1. An Information Technology (IT)-administered backbone, comprising:
at least one IT server;
a plurality of client computers arranged in a peer-to-peer IT backbone, each of the client computers having an in-band processor, an out-of-band (OOB) microcontroller, and a storage device coupled to the in-band processor and OOB microcontroller, the storage device having a reserved area for the OOB microcontroller to enable an IT-administration to push IT payloads from the at least one IT server onto the reserved area of at least one of the plurality of client computers, wherein the IT payloads are disseminated throughout the peer-to-peer IT backbone by the client computers.
2. The IT-administered backbone of claim 1, wherein the reserved area of the storage device acts as a P: drive equivalent.
3. The IT-administered backbone of claim 1, wherein the reserved area of the storage device is accessible to a client computer when the client computer is offline.
4. The IT-administered backbone of claim 1, wherein when a client computer goes offline, a fault tolerance technique is employed to achieve protection against peer unavailability.
5. The IT-administered backbone of claim 4, wherein the fault tolerance technique is a Byzantine fault tolerance technique.
6. The IT-administered backbone of claim 1, wherein the dissemination of the IT payload by the client computers further comprises the dissemination of the IT payload by the client computers using a distributed hash table technique to enable the efficient distribution of the IT payloads from one peer to another peer throughout the peer-to-peer IT backbone.
7. A method for IT-administration of a client computer in an IT administered backbone, comprising:
receiving, from an IT server, an IT payload, wherein the IT payload is placed in a reserved area of a storage device, the reserved area of the storage device dedicated for use by an out-of-band microcontroller;
enabling an IT driver to access the reserved area to determine if the IT payload is to be disseminated in a peer-to-peer IT backbone; and
if the IT payload is to be disseminated, disseminating the IT payload to immediate peers to enable the immediate peers to facilitate the proliferation of the IT payload throughout the peer-to-peer IT backbone.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determination of who is an immediate peer is based on a distributed hash table technique.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein when a power-state transition indicating a sleep mode is detected, the method further comprising triggering a broadcast to disseminate transition data to immediate peers.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein triggering the broadcast to disseminate transition data to immediate peers comprises:
exporting data to downstream immediate peers, if data is available for dissemination; and
informing upstream immediate peers that the sleep mode is about to be entered, wherein the upstream immediate peers will assume responsibility for the downstream immediate peers once the sleep mode is entered.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein when the sleep mode is entered, Byzantine fault tolerance and distributed hash table techniques are used to protect the unavailable peers and to ensure that all peers are capable of receiving data from a peer in the peer-to-peer IT backbone.
12. The method of claim 7, wherein when a power-state transition indicating a wake-up mode is detected, the method further comprising:
determining whether the client computer is on-line; and
if the client computer is on-line, performing a re-integration handshake with the peer-to-peer IT backbone.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein performing a re-integration handshake comprises:
connecting to the peer-to-peer IT backbone;
sending a broadcast through the OOB microcontroller to the immediate peers announcing the re-joining of the network; and
receiving, from the immediate peers, any datainformation that was disseminated while the client computer was offline.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising sharing any data with its peers, if necessary.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein if the client computer is not on-line, the method further comprising:
determining whether access to the reserved area of the storage device is being requested; and
if access is being requested, enabling the OOB microcontroller to proxy access to the reserved area, wherein the reserved area is treated as a P: drive equivalent.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the P: drive equivalent is accessed while offline.
17. An article comprising: a storage medium having a plurality of machine accessible instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions provide for receiving, from an IT server, an IT payload, wherein the IT payload is placed in a reserved area of a storage device, the reserved area of the storage device dedicated for use by an out-of-band microcontroller;
enabling an IT driver to access the reserved area to determine if the IT payload is to be disseminated in a peer-to-peer IT backbone; and
if the IT payload is to be disseminated, disseminating the IT payload to immediate peers to enable the immediate peers to facilitate the proliferation of the IT payload throughout the peer-to-peer IT backbone.
18. The article of claim 17, wherein the determination of who is an immediate peer is based on a distributed hash table technique.
19. The article of claim 17, wherein when a power-state transition indicating a sleep mode is detected, the article further comprising instructions for triggering a broadcast to disseminate transition data to immediate peers.
20. The article of claim 19, wherein instructions for triggering the broadcast to disseminate transition data to immediate peers comprises instructions for:
exporting data to downstream immediate peers, if data is available for dissemination; and
informing upstream immediate peers that the sleep mode is about to be entered, wherein the upstream immediate peers will assume responsibility for the downstream immediate peers once the sleep mode is entered.
21. The article of claim 20, wherein when the sleep mode is entered, Byzantine fault tolerance and distributed hash table techniques are used to protect the unavailable peers and to ensure that all peers are capable of receiving data from a peer in the peer-to-peer IT backbone.
22. The article of claim 17, wherein when a power-state transition indicating a wake-up mode is detected, the article further comprising instructions for:
determining whether the client computer is on-line; and
if the client computer is on-line, performing a re-integration handshake with the peer-to-peer IT backbone.
23. The article of claim 22, wherein instructions for performing a re-integration handshake comprises instructions for:
connecting to the peer-to-peer IT backbone;
sending a broadcast through the OOB microcontroller to the immediate peers announcing the re-joining of the network; and
receiving, from the immediate peers, any datainformation that was disseminated while the client computer was offline.
24. The article of claim 23, further comprising instructions for sharing any data with its peers, if necessary.
25. The article of claim 22, wherein if the client computer is not on-line, the article further comprising instructions for:
determining whether access to the reserved area of the storage device is being requested; and
if access is being requested, enabling the OOB microcontroller to proxy access to the reserved area, wherein the reserved area is treated as a P: drive equivalent.
26. The article of claim 25, wherein the P: drive equivalent is accessed while offline.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for starting up an autothermal reformer in a fuel processor, comprising:
purging the reactor of the autothermal reformer with a fuel above the upper explosive limit of a process feed stream comprising the fuel at an initial temperature;
maintaining a non-pyrophoric shift catalyst of the autothermal reformer at a temperature sufficient to prevent condensation of water therein;
heating the purged autothermal reformer reactor to the light off temperature of the non-pyrophoric shift catalyst while continuing to flow the fuel therethrough;
introducing air to the heated autothermal reformer reactor to produce an air and fuel mixture exceeding the upper explosive limit of the fuel; and
heating the autothermal reformer reactor to an operating temperature.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising lighting off an oxidizer to produce the process feed stream comprising the fuel for reforming by the autothermal reformer.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein lighting off the oxidizer includes:
purging a reactor of the oxidizer with air at an initial temperature;
generating an ignition heat in at least a portion of the purged oxidizer reactor;
introducing a fuel comprising a portion of the process feed stream the mixture to the heated region of the oxidizer reactor, the resulting mixture of the fuel and the air remaining below the lower explosive limit of the fuel; and
heating the oxidizer reactor to an operating temperature.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein purging the oxidizer reactor at the initial temperature includes purging the oxidizer reactor below approximately 50\xb0 C.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein purging the oxidizer reactor at the initial temperature includes purging the oxidizer reactor at ambient temperature.
6. The method of claim 3, wherein purging the oxidizer reactor includes purging the oxidizer reactor through at least thee reactor volumes of air.
7. The method of claim 3, wherein generating an ignition heat includes heating at least a portion of a catalyst bed to at least a light off temperature.
8. The method of claim 3, wherein generating an ignition heat includes actuating a spark source.
9. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the ignition heat includes generating an ignition heat of at least approximately 280\xb0 C.
10. The method of claim 3, wherein introducing the fuel includes introducing natural gas.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein introducing the natural gas includes introducing the natural gas to achieve an air and natural gas mixture having an OC(NG) ratio of up to 6.0.
12. The method of claim 3, wherein heating the oxidizer reactor to an operating temperature includes heating the oxidizer reactor to a temperature between approximately 400\xb0 C. and approximately 800\xb0 C.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein purging the autothermal reformer reactor includes introducing at least four reactor volumes of fuel through autothermal reformer reactor.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein purging the autothermal reformer reactor at an initial temperature includes purging the autothermal reformer reactor below approximately 50\xb0 C.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein purging the autothermal reformer reactor at the initial temperature includes purging the autothermal reformer reactor at an ambient temperature.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein purging the autothermal reformer reactor with the fuel includes purging the autothermal reformer with natural gas.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein heating the purged autothermal reformer reactor to the light off temperature includes heating the purged autothermal reformer reactor to approximately 300\xb0 C.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein introducing air to the heated autothermal reformer reactor includes introducing air to achieve an OC(NG) ratio of between approximately 0.4 and approximately 0.65, inclusive.
19. The method of claim 1, wherein introducing air to the heated autothermal reformer reactor includes introducing air to achieve a concentration of 26% natural gas in air.
20. The method of claim 1, wherein heating the autothermal reformer reactor to the operating temperature includes heating the autothermal reformer to a temperature between approximately 600\xb0 C. and approximately 900\xb0 C.