Virtual baseboard management controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9298524-B2
Application number	US-201414221544-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2014
Priority date	Mar 22, 2013
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A system firmware agent providing the capabilities of a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) from within System Management Mode (SMM) is discussed. A virtual BMC provides dedicated communication channels for system firmware, other BMCs in the platform and remote management agents. The virtual BMC may monitor the status of the system, record system events, and control the system state.

First claim

I claim:

1. A computing device-implemented method for improved platform management, comprising:
generating a System Management Interrupt (SMI), the SMI invoking a transition to System Management Mode (SMM) by a central processing unit (CPU) in the computing device;
receiving a management command with a firmware-based virtual Baseboard Management Controller (vBMC) executing during SMM;
performing a management function for the computing device with the vBMC based on the management command; and
communicating management data resulting from the performance of the management function while the vBMC is executing during SMM.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the management data is at least one of data regarding monitored sensors in the computing device, information regarding logged events affecting the computing device, system information regarding components of the computing device and status information for the computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the vBMC, in response to the management command, performs at least one of a change to a setup option for the computing device and a debug operation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the vBMC provides a watchdog timer enabling the reset of the computing device in the case of a system hang.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the vBMC includes an interface for a platform bus and receives the management command over the platform bus.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the computing device includes sensors and the vBMC communicates over the platform bus with the sensors.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the vBMC includes a network interface enabling communication with a Network Interface Controller and receives a management command from a remote management process or user via the network interface.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the vBMC includes an operating system (OS)/driver execution environment (DXE) interface enabling at least one of a local OS driver and DXE driver to communicate with the vBMC.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the vBMC includes an SMM interface enabling an SMM driver to communicate with the vBMC.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reading the management command with the vBMC from a pre-specified memory buffer, wherein the management command is written to the memory buffer by an operating system (OS) driver or Driver Execution Environment (DXE) driver before the transition to SMM;
storing the management data resulting from the performance of the management function in the memory buffer with the vBMC while the CPU is executing in SMM; and
triggering a return to a normal operating mode for the CPU, wherein the stored management data is retrieved from the memory buffer following the return to normal operating mode for the CPU by the OS or DXE driver.

11. A non-transitory medium holding computer-executable instructions for improved platform management, the instructions when executed causing a computing device to:
generate a System Management Interrupt (SMI), the SMI invoking a transition to System Management Mode (SMM) by a central processing unit (CPU) in the computing device;
receive a management command with a firmware-based virtual Baseboard Management Controller (vBMC) executing during SMM;
perform a management function for the computing device with the vBMC based on the management command; and
communicate management data resulting from the performance of the management function while the vBMC is executing during SMM.

12. The medium of claim 11 wherein the management data is at least one of data regarding monitored sensors in the computing device, information regarding logged events affecting the computing device, system information regarding components of the computing device and status information for the computing device.

13. The medium of claim 11 wherein the vBMC, in response to the management command, performs at least one of a change to a setup option for the computing device and a debug operation.

14. The medium of claim 11 wherein the vBMC provides a watchdog timer enabling the reset of the computing device in the case of a system hang.

15. The medium of claim 11 wherein the vBMC includes an interface for a platform bus and receives the management command over the platform bus.

16. The medium of claim 15 wherein the computing device includes sensors and the vBMC communicates over the platform bus with the sensors.

17. The medium of claim 11 wherein the vBMC includes a network interface for enabling communication with a Network Interface Controller and receives a management command from a remote management process or user via the network interface.

18. The medium of claim 11 wherein the vBMC includes an operating system (OS)/driver execution environment (DXE) interface enabling at least one of a local OS driver and DXE driver to communicate with the vBMC.

19. The medium of claim 11 wherein the vBMC includes an SMM interface enabling an SMM driver to communicate with the vBMC.

20. The medium of claim 11 wherein the instructions when executed further cause the computing device to:
read the management command with the vBMC from a pre-specified memory buffer, the management command written to the memory buffer by an operating system (OS) driver or Driver Execution Environment (DXE) driver before the transition to SMM;
store the management data resulting from the performance of the management function in the memory buffer with the vBMC while the CPU is executing in SMM; and
trigger a return to a normal operating mode for the CPU, the stored management data retrieved from the memory buffer following the return to normal operating mode for the CPU.

21. A computing device configured to provide enhanced management information, comprising:
a central processing unit (CPU) supporting System Management Mode (SMM);
a Network Interface controller (NIC) for receiving and transmitting network packets over a network;
a platform management bus; and
system firmware that includes a virtual Baseboard Management controller (vBMC) that executes when the CPU is operating in SMM, the vBMC:
receiving a management command;
performing a management function for the computing device based on the management command; and
communicating management data resulting from the performance of the management function.

22. The computing device of claim 21 , further comprising:
a pre-specified memory buffer, wherein the management command is read from the memory buffer with the vBMC, the management command written to the memory buffer by an operating system (OS) driver or Driver Execution Environment (DXE) driver before a transition to SMM, wherein the management data results from the performance of the management function stored in the memory buffer with the vBMC while the CPU is executing in SMM, and the management data retrieved from the memory buffer by the OS or DXE driver following a return to normal operating mode for the CPU.

23. The computing device of claim 21 wherein the management data is at least one of data regarding monitored sensors in the computing device, information regarding logged events affecting the computing device, system information regarding components of the computing device and status information for the computing device.

24. The computing device of claim 21 wherein the vBMC, in response to the management command, performs at least one of a change to a setup option for the computing device and a debug operation.

Assignees

• Insyde Software Corp

Inventors

• Lewis Timothy Andrew

Classifications

• G06F11/3089

  Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in sensing the monitored data, e.g. interfaces, connectors, sensors, probes, agents (software debugging using additional hardware using a specific debug interface G06F11/3656; performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring G06F11/3466) · CPC title

• G06F2213/0058

  Bus-related hardware virtualisation · CPC title

• G06F11/0706

  the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment · CPC title

• G06F11/3006

  where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems (multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50) · CPC title

• G06F11/07 Primary

  Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance · CPC title