Method and system for reboot recovery

• US 5,951,686 A
• Filed: 03/31/1997
• Issued: 09/14/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Trend Micro Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: McLaughlin, Charles Andrew, Kitamorn, Alongkorn, Mehta, Chet, Langford, John Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Heckler, Thomas M.
• Application Number:
  US08/829,089
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: 395/651, 395/652, 395/181, 395/182.01, 395/182.02, 395/182.08, 395/182.21, 713/1, 713/2
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures

Abstract

A computer system with reboot capability includes a processing mechanism, the processing mechanism supporting an operating system. The system further includes a service processor coupled to the processing mechanism, the service processor determining whether a reboot operation is needed. In addition, the computer system includes a memory mechanism coupled to the processing mechanism and the service processor, the memory mechanism storing a plurality of platform policy parameters and an automatic restart policy of the operating system to support the reboot operation of the service processor.

Claims

1. A method for providing reboot recovery functionality in a computer system, the method comprising:

establishing an automatic reboot policy of an operating system;

providing a plurality of platform policy flags for a service processor (SP); and

controlling the reboot operations by the SP based on the automatic reboot policy with the plurality of platform policy flags.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a plurality of platform policy flags further comprises providing a flag indicating whether a platform follows an operating system reboot policy.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein providing a plurality of platform policy flags further comprises providing a platform reboot policy flag.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising enabling the platform reboot policy flag based on a status of the flag indicating whether a platform follows an operating system reboot policy.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein when the flag indicates that the platform does not follow an operating system reboot policy, the platform reboot policy flag is enabled.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein when the flag indicates that the platform does follow an operating system reboot policy, the platform reboot policy flag is enabled based on a status of the automatic reboot policy.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein a not present status of the automatic reboot policy enables the platform reboot policy flag.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a plurality of platform policy flags further comprises providing a platform reboot limit flag as an indicator of a number of consecutive times a reboot is attempted by the SP.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a plurality of platform policy flags further comprises providing an A/C loss reboot policy flag to indicate whether the system returns to an initial power state after power loss.

10. A method for utilizing a service processor within a computer system to perform reboot operations, the method comprising:

establishing a plurality of platform policy parameters;

monitoring for a condition requiring a reboot; and

attempting the reboot with the service processor based on values for the plurality of platform policy parameters and an operating system automatic restart policy.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising establishing a platform boot retry limit and limiting the attempting to reboot to a value of the platform boot retry limit.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising establishing a parameter for a follow operating system reboot policy, wherein when the parameter for the follow operating system reboot policy is enabled, the attempt to reboot follows the operating system automatic restart policy.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising establishing a platform reboot policy, and enabling the platform reboot policy when the parameter for the follow operating system reboot policy is disabled.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising establishing a platform A/C power loss policy, and enabling the platform A/C power loss policy to return the computer system upon reboot to a power state existing prior to an A/C power loss.

15. A computer system with reboot capability, the computer system comprising:

a processing means, the processing means supporting an operating system;

a service processor coupled to the processing means, the service processor determining whether a reboot operation is needed; and

memory means coupled to the processing means and the service processor, the memory means storing a plurality of platform policy parameters and an automatic restart policy of the operating system to support the reboot operation of the service processor.

16. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the memory means stores the plurality of platform policy parameters in a configuration partition and the automatic restart policy in a system partition.

17. The computer system of 15 wherein the memory means, stores a platform policy parameter indicating whether an operating system restart policy is followed as one of the plurality of platform policy parameters.

18. The computer system of 17 wherein the service processor performs the reboot operation in accordance with the automatic restart policy of the operating system when the platform policy parameter indicates that an operating system restart policy is followed.

19. The computer system of 18 wherein the memory means further stores a platform reboot policy parameter as one of the plurality of platform policy parameters.

20. The computer system of 19 wherein the platform reboot policy parameter enables reboot when the platform policy parameter indicates that an operating system restart policy is not followed.