System and method for matching drivers to devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10089117-B2
Application number	US-201313853546-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2013
Priority date	Mar 29, 2013
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

An information handling system includes a management controller, which in turn includes a device access manager. The device access manager detects a new device within the information handling system, and performs a matching process between properties of the new device and matching criteria for a plurality of drivers in the information handling system. The device access manager also receives matching values from each of the plurality of drivers, and selects one of the drivers in response to the one driver having a highest matching value. The matching process for a driver is ended without a matching value being returned to the device access manager in response to a property of the new device not matching a corresponding matching criteria of the driver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information handling system comprising:
a management controller including a device access manager configured to detect a new device within the information handling system, to perform a matching process between properties of the new device and matching criteria for a plurality of drivers in the information handling system, to receive matching values from each of the plurality of drivers, wherein a matching value of a driver represents a number of properties of the device that matches the matching criteria of the driver and the matching value increases in value in response to each property of the device that matches the matching criteria of the driver, and to select one of the drivers in response to the one driver having a highest matching value, wherein the matching process for a driver is ended without a matching value being returned to the device access manager in response to a property of the new device not matching a corresponding matching criteria of the driver.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the device access manager is further configured to determine whether one of the drivers is already attached to the device, and to set the matching value to zero in response to the one of the drivers already being attached to the device.

3. The information handling system of claim 2 wherein the driver is already attached to the device in response to the driver having created the device as a virtual device.

4. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the matching criteria for each of the drivers is metadata associated individually with each of the drivers.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the device is a new physical device connected to the information handling system.

6. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the device is a server or a storage device within the information handling system.

7. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the device is a virtual device created by another driver in the management controller.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the matching criteria includes memory size, type of memory, storage type, firmware version, and version of the system.

9. A method comprising:
determining matching criteria for a driver in response to a device being detected by a management controller of an information handling system and the driver being not already attached to the device, wherein the matching criteria is included in metadata added to the driver;
executing a get property function for a property of the device associated with a single matching criterion of the matching criteria;
determining whether the property of the device is received from the get property function;
keeping a matching value for the driver the same when the property of the device is not received;
determining whether the property matches the single matching criterion when the property of the device is received;
increasing a matching value when the property matches the single matching criterion;
ending a driver matching process and setting the matching value to zero when the property does not match the single matching criterion.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
determining whether the driver is already attached to the device; and
setting the matching value to zero in response to the driver already being attached to the device.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the driver is already attached to the device in response to the driver having created the device.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the device is a new physical device connected to the information handling system.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the device is a server or a storage device within the information handling system.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the device is a virtual device created by another driver in the management controller.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the matching criteria includes memory size, type of memory, storage type, firmware version, and version of the system.

16. A method comprising:
detecting, by a management controller, a device within an information handling system;
starting a driver matching in each of a plurality of drivers in the management controller;
receiving a matching value from each of the drivers, wherein the matching value for one of the drivers is based on a number of properties of the device that match matching criteria in the one of the drivers, and wherein the driver matching is ended for the one of the devices and the matching value for the one of the devices is set to zero when a property of the device does not match any of the matching criteria of the one of the devices;
determining whether at least two drivers have the same highest matching value;
selecting the driver with a newest version number as the driver for the device when at least two drivers have the same highest matching value;
attaching the driver with the highest matching value as the driver for the device when only one driver has the highest matching value; and
creating a new virtual device associated with the attached driver.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the matching criteria is included in metadata added to each of the drivers.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the device is a new physical device connected to the information handling system.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the device is a virtual device created by another driver in the management controller.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the matching criteria includes memory size, type of memory, storage type, firmware version, and version of the system.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Miller Andrew T

Classifications

• G06F9/4411 Primary

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