Firmware configuration using REST over IPMI interface

• US 10,628,176 B1
• Filed: 02/09/2018
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Megatrends International, LLC
• Original Assignee: American Megatrends International, LLC
• Inventors: Santharam, Madhan B., Doppalapudi, Harikrishna, Nallagatla, Purandhar, Rathineswaran, Chandrasekar, Kulchytskyy, Igor
• Primary Examiner(s): Roni, Syed A
• Application Number:
  US15/893,521
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/36 for access to common bus or bus system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/034 Test or assess a computer or a system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for a representational state transfer (“REST” or “RESTful”) over Intelligent Platform Management Interface (“IPMI”) interface for firmware to baseboard management controller (“BMC”) communication and applications thereof. These applications include, but are not limited to, remote firmware configuration, firmware updates, peripheral device firmware updates, provision of management information such as system inventory data, cloning and batch migration of firmware configuration settings, and firmware integrity monitoring. This functionality can be provided in a way that enables communication between BMCs and firmware to utilize modern manageability interfaces while maintaining backward compatibility with previous IPMI implementations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for configuring a firmware of a computing system, comprising:

transmitting data for generating a remote firmware setup user interface (UI) from the firmware to a baseboard management controller (BMC) over a representational state transfer (REST) over intelligent platform management interface (IPMI) interface, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises current firmware configuration settings for the computing system;

generating, at the BMC, the remote firmware setup UI using the data for generating a remote firmware setup UI received from the firmware;

receiving new firmware configuration settings at the BMC from a management client by way of the remote firmware setup UI;

transmitting the new firmware configuration settings from the BMC to the firmware over the REST over IPMI interface; and

configuring the computing system with the new firmware configuration settings.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises an attribute registry.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises remote firmware setup UI resources.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the firmware requests the new firmware configuration settings from the BMC following a reboot of the computing system, and wherein the new firmware configuration settings are transmitted from the BMC to the firmware over the REST over IPMI interface following the reboot.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computing system is configured with the new firmware configuration settings following a reboot of the computing system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI is transmitted from the firmware to the BMC using multiple original equipment manufacturer (OEM) IPMI commands containing REST Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to:

transmit data for generating a remote firmware setup user interface (UI) from the firmware to a baseboard management controller (BMC) over a representational state transfer (REST) over intelligent platform management interface (IPMI) interface, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises current firmware configuration settings for the computing system;

generate, at the BMC, the remote firmware setup UI using the data for generating a remote firmware setup UI received from the firmware;

receive new firmware configuration settings at the BMC from a management client by way of the remote firmware setup UI;

transmit the new firmware configuration settings from the BMC to the firmware over the REST over IPMI interface; and

configure the computing system with the new firmware configuration settings.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises an attribute registry.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises remote firmware setup UI resources.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the firmware requests the new firmware configuration settings from the BMC following a reboot of the computing system, and wherein the new firmware configuration settings are transmitted from the BMC to the firmware over the REST over IPMI interface following the reboot.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the computing system is configured with the new firmware configuration settings following a reboot of the computing system.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI is transmitted from the firmware to the BMC using multiple original equipment manufacturer (OEM) IPMI commands containing REST Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests.

13. A computing system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to;

transmit data for generating a remote firmware setup user interface (UI) from the firmware to a baseboard management controller (BMC) over a representational state transfer (REST) over intelligent platform management interface (IPMI) interface, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises current firmware configuration settings for the computing system;

generate, at the BMC, the remote firmware setup UI using the data for generating a remote firmware setup UI received from the firmware;

receive new firmware configuration settings at the BMC from a management client by way of the remote firmware setup UI;

transmit the new firmware configuration settings from the BMC to the firmware over the REST over IPMI interface; and

configure the computing system with the new firmware configuration settings.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises an attribute registry.

15. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the data for generating the remote firmware setup UI comprises remote firmware setup UI resources.

16. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the firmware requests the new firmware configuration settings from the BMC following a reboot of the computing system, and wherein the new firmware configuration settings are transmitted from the BMC to the firmware over the REST over IPMI interface following the reboot.

17. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the computing system is configured with the new firmware configuration settings following a reboot of the computing system.