Method for atomically updating a plurality of files

• US 7,299,463 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2001
• Issued: 11/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Brannock, Kirk D., Stevens, William A.
• Primary Examiner(s): VO, TED T
• Application Number:
  US09/967,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20030066062A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,244 Days
• Field of Search: 717167-178, 717120-122, 717/131, 707/203, 710/8, 713/2, 703/203
• US Class Current: 717/169
• 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 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

A method for updating platform firmware is disclosed. This capability is facilitated by a standard software abstraction for a firmware storage device, known as Firmware Volume (FV) that is managed through a Firmware File System (FFS). The FFS enables firmware files to be created, deleted, and updated individually. The FFS also enables a plurality of firmware files to be updated atomically by managing file state information via state bits stored in a file header of each firmware file, whereby an atomic change to a single state bit simultaneously causes the FFS to use an updated set of firmware files in place of an original set of firmware files.

Claims

1. A method for updating an existing portion of platform firmware data in persistent firmware memory, comprising:

writing updated firmware data to a pad file in the persistent firmware memory that is different from a memory location of the existing platform firmware data so that the persistent firmware memory comprises both the existing platform firmware data and the updated platform data; and

performing an atomic operation to modify firmware configuration data to indicate whether the existing platform firmware data or the updated platform firmware data is valid and is to be loaded and executed, such that only the existing platform firmware data will be loaded and executed before the atomic operation is performed and only the updated platform firmware data will be loaded and executed after the atomic operation is performed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing an integrity check of the updated platform firmware data to verify that the updated platform firmware data is valid.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated platform firmware data is written to the persistent firmware memory in a manner in which the updated platform firmware data is invisible to a firmware management system used to access firmware data stored on the persistent firmware memory until the atomic modification of the firmware configuration data has been performed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a full recovery of the existing portion of platform firmware data that is to be updated during an upgrade process in response to a system anomaly that prevents completion of the upgrade process.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting the at least a portion of existing platform firmware data after it has been upgraded.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a flash memory device.

7. A method for updating a plurality of existing platform firmware files in persistent firmware memory, which at least a portion of existing platform firmware data comprises header data indicating whether or not the existing platform firmware data is valid and is to be updated, the method comprising:

modifying the header data of the existing platform firmware data to indicate that the existing platform firmware data is valid and is to be updated;

writing updated platform firmware data to a memory location that is different from the memory location of the existing platform firmware data so that the persistent firmware memory comprises both the existing platform firmware data and the updated platform firmware data, which update platform firmware data comprises header data indicating that the updated platform firmware data is not valid and is not to be updated; and

performing an atomic operation to modify the header data of the updated platform firmware data is valid and is not to be updated, thereby indicating that the updated platform firmware data is to be loaded and executed instead of the existing platform firmware data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each platform firmware file comprises a file header and a data area in which platform firmware data corresponding to that file is written, and wherein each file header includes a plurality of state bits that are used to track a current state of each platform firmware file during the update process.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the temporary file is created by creating a file header that identifies the temporary file includes a data area that is sized to hold all of the updated platform firmware files, said data area being mapped to a memory area on a firmware storage device that is used to store the existing and updated platform firmware files.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising changing a state bit in the temporary file'"'"'s file header to indicate that the temporary file is invalid after data corresponding to the updated platform firmware files are written to the data area of the temporary file.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a file system is used to access the platform firmware files and the updated firmware files appear invisible to the file system prior to when the state bit is changed and become visible to the file system after the state bit is changed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each existing platform firmware file has a name that is shared by a corresponding updated platform firmware file, further comprising:

changing the state bits in each of the existing platform firmware files to indicate they are to be updated;

setting the state bits in each of the updated platform firmware files to indicate that they are valid,

wherein, upon becoming visible to the file system, the state bits in the file headers of the updated platform files in combination with the state bits in the existing platform firmware files simultaneously inform the file system that the existing platform files are invalid and the updated platform files are valid.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising performing an integrity check of the updated platform firmware files to verify that the updated firmware files are valid prior to atomically modifying the platform firmware file configuration information to indicate that the updated platform firmware files are to be used in place of the existing platform firmware.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising enabling a full recovery of the existing platform firmware files that are to be updated during the upgrade process in response to a system anomaly that prevents completion of the upgrade process.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising setting the state bits in each file header of the existing platform firmware files to indicate the file is deleted after the upgrade process has been complete.

16. A machine readable media on which a plurality of machine-executable instructions are stored that when executed by a machine updates an existing portion of platform firmware data partitioned into a plurality of sets of firmware code by performing the operation of:

writing updated firmware data to a pad file in the persistent firmware memory that is different from a memory location of the existing platform firmware data so that the persistent firmware memory comprises both the existing platform firmware data and the updated platform data; and

performing an atomic operation to modify firmware configuration data to indicate whether the existing platform firmware data or the updated platform firmware data is valid and is to be loaded and executed, such that only the existing platform firmware data will be loaded and executed before the atomic operation is performed and only the updated platform firmware data will be loaded and executed after the atomic operation is performed.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further performs the operation of performing an integrity check of the updated firmware data to verify that the updated firmware data is valid.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further enable the machine to perform a full recovery of the existing portion of firmware data that is to be updated during an upgrade process in response to a machine anomaly that prevents completion of the upgrade process.

19. A machine readable media on which a plurality of machine-executable instructions are stored that when executed by a machine updates a plurality of existing platform firmware files in persistent firmware memory wherein each of said plurality of existing platform firmware files comprises header data indicating whether or not the existing platform firmware file is valid and is to be updated by performing the operations of:

creating a pad file at a memory location in the persistent firmware memory which is different from the memory location of the existing platform firmware files, the pad file having a data area and a header data indicating that the pad file is valid;

writing data corresponding to a plurality of updated platform firmware files comprising new versions of the plurality of existing platform firmware files to the data area of the pad file so that the persistent firmware memory comprises both the plurality of existing platform firmware files and the plurality of updated platform firmware files, each of the plurality of update platform firmware files comprising header data indicating that the updated platform firmware file is valid and is not to be updated;

modifying the header data of each of the existing platform firmware files to indicate that the existing platform firmware file is valid and is to be updated; and

performing an atomic operation to modify the header data of the pad file to indicate that the pad file is not valid, thereby indicating that the updated platform firmware files written to the data area of the pad file are to be loaded and executed instead of the existing platform firmware files.

20. The machine readable media of claim 19, wherein each file header includes a plurality of state bits that are used to track a current state of each platform firmware file during the update process.

21. The machine readable media of claim 20, wherein the temporary file is created by creating a file header that identifies the temporary file includes a data area that is sized to hold all of the updated platform firmware files, said data area being mapped to a memory area on a firmware storage device that is used to store the existing and updated platform firmware files.

22. The machine readable media of claim 21, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further performs the operation of changing a state bit in the file header of the temporary file to indicate that the temporary file is invalid after data corresponding to the updated platform firmware files are written to the data area of the temporary file.

23. The machine readable media of claim 22, wherein a file system is used to access the platform firmware files and the updated firmware files appear invisible to the file system prior to when the state bit is changed and become visible to the file system after the state bit is changed.

24. The machine readable media of claim 23, wherein each existing platform firmware file has a name that is shared by a corresponding updated platform firmware file, and wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further performs the operations of:

changing the state bits in each of the existing platform firmware files to indicate they are to be updated; and

setting the state bits in each of the updated platform firmware files to indicate that they are valid,

wherein, upon becoming visible to the file system, the state bits in the file headers of the updated platform files in combination with the state bits in the platform firmware files simultaneously inform the file system that the existing platform files are invalid and the updated platform files are valid.

25. The machine readable media of claim 19, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further performs the operation of performing an integrity check of the updated platform firmware files to verify that the updated firmware files are valid prior to atomically modifying the platform firmware file configuration information to indicate that the updated platform firmware files are to be used in place of the existing platform firmware.

26. The machine readable media of claim 19, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further performs the operation of enabling a full recovery of the existing platform firmware files that are to be updated during the upgrade process in response to a system anomaly that prevents completion of the upgrade process.

27. The machine readable media of claim 20, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions further performs the operation of setting the state bits in each file header of the existing platform firmware files to indicate the file is deleted after the upgrade process has been complete.