Systems and methods for extension of server management functions
First Claim
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;
a remote access controller coupled to the one or more external I/O interfaces and further coupled to the at least one processing device via a communication bus;
persistent storage coupled to the remote access controller with the remote access controller being coupled between the persistent storage and the at least one processing device and one or more external I/O interfaces, the remote access controller being programmed to manage the persistent storage and the remote access controller and the persistent storage each being internal components of the information handling system; 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 remote access controller being programmed to execute the server management framework to load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device of the information handling system;
wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the server management framework to access a configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the one or more external I/O interfaces, the configuration plug-in including a configuration layer;
wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the server management framework to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; and
wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the server management framework to then load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device with the one or more server management functions extended to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in;
wherein the server management framework includes a plug-in registration service, the remote access controller being further programmed to execute the plug-in registration service to access a plug-in registration of the configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the one or more external I/O interfaces and to execute the plug-in registration service of the server management framework to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; and
wherein the one or more server management functions comprise a graphical user interface (“
GUI”
) XML profile and GUI processing module that allow a user to control enablement and disablement of other server management functions.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An information handling system, comprising:
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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 one or more external I/O interfaces and further coupled to the at least one processing device via a communication bus; persistent storage coupled to the remote access controller with the remote access controller being coupled between the persistent storage and the at least one processing device and one or more external I/O interfaces, the remote access controller being programmed to manage the persistent storage and the remote access controller and the persistent storage each being internal components of the information handling system; 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 remote access controller being programmed to execute the server management framework to load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device of the information handling system; wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the server management framework to access a configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the one or more external I/O interfaces, the configuration plug-in including a configuration layer; wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the server management framework to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; and wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the server management framework to then load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device with the one or more server management functions extended to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; wherein the server management framework includes a plug-in registration service, the remote access controller being further programmed to execute the plug-in registration service to access a plug-in registration of the configuration plug-in from one or more external devices across the one or more external I/O interfaces and to execute the plug-in registration service of the server management framework to extend the configuration layer of the server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the configuration plug-in; and wherein the one or more server management functions comprise a graphical user interface (“
GUI”
) XML profile and GUI processing module that allow a user to control enablement and disablement of other server management functions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computing system, comprising:
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a host information handling system that comprises; at least one processing device internal to the host information handling system, at least one external input/output (I/O) interface, a remote access controller coupled between the one or more external I/O interfaces and the at least one processing device via an internal communication bus, persistent storage coupled to the remote access controller with the remote access controller being coupled between the persistent storage and the at least one processing device and one or more external I/O interfaces, the remote access controller being programmed to manage the persistent storage and the remote access controller and the persistent storage each being internal components of the information handling system, and a host 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 remote access controller being programmed to execute the server management framework to load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device of the information handling system; and one or more remote external devices coupled to the one or more external I/O interfaces of the host information handling system; wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the host server management framework to access a remote configuration plug-in from the one or more remote external devices across the one or more external I/O interfaces, the remote configuration plug-in including a configuration layer; wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the host server management framework to extend the configuration layer of the host server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the remote configuration plug-in; wherein the remote access controller is further programmed to execute the host server management framework to then load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device with the one or more server management functions extended to include the configuration layer of the remote configuration plug-in; wherein the host server management framework includes a plug-in registration service, the remote access controller being further programmed to execute the plug-in registration service to access a plug-in registration of the remote configuration plug-in from one or more remote external devices across the one or more external I/O interfaces to extend the configuration layer of the host server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the remote configuration plug-in; and wherein the one or more server management functions comprise a graphical user interface (“
GUI”
) XML profile and GUI processing module that allow a user to control enablement and disablement of other server management functions. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of extending server management functions in an information handling system comprising:
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providing a host information handling system that comprises; at least one processing device internal to the host information handling system, at least one external input/output (I/O) interface, a remote access controller coupled between the one or more external I/O interfaces and the at least one processing device via an internal communication bus, persistent storage coupled to the remote access controller with the remote access controller being coupled between the persistent storage and the at least one processing device and one or more external I/O interfaces, the remote access controller being programmed to manage the persistent storage and the remote access controller and the persistent storage each being internal components of the information handling system, and a host server management framework present on the persistent storage, the host server management framework including one or more server management functions that each include a configuration layer; coupling the one or more external I/O interfaces to one or more remote devices that are external to the host information handling system; using the host server management framework to load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device of the host information handling system; using the host server management framework to access a remote configuration plug-in across the one or more external I/O interfaces from the one or more remote external devices, the remote configuration plug-in including a configuration layer; using the host server management framework to extend the configuration layer of the host server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the remote configuration plug-in; and using the host server management framework to then load the one or more server management functions on the at least one processing device with the host one or more server management functions extended to include the configuration layer of the remote configuration plug-in; wherein the host 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 remote configuration plug-in from the one or more remote external devices across the one or more external I/O interfaces, and extend the configuration layer of the host server management framework across the one or more external I/O interfaces to include the configuration layer of the remote configuration plug-in; and wherein the one or more server management functions comprise a graphical user interface (“
GUI”
) XML profile and GUI processing module; andwherein the method further comprises using the GUI XML profile to enable or disable other server management functions. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification