Management software masters the three Ms

Platform management software makes it easy to monitor, manage and maintain multiple AdvancedMC blades residing in multiple MicroTCA chassis.

Emerson Network Power's Embedded Computing business has announced its new SpiderWareM3 platform management software for MicroTCA systems.

The new management software, which can be integrated with existing HA middleware software, makes it easy to monitor, manage and maintain (M3) multiple AdvancedMC blades residing in multiple MicroTCA chassis.

"IPMI platform management provides the foundation for system-wide network management, and is one of the most compelling features of emerging open architecture telecom shelf standards like MicroTCA", said Todd Wynia, Vice President of Product Management for Emerson's new Embedded Computing business.

"SpiderWareM3 delivers comprehensive shelf management with an intuitive GUI that makes it easy for network operators to monitor, control and service MicroTCA shelves in a way that maximises efficiency and availability".

SpiderWareM3 provides a rapid development environment that reduces time to market by simplifying integration and testing.

SpiderWareM3 also provides a flexible management framework that simplifies everyday configuration and maintenance for fielded telecom systems.

This management framework, which can run locally or remotely, maximises implementation flexibility by providing management interfaces at multiple levels within a system.

SpiderWareM3 provides a complete IPMI-based platform management solution for monitoring, controlling, optimising, maintaining, and servicing MicroTCA systems.

SpiderWareM3 acquires information for key physical system health characteristics such as voltage, fan speed, temperature, and power supply status through each AdvancedMC blade's I2C-based IPMI interface.

Using this information, the SpiderWare-based platform management software and/or network operators can monitor system operation, take corrective action, optimise cooling and system power allocation, perform remote shutdown/restart (typically on a slot by slot basis), and log events.

SpiderWareM3 features an intuitive, customisable, Java-based graphical user interface (GUI), which can reside on any platform that supports a Java run-time environment.

The GUI can detect blade, sensor, alarm, and FRU data from all local and remote management nodes, and provides a graphical view of all chassis in a node, including descriptions and outstanding alarms.

With a single click, operators can clear alarms, reset sensor thresholds, and view memory usage, disk space, or CPU utilisation on every blade in the system.

SpiderWareM3 also provides a memory-resident database for storing system information, and can log events and alarms to a file for later recovery and analysis.

SpiderWareM3 provides a variety of standard APIs that make it easy for equipment manufacturers to integrate SpiderWareM3 with existing software management systems such as HA middleware.

These APIs include an SAF-compliant HPI interface (to the IPMI subsystem), and an XML-based TCP interface, which facilitates communications with remote system-wide network management systems.

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