Cloud based platform simulation for management controller development

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10430222-B2
Application number	US-201615233522-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2016
Priority date	Aug 10, 2016
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

Certain aspects direct to systems and methods for cloud based platform simulation on virtual machine for development projects of a management controller. The system includes a cloud network, which include necessary computing resources to provide at least one virtual machine (VM), such that the at least one VM is accessible on the cloud network to simulate a management controller and a host computing device for the management controller. The at least one VM includes: a firmware module for the management controller, configured to receive at least one output signal from the host computing device; and a simulator module configured to simulate the host computing device. In operation, the simulator module generates the at least one output signal based on configuration data of the host computing device, and sends the at least one output signal to the firmware module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a cloud network comprising one or more processors that execute computer executable code and computing resources, configured to utilize the computing resources to provide a storage service storing the computer executable code, wherein the computer executable code comprises:
a hypervisor configured to be executed at the one or more processor on the cloud network to provide a first domain; and
a plurality of virtual machines (VMs), configured to correspondingly simulate a plurality of simulated management controllers and a plurality of simulated host computing devices, wherein each of the VMs comprises a firmware module for a corresponding one of the simulated management controllers, and a simulator module configured to simulate a corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices for the corresponding one of the simulated management controllers;

wherein the hypervisor, when executed at the one or more processor on the cloud network, is configured to provide the first domain on the cloud network, allowing the plurality of VMs to be executed simultaneously in the first domain as a plurality of VM instances, such that the VM instances share the computing resources of the cloud network as a hardware host;
wherein each of the VMs, when executed at the one or more processor in the first domain on the cloud network as a corresponding one of the VM instances, is configured to:
execute the corresponding simulator module to provide the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices and at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices;
execute the corresponding firmware module to provide the corresponding one of the simulated management controllers, such that the corresponding one of the simulated management controllers is configured to receive at least one output signal from the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices or from the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices; and
receive, by the corresponding simulating module from a library program of a plurality of library programs stored in the corresponding firmware module, a command for the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices or the at least one simulated device;
control the corresponding simulator module to generate the at least one output signal as a response to the command based on configuration data of the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices or the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices; and
send the at least one output signal to the corresponding firmware module.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of remote computing devices communicatively connected to the cloud network, wherein each of the remote computing devices is configured to remotely control one or more of the plurality of VMs on the cloud network to control the simulation of the corresponding simulated management controllers.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the firmware module comprises a library module storing the plurality of library programs for the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices and the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the simulator module comprises:
a data store storing the configuration data of the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices or the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices; and
at least one simulator library sub-module, each configured to simulate one of the at least one simulated device by:
receiving the command from one of the library programs of the library module;
generating the at least one output signal as the response to the command for the at least one simulated device based on the configuration data stored in the data store; and
sending the response to the library module.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the simulator module further comprises:
at least one simulator driver sub-module, each configured to simulate one of the at least one simulated device controlled by a driver by:
receiving a command from the driver;
generating the at least one output signal as a response to the command for the at least one simulated device based on the configuration data stored in the data library; and
sending the response to the driver.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the configuration data of the corresponding one of the host computing devices comprises:
platform data for the corresponding one of the host computing devices;
device data for the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the host computing devices; and
device specific configuration parameters for the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the host computing devices.

7. A method for cloud based platform simulation for development projects of a management controller, the method comprising:
providing, on a cloud network, a hypervisor and a plurality of virtual machines (VMs), wherein the hypervisor is configured to be executed at one or more processors on the cloud network to provide a first domain, and each of the VMs comprises a firmware module for a corresponding one of a plurality of simulated management controllers and a simulator module configured to simulate a corresponding one of a plurality of simulated host computing devices for the corresponding one of the simulated management controllers;
executing the hypervisor on the cloud network to provide the first domain;
executing the VMs simultaneously in the first domain as a plurality of VM instances, such that the VM instances share computing resources of the cloud network as a hardware host;
executing, by one of the VM instances in the first domain, the corresponding firmware module to provide a corresponding one of the simulated management controllers;
executing, by the one of the VM instances in the first domain, the corresponding simulator module to provide a corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices and at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices;
receiving, by the corresponding simulating module from a library program of a plurality of library programs stored in the corresponding firmware module, a command for the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices or the at least one simulated device;
controlling, by the one of the VM instances in the first domain, the corresponding simulator module to generate at least one output signal as a response to the command based on configuration data of the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices or the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices; and
sending, by the one of the VM instances in the first domain, the at least one output signal to the corresponding firmware module executed at the one of the VM instances, such that the corresponding one of the simulated management controllers provided by the firmware module is configured to receive the at least one output signal from the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices or the at least one simulated device connected to the corresponding one of the simulated host computing devices.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising:
remotely controlling, from a plurality of remote computing devices communicatively connected to the cloud network, one or

Assignees

• American Megatrends Int Llc

Inventors

• Maity Sanjoy
• Christopher Samvinesh
• Thomas Satheesh

Classifications

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F9/45508

  Runtime interpretation or emulation, e g. emulator loops, bytecode interpretation · CPC title