Systems and methods for extension of server management functions

• US 20110078293A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Prabhu, Pritesh F., Rao, Sanjay, Phung, Hai T., Stracener, Charles D., Narayanan, Anand, Zhang, Weijia
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,422 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration

Abstract

Systems and methods that may be implemented to provide a plug-in architecture framework to allow extension of server management functionalities in a unified extension firmware interface (“UEFI”) environment using available remote access controller memory space. The disclosed systems and methods may be implemented to provide a hardware and software interface to allow use of a plug-in framework in the embedded system management that may be run under the BIOS firmware and the UEFI environment. The disclosed systems and methods may also be implemented to provide a server management architecture that may be modified and enhanced over time, and/or that may also be employed to extend availability of the server management framework to third parties, as well as to extend support to original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) servers.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one processing device;

at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the at least one processing device, the external I/O interface being configured for coupling to one or more devices that are external to the information handling system;

a remote access controller coupled to the external I/O interface and to the at least one processing device;

persistent storage coupled to the remote access controller; and

a server management framework present on the persistent storage, the server management framework including one or more server management functions that each include a configuration layer, the server management framework being configured to load the server management functions on the at least one processing device of the information handling system;

wherein the server management framework is further configured to access a configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the external I/O interface, the configuration plug-in including a configuration layer;

wherein the server management framework is configured to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; and

wherein the server management framework is configured to then load the server management functions on the at least one processing device with the server management functions extended to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the server management framework includes a plug-in registration service, the plug-in registration service being configured to access a plug-in registration of the configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the external I/O interface;

wherein the plug-in registration service of the server management framework is configured to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

3. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the persistent storage that is coupled to the remote access controller is divided into a plurality of memory partitions.

4. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising a system motherboard;

and wherein the remote access controller and the persistent storage are embedded components on the motherboard of the information handling system.

5. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising system BIOS firmware residing on the persistent storage;

and wherein the server management framework is configured to run on the remote access controller under a unified extension firmware interface (“

UEFI”

) environment provided by the BIOS firmware to access the configuration plug-in across the external I/O interface from one or more external devices and to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

6. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the server management functions include at, least one of server updates for firmware of the information handling system, server updates for BIOS of the information handling system, upgrades for one or more drivers of the information handling system, server configuration changes or modifications for the information handling system, programming for deployment or installation of an operating system on an information handling system;

one or more diagnostic functions to monitor the health status of the information handling system, or a combination thereof.

7. The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the server management functions comprise a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) XML profile and GUI processing module that are configured to allow a user to control enablement and disablement of other server management functions.

8. A computing system, comprising:

an information handling system that comprises;

at least one processing device,

at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the at least one processing device,

a remote access controller coupled to the external I/O interface and to the at least one processing device,

persistent storage coupled to the remote access controller, and a server management framework present on the persistent storage, the server management framework including one or more server management functions that each include a configuration layer, the server management framework being configured to load the server management functions on the at least one processing device of the information handling system; and

one or more external devices coupled to the external I/O interface of the information handling system;

wherein the server management framework is further configured to access a configuration plug-in from the one or more external devices across the external I/O interface, the configuration plug-in including a configuration layer;

wherein the server management framework is configured to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; and

wherein the server management framework is configured to then load the server management functions on the at least one processing device with the server management functions extended to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the server management framework includes a plug-in registration service, the plug-in registration service being configured to access a plug-in registration of the configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the external I/O interface;

wherein the plug-in registration service of the server management framework is configured to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the persistent storage that is coupled to the remote access controller is divided into a plurality of memory partitions.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the information handling system further comprises a system motherboard;

and wherein the remote access controller and the persistent storage are embedded components on the motherboard of the information handling system.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising system BIOS firmware residing on the persistent storage;

and wherein the server management framework is configured to run on the remote access controller under a unified extension firmware interface (“

UEFI”

) environment provided by the BIOS firmware to access the configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the external I/O interface and to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the server management functions include at least one of server updates for firmware of the information handling system, server updates for BIOS of the information handling system, upgrades for one or more drivers of the information handling system, server configuration changes or modifications for the information handling system, programming for deployment or installation of an operating system on an information handling system;

one or more diagnostic functions to monitor the health status of the information handling system, or a combination thereof.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the server management functions comprise a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) XML profile and GUI processing module that are configured to allow a user to control enablement and disablement of other server management functions.

15. A method of extending server management functions in an information handling system comprising:

providing an information handling system that comprises;

at least one processing device,

at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the at least one processing device,

a remote access controller coupled to the external I/O interface and to the at least one processing device,

persistent storage coupled to the remote access controller, and

a server management framework present on the persistent storage, the server management framework including one or more server management functions that each include a configuration layer;

coupling the external I/O interface to one or more devices that are external to the information handling system;

using the server management framework to load the server management functions on the at least one processing device of the information handling system;

using the server management framework to access a configuration plug-in across the external I/O interface from the one or more external devices, the configuration plug-in including a configuration layer;

using the server management framework to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; and

using the server management framework to then load the server management functions on the at least one processing device with the server management functions extended to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the server management framework includes a plug-in registration service;

and wherein the method further comprises using the plug-in registration service to;

access a plug-in registration of the configuration plug-in from the one or more external devices across the external I/O interface; and

extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the persistent storage that is coupled to the remote access controller is divided into a plurality of memory partitions.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing a system motherboard as a part of the information handling system;

and providing the remote access controller and the persistent storage as embedded components on the motherboard.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing system BIOS firmware residing on the persistent storage;

and using the server management framework to run on the remote access controller under a unified extension firmware interface (“

UEFI”

) environment provided by the BIOS firmware to access the configuration plug-in from the one or more external devices across the external I/O interface and to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the external I/O interface to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the server management functions include at least one of server updates for firmware of the information handling system, server updates for BIOS of the information handling system, upgrades for one or more drivers of the information handling system, server configuration changes or modifications for the information handling system, programming for deployment or installation of an operating system on an information handling system;

one or more diagnostic functions to monitor the health status of the information handling system, or a combination thereof.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the server management functions comprise a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) XML profile and GUI processing module; and

wherein the method further comprises using the GUI XML profile to enable or disable other server management functions.