摘要:
Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, wherein instructions stored in an option ROM are copied to the system memory of a computer, wherein the option ROM corresponds to a device that is coupled to the computer. A virtual machine is generated, wherein the virtual machine executes the instructions copied to the system memory to boot the device before any operating system is loaded.
摘要:
Using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags embedded in processors within a computing system to assist in system initialization processing. The RFID tags provide a separate communication path to other components of the computing system during initialization processing, apart from the system interconnect. When the computing system is powered up, each processor in the system may cause its RFID tag to broadcast data regarding the processor's interconnect location and initialization status. The RFID tags may be sensed by a RFID receiver in the Platform Control Hub (PCH) of the computing system, and each processor's interconnect location and initialization status data may be stored in selected registers within the PCH. When the BIOS executes during system initialization processing, the BIOS may access these PCH registers to obtain the processor's data. The interconnect location and initialization status data may be used by the BIOS to select the optimal routing table and to configure the virtual network within the computing system based at least in part on the optimal routing table and the RFID tag data and without the need for interrogating each processor individually over the system interconnect.
摘要:
A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for multi-owner deployment of firmware images. The method includes obtaining a signed firmware image that comprises a first code module signed by a first code owner and a second code module signed by a second code owner. The method further includes obtaining an updated first code module comprising updated code for the first code module, verifying that the updated first code module is signed by the first code owner, and updating the signed firmware image with the updated first code module in response to verifying that the updated first code module is signed by the first code owner. The signed firmware image may further comprise an access control list that authorizes updates to the first code module by the first code owner and updates to the second code module by the second code owner.
摘要:
A peer-to-peer IT (Information Technology) backbone. The system includes at least one IT server and a plurality of client computers arranged in a peer-to-peer IT backbone. Each of the client computers includes an in-band processor, an out-of-band (OOB) microcontroller, and a storage device coupled to the in-band processor and OOB microcontroller. The storage device includes a reserved area for the OOB microcontroller to enable an IT-administration to push IT payloads from the at least one IT server onto the reserved area of at least one of the plurality of client computers. The IT payloads are disseminated throughout the peer-to-peer IT backbone by the OOB microcontroller of the client computers.
摘要:
In some embodiments, the invention involves speeding boot up of a platform by initializing the video card early on in the boot process. In an embodiment, processor cache memory is to be used as cache as RAM (CAR). Video graphics adapter (VGA) card initialization uses the CAR instead of system RAM to perform initialization. A portion of the firmware code, interrupt vector tables and handlers are mirrored in the CAR, from flash memory to mimic the behavior of system RAM during the video initialization. VGA initialization may occur before system RAM has initialized to enable early visual feedback to a user. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
摘要:
Enhancing locality in a security co-processor module of a computing system may be achieved by including one or more additional attributes such as geographic location, trusted time, a hardware vendor string, and one or more environmental factors into an access control space for machine mode measurement of a computing system.
摘要:
In some embodiments, the invention involves a system and method to provide maximal boot-time parallelism for future multi-core, multi-node, and many-core systems. In an embodiment, the security (SEC), pre-EFI initialization (PEI), and then driver execution environment (DXE) phases are executed in parallel on multiple compute nodes (sockets) of a platform. Once the SEC/PEI/DXE phases are executed on all compute nodes having a processor, the boot device select (BDS) phase completes the boot by merging or partitioning the compute nodes based on a platform policy. Partitioned compute nodes each run their own instance of EFI. A common memory map may be generated prior to operating system (OS) launch when compute nodes are to be merged. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
摘要:
Methods and apparatus to facilitate fast restarts in processor systems are disclosed. An example processor restart method disclosed herein includes recording a log of pre-boot initialization actions, and replaying a portion of the log during subsequent processor restarts to shorten pre-boot initialization time. The example processor restart method disclosed herein may further include creating a log index table for easier referral to portions of the log, storing the log and the log index table in non-volatile memory, using the log index table to reorder the replaying of the log, and reordering the replay of the log to initialize the video graphics adapter earlier in a processor restart sequence.
摘要:
A software-defined radio (SDR) capability may be provided in a general purpose, many core processing system by sequestering one or more partitions running on one or more cores and instantiating a communications capability by having discrete SDR functions performed by the sequestered partitions. Each SDR module embodied in a sequestered partition may be independently upgraded without modifying the hardware of the underlying processing system. By executing SDR modules in cores not accessible by application programs and/or an operating system (OS), a better Quality of Service (QoS) may be provided for wireless communications on the general purpose, multi-core processing system. An embodiment comprises isolating a core of a many core processing system as a sequestered partition, loading a software-defined radio module onto the core, and executing the software-defined module to implement wireless communications.
摘要:
Methods and apparatus dynamically reconfigure storage or channel capacities in a memory system. A fully-buffered dual in-line memory module (DIMM) is configured for a particular storage capacity and a particular channel capacity. An error may be detected at a memory address in some portion of the DIMM. To resolve the problem, the storage capacity or the channel capacity may be reduced and the DIMM may be dynamically reconfigured according to the reduced capacity. For one embodiment the DIMM may be reconfigured by mapping the portion of the DIMM containing the error as unavailable and taking that portion off-line without taking the entire DIMM off-line. For another embodiment the DIMM may be reconfigured by throttling the DIMM at a reduced frequency. The portion of the DIMM containing the error may be retested at the reduced frequency. If no errors are detected, the DIMM may be made available at the reduced frequency.