Digital rack interface pod system and method

摘要

A digital rack interface pod (DRIP) that is able to establish a communications link between a remote access appliance and a server having a USB port and a video port, to facilitate a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) session between the server and the appliance. The DRIP is also able to establish a communications link between the appliance and an Ethernet port of the server that is associated with a service processor (SP) of the server. In this manner the DRIP is able to route data from the SP of the server to the appliance as well as communications from the appliance to the SP Ethernet port of the server. The DRIP is able to intelligently determine which packets of information received from the appliance are intended for the SP Ethernet port of the server and routes those packets to the SP Ethernet port of the server. The DRIP also automatically monitors and dynamically reassigns its two Ethernet ports as needed so that whichever one of its two Ethernet ports it discovers a connection with the appliance on will be the port that it continues using to communicate with the appliance.

主权项

1. A standalone digital rack interface pod apparatus adapted to facilitate communications between a remote access appliance and a server, where the appliance is disposed remotely from the server and in communication with a user's electronic device, and where the server has a service processor accessible via a service processor port, the apparatus comprising:
a housing having a first bidirectional communications port and a second bidirectional communications port, at least one of the first and second bidirectional communications ports enabling a first communications cable to be coupled thereto to enable a connection to be made to the remote access appliance, and the other one of the bidirectional communications ports enabling a second communications cable to be coupled thereto to enable a connection to be made between the apparatus and the service processor port of the server; a cable assembly extending from the housing for enabling the apparatus to be coupled to a video port and to a universal serial bus (USB) port of the server; a circuit disposed in the housing in communication with at least the first and second bidirectional communication ports, the circuit configured to monitor communications from the appliance to the apparatus and to detect the presence of information received by the apparatus, and required to be sent to the service processor of the server, and to route the information identified as needing to be sent from the appliance to the one of the first and second bidirectional communications ports that is coupled to the second communications cable, to thus enable the information to be transmitted to the service processor port of the server, and to route a remaining portion of the information to the USB port via the other one of the first and second bidirectional communications ports.