Protocol for trusted platform module recovery through context checkpointing

A data processing system for performing context checkpointing, the data processing system comprising:

• a bus;
• a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code;
• at least one managed device connected to the bus;
• a communications unit connected to the bus;
• and
• a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to provide an encrypted copy of context data and a command to a trusted platform module hardware device in response to receiving the command from a partition to modify the context data in the trusted platform module hardware device by identifying a context slot in the trusted platform module hardware device assigned to the partition using a partition mapping table and sending the command to the assigned context slot in the trusted platform module hardware device for processing, wherein the trusted platform module hardware device processes the command and updates the context data, receive the updated context data from the trusted platform module hardware device in response to the trusted platform module hardware device having successfully processed the command, store the updated context data received in encrypted form from the trusted platform module hardware device in at least one of a context data cache or a non-volatile storage off-board the trusted platform module hardware device, and use a last valid copy of the context data to retry processing of the command on a different trusted platform module hardware device in response to a failure of the trusted platform module hardware device to successfully process the command.

A computer program product for performing context checkpointing, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code stored thereon, the computer usable program code comprising:
• computer usable program code for providing an encrypted copy of context data and a command to a trusted platform module hardware device in response to receiving the command from a partition to modify the context data in the trusted platform module hardware device by identifying a context slot in the trusted platform module hardware device assigned to the partition using a partition mapping table and sending the command to the assigned context slot in the trusted platform module hardware device for processing, wherein the trusted platform module hardware device processes the command and updates the context data;
• computer usable program code for receiving the updated context data from the trusted platform module hardware device in response to the trusted platform module hardware device having successfully processed the command;
• computer usable program code for storing the updated context data received in encrypted form from the trusted platform module hardware device in at least one of a context data cache or a non-volatile storage off-board the trusted platform module hardware device;
• and
• computer usable program code for using a last valid copy of the context data to retry processing of the command on a different trusted platform module hardware device in response to a failure of the trusted platform module hardware device to successfully process the command.