UEFI and operating system driver methods for updating MAC address in LAN-based NIC

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-RE49226-E
Application number	US-201816177115-A
Country	US
Kind code	E1
Filing date	Oct 31, 2018
Priority date	Jul 30, 2014
Publication date	Sep 27, 2022
Grant date	Sep 27, 2022

Abstract

An information handling system (IHS) unambiguously addresses networked devices connected by a local area network (LAN) based network interface controller (NIC) by detecting a device descriptor of LAN-based NIC, determining that the device descriptor indicates a capability for assigning a reserve media access control (MAC) address to the networked device, writing the reserve MAC address in the LAN-based NIC of the networked device, and associating the reserve MAC address with the networked device in an inventory data structure for the IHS.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of unambiguously addressing networked devices in an information handling system (IHS), the method comprising:
detecting a device descriptor of a local area network (LAN) based (LAN)-based network interface controller (NIC) connected to a networked device that does not physically contain a unique MAC address;
determining that the device descriptor indicates a capability for assigning a reserve media access control (MAC) address to the networked device;
archiving an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) MAC address of the LAN-based NIC into a non-volatile storage of the LAN-based NIC; and
provisioning the reserve MAC address in the LAN-based NIC of the networked device;
associating the reserve MAC address with the networked device in an inventory data structure of the IHS;
detecting a presence of the networked device by an operating system of the IHS;
accessing a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) reserve MAC protocol to expose a UEFI Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) driver that is specific to the device descriptor;
loading the UEFI PXE driver into a UEFI platform; and
provisioning the LAN-based NIC with the reserve MAC address using the UEFI PXE driver in place of the archived OEM MAC address.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the LAN-based NIC provides LAN connectivity between the IHS and the networked device, the method further comprising:
detecting the presence of the networked device by an operating system driver during one of a boot of the IHS and a hot plugging of a network system; and
the operating system driver provisioning the reserve MAC address in the LAN-based NIC for use in place of an OEM programmed MAC address of the LAN-based NIC; and
associating the MAC address with the networked device in an inventory data structure of the IHS.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
sending a command over an operating system to a basic input/output system (BIOS) interface to an of a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) BIOS; and
receiving the reserve MAC address from the UEFI BIOS.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
re-initializing an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) MAC address for the LAN-based NIC in response to a power cycle of the networked device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a second device descriptor of a second networked device that is connected to the LAN-based NIC; and
provisioning a second reserve MAC address in the LAN-based NIC, where the second reserve MAC address is assigned to the second networked device and a first reserve the MAC address and second MAC address are unique reserve different MAC addresses.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting the a second device descriptor of the networked device connected to a second LAN-based NIC to which the networked device is connected, the second device descriptor also indicating a capability for assigning a second MAC address to the second LAN-based NIC; and
provisioning the second based LAN-based NIC with the reserve MAC address that was previously assigned to and is associated with the networked device.

7. An information handling system (IHS) to unambiguously address networked devices, the IHS comprising:
a local area network (LAN) based network interface controller (NIC);
a networked device connected to the LAN-based NIC, the LAN-based NIC external to the networked device; and
a system that manages an IHS inventory list database, the system physically interconnected to the networked device via the LAN-based NIC and having a processor operably in communication with the LAN-based NIC to:
detect a device descriptor of the LAN-based NIC;
determine that the device descriptor indicates a capability for assigning a reserve media access control (MAC) address to the networked device that connects to the system via the LAN-based NIC;
archive an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) MAC address of the LAN-based NIC into a non-volatile storage of the LAN-based NIC; and
provision the LAN-based NIC with the reserve a MAC address;
associate the reserve MAC address with the networked device in an inventory data structure for the HIS;
detect the presence of the networked device by an operating system of the IHS;
access a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) reserve MAC protocol to expose a UEFI Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) driver that is specific to the device descriptor;
load the UEFI PXE driver into a UEFI platform; and
provision, by using the UEFI PXE driver, the LAN-based NIC with the reserve MAC address in place of the archived OEM MAC address.

8. The IHS of claim 7 , wherein the LAN-based NIC provides LAN connectivity between the IHS and the networked device and the system is further operable to:
detect the presence of the networked device by an operating system driver during one of a boot of the IHS and a hot plugging of a network system; and
provision the reserve MAC address in the LAN-based NIC by the operating system driver for use in place of an OEM programmed MAC address of the LAN-based NIC; and
associate the MAC address with the networked device in an inventory data structure of the IHS.

9. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the system is further operable to:
send a command by an the operating system driver over an operating system to a basic input/output system (BIOS) interface to an Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) BIOS; and
receive the reserve MAC address from the UEFI BIOS.

10. The IHS of claim 7 , wherein the system is further operable to:
re-initialize an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) MAC address for the LAN-based NIC in response to a power cycle of the networked device.

11. The IHS of claim 7 , wherein the system is further operable to:
detect a second device descriptor of a second networked device that is connected to the LAN-based NIC; and
provision the LAN-based NIC with a second reserve MAC address that is assigned to the second networked device, the second MAC address being a different MAC address from the MAC address associated with the networked device.

12. The IHS of claim 7 , wherein the system is operable to:
detect the device descriptor of the networked device that is connected to a second LAN-based NIC; and
provision the second LAN-based NIC with a reserve the MAC address that is was previously assigned and associated with the networked device.

13. A system that unambiguously addresses networked devices in a distributed information handling system (IHS), the system comprising:
a processor;
an operating system driver executed by the processor and in communication with a local area network (LAN) based network interface controller (NIC) that is external to and connected to a networked device, the operating system driver;
a memory comprising an IHS inventory list database managed by the system, the system physically interconnected to the networked device via the LAN-based NIC; and
a processor communicatively connected to the LAN-based NIC and which executes firmware including an operating system driver that makes the processor operable to:
detect a device descriptor of the LAN-based NIC;
determine that the device descriptor indicates a capability for assigning a reserve media access control (MAC) address to the networked device that connects to the IHS via the LAN-based NIC;
archive an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) MAC address of the LAN-based NIC into a non-volatile storage of the LAN-based NIC; and
provision the LAN-based NIC with the reserve a MAC address;
associate the reserve MAC address with the networked device in an inventory data structure

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Gillon James T
• Voor Thomas E
• Grobelny Nicholas D
• Martell Nathan F

Classifications

• H04L61/5084

  Providing for device mobility (network addressing or numbering for mobility support in wireless networks H04W8/26; mobile IP H04W80/04) · CPC title

• H04L61/5038 Primary

  for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN] · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title