Systems and methods for out-of-band backup and restore of hardware profile information

• US 9,354,987 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Weijia, Hass, Jon R., Edwards, William C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruiz, Aracelis
• Application Number:
  US14/845,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20150378844A1
• Time in Patent Office: 270 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1415 at system level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented for out-of-band backup and/or restore of information handling system components. Such out-of-band backup and restore operations may be performed, in one embodiment, to backup and/or restore hardware profile information such as firmware images and corresponding system configuration information.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

one or more processing devices;

operational storage coupled to the one or more processing devices, the operational storage configured to maintain hardware profile information for use by processing devices of the information handling system, the hardware profile information including at least one of firmware images and system hardware configuration information, rather than host operating system (OS) and associated software applications and data; and

a backup and/or restore framework, the one or more processing devices being configured to execute the backup and/or restore framework to;

receive a request from at least one of a local user or remote user for at least one of backup or restore of hardware profile information, and

provide the received backup or restore request to the one or more processing devices for processing;

where the one or more processing devices are configured to respond to the received backup or restore request in an out-of-band manner while the information handling system is configured in a bare metal state or system down state to at least one of;

backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the bare metal or system down information handling system to a backup storage location, or

restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location or external source to an operational storage location on the bare metal or system down information handling system.

2. The system of claim 1, where at least one of the processing devices comprises an out-of-band processing device;

and where the system further comprises;

persistent storage coupled to the one or more processing devices, the backup and/or restore framework being resident on the persistent storage;

a remote access controller, the remote access controller including the out-of-band processing device; and

a system motherboard, the remote access controller and the persistent storage being embedded components on the motherboard.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an out-of-band processing device that is configured to:

create at least one of a backup or restore job in response to the received backup or restore request; and

execute the created backup or restore job to back up the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location, or to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location or external source to the operational storage location on the information handling system.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the 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, where the out-of-band processing device is configured to receive the backup or restore request from a remote user across the external I/O interface;

and where the out-of-band processing device is configured to execute the created backup or restore job in response to the remote backup or restore request to at least one of backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location, or to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location or external source to the operational storage location on the information handling system.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising an in-band processing device different from the out-of-band processing device;

and at least one local input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the in-band processing device, the in-band processing device being configured for receiving the backup or restore request from a local user across the local I/O interface;

the in-band processing device being configured to provide a corresponding backup or restore job request to the out-of-band processing device; and

where the out-of-band processing device is configured to execute the created backup or restore job in response to the local backup or restore job request to at least one of backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location, or to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location or external source to the operational storage location on the information handling system.

6. The system of claim 1, where the backup and/or restore framework is executable by the one or more processing devices to receive a request from at least one of a local user or remote user for backup of hardware profile information;

and where the one or more processing devices are configured to respond to the received backup request in an out-of-band manner to back up the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location.

7. The system of claim 6, where the operational storage location comprises at least one of a FTP site, NFS or CIFS network share site, or HTTP site;

where the backup storage location comprises at least one of a removable NVRAM storage device or external network shared storage; and

where the hardware profile information comprises at least one of firmware or firmware configuration information.

8. The system of claim 1, where the backup and/or restore framework is executable by the one or more processing devices to receive a request from at least one of a local user or remote user for restore of hardware profile information;

and where the one or more processing devices are configured to respond to the received restore request in an out-of-band manner to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system.

9. The system of claim 1, where the backup and/or restore framework is executable by the one or more processing devices to create a hardware profile restoration checkpoint for a first hardware profile image and configuration settings for same by transferring the hardware profile information corresponding to the first hardware profile image and configuration settings from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location prior to changing the hardware profile image and configuration settings for same;

and then to later restore the first hardware profile image and configuration settings for same of the checkpoint after changing the hardware profile image and configuration settings for same by transferring the hardware profile information corresponding to the first hardware profile image and configuration settings for same from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system.

10. The system of claim 1, where the one or more processing devices are configured to respond to the received backup or restore request in an out-of-band manner while the information handling system is configured in a bare metal state with no host operating system (OS) present to boot from to at least one of:

backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the bare metal information handling system to a backup storage location;

or

restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location or external source to an operational storage location on the bare metal information handling system.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a host CPU;

and where the one or more processing devices are configured to respond to the received backup or restore request in an out-of-band manner while the information handling system is configured in a system down state in which the host CPU of the information handling system is powered off to at least one of;

backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the system down information handling system to a backup storage location;

or

restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location or external source to an operational storage location on the system down information handling system.

12. A method for backing up and/or restoring hardware profile information on an information handling system, the method comprising:

providing an information handling system comprising;

one or more processing devices,

operational storage coupled to the one or more processing devices, the operational storage configured to maintain hardware profile information for use by processing devices of the information handling system, the hardware profile information including at least one of firmware images and system hardware configuration information, rather than host operating system (OS) and associated software applications and data;

receiving a request in the information handling system from at least one of a local user or remote user for at least one of backup or restore of hardware profile information on the information handling system; and

using the one or more processing devices to respond to the received backup or restore request in an out-of-band manner while the information handling system is configured in a bare metal state or system down state to at least one of;

backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the bare metal or system down information handling system to a backup storage location, or

restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location or external source to an operational storage location on the bare metal or system down information handling system.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing an out-of-band processing device, and using the out-of-band processing device to perform the following steps in an out-of-band manner:

creating at least one of a backup or restore job in response to the received backup or restore request; and

executing the created backup or restore job to back up the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location, or to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location or external source to the operational storage location on the information handling system.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing at least one external input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the 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;

receiving the backup or restore request in the out-of-band processing device from a remote user across the external I/O interface; and

using the out-of-band processing device to execute the created backup or restore job in response to the remote backup or restore request to at least one of backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location, or to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location or external source to the operational storage location on the information handling system.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing an in-band processing device different from the out-of-band processing device, and at least one local input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the in-band processing device;

using the in-band processing device to;

receive the backup or restore request from a local user across the local I/O interface,

provide a corresponding backup or restore job request to the out-of-band processing device; and

using the out-of-band processing device to execute the created backup or restore job in response to the local backup or restore job request to at least one of;

backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location, or

restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location or external location to the operational storage location on the information handling system.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising performing the step of using the one or more processing devices to respond to the received backup or restore requests in an out-of-band manner while the information handling system is configured in a bare metal state while the information handling system is configured in a bare metal state with no host operating system (OS) present to boot from to at least one of:

backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the bare metal information handling system to a backup storage location, or

restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the bare metal information handling system.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising performing the step of using the one or more processing devices to respond to the received backup or restore requests in an out-of-band manner while the information handling system is configured in a system down state in which a host CPU of the information handling system is powered off to at least one of:

backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the system down information handling system to a backup storage location;

or

restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location or external location to an operational storage location on the system down information handling system.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving a request in the information handling system from at least one of a local user or remote user for backup of hardware profile information;

and using the one or more processing devices to respond to the received backup request in an out-of-band manner to back up the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving a request in the information handling system from at least one of a local user or remote user for restore of hardware profile information;

and using the one or more processing devices to respond to the received restore request in an out-of-band manner to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising using the one or more processing devices to:

create a hardware profile restoration checkpoint for a first hardware profile image and configuration settings for same by transferring the hardware profile information corresponding to the first hardware profile image and configuration settings from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location prior to changing the hardware profile image and configuration settings for same; and

then to later restore the first hardware profile image and configuration settings for same of the checkpoint after changing the hardware profile image and configuration settings for same by transferring the hardware profile information corresponding to the first hardware profile image and configuration settings for same from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system.