Abstract: A rules-based mechanism is described for powering down racks in an ordered and autonomous way in a data center. Power shelf controllers (PSCs), on different racks or on the same rack, communicate together through a network, called the PSC network, separate from the data network. The PSCs are aware of the other PSCs that share the same input power domain. When the racks are configured for use, each PSC is assigned a priority value, based upon the management provisioning layer assignment. Each PSC creates a table of all the other PSCs and tracks each assigned priority value. When a power event occurs, the PSC can power down components within the rack in accordance with the priority table. Recovery can also be carried out in conformance with the priority table.

Abstract: Firmware modules for a plurality of computer components of a computer system can be downloaded from an external computer system via a network connection. The firmware modules can be stored in a firmware memory of the computer system. During booting or at other appropriate times, the plurality of computer components can access the firmware memory to obtain their respective firmware modules.

Abstract: Technologies are provided for determining an identity of a hardware device that transmitted an error message via a communication bus. A chipset of the communication bus can be configured to transmit an interrupt to an interrupt handler in response to receipt of the error message. The interrupt handler can be configured to determine an identity of the hardware device based on the contents of the error message. The interrupt handler can be configured to transmit a notification to an error remediation service, wherein the notification is associated with the identity of the hardware device. The remediation service can be configured to use the identity of the hardware device to perform one or more error remediation operations. In at least some embodiments, the interrupt handler is configured to store the identifier in a memory and the error remediation service is configured to retrieve the identifier from the memory.

Abstract: Provided are systems and methods for hardware attestation. Hardware attestation can ensure that only trusted hardware components are being used in a computing system. In various implementations, the computing system can include a hardware component coupled to the motherboard, where the hardware component is independent of the main processor of the computing system. The hardware component can determine whether a particular component connected to the motherboard includes an identification code, where the identification code can be used to attest to an identity of the particular component. The hardware component can further determining whether the identification code matches an expected value. The hardware component can further configure the particular component based on whether the identification code matches the expected value.

Abstract: The following description is directed to dynamically adjusting a refresh rate. In one example, a method can include determining a rate of memory errors, and dynamically adjusting a refresh rate of a memory based at least partially on the determined rate of memory errors.

Abstract: In a provider network, a request is received for diagnostic information for a computing resource. In response to the request, diagnostic information from the computing resource is accessed via an out-of-band communication channel. The diagnostic information is stored for fault analysis. The out-of-band communication channel is operative when the one computing resource is not in a normal operating state.

Abstract: A management controller may request units of diagnostic information from a BIOS of the management controller's host computing device. The management controller may trigger an interrupt, in response to which the BIOS, by the execution of a processor of the host, may cause the diagnostic information to be copied to a video memory of the management controller. Upon the completion of the interrupt handler, a graphics controller of the management controller may cause the diagnostic information to be transferred to a non-volatile memory, and transferred out-of-band to a client device.

Abstract: A system is described wherein power degradation can be used in conjunction with predictive failure analysis in order to accurately determine when a hardware component might fail. In one example, printed circuit boards (PCBs) can unexpectedly malfunction due to a variety of reasons including silicon power variation or air mover speed. Other hardware components can include silicon or an integrated circuit. In order to accurately monitor the hardware component, telemetry is used to automatically receive communications regarding measurements of data associated with the hardware component, such as power-related data or temperature data. The different temperature data can include junction temperature or ambient air temperature to determine an expected power usage. The actual power usage is then compared to the expected power usage to determine whether the hardware component can soon fail.

Abstract: Techniques and solutions for automatically filtering network broadcast traffic are described. For example, network broadcast traffic can be automatically filtered by turning broadcast filtering on and off (e.g., as a continuous strobe pattern that alternates enabling and disabling of broadcast filtering). For example, a computing device (e.g., via a network interface or management controller of the computing device) can automatically enable network broadcast traffic filtering during a first time period (e.g., a four second time period) and disable network broadcast traffic filtering during a second time period (e.g., a one second time period). A computing device can also automatically enable and disable network broadcast traffic filtering according to an on-off pattern (e.g., based on various criteria, such as network queue size, broadcast traffic volume, etc.).