Context aware redundant sourcing of basic input output system components to facilitate fault tolerant boot operations
A firmware management operation. The firmware management operation includes providing an information handling system with a distributed BIOS, the distributed BIOS including a BIOS component and a BIOS variable; identifying a processor environment installed on an information handling system from a plurality of processor environments; determining whether to perform a redundant BIOS component management operation, the determining whether to perform the redundant BIOS component management operation being context aware; identifying a distributed BIOS backup storage location; performing the redundant BIOS component management operation using a BIOS payload stored at the distributed BIOS backup storage location.
1 . A computer-implementable method for performing a firmware management operation, comprising:
providing an information handling system with a distributed BIOS, the distributed BIOS including a BIOS component and a BIOS variable, the distributed BIOS being implemented to function with any of a plurality of processor environments, each of the plurality of processing environments implementing a respective processor architecture, the information handling system including a plurality of storage locations, the plurality of storage locations including a flash memory storage location, a non-volatile memory express storage location, a memory module storage location and a disk drive memory location, each of the plurality of storage locations being configured to store a respective BIOS component payload;
identifying a processor environment installed on an information handling system from the plurality of processor environments;
determining whether to perform a redundant BIOS component management operation, the determining whether to perform the redundant BIOS component management operation being context aware, the redundant BIOS component management operation scanning the plurality of memory locations and determining which of the plurality of memory storage locations are able to act as a BIOS component storage medium, the redundant BIOS component management operation comprising a distributed firmware management operation performed to redundantly store the BIOS component in the plurality of memory storage locations to facilitate performance of a fault tolerant boot operation based upon which of the plurality of memory storage locations are able to act as BIOS component storage mediums;
identifying a distributed BIOS backup storage location from the plurality of memory storage locations; and,
performing the redundant BIOS component management operation using a BIOS payload stored at the distributed BIOS backup storage location.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the redundant BIOS component management operation uses a context aware firmware protocol; and,
the context aware firmware protocol includes a redundant payload management protocol.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the BIOS payload includes a particular BIOS component; and,
the redundant BIOS component management operation restores the distributed BIOS with the particular BIOS component.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the distributed BIOS storage location is one of a plurality of distributed BIOS storage locations;
the redundant BIOS component management operation stores a plurality of memory storage location parameters within a firmware store priority table, the memory storage location parameters including an accessibility parameter, an execution speed parameter, a reliability parameter and a priority parameter; and,
the redundant BIOS component management operation uses the plurality of memory storage location parameters stored within the firmware store priority table to assign a redundant storage priority value to each of the plurality of memory storage locations.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein:
the plurality of distributed BIOS storage locations include a primary distributed BIOS storage location and a secondary distributed BIOS storage location.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
context awareness considers one or more of a user context, a system configuration context, and a system resource availability context.
7 . A system comprising:
a processor;
a data bus coupled to the processor; and
a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium embodying computer program code, the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium being coupled to the data bus, the computer program code interacting with a plurality of computer operations and comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for:
providing an information handling system with a distributed BIOS, the distributed BIOS including a BIOS component and a BIOS variable, the distributed BIOS being implemented to function with any of a plurality of processor environments, each of the plurality of processing environments implementing a respective processor architecture, the information handling system including a plurality of storage locations, the plurality of storage locations including a flash memory storage location, a non-volatile memory express storage location, a memory module storage location and a disk drive memory location, each of the plurality of storage locations being configured to store a respective BIOS component payload;
identifying a processor environment installed on an information handling system from the plurality of processor environments;
determining whether to perform a redundant BIOS component management operation, the determining whether to perform the redundant BIOS component management operation being context aware, the redundant BIOS component management operation scanning the plurality of memory locations and determining which of the plurality of memory storage locations are able to act as a BIOS component storage medium, the redundant BIOS component management operation comprising a distributed firmware management operation performed to redundantly store the BIOS component in the plurality of memory storage locations to facilitate performance of a fault tolerant boot operation based upon which of the plurality of memory storage locations are able to act as BIOS component storage mediums;
identifying a distributed BIOS backup storage location from the plurality of memory storage locations; and,
performing the redundant BIOS component management operation using a BIOS payload stored at the distributed BIOS backup storage location.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein:
the redundant BIOS component management operation uses a context aware firmware protocol; and,
the context aware firmware protocol includes a redundant payload management protocol.
9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein:
the BIOS payload includes a particular BIOS component; and,
the redundant BIOS component management operation restores the distributed BIOS with the particular BIOS component.
10 . The system of claim 7 , wherein:
the distributed BIOS storage location is one of a plurality of distributed BIOS storage locations;
the redundant BIOS component management operation stores a plurality of memory storage location parameters within a firmware store priority table, the memory storage location parameters including an accessibility parameter, an execution speed parameter, a reliability parameter and a priority parameter; and,
the redundant BIOS component management operation uses the plurality of memory storage location parameters stored within the firmware store priority table to assign a redundant storage priority value to each of the plurality of memory storage locations.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein:
the plurality of distributed BIOS storage locations include a primary distributed BIOS storage location and a secondary distributed BIOS storage location.
12 . The system of claim 7 , wherein:
context awareness considers one or more of a user context, a system configuration context, and a system resource availability context.
13 . A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising computer executable instructions configured for:
providing an information handling system with a distributed BIOS, the distributed BIOS including a BIOS component and a BIOS variable, the distributed BIOS being implemented to function with any of a plurality of processor environments, each of the plurality of processing environments implementing a respective processor architecture, the information handling system including a plurality of storage locations, the plurality of storage locations including a flash memory storage location, a non-volatile memory express storage location, a memory module storage location and a disk drive memory location, each of the plurality of storage locations being configured to store a respective BIOS component payload;
identifying a processor environment installed on an information handling system from the plurality of processor environments;
determining whether to perform a redundant BIOS component management operation, the determining whether to perform the redundant BIOS component management operation being context aware, the redundant BIOS component management operation scanning the plurality of memory locations and determining which of the plurality of memory storage locations are able to act as a BIOS component storage medium, the redundant BIOS component management operation comprising a distributed firmware management operation performed to redundantly store the BIOS component in the plurality of memory storage locations to facilitate performance of a fault tolerant boot operation based upon which of the plurality of memory storage locations are able to act as BIOS component storage mediums;
identifying a distributed BIOS backup storage location from the plurality of memory storage locations; and,
performing the redundant BIOS component management operation using a BIOS payload stored at the distributed BIOS backup storage location.
14 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein:
the redundant BIOS component management operation uses a context aware firmware protocol; and,
the context aware firmware protocol includes a redundant payload management protocol.
15 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein:
the BIOS payload includes a particular BIOS component; and,
the redundant BIOS component management operation restores the distributed BIOS with the particular BIOS component.
16 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein:
the distributed BIOS storage location is one of a plurality of distributed BIOS storage locations;
the redundant BIOS component management operation stores a plurality of memory storage location parameters within a firmware store priority table, the memory storage location parameters including an accessibility parameter, an execution speed parameter, a reliability parameter and a priority parameter; and,
the redundant BIOS component management operation uses the plurality of memory storage location parameters stored within the firmware store priority table to assign a redundant storage priority value to each of the plurality of memory storage locations.
17 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein:
the plurality of distributed BIOS storage locations include a primary distributed BIOS storage location and a secondary distributed BIOS storage location.
18 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein:
context awareness considers one or more of a user context, a system configuration context, and a system resource availability context.
19 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein:
the computer executable instructions are deployable to a client system from a server system at a remote location.
20 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein:
the computer executable instructions are provided by a service provider to a user on an on-demand basis.