PMC

PMC

[Mike]

Is OBMC ever used as firmware for a PMC (Power Management Controller)?

Mike

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Re: PMC

[Patrick Williams]

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On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 01:40:40PM -0600, Mike wrote:
> Is OBMC ever used as firmware for a PMC (Power Management Controller)?

Hi Mike,

We were working on a power management controller as a potential design
option for OCP Rack v3 and we presented an early look of that work at
the 2020 OCP Tech Week.  We haven't made much progress on implementation
at this point though as we've been focused on other aspects of the ORv3
design.  As code is available we plan to deliver it on Gerrit.

Is there anything there you'd like to collaborate with from a design /
requirements perspective?

-- 
Patrick Williams

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Re: PMC

[Mike]

ADI is working on a reference design using an Open Compute PMC spec. I will find the spec and get back.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 23, 2021, at 7:28 AM, Patrick Williams <patrick@stwcx.xyz> wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 01:40:40PM -0600, Mike wrote:
>> Is OBMC ever used as firmware for a PMC (Power Management Controller)?
> 
> Hi Mike,
> 
> We were working on a power management controller as a potential design
> option for OCP Rack v3 and we presented an early look of that work at
> the 2020 OCP Tech Week.  We haven't made much progress on implementation
> at this point though as we've been focused on other aspects of the ORv3
> design.  As code is available we plan to deliver it on Gerrit.
> 
> Is there anything there you'd like to collaborate with from a design /
> requirements perspective?
> 
> -- 
> Patrick Williams

Re: PMC

[Mike Jones]

Patrick,

We are using spec: Open Rack V3 48V BBU.

In the case of a PMC, since I don’t know the OCP architecture well, is there a PMC device in the rack that would manage a BBU, or do devices that plug into their rack each have a PMC?

Looking at the above spec, the functions of the MCU are quite limited, so I assume there is a PMC device that is managing these other elements like a BBU. 

Perhaps there is a spec for that I can look at?

Mike

> On Apr 23, 2021, at 7:39 AM, Mike <proclivis@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> ADI is working on a reference design using an Open Compute PMC spec. I will find the spec and get back.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Apr 23, 2021, at 7:28 AM, Patrick Williams <patrick@stwcx.xyz> wrote:
>> 
>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 01:40:40PM -0600, Mike wrote:
>>> Is OBMC ever used as firmware for a PMC (Power Management Controller)?
>> 
>> Hi Mike,
>> 
>> We were working on a power management controller as a potential design
>> option for OCP Rack v3 and we presented an early look of that work at
>> the 2020 OCP Tech Week.  We haven't made much progress on implementation
>> at this point though as we've been focused on other aspects of the ORv3
>> design.  As code is available we plan to deliver it on Gerrit.
>> 
>> Is there anything there you'd like to collaborate with from a design /
>> requirements perspective?
>> 
>> -- 
>> Patrick Williams

Re: PMC

[Patrick Williams]

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Hi Mike,

On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 08:49:05AM -0600, Mike Jones wrote:
> Patrick,
> 
> We are using spec: Open Rack V3 48V BBU.

Got it.

I think you'll want to look here:
 - https://www.opencompute.org/wiki/Open_Rack/SpecsAndDesigns

> In the case of a PMC, since I don’t know the OCP architecture well, is there a PMC device in the rack that would manage a BBU, or do devices that plug into their rack each have a PMC?
> 
> Looking at the above spec, the functions of the MCU are quite limited, so I assume there is a PMC device that is managing these other elements like a BBU. 

If you look at the Power Shelf design you'll see mention of a PMC/PMI
connector.  This is a slot for which two different designs can fit into:
PMC or PMI (and I don't recall exactly what the "I" stands for).

With PMC, the intended design was this was a full BMC-class device with
a network interface.  This would run OpenBMC.

With PMI, there is a MCU in place of the BMC and the PMI is connected to
the top-of-rack switch using a modbus / RS-485 over RJ-45 implementation
like was available in ORv2.  I think the PMI would speak the same exact
protocol as the similar device in ORv2.

You might find details on this modbus protocol in the above link, but
there is a lot to dig through...

-- 
Patrick Williams

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Re: PMC

[Mike Jones]

Patrick,

Now I see clearly.

I’ll see more where the ADI team wants to go in terms of demonstration.

Are there existing PMC implementations for ORv3, or is the work of your interest the first? Is their existing hardware to base OBMC running in a BMC to work from?

Mike

> On Apr 23, 2021, at 11:19 AM, Patrick Williams <patrick@stwcx.xyz> wrote:
> 
> Hi Mike,
> 
> On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 08:49:05AM -0600, Mike Jones wrote:
>> Patrick,
>> 
>> We are using spec: Open Rack V3 48V BBU.
> 
> Got it.
> 
> I think you'll want to look here:
> - https://www.opencompute.org/wiki/Open_Rack/SpecsAndDesigns
> 
>> In the case of a PMC, since I don’t know the OCP architecture well, is there a PMC device in the rack that would manage a BBU, or do devices that plug into their rack each have a PMC?
>> 
>> Looking at the above spec, the functions of the MCU are quite limited, so I assume there is a PMC device that is managing these other elements like a BBU. 
> 
> If you look at the Power Shelf design you'll see mention of a PMC/PMI
> connector.  This is a slot for which two different designs can fit into:
> PMC or PMI (and I don't recall exactly what the "I" stands for).
> 
> With PMC, the intended design was this was a full BMC-class device with
> a network interface.  This would run OpenBMC.
> 
> With PMI, there is a MCU in place of the BMC and the PMI is connected to
> the top-of-rack switch using a modbus / RS-485 over RJ-45 implementation
> like was available in ORv2.  I think the PMI would speak the same exact
> protocol as the similar device in ORv2.
> 
> You might find details on this modbus protocol in the above link, but
> there is a lot to dig through...
> 
> -- 
> Patrick Williams

Re: PMC

[Patrick Williams]

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On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 11:30:54AM -0600, Mike Jones wrote:
> Patrick,
> 
> Are there existing PMC implementations for ORv3, or is the work of your interest the first? Is their existing hardware to base OBMC running in a BMC to work from?

There is not.  To the best of my knowledge our work in this area was the
first.

-- 
Patrick Williams

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