Systems and methods for intelligent system profile unique data management

• US 8,838,848 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Weijia, Yin, Jianwen, Karri, Madhav, Corn, Vance E., Edwards, William C.
• Primary Examiner(s): ABAD, FARLEY J
• Application Number:
  US13/618,666
• Publication Number:
  US 20140082236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 732 Days
• Field of Search: 710/25, 710/45
• US Class Current: 710/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/10 Program control for peripheral devices G06F13/14 - G06F13/42 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented to manage machine-specific System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) information for one or more information handling systems. Such SPUD information may be managed and transported through in-band and/or out-of-band processing and communications, and may be employed to make restoration of machine-specific data possible either through network data communications and/or local system data communications.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one in-band processing device;

at least one out-of-band processing device; and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to manage System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system; and

where the information handling system further comprises system storage separate from the persistent storage, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device;

where the in-band processing device is configured to access the system storage to support in-band system operations; and

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to;

identify and gather SPUD from the system storage in an out-of-band manner while the in-band processing device is not operating, to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage while the in-band processing device is not operating, and to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising a remote access controller that includes the out-of-band processing device;

and at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the remote access controller and out-of-band processing device, the external I/O interface being configured for wired or wireless coupling to one or more devices that are external to the information handling system; and

where the remote access controller is configured to at least one of retrieve stored SPUD from the persistent storage and provide the retrieved SPUD across the external I/O interface to one or more external devices, receive SPUD from one or more external devices across the external I/O and store the received SPUD on the persistent storage;

or a combination thereof.

3. The information handling system of claim 2, 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.

4. The information handling system of claim 1, where the SPUD comprises machine-specific information unique to the information handling system that includes at least one of system service tag information, static hostname, system MAC address/es, system storage map/s, system IP address/es, static IP address/es, storage configuration, system-specific hardware configuration information, software license/s, user account and login information, information regarding BIOS type and BIOS setting/s, BIOS firmware, network interface card (NIC) firmware, or a combination thereof.

5. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the out-of-band processing device;

and where the out-of-band processing device is configured to receive SPUD across the external I/O interface from an external user or external device, and to save the received SPUD on the persistent storage.

6. The information handling system of claim 1, where the system storage is configured to maintain SPUD for the in-band processing device;

where the in-band processing device is configured to access the system storage to support in-band system operations; and

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to retrieve stored SPUD from the persistent storage, and to install the retrieved SPUD on the system storage.

7. The information handling system of claim 1, where the at least one in-band processing device is configured to execute a host operating system (OS) for the information handling system;

and where the at least one out-of-band processing device is separate from the in-band processing device.

8. The information handling system of claim 1, where the information handling system is a server that includes each of the in-band processing device, out-of-band processing device, system storage and persistent storage.

9. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one in-band processing device;

at least one out-of-band processing device; and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

system storage separate from the persistent storage;

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to manage System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

where at least one of;

the out-of-band processing device is configured to receive SPUD from another separate information handling system and store the received SPUD on the persistent storage, and the out-of-band processing device is further configured to install the stored received SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

or

at least one of the in-band processing device or the out-of-band processing device is configured to gather SPUD from the system storage and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage, and the out-of-band processing device is further configured to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage; and

where the system storage is configured to maintain SPUD for the in-band processing device;

where the in-band processing device is configured to access the system storage to support in-band system operations; and

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to;

identify and gather SPUD from the system storage in an out-of-band manner while the in-band processing device is not operating, to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage while the in-band processing device is not operating, and to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.

10. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one in-band processing device;

at least one out-of-band processing device; and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

system storage separate from the persistent storage;

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to manage System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

where at least one of;

the out-of-band processing device is configured to receive SPUD from another separate information handling system and store the received SPUD on the persistent storage, and the out-of-band processing device is further configured to install the stored received SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

or

at least one of the in-band processing device or the out-of-band processing device is configured to gather SPUD from the system storage and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage, and the out-of-band processing device is further configured to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage; and

where the system storage is configured to maintain SPUD for the in-band processing device;

where the in-band processing device is configured to access the system storage to support in-band system operations;

where the in-band processing device is configured to execute an in-band operating system (OS) agent thereon to gather SPUD from the system storage while the in-band processing device is operating, and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage; and

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.

11. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one in-band processing device;

at least one out-of-band processing device; and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to manage System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system; and

where the information handling system further comprises system storage separate from the persistent storage, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device; and

where the in-band processing device is configured to;

execute one or more guest operating systems and a virtual machine layer,

access the system storage to support the guest operating systems and virtual machine operations, and

implement an in-band license manager and configuration (LM/CFG) utility on each of the guest operating systems and virtual machine layer to create the SPUD information;

where the out-of-band processing device is coupled to communicate with the virtual machine layer, the out-of band processing device being further configured to implement an out-of-band LM/CFG manager to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system; and

where the in-band LM/CFG utilities implemented on each of the guest operating systems and virtual machine layer are further configured to create SPUD information for the system; and

to interact with the out-of-band LM/CFG manager to retrieve, import, export, validate, and re-generate licenses from the SPUD by interacting with out-of-band LM/CFG manager.

12. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one in-band processing device;

at least one out-of-band processing device; and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

system storage separate from the persistent storage;

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to manage System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

where at least one of;

the out-of-band processing device is configured to receive SPUD from another separate information handling system and store the received SPUD on the persistent storage, and the out-of-band processing device is further configured to install the stored received SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

or

at least one of the in-band processing device or the out-of-band processing device is configured to gather SPUD from the system storage and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage, and the out-of-band processing device is further configured to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage; and

where the system storage is configured to maintain SPUD and workload data for the in-band processing device that is configured for in-band processing by the in-band processing device;

where the in-band processing device is configured to access the system storage to support in-band system operations; and

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to;

identify and collect workload image data from the system storage, the workload image data being separate data from the system SPUD, and

save the gathered workload image data on the persistent storage.

13. A method of managing System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) for one or more in information handling systems, comprising:

providing an information handling system, comprising;

at least one in-band processing device,

at least one out-of-band processing device, and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device; and

using the out-of-band processing device to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

where the provided information handling system further comprises system storage separate from the persistent storage, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device; and

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to identify and gather SPUD from the system storage in an out-of-band manner while the in-band processing device is not operating, then to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage while the in-band processing device is not operating, and to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.

14. The method of claim 13, where the provided information handling system further comprises at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the out-of-band processing device;

and where the method further comprises retrieving stored SPUD from the persistent storage and providing the retrieved SPUD across the external I/O interface to one or more external devices, receiving SPUD from one or more external devices across the external I/O and storing the received SPUD on the persistent storage;

or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 13, where the SPUD comprises machine-specific information unique to the information handling system that includes at least one of system service tag information, static hostname, system MAC address/es, system storage map/s, system IP address/es, static IP address/es, storage configuration, system-specific hardware configuration information, software license/s, user account and login information, information regarding BIOS type and BIOS setting/s, BIOS firmware, network interface card (NIC) firmware, or a combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 13, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device;

where all of the SPUD for the information handling system is stored on the persistent storage; and

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to install all of the saved SPUD for the information handling system from the persistent storage to the system storage and/or to locations in the persistent storage in one out-of-band operation.

17. The method of claim 13, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device, and at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the out-of-band processing device;

where the in-band processing device is configured to access the system storage to support in-band system operations; and

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to;

receive SPUD across the external I/O interface from an external user or external device;

save the received SPUD on the persistent storage; and

then install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising using the at least one in-band processing device to execute a host operating system (OS) for the information handling system;

and where the at least one out-of-band processing device is separate from the in-band processing device.

19. The method of claim 13, where the information handling system is a server that includes each of the in-band processing device, out-of-band processing device, system storage and persistent storage.

20. A method of managing System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) for one or more in information handling systems, comprising:

providing an information handling system, comprising;

at least one in-band processing device,

at least one out-of-band processing device,

system storage separate from the persistent storage;

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

using the out-of-band processing device to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

and at least one of;

using the out-of-band processing device to receive SPUD from another separate information handling system and to store the received SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to install the stored received SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

or

using at least one of the in-band processing device or the out-of-band processing device to gather SPUD from the system storage and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

where the system storage maintains SPUD for the in-band processing device; and

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to identify and gather SPUD from the system storage in an out-of-band manner while the in-band processing device is not operating, then to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage while the in-band processing device is not operating, and to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.

21. A method of managing System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) for one or more in information handling systems, comprising:

providing an information handling system, comprising;

at least one in-band processing device,

at least one out-of-band processing device,

system storage separate from the persistent storage;

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

using the out-of-band processing device to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

and at least one of;

using the out-of-band processing device to receive SPUD from another separate information handling system and to store the received SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to install the stored received SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

or

using at least one of the in-band processing device or the out-of-band processing device to gather SPUD from the system storage and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

where the system storage maintains SPUD for the in-band processing device; and

where the method further comprises using the in-band processing device to execute an in-band operating system (OS) agent thereon to gather SPUD from the system storage while the in-band processing device is operating, and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage; and

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.

22. A method of managing System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) for one or more in information handling systems, comprising:

providing an information handling system, comprising;

at least one in-band processing device,

at least one out-of-band processing device, and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device; and

using the out-of-band processing device to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

where the provided information handling system further comprises system storage separate from the persistent storage, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device;

where the out-of-band processing device is coupled to communicate with a virtual machine layer;

where the method further comprises using the out-of band processing device to implement an out-of-band LM/CFG manager to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system; and

where the method further comprises using the in-band processing device to;

execute one or more guest operating systems and the virtual machine layer,

access the system storage to support the guest operating systems and virtual machine operations,

implement an in-band license manager and configuration (LM/CFG) utility on each of the guest operating systems and virtual machine layer to create the SPUD information, and

use the in-band LM/CFG utilities implemented on each of the guest operating systems and virtual machine layer to create SPUD information for the system and to interact with the out-of-band LM/CFG manager to retrieve, import, export, validate, and re-generate licenses from the SPUD by interacting with out-of-band LM/CFG manager.

23. A method of managing System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) for one or more information handling systems, comprising:

providing an information handling system, comprising;

at least one in-band processing device,

at least one out-of-band processing device,

system storage separate from the persistent storage;

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

using the out-of-band processing device to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

and at least one of;

using the out-of-band processing device to receive SPUD from another separate information handling system and to store the received SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to install the stored received SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

or

using at least one of the in-band processing device or the out-of-band processing device to gather SPUD from the system storage and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to identify and gather workload image information from the system storage that is separate from the SPUD, to save the gathered workload image data on the persistent storage, and to deploy the gathered workload information to one or more target information handling systems across the external I/O interface.

24. A method of managing System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) for one or more in information handling systems, comprising:

providing an information handling system, comprising;

at least one in-band processing device,

at least one out-of-band processing device,

system storage separate from the persistent storage;

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

using the out-of-band processing device to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

and at least one of;

using the out-of-band processing device to receive SPUD from another separate information handling system and to store the received SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to install the stored received SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

or

using at least one of the in-band processing device or the out-of-band processing device to gather SPUD from the system storage and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage, and then using the out-of-band processing device to re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage;

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to identify and gather workload image information from the system storage that is separate from the SPUD, to save the gathered workload image data on the persistent storage, and to deploy the gathered workload information to a plurality of target information handling systems across the external I/O interface.

25. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one in-band processing device;

at least one out-of-band processing device; and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device;

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to manage System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system; and

where the information handling system further comprises system storage separate from the persistent storage, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device;

where the in-band processing device is configured to access the system storage to support in-band system operations;

where the in-band processing device is configured to execute an in-band operating system (OS) agent thereon to gather SPUD from the system storage while the in-band processing device is operating, and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage; and

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.

26. A method of managing System Profile Unique Data (SPUD) for one or more in information handling systems, comprising:

providing an information handling system, comprising;

at least one in-band processing device,

at least one out-of-band processing device, and

persistent storage coupled to the out-of-band processing device and to the in-band processing device; and

using the out-of-band processing device to manage SPUD stored on the persistent storage for the information handling system, the SPUD including machine-specific information that is unique to the information handling system;

where the provided information handling system further comprises system storage separate from the persistent storage, the system storage maintaining SPUD for the in-band processing device; and

where the method further comprises using the in-band processing device to execute an in-band operating system (OS) agent thereon to gather SPUD from the system storage while the in-band processing device is operating, and to save the gathered SPUD on the persistent storage; and

where the method further comprises using the out-of-band processing device to then re-install the saved SPUD from the persistent storage to the system storage while the in-band processing device is not operating.