOS) configuration or OS console information, and, in some cases, provide keyboard and mouse control. Depending on the manufacturer, service processors may also provide console redirection capabilities to view server processes or to configure server parameters, system information on components installed, including ports used and devices connected, and event logs, notifications and alarms. Some leading service processor technologies include:
Service processors are accessible through either a dedicated Ethernet interface (out-of-band) or a shared data Ethernet interface (sideband). See below. 
Note that with sideband access, although there is only one Ethernet jack in use at the back of the server, there are still two Ethernet hardware sets inside the server, which means those interfaces can have separate IP addresses.
FeaturesThe feature set of service processors varies depending on the service processor type. Nevertheless, there are some features common to all service processors. All service processors provide remote power control (on/off/cycle/status) and enable remote console access via Serial over LAN (SoL). Depending on the service processor type, however, they can also provide more advanced functionality, such as server health monitoring (fan speed and status, temperature, voltages), graceful (OS-level) shutdown capabilities, remote keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) and Virtual Media capabilities. These features are discussed in more detail below. • Remote power control – Servers can be remotely powered off, on, or cycled through service processors. This is one of the most useful features of service processors. Remote power control is used to restore servers that are locked up, to power down overheated servers, or any other function that requires low-level interaction with the server. • Graceful shutdown support – Certain service processors support a remote power control command that actually sends a signal to the server OS to shut down gracefully before actually power cycling or turning off the server. This prevents the possible effects of a “brute force” power cycle or shutdown, such as data corruption in the server hard drives and other undesirable outcomes. • Remote SoL console access – The server console can be accessed through the Ethernet interface of its service processor by using a standard telnet or SSH client in the same way it would be available through a regular serial port. If the server supports BIOS redirection to the serial port (which is usually the case with servers equipped with service processors), a user can have full access to the server console from the time it is booted up, through the BIOS and all the way up to the OS login prompt. This is very useful for remote troubleshooting. • Health monitoring – Service processors communicate with the appropriate sensor hardware in the server (e.g., fan speed monitors, voltage meters and temperature readers) to access and monitor vital server statistics so that server problems can be detected quickly. The health information can be stored on the server, sent to a remote storage device or communicated directly to the user workstation. • Remote ID LED control – Service processors allow the administrator to turn on or off the server’s ID LED, which can be used to identify a specific server in a rack of multiple similar servers. This is especially useful when maintenance is needed on a server and the local technician who has physical access to the server does not have access to server information. In that case, the administrator can turn on the ID LED to visually designate for the local technician which server needs maintenance. • Local and server-based authentication – In order to access the service processor features, a user needs to log in to it first. The user database is usually stored locally in the service processor. Some service processors can also communicate with central authentication server mechanisms, such as LDAP and Active Directory. • Data encryption – The communication between the service processor and the user may be encrypted if the service processor supports communication protocols that allow for encryption, such as Secure Shell (SSH) or Secure Socket Layer (SSL). Most recent service processors support some level of data encryption. • System event log (SEL) – Service processors can store information about events related to the server hardware, such as chassis opening and closing, hard drive functional alarms, RAM test errors and so on. Those event logs can then be verified by the server administrators directly, or be used as the source for automated alerts. • Platform Event Traps (PET) – Service processors can be programmed with information about critical thresholds for server environmental variables, such as the maximum operating temperature, minimum CPU fan speed, etc. Based on those thresholds, it can then send out alerts (traps) to a management system, usually in SNMP format, so that the server administrator can take immediate action to remediate the issue at hand. • Data logging – Some service processors provide the ability to log the data flowing through the server’s serial console, regardless of whether there is a user directly connected to that session at that time. This enables administrators to review the history of events that happened to the server before a certain issue occurred, providing a useful audit trail for change tracking and troubleshooting. • Virtual KVM – This is similar to the SoL feature, but instead of exposing the server’s text-based serial console to the user, Virtual KVM provides access to the server’s GUI. This is especially important for operating systems that rely heavily on their GUIs, such as Windows. • Virtual Media – Certain service processors allow the server to access storage media such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks and even DVD-ROMs anywhere on the network - just as if they were directly attached to that server. This allows users to quickly move and copy data between their user workstations to the server (and vice versa), which is useful for emergency OS and application patch installations, as well as diagnostic testing and BIOS upgrades. Virtual Media along with Virtual KVM enable a true lights-out management experience using the interfaces and tools that users are already accustomed to in their daily routine.
BenefitsMost of the features provided by service processors are not new, as many of these features are available in some shape or form through other remote management solutions, such as console servers, KVM switches, IPDUs, etc. The obvious question, therefore, is: what new benefits do service processors provide? All the benefits provided by remote out-of-band management tools are available through service processors – lower mean time to repair (MTTR), operating cost savings and improved asset productivity. However, the key difference is that in the case of service processors the complete feature set needed to reap those benefits is already included in the server, and is accessible through a single interface. Moreover, the single interface is Ethernet, the most ubiquitous network interface in the IT marketplace. This greatly simplifies the deployment of the remote server management infrastructure, making it easier for IT managers to take advantage of these technologies. Additionally, the fact that service processors are embedded inside the server provides more granular and thorough visibility of the server’s status, which allows for proactive and preventive management, as well as greater control of the overall server infrastructure. Features such as hardware environmental monitoring and platform event traps are a direct result of the internal presence of service processors in the server. Challenges The demand for remote lights-out management has been increasing significantly due to the general dynamics of the IT industry – demand for data center consolidation, lower facility costs and outsourcing often physically separates data centers from the people who manage them. In addition, data centers are becoming uninhabitable due to environmental conditions, such as temperature, noise levels and other factors. At the same time, service processors are widely deployed in these environments, since the vast majority of servers purchased in the past three years include some form of embedded service processor. According to estimates from leading server manufacturers Dell, HP, IBM and Sun, approximately 9 million servers with service processors were being used in the market by the end of 2005. It should be the perfect marriage between demand and supply, amplified by the fact that the service processors needed for remote server management have already been paid for. However, service processor use and adoption have been discouraging, to say the least. In spite of all the benefits service processors provide, IT managers are still leaving those service processor Ethernet ports unplugged or disabled, not taking advantage of an asset that can provide the exact capabilities they are looking for. The same leading server manufacturers estimate that by the end of 2005, only 1.4 million of the service processors available in the market were being utilized. Mainstream adoption of service processors has been hampered by a number of factors. Server vendors are reluctant to adhere to a standard service processor interface such as IPMI, because of its perceived limitations. In fact, most server vendors include IPMI in their platforms, but hide it behind proprietary service processor firmware extensions and bundled management solutions. These vendor-specific features only support their own servers and fail to work with products from other vendors. To add to that issue, many enterprises are completely unaware of the potential power of service processors; and even when they are aware, specific concerns about how to integrate service processors into their existing management framework prevent their adoption. Some are simply encumbered by compatibility concerns, cost issues and the lack of centralized management, while others are hampered by security and functionality concerns. Deployment Challenges
Types of Processors
Originally proposed in 1998, IPMI is an open standard service processor technology, originally driven by Intel (its main proponent), Dell, HP and NEC. Since then, IPMI has been adopted by more than 150 other companies, including IBM, Sun and every major server platform vendor. The goal of IPMI is to provide a single service processor protocol for servers manufactured by different vendors. The first version of IPMI supported serial interfaces only and required the use of console servers. A subsequent version (1.5) provided IPMI over a LAN interface. Currently, IPMI version 2.0 provides serial console redirection over LAN, improved CLI, encryption capabilities and additional support for modular systems like server blades. These new features enhance management security by supporting well-known and trusted security mechanisms, making IPMI easier to implement within current enterprise security frameworks. IPMI features include:
IPMI’s user interface is a text-based CLI, although there are software programs available to present IPMI information through a GUI. Integrated Lights Out or iLO is HP’s proprietary service processor technology. iLO is a dedicated application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) on the motherboard of the server that is accessible through a dedicated Ethernet port on the server. Like other service processors, iLO remains active and available, even when the CPU or OS is halted or when the server’s power is turned off. iLO is available in two levels: basic and advanced. Since 2003, almost every HP server – including blades – ships with basic iLO included as a standard feature. Basic iLO provides the following features:
Although basic iLO provides a very comprehensive feature set, it can be upgraded to advanced iLO through the purchase and installation of an iLO Advanced Pack, which enables additional functionality in the service processor, such as:
Besides these functionalities, there are other features provided by iLO to make its deployment easier. iLO supports both static IP address configuration and dynamic IP address assignment via Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Unlike IPMI where the only user interface available is text-based, iLO has two user interfaces – a Web-based interface and a CLI available through telnet or SSH sessions. By accessing this Web interface through a standard Web browser, the user is able to perform any service processor function available at that iLO level. Later versions of iLO (v1.60 or greater) in more recent servers (G4 or later, except for blades) also allow for the user to select the Ethernet connection it uses to be either dedicated (default) or shared with the main server Ethernet interface. The latter allows iLO to be deployed without the need for an additional Ethernet cable and switch port. In those cases, iLO also supports VLANs for logical segregation of the management network traffic. More recently, HP has released the next generation of iLO, called iLO2, which comes embedded in the most recent models of HP servers. iLO2 also has basic and advanced levels, and the advantages of iLO2 when compared with iLO are as follows:
Advanced iLO2:
iLO2 is also compatible with IPMI 2.0, for easier integration with existing IPMI-based environments. IBM’s Remote Supervisor Adapter II or RSA II is a service processor that exists on a PCI card that manages the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) located on the motherboard of a server. A version of the RSA II, called SlimLine, is an internal card that includes the BMC and uses a dedicated Ethernet connector on the server for communication. The IBM BladeCenter’s management module uses a modified version of the RSA firmware with an integrated KVM switch to provide access to individual server blades. RSA II provides many remote server management options, including:
All these features are available from the RSA II command line interface. Additionally, RSA II offers a Web-based interface that provides access to all these features plus Virtual Media and Virtual KVM support. Dell Remote Assistant Cards or DRAC is Dell’s proprietary service processor technology. DRAC provides administrators with access to servers and control of the server hardware and operating system from client workstations through a Web browser. A telnet connection to DRAC provides access to only a few of the DRAC features when compared to what is available through DRAC’s Web user interface. However, it does enable text-based console access. In addition, DRAC logs the probable causes of system crashes and saves current error displays. By communicating with the system’s embedded system management hardware, DRAC can report warnings or errors related to voltages, temperatures and fan speeds. Currently there are five versions of DRAC:
DRAC includes software modules that provide a set of OS-specific services. These services communicate with the DRAC hardware to allow in-band configuration as well as console redirection to the out-of-band connection. Advanced Lights Out Management or ALOM is one of Sun’s most recent service processor technologies. Sun was one of the first vendors to have service processors in their servers, which they called System Service Processors (SSPs). SSPs were originally accessible only through the server’s serial port, yet provided most of the functionality of more modern service processors, such as remote power control, serial console access and low-level system debugging capabilities. Throughout its history, Sun released other versions of service processors that were accessible through both the server’s serial port and through a dedicated Ethernet port, such as Remote System Control (RSC) and Lights Out Management (LOM and LOMlite). Going forward, ALOM is the service processor technology of choice for Sun’s Volume System Products (VSP) servers and Netra servers, replacing RSC and LOM. Following Sun’s SSP tradition, ALOM is accessible through both the server’s serial port and a dedicated Ethernet port on the server. The servers that currently support ALOM as of its latest version (v1.6) and that have ALOM pre-installed as a standard component are as follows:
New servers in the VSP and Netra families are also expected to have ALOM installed. ALOM combines the features of RSC and LOM and adds several new features as well. These features include:
ALOM’s user interface is entirely command line based. It does not provide a built-in GUI or access to the server’s GUI. Integrated Lights Out Management or ILOM is Sun’s latest addition to its portfolio of service processor technologies. ILOM is available on the Sun Fire X4x00 x64 servers (X4100, X4200, X4500 and X4600). ILOM combines the functionality of ALOM with the following features:
Besides the text-based CLI, ILOM also has a built-in Web-based interface for the user, the WebGUI. The WebGUI is the only interface that allows access to the Virtual KVM and Virtual Media features of ILOM. Furthermore, ILOM also supports IPMI 2.0 and SNMP versions 1, 2c and 3. With so many supported interfaces and management protocols, ILOM can be easily integrated into most IT management environments, and represents the ultimate evolution in service processor functionality delivered by Sun.
SolutionsAvocent offers industry-first server management solutions that will help IT organizations leverage the service processor technologies already present in their servers, enabling reduced operational costs and faster troubleshooting and problem resolution through proactive monitoring and maintenance of server health. For companies that need to achieve optimum service levels with fewer staff resources, Avocent’s server management solutions are the best way to fully capitalize on the service processor technologies present in today’s servers.
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