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US 8,555,048 B2Granted
Computer system for booting a system image by associating incomplete identifiers to complete identifiers via querying storage locations according to priority level where the querying is self adjusting
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsMartin Goldstein, Daniel N. Cripe, Terry Ping-Chung Lee, Rajeev Grover
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A computer system has extensible firmware interface firmware. The EFI firmware loads incomplete virtual boot data from a resource manager and then completes the boot data. The completed boot data is used to find an operating-system image to boot. The complete virtual boot data is transferred to the resource manager.
Claims17
A computer system comprising non-transitory media encoded with:
- physical boot data including a prioritized list of storage-location entries including a higher-ranking storage-location entry and a lower-ranking storage-location entry having a lower ranking than said higher-ranking storage-location entry, each of said storage-location entries identifying a respective storage location to be searched for an operating-system image;
- and
- EFI firmware configured to, when executed by a processor, in response to receipt of incomplete virtual boot data from a resource manager,
- if said incomplete virtual boot data does not match said higher-ranking storage-location entry and does not match said lower-ranking storage-location entry, searching a storage location identified by said higher-ranking storage location entry before searching a storage location identified by said lower-ranking storage-location entry for said operating-system image,
- if said incomplete virtual boot data does not match said higher ranking storage-location entry and does match said lower ranking storage-location entry, searching a storage location identified by said lower-ranking storage location entry before searching a storage location identified by said higher-ranking storage-location entry for said operating-system image;
- said EFI firmware being further configured to send complete virtual boot data to said resource manager, said complete virtual boot data corresponding to a matching storage-location entry;
- said incomplete virtual boot data specifying source and target world-wide names and a logical unit number but not a file name;
- and
- said complete virtual boot data specifying said source and target world-wide names, a logical unit number, and a file name used by said EFI firmware to locate an operating-system image.
6 more elements
A method comprising:
- transferring incomplete virtual boot data from a resource manager to EFI firmware of a computer;
- completing said incomplete virtual boot data to yield complete virtual boot data corresponding to a matching entry in a prioritized list of storage-location entries identifying respective storage locations to be searched for an operating-system boot image, said matching entry having a lower ranking in said prioritized list than a non-matching entry;
- using said complete virtual boot data to locate and boot to an operating system before searching a storage location identified by said matching entry before searching a storage location identified by said non-matching entry for said operating-system boot image;
- and
- transferring said complete virtual boot data from said EFI firmware to said resource manager;
- wherein, said incomplete virtual boot data specifies source and target world-wide names and a logical unit number but not a file name;
- and
- said complete virtual boot data specifies said source and target world-wide names, a logical unit number, and a file name used by said EFI firmware to locate an operating-system boot image.
5 more elements
A resource manager comprising:
- physical connectors for connecting to respective computers;
- non-transitory computer-readable media for storing virtual boot data for each of said physical connectors for use by said computers in locating an operating-system image to boot from;
- and
- a controller for transferring incomplete virtual boot data stored in said media to one of said computers via a respective one of said physical connectors and for transferring complete boot data specifying a location to be searched for an operating-system image from that computer to said media, said controller being connected to a disk array via a storage array network, said disk array including a target location of said complete boot data;
- wherein
- said incomplete virtual boot data specifies source and target world-wide names and a logical unit number but not a file name;
- and
- said complete virtual boot data specifies said source and target world-wide names, a logical unit number, and a file name for an operating system image.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.