Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a boot information management method, which can not only avoid the problem of easy loss when boot information is stored in a basic input output system BIOS, but also avoid the dependency of a driver of a special writing tool of the Basic Input Output System (BIOS) on an operating system of a BIOS writing device by storing the boot information in a storage area of a motherboard management controller BMC.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing start-up information, applied to an electronic device, including: reading boot information from a memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the electronic device during a boot process of a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) of the electronic device, wherein the boot information is pre-stored in the memory area of the BMC of the electronic device; and booting the electronic device based on the booting information.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the starting information is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system activating key, and the operating system installed on the electronic equipment is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system. During the BIOS starting process, the BIOS reads the OEM operating system activation key from the BMC storage area and reports the read OEM operating system activation key to the OEM operating system installed in the electronic device; and the OEM operating system realizes system activation according to the OEM operating system activation key.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the starting information is a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) starting display image customized by a user. And in the BIOS starting process, the BIOS reads the BIOS starting display image customized by the user from the BMC storage area, and displays the BIOS starting display image in the BIOS starting process.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a startup information management apparatus, applied to an electronic device, including: a boot information reading unit configured to read boot information from a memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the electronic device during a boot process of a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) of the electronic device, wherein the boot information is pre-stored in the BMC memory area of the electronic device; and a start-up information application section for starting up the electronic device based on the start-up information.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the starting information is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system activating key, and the operating system installed on the electronic equipment is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system. In the BIOS starting process, the starting information reading component reads the OEM operating system activation key from the BMC storage area and reports the read OEM operating system activation key to the starting information application component; and the starting information application component realizes the system activation of the OEM operating system installed in the electronic equipment according to the OEM operating system activation key.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the starting information is a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) starting display image customized by a user. In the BIOS starting process, the starting information reading component reads the BIOS starting display image customized by the user from the BMC storage area, and the starting information application component displays the BIOS starting display image in the BIOS starting process.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the electronic device is a server, and the BMC storage area is a reserved storage area in the BMC.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing start-up information, applied to a first electronic device, including: writing start-up information of a second electronic device into a storage area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the second electronic device.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the first electronic device writes the start-up information into the BMC storage area of the second electronic device through an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI).
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first electronic device writes the boot information into the BMC storage area of the second electronic device by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) command of a motherboard management controller (BMC).
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the boot information is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system activation key, and the second electronic device installed operating system is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system, wherein the OEM operating system activation key is used to activate the OEM operating system installed on the second electronic device.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the starting information is a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) starting display image customized by a user; and the second electronic device displays the BIOS start display image during the BIOS start process.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, the method for managing start information further includes: reading the boot information stored in the BMC storage area of the second electronic device.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, the first electronic device reads the boot information stored in the BMC storage area of the second electronic device through an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI).
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first electronic device reads the boot information stored in the BMC storage area of the second electronic device through an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) command of a motherboard management controller (BMC).
According to the embodiment of the present invention, the method for managing start information further includes: updating the boot information stored in the BMC storage area of the second electronic device.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first electronic device is an electronic device used by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in a process of manufacturing the second electronic device, and the second electronic device is a server product manufactured by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).
By adopting the method and the device for managing the starting information, the problem that the starting information is easy to lose when being stored in a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) can be avoided, and the dependence of a driver of a special writing tool of the BIOS on an operating system of a BIOS writing device can also be avoided.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, various embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely a few embodiments of the invention and are not necessarily all embodiments of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments described in the present application without inventive step, shall fall within the scope of protection of the present application.
Here, it is to be noted that, in the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to constituent parts having substantially the same or similar structures and functions, and repeated description thereof will be omitted.
As shown in fig. 1, a schematic flow chart of a startup information management method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.
The starting information management method is applied to the electronic equipment, and the starting information is information useful in the starting process of the electronic equipment. The electronic device may be an electronic device equipped with a motherboard management controller BMC, for example the electronic device may be a server.
In step S110, in the BIOS start process of the electronic device, start information pre-stored in a storage area of a motherboard management controller BMC of the electronic device is read from the storage area.
In step S120, the electronic device is started based on the start information.
For example, the startup information is information necessary for the startup of the electronic device. In this case, for example, if the startup information is absent, the electronic apparatus cannot be started up.
For example, the start-up information is information necessary for the full start-up of the function of the electronic device. In this case, the start-up information is information necessary for the electronic device to be completely started up, and if the start-up is lacked, only a part of functions of the electronic device can be started up.
For example, the activation information may be information necessary to activate specific hardware or software of the electronic device, such as a decryption key of the specific hardware or software. In this case, if the decryption key is missing or incorrect, the particular hardware or software of the electronic device cannot boot, although the electronic device may boot. The specific software may be application software installed on an operating system of the electronic device.
For example, the boot information is useful only during the BIOS boot process and does not affect the normal operation of the electronic device after the boot. For example, the boot information may be a user customized BIOS boot display image.
For another example, the electronic device may be an original equipment manufacturer OEM operating system, and the boot information may be an original equipment manufacturer OEM operating system activation key. In the absence of the OEM operating system activation key, only a portion of the functionality of the operating system of the electronic device may be enabled, such as the functionality of a trial version of the operating system, while in the presence of the OEM operating system activation key, all of the functionality of the operating system of the electronic device may be enabled, such as the functionality of a full version of the operating system.
As described above, when the boot information is stored in the ROM Hole of the BIOS, the information stored in the BIOS is easily lost when the BIOS is updated or restored. By storing the startup information in the storage area of the BMC, the startup information is not easy to lose.
Hereinafter, a booting information management method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described by taking an example in which an operating system installed in the electronic device is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system and the booting information is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating system activation key.
Typically, an OEM manufacturer signs with an operating system provider an agreement to pre-install the operating system provider's native operating system in an electronic device manufactured by the OEM manufacturer, and the OEM manufacturer obtains the OEM operating system and the OEM operating system activation key from the operating system provider. During the manufacturing process, for the electronic device authorized to activate the OEM operating system, the OEM manufacturer prestores the OEM operating system activation key in a memory area of a motherboard management controller BMC of the electronic device, where the BMC memory area may be a reserved memory area in the BMC.
And reading the starting information from the BMC storage area through a BMC reading command in the process of starting the BIOS of the electronic equipment, and reporting the starting information to the OEM operating system installed in the electronic equipment. And the OEM operating system can realize the activation of the OEM operating system under the condition that the correct OEM operating system activation key is received, so that the function of the genuine operating system is realized. On the contrary, the OEM operating system cannot activate the OEM operating system without receiving the correct OEM operating system activation key, and only can implement the function of a trial version operating system.
Next, a startup information management method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described by taking, as an example, a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) startup display image in which the startup information is customized for a user.
During the manufacturing process, for the customized electronic device, the OEM manufacturer pre-stores a customized BIOS start-up display image in a memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the electronic device, where the BMC memory area may be a reserved memory area in the BMC.
And reading the BIOS starting display image customized by the user from the BMC storage area through a BMC reading command in the BIOS starting process of the electronic equipment, and displaying the BIOS starting display image in the BIOS starting process.
As shown in fig. 2, a schematic flow chart of a startup information management method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.
The starting information management method is applied to the first electronic equipment, and the starting information is information useful in the starting process of the second electronic equipment. The second electronic device may be a motherboard management controller (BMC) -equipped electronic device, for example the second electronic device may be a server.
In step S210, the start information of the second electronic device is written into a storage area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the second electronic device.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first electronic device is an electronic device used by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in a process of manufacturing the second electronic device, and the second electronic device is a server product manufactured by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).
It should be appreciated that the first electronic device may initially write the booting information of the second electronic device into a predetermined memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the first electronic device, or may also update the booting information of the second electronic device and write the updated booting information into the predetermined memory area to overwrite or replace the initially written booting information.
For example, the first electronic device may write the booting information into a memory area of the motherboard management controller (BMC) of the second electronic device through an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). Specifically, the first electronic device may write the booting information into a memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) through an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) command of the BMC (i.e., a BMC OEM command).
For example, the start information is information necessary for starting the second electronic device. In this case, for example, if the boot information is absent, the second electronic device cannot boot.
For example, the start information is information necessary for fully starting the function of the second electronic device. In this case, the start-up information is information necessary for the second electronic device to be completely started up, and if the start-up is lacked, only a part of functions of the second electronic device may be started up.
For example, the activation information may be information necessary to activate specific hardware or software of the second electronic device, such as a decryption key of the specific hardware or software. In this case, if the decryption key is missing or incorrect, the particular hardware or software of the second electronic device cannot boot, although the second electronic device may boot. The specific software may be application software installed on an operating system of the second electronic device.
For example, the boot information is information that is useful only during the BIOS boot process and does not affect the normal operation of the second electronic device after the boot. For example, the boot information may be a BIOS boot display image customized for a user, the BIOS boot display image being used for displaying during the BIOS boot process of the second electronic device.
For another example, the operating system installed on the second electronic device may be an original equipment manufacturer OEM operating system, and the booting information may be an original equipment manufacturer OEM operating system activation key used to activate the OEM operating system installed on the second electronic device. In the absence of the OEM operating system activation key, only a portion of the functionality of the operating system of the second electronic device may be enabled, such as the functionality of a trial version of the operating system, while in the presence of the OEM operating system activation key, all of the functionality of the operating system of the second electronic device may be enabled, such as the functionality of a full version of the operating system.
The BMC is powered by an independent power supply, so that the content stored in the BMC storage area is not easy to lose. In addition, since BMC supports industry standard Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specifications, the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) can be used simply to read from and write to BMC storage.
By writing the boot information in the BMC memory of the second electronic device, the first electronic device does not need to use a dedicated writing tool to write the boot information in the BIOS of the second electronic device, and also does not need to install a dedicated driver for the dedicated writing tool. No matter the operating system of the first electronic device is a Unix operating system, a Linux operating system, a Windows operating system, or a Doc operating system, the first electronic device may write the boot information in the storage area of the motherboard management controller BMC of the second electronic device by using an intelligent platform management interface IPMI built in the operating system of the first electronic device. Accordingly, the dependency of the driver of the BIOS-specific write tool on the operating system of the first electronic device may be avoided, thus avoiding the need to develop a new driver for the BIOS-specific write tool when the first electronic device is upgraded or the operating system of the first electronic device is upgraded.
On the other hand, the startup information management method according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include step S220 (not shown). In step S220, the second electronic device may read the boot information from a memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the first electronic device. Then, the second electronic device may or may not update the boot information as needed, and rewrite the boot information into a memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the first electronic device in step S210. For example, the first electronic device may read the boot information stored in a memory area of the motherboard management controller (BMC) of the second electronic device through an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). Specifically, the first electronic device may read the boot information from a memory area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) through an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) command of the BMC (i.e., a BMC OEM command).
As shown in fig. 3, a schematic block diagram of a startup information management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.
The startupinformation management apparatus 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to an electronic device, and the startup information is information useful in a startup process of the electronic device. The electronic device may be an electronic device equipped with a motherboard management controller BMC, for example the electronic device may be a server.
The startupinformation management apparatus 300 includes a startupinformation reading section 310 and a startupinformation application section 320.
In a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) start-up process of the electronic device, the start-upinformation reading part 310 reads start-up information pre-stored in a storage area of a motherboard management controller (BMC) of the electronic device from the storage area. The BMC storage area here may be a reserved storage area in the BMC.
The startupinformation application section 320 starts up the electronic device based on the startup information.
For example, the startup information is information necessary for the startup of the electronic device. In this case, for example, if the startup information is absent, the electronic apparatus cannot be started up.
For example, the start-up information is information necessary for the full start-up of the function of the electronic device. In this case, the start-up information is information necessary for the electronic device to be completely started up, and if the start-up is lacked, only a part of functions of the electronic device can be started up.
For example, the activation information may be information necessary to activate specific hardware or software of the electronic device, such as a decryption key of the specific hardware or software. In this case, if the decryption key is missing or incorrect, the particular hardware or software of the electronic device cannot boot, although the electronic device may boot. The specific software may be application software installed on an operating system of the electronic device.
For example, the boot information is useful only during the BIOS boot process and does not affect the normal operation of the electronic device after the boot. For example, the boot information may be a user customized Basic Input Output System (BIOS) boot display image (e.g., "leovo"). In this case, the boot information is a user customized Basic Input Output System (BIOS) boot display image. In the BIOS starting process, the starting information reading component reads the BIOS starting display image customized by the user from the BMC storage area, and the starting information application component displays the BIOS starting display image in the BIOS starting process.
For another example, the electronic device may be an original equipment manufacturer OEM operating system, and the boot information may be an original equipment manufacturer OEM operating system activation key. In this case, during the BIOS boot process of the electronic device, the bootinformation reading part 310 reads the OEM operating system activation key from the BMC storage area and reports the read OEM operating system activation key to the bootinformation application part 320. The startupinformation application component 320 implements system activation of the OEM operating system installed in the electronic device according to the OEM operating system activation key. Specifically, in the absence of the OEM operating system activation key, only a portion of the functionality of the operating system of the electronic device may be enabled, such as the functionality of a trial version of the operating system, whereas in the presence of the OEM operating system activation key, all of the functionality of the operating system of the electronic device may be enabled, such as the functionality of a full version of the operating system.
As described above, when the boot information is stored in the ROM Hole of the BIOS, the information stored in the BIOS is easily lost when the BIOS is updated or restored. According to the embodiment of the invention, the starting information is stored in the storage area of the BMC, so that the starting information is not easy to lose, and the reliability of the starting information of the electronic equipment is improved.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the boot information is written in the BMC memory of the electronic device, and the BMC supports an industry standard Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification, so that the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) can be simply used for reading and writing the BMC memory area, and the read and write of the boot information are simpler and more convenient, thereby avoiding the dependence of the read and write operation of the boot information on the operating system of the manufacturer electronic device, and avoiding the need of developing a new drive program when the manufacturer electronic device is upgraded or the operating system of the manufacturer electronic device is upgraded.
Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the present invention may be implemented by means of software plus a necessary hardware platform, and may also be implemented by software or hardware entirely. With this understanding in mind, all or part of the technical solutions of the present invention that contribute to the background can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a storage medium, such as a ROM/RAM, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods according to the embodiments or some parts of the embodiments.
Various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, combinations, or sub-combinations of the embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and principle of the invention, and such modifications are intended to be within the scope of the invention.