Abstract: Redundant, fault-tolerant management fabric for multipartition servers are disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, a method comprises connecting a plurality of rack system components to a first network segment, the connection including at least two physical links sharing a single network address. The method also comprises monitoring communications paths in the first network segment. The method also comprises switching communications from the first network segment to a failover network segment if there is a failure in any of the communications paths in the first network segment.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for simultaneously ascertaining the status of a plurality of devices coupled to a data bus. A master device transmits at least one status request message over the data bus to a plurality of slave devices. In response, the plurality of slave devices transmit to the master device a status indicator message including a plurality of status indicators indicating statuses of the plurality of slave devices. The master device receives the status indicator message and ascertains the status of at least some of the plurality of slave devices by examining the status indicators. The status request message and/or status indicator message may be a message defined according to a protocol associated with the data bus. The data bus may, for example, be a serial data bus such as an I2C bus.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for simultaneously addressing multiple devices on a data bus, such as by transmitting over a data bus a single message that is received and processed by multiple devices on the bus. Multiple devices may be simultaneously addressed using the standard bus architecture and protocol, without affecting the operation of other devices on the bus. In particular, a master device may address a first subset of the plurality of devices on the bus using a primary address shared by the first subset of the plurality of devices. The master device may address a second subset of the plurality of devices using a secondary address shared by the second subset of the plurality of devices. The second subset is a subset of the first subset. The master device may then transmit information over the bus to the second subset of the plurality of devices.