System and method for system surveillance using firmware progress code
First Claim
1. A method for monitoring host computer initialization, said method comprising:
- initializing a timer within a service processor;
reading a shared storage area from the service processor, wherein the shared storage area is accessible by a host computer and the service processor;
determining whether updated progress data is included in the shared storage area based on the reading; and
performing host error processing by the service processor in response to determining that no updated progress data is included in the shared storage area and that the timer has expired.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for monitoring a host computer using a service processor is provided. A shared nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM) area is used to store progress information from the host computer system. The host computer system writes progress information corresponding to the initialization step being performed to the shared NVRAM and also updates a host pointer in the NVRAM. The service processor reads the shared NVRAM and compares its pointer with the host pointer to determine whether new host initialization activity has been reported. The service processor sets a timer so that if host activity is not reported during a set amount of time an error condition occurs causing the service processor to handle the host computer error. An optional service processor routine determines whether the host computer is stuck in an initialization loop whereupon the service processor once again handles the host computer error.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring host computer initialization, said method comprising:
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initializing a timer within a service processor;
reading a shared storage area from the service processor, wherein the shared storage area is accessible by a host computer and the service processor;
determining whether updated progress data is included in the shared storage area based on the reading; and
performing host error processing by the service processor in response to determining that no updated progress data is included in the shared storage area and that the timer has expired. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An information handling system comprising:
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one or more host processors;
a service processor;
a shared memory accessible by the host processors and the service processor;
an surveillance tool for monitoring initialization of the information handling system, the surveillance tool including;
means for initializing a timer within the service processor;
means for reading the shared memory from the service processor, wherein the shared memory is accessible by a host computer and the service processor;
means for determining whether updated progress data is included in the shared memory based on the reading; and
means for performing host error processing by the service processor in response to determining that no updated progress data is included in the shared memory and that the timer has expired. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer program product stored in a computer operable media for monitoring host computer initialization, said computer program product comprising:
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means for initializing a timer within a service processor;
means for reading a shared storage area from the service processor, wherein the shared storage area is accessible by a host computer and the service processor;
means for determining whether updated progress data is included in the shared storage area based on the reading; and
means for performing host error processing by the service processor in response to determining that no updated progress data is included in the shared storage area and that the timer has expired. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification