On Sun, 26 Nov 2006, Mark Hahn wrote:
has anyone ever seen a PCI add-in card that offered IPMI-like functions?
Such a card would need to be powered from the PCI/PCI-E bus even when the power is (soft-)off. I'm not sure that the bus offers the amount of power needed for the functionality.
it could be plugged into the MB reset and power switches (interpose)
I looked at making something like this without a special card (due to lack of physical space in the computer - a SFF) using a serial/USB attached microcontroller which could switch some relays; the device was available from German electronics shop Conrad for something like 50-60EUR for 16 relays and could be cascaded - I don't have details at hand now, but I could look them up if there's enough interest. I have made a test with one computer which worked, but I didn't follow through as I would have had to do the rewiring for 80 nodes...
So, if this is the main functionality that you're after, such a device could be more cost effective, provided that it's not you the one who does all the cabling and connections.
it could have a serial port on the cardedge to connect to bios/console serial redirection, if the bios supports that.
How many general purpose mainboards have you seen with console redirection ? I didn't see any and in fact I sometimes still have troubles getting console redirection from server grade mainboards to function well.
(would require per-MB configuration, of course, but for an optional feature, that's not crazy.)
Well, that would require data from the mainboard manufacturer for the calibration of the sensors - same problem as lm_sensors has. Don't know if a company making such boards would have more success...
the real appeal is that you could stick one of these into a normal PC...
I dream of something like this for ever since I learnt the value of reading temperature and fan data and with only this functionality it could be useful also in a desktop PC (as our desktop PCs run 24/7, I don't find remote power switching so interesting).
-- Bogdan Costescu IWR - Interdisziplinaeres Zentrum fuer Wissenschaftliches Rechnen Universitaet Heidelberg, INF 368, D-69120 Heidelberg, GERMANY Telephone: +49 6221 54 8869, Telefax: +49 6221 54 8868 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
