New, Efficient and Easy to Implement Remote Management ... - AMD

AMD
WHITE PAPER
New, Efficient and Easy to Implement
Remote Management Solution for
Embedded Platforms
AMD Embedded Solutions 1

AMD WHITE PAPER
Remote Management Solution for Embedded Platforms
Remotely accessing enterprise servers and office computers for system health monitoring and
maintenance has been a critical function within the IT toolbox for many years. But those same
capabilities have largely eluded the embedded systems market because of the high cost of existing
solutions and implementing them is considered overly resource intensive in both cost and time.
The “gold standard” for remote systems management is a set of specifications known as the Digital
and Mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH). DASH is very robust – an attribute that makes it
appealing for enterprise computing infrastructure. However, existing implementations are over designed
and therefore too costly for embedded systems applications, slowing down the adoption of DASH for
most embedded applications.
Now, AMD – a longtime member of the industry task force that birthed DASH – has created an
implementation of DASH specifically for embedded platforms that removes the bloat of the costly
implementations while retaining the essentials of a compliant DASH implementation.
About DASH
DASH was created through the efforts of dozens of companies in the IT industry who came together
to collaborate on the development, validation and promotion of systems management standards.
Their group, the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. (DMTF), creates standards that enable
interoperable IT management. As part of its work, the DMTF has developed open standards
specifications to allow for the different platform management parts to interoperate; DASH is one element.
Companies use DASH for systems monitoring, asset management, and easing the deployment of
software upgrades and patches, among other benefits. Because it is built around open standards, DASH
helps lower total cost of ownership. But it also typically increases the cost of individual systems because
of the additional components required to support platform management. Some of these additional costs
– beyond the cost of developing the DASH implementation itself – include temperature sensors, a
microcontroller for remote control support, and the DASH-compliant Ethernet controller.
The Embedded Landscape
Embedded systems differ from servers and PCs in that they are likely to be single purposed. For
example, a digital signage deployment is single purposed but still requires regular software and security
updates. With a large deployment such as a chain store, the systems easily could be scattered over a
wide area. There is no ‘user’ and the security concerns differ from those of servers and PCs.
Service and maintenance can be a substantial cost associated with embedded systems once they are
deployed, and this is especially true if the systems are spread out across a broad geographic area. A
primary goal for remote management is to dramatically reduce those costs. Systems can fail for a variety
of reasons: software crashes, components overheat, power failures, or failed components. With remote
management implemented on the deployed systems, systems that have gone down can potentially be
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Remote Management Solution for Embedded Platforms
repaired and rebooted remotely, without the need to have a service technician on site. If the software
crashes, the system can be restored and rebooted from a remote location, such as a management
console.
While other solutions for remote platform management already exist, a low-cost and easy to implement
remote management solution has not been available, until now.
Out-of-band vs. in-band remote management
Remote management implementations generally consist of both in-band and out-of-band functionality.
Out-of-band functions are defined as those that can be exercised while the target system is not powered
on, or the operating system is not functioning. In-band remote management leverages software running
on the installed operating system to communicate with the remote console and perform functions on
the target system. This AMD DASH implementation targets a cost effective solution that has been fully
tested to help ensure interoperability of the hardware and software solution for out-of-band functions.
The implemented out-of-band functions are intended to provide the essential support needed to help
reduce service and maintenance costs. There are many standard solutions available on the market to
support in-band remote management independent of this implementation.
DASH Implementation for Embedded Applications
AMD created a combined software and hardware reference design demonstrating an implementation
of DASH supporting just the essential functions. This implementation is targeted to help our embedded
customers who wanted the benefits DASH affords, without investing the extensive cost and resources it
might take to develop their own implementations. AMD started by studying the full DASH specification to
identify the elements that are important to and most beneficial for embedded applications. The resulting
DASH implementation for embedded solutions is ideal for:
systems without a keyboard and mouse
systems connected to the Internet or a network
systems deployed in locations where service personnel have no immediate and/or direct
access to the system.
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By creating an actual implementation that developers can use “as is” or modify for their own
needs – rather than another specification – the AMD Embedded Solutions group is making DASH
implementations easier to create. This implementation offers many of the key capabilities of DASH but
helps reduce or eliminate development costs, and the cost associated with unnecessary components
found in larger implementations. When coupling this implementation with a DASH-compliant Ethernet
controller, companies can obtain a low-cost, yet effective platform management solution for all of their
networked embedded systems.
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Remote Management Solution for Embedded Platforms
PCIe
DASH
Compliant
NIC 1
LAN
Management
Console 2
SMBUS/I 2 C
SB_TSI
Temperature
AMD APU
Remote Control
Controller
NXP Semi - P89LPC915
SMBUS-1
Controller
Hub
TEMP
Sensor
NXP Semi
SA56004
Out of Band Commands
1. Reset
2. Power-UP
3. Unconditional Power-Down
4. Power Cycle Reset
System Reset
Power Button
System Alert LED
FANIN
FANOUT
Fan Monitoring
1. FANOUT – Is fan on
2. FANIN – If fan is on is it working
DASH Implementation for Embedded Applications
1.The DASH compliant NIC may be selected based on component vendor preference for the board design. AMD
performed testing using a Realtek NIC.
2.The remote management console is selected based on preference for the deployment. The Microsoft solution is
Windows Remote Management.
The AMD implementation includes the following essential DASH functions:
Remote power control - allows remote power-on, power-off, power-cycle, or reset of the
system
Boot control - directs the system to reboot to specified boot device (e.g., PXE, floppy, remote
media) The key use cases include:
remote boot to a deployment OS (such as Windows PE) for system provisioning
remote boot to a network CD image to update BIOS or firmware or to run diagnostics
Platform alerts - a console can subscribe to alerts via a WS-eventing protocol. Platform alerts
may include temperature alerts, ProcHot, ThermTrip and fan failure,
Hardware Asset inventory - platform model number, CPU version, BIOS version, memory and
other hardware info is available for specific implementation needs
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An essential part of any remote management implementation that is supported is the ability to reset,
power-up, power-down or power cycle the system from a remote location. Additionally, if the BIOS
requires an update, or a new operating system image must be installed, this can be accomplished
by leveraging the supported boot control function. Together, these capabilities reduce unscheduled
downtime and often eliminate the need of a technician to physically service the system.
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Remote Management Solution for Embedded Platforms
Not all service calls can be eliminated, however. Systems do fail. When that happens, a service call
is inevitable. But some of these service calls can go from unscheduled emergency calls to scheduled
service calls. For instance, devices often fail because they overheat – because a fan has failed. Since
fans are mechanical, they rarely fail instantly but instead show signs of impending failure in advance.
Through the support of platform alerts, fans can be monitored and temperatures watched. So, rather
than suffer a catastrophic failure due to overheating, fans can be replaced as soon as they begin to
show signs of impending failure.
The DASH implementation in the reference design delivers the essential features in an easy to
implement solution targeted at embedded applications. Our embedded customers can leverage this
reference design to avoid starting their DASH implementations at the ground level.
AMD embedded customers interested in implementing this DASH solution can obtain the schematics,
microcontroller source code and binary, and implementation guide for free. The only requirement is that
it be used in an AMD-based solution. Please visit the AMD Embedded Developers Web site to download
the full reference design.
Summary
Remote systems management is as important for embedded applications as it is for PCs and servers.
But until now, it took a lot of time to develop a solution that was often more expensive than it needed to
be for embedded applications. AMD has developed a DASH reference design targeted at the essential
functions needed for embedded applications. The reference design will help AMD customers to quickly
implement a cost effective DASH solution. The reference design is free and available to AMD customers
now.
About AMD
AMD is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its
groundbreaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing
devices. AMD Embedded Solutions give designers ample flexibility to design scalable, x86-based, lowcost
and feature-rich products, and drive energy conservation into their systems without compromising
application performance or compatibility, graphics performance, or features. For more information, visit
http://www.amd.com/embedded.
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and PCI Express are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG. Other names are for informational purposes
only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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