Methods and apparatus for enabling of a remote management agent independent of an operating system

• US 7,543,048 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2002
• Issued: 06/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Zimmer, Vincent J., Rothman, Michael A., Doran, Mark S., Fish, Andrew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): PHILLIPS, HASSAN A
• Application Number:
  US10/302,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20040103175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,384 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709222-224, 709/250
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for remotely managing a computer are disclosed. For example, a remote management agent is provided for use in a computer having a processor. The example remote management agent includes a communication agent in communication with the controller to contact a server before an operating system is loaded on the computer to obtain an initialization packet from a server and an initialization packet loader in communication with the controller to load the initialization packet in a protected memory area of the computer, before the operating system is loaded.

The remote management agent also includes a monitoring agent, not associated with the operating system, in communication with the controller to monitor the computer for a communication from the server and a command line interface agent, also not associated with the operating system and in communication with the controller to interpret and respond to the communication from the server.

Claims

1. A method of remotely managing a computer comprising:

initiating a request from the computer to a server before loading an operating system on the computer, the request to obtain an initialization packet from the server, the initialization packet including software;

communicating the initialization packet from the server to a remote management agent;

installing the initialization packet in a protected memory area of the computer;

protecting the installed initialization packet from being overwritten by the operating system;

enabling an interface at the computer with the software, wherein the interface is functionally independent from the operating system of the computer;

the interface detecting, interpreting, and responding to a communication from the server to the computer

wherein the interface detects, interprets, and responds to the communication independently of the operating system and detects, interprets, and responds to the communication if the operating system is in one or more of a failed or unstable state; and

configuring or triaging the computer using the response to the communication.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising interrupting the operating system when interpreting and responding to the communication from the server if the operating system is running on the computer.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein initiating the request from the computer to the server, the request to obtain the initialization packet, communicating the initialization packet from the server to the remote management agent, and installing the initialization pack 4 in the protected memory area of the computer are performed before the operating system is fully launched.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising installing the initialization packet in a system management mode memory portion of a random access memory.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising launching an extensible firmware interface prior to installing the initialization packet.

6. A method as defined in claim 5, wherein retrieving and installing the initialization packet comprises retrieving and installing a command line interface software.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the interface detects, interprets, and responds to the communication from the server with the command line interface software using one or more runtime calls to the extensible firmware interface.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein initiating the request and installing the initialization packet comprises retrieving and installing a description of an interface to allow the retrieval of a specific piece of data through an extensible firmware interface of the computer.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein retrieving and installing the description of the interface comprises retrieving and installing a globally unique identifier.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining if the communication is a data request from the server or an instruction to perform a configuration management task on the computer.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein responding to the communication comprises performing a task, wherein the task is selected from the group of tasks consisting of performing a flash update, performing a hard drive image installation, initiating a configuration transaction, monitoring a state of the computer, and obtaining a Field Replaceable Unit data corresponding to the computer.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising loading and activating the operating system prior to detecting the communication from the server.

13. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein responding to the communication from the server comprises sending a requested set of data to the server.

14. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining if the computer is in an unstable or a failed state and reporting to the server whether the computer is in the unstable or the failed state, independent from the operating system.

15. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising determining if the server wants to triage the computer if the computer is in the unstable or the failed state, independent from the operating system.

16. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising sending the server a set of data if the server wants to triage the computer, independent from the operating system.

17. A method as defined in claim 14, further comprising receiving from the server instructions to reset the computer, and resetting the computer, independent from the operating system.

18. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising requesting an identity of the computer to authorize a transfer of the initialization packet to the computer.

19. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the interface interprets and responds to the communication from the server by initiating one or more runtime calls to an extensible firmware interface of the computer, independent from the operating system.

20. A method of remotely managing a computer comprising:

launching an extensible firmware interface on the computer, the extensible firmware interface in communication with a remote management agent;

launching the remote management agent on the computer, the remote management agent including a monitoring agent and a command line interface agent, wherein the remote management agent is functionally independent of an operating system of the computer and a proxy for communications and requests between a server and the computer;

the remote management agent initiating the request from the computer to the server before the operating system of the computer is loaded, the request to obtain an initialization packet including software from the server;

communicating the initialization packet from the server to the remote management agent;

installing the initialization packet in a protected memory area of a random access memory associated with the computer;

protecting the installed initialization packet from being overwritten by the operating system;

enabling the monitoring agent and the command line interface agent with the software;

at the monitoring agent, detecting the communication from the server to the computer, the communication including one or more of an interaction request, a configuration instruction, or a status request, wherein the monitoring agent is functionally independent from the operating system; and

at the command line interface agent, responding to the communication from the server, a response to the communication including one or more of;

communicating a response to the interaction request from the computer to the server, the response to the interaction request permitting the server to determine appropriate data to transmit to the computer in response to a subsequent configuration instruction,

configuring the computer in response to the configuration instruction before booting the operating system on the computer,

communicating the status from the computer to the server in response to the status request, and

triaging the computer using the response to the communication if the operating system is in one or more of a failed or unstable state;

wherein the command line interface agent and the monitoring agent function if the operating system is in one or more of a failed or unstable state.

21. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising interrupting the operating system when responding to the communication from the server if the operating system is running on the computer.

22. A method as defined in claim 20, wherein initiating the request from the computer to a server, the request to obtain the initialization packet including software, communicating the initialization packet from the server to the remote management agent, and installing the initialization packet in the protected memory area of the random access memory is performed before an operating system is fully launched.

23. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising installing the initialization packet in a system management mode memory portion of the random access memory.

24. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising launching the extensible firmware interface prior to installing the initialization packet.

25. A method as defined in claim 20, wherein communicating and installing the initialization packet comprises communicating and installing a description of an interface to allow the retrieval of a specific piece of computer data.

26. A method as defined in claim 25, wherein communicating and installing the description of the interface comprises communicating and installing a globally unique identifier.

27. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising determining if the communication is a data request from the server or an instruction to perform a configuration management task on the computer.

28. A method as defined in claim 20, wherein configuring the computer in response to the configuration instruction includes one or more of performing a flash update, performing a hard drive image installation, initiating a configuration transaction, monitoring a state of the computer, and obtaining a Field Replaceable Unit data corresponding to the computer.

29. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising loading and activating the operating system prior to detecting the communication from the server.

30. A method as defined in claim 20, wherein communicating the response to the interaction request from the computer to the server comprises sending a requested set of data to the server.

31. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising determining if the computer is in an unstable or a failed state and reporting to the server whether the computer is in the unstable or the failed state, independent from the operating system.

32. A method as defined in claim 31, further comprising determining if the server wants to triage the computer if the computer is in the unstable or the failed state, independent from the operating system.

33. A method as defined in claim 32, further comprising sending the server a set of data if the server wants to triage the computer, independent from the operating system.

34. A method as defined in claim 31, further comprising receiving from the server instructions to reset the computer, and resetting the computer, independent from the operating system.

35. A method as defined in claim 20, further comprising requesting an identity of the computer to authorize a transfer of the command line interface software to the computer.

36. A method as defined in claim 20 wherein the command line interface responds to the communication from the server by initiating one or more runtime calls to the extensible firmware interface of the computer, independent from the operating system.

37. A computer system having a processor for executing a software program and a memory for storing the software program, the processor being programmed to execute the software program to implement a remote management agent to remotely manage a computer, the software program comprising code for:

utilizing an extensible firmware interface to abstracting an operating system of the computer from firmware of the computer, wherein the firmware is stored in a read-only memory of the computer, and wherein the firmware includes one or more of data and a function;

contacting a server to obtain an initialization packet from the server before the operating system is loaded on the computer; and

loading the initialization packet in a protected memory area of the computer, the initialization packet including code to enable a monitoring agent and a command line interface agent before the operating system is loaded;

protecting the loaded initialization packet from being overwritten by the operating system;

the monitoring agent monitoring the computer for a communication from the server, but wherein the monitoring is functionally independent of the operating system; and

the command line interface agent interpreting and responding to the communication from the server independently of any BIOS commands by implementing a runtime call to the extensible firmware interface to one or more of retrieve the data from the firmware and implement the function of the firmware to configure or triage the computer if the operating system is in a failed or unstable state, wherein the command line interface agent is functionally independent of the operating system.

38. A computer system as defined in claim 37 wherein loading the initialization packet in a protected memory area of the computer includes instantiating an initialization packet loader to load the initialization packet in a system management mode memory portion of a random access memory.

39. A computer system as defined in claim 37 further comprising code for triggering a System Management Interrupt (SMI) for interrupting the operating system when the communication from the server is interpreted by the command line interface agent.

40. A computer system as defined in claim 37 further comprising code for assisting the command line interface agent to respond to the communication from the server.

41. A computer system as defined in claim 37 wherein the initialization packet comprises a globally unique identifier and further comprising code for the command line interface agent identifying and retrieving the data from the firmware by initiating a runtime call to the extensible firmware interface when responding to the communication from the server, the runtime call including the globally unique identifier.

42. A computer system as defined in claim 37 further comprising code for determining if the communication is a data request from the server or an instruction to perform a configuration management task on the computer.

43. A computer system as defined in claim 37, wherein the function is selected from the group of functions consisting of performing a flash update, performing a hard drive image installation, initiating a configuration transaction, monitoring a state of the computer, and obtaining a Field Replaceable Unit data corresponding to the computer.

44. A computer system as defined in claim 37 further comprising code for determining if the computer is in an unstable state or a failed state, independent from the operating system.

45. A computer system as defined in claim 37 further comprising code for the command line interface agent to triage the computer if the computer is in an unstable state or a failed state, independent from the operating system.