Method and system for uniquely identifying peripheral component devices
A system for identifying peripheral devices in an information handling system uses a path-based signature for each peripheral component device. A static table is included for listing the path of each peripheral device and is accessible to the Basic Input-Output System (BIOS). The BIOS is configured to identify peripheral components associated and determine a path-base device signature for each peripheral component.
1. An information handling system comprising:
at least one processing resource;
a first host bus in communication with the processing resource;
a plurality of peripheral component devices in communication with the first host bus,
the peripheral component devices having a defined path with respect to the first host bus;
a Basic Input-Output System (BIOS) in communication with the first host bus;
a static table accessed by the BIOS, the static table listing a path for each of the plurality of peripheral component devices and a corresponding path-based device signature for each peripheral component device;
wherein the path-based device signature comprises an enumeration value field, an embedded device number field, a slot number field, and an instance number field that corresponds to the peripheral component device and a function; and
the BIOS configured to identify a path of a peripheral component device and determine the corresponding path-based device signature for identifying the peripheral component.
2. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
a dynamic table accessed by the BIOS; and
the BIOS configured to store the path-based device signatures within the dynamic table.
3. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of peripheral component devices are each configured to support a device compliant with one or more of the group consisting of a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) and Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCI-X).
4. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the BIOS further comprises a PCI enumerator module configured to identify the peripheral component devices present in the information handling system .
5. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising a flash memory resource in communication with the first host bus, the BIOS stored within the flash memory resource.
6. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising a memory resource in communication with the host bus, the static table stored in the memory resource.
7. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the BIOS is configured to identify the peripheral component device during a Power-On Self-Test (POST) operation.
8. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising a second host bus in communication with the first host bus.
9. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the path-based device signature further comprises a device authentication field.
10. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the path-based device signature comprises a 32 bit data field.
11. A system for identifying peripheral components comprising:
a Basic Input-Output System (BIOS);
a static table accessed by the BIOS, the static table listing a plurality of peripheral component devices in an information handling system, a path identification corresponding to each peripheral component device, and a corresponding path-based device signature for each peripheral component device;
wherein the path-based device signature comprises an enumeration value field,
an embedded device number field, a slot number field and an instance number field that corresponds to each peripheral component device and a function; and
a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus enumerator in communication with the BIOS and configured to identify a peripheral component coupled with one or more of the peripheral component device slots and determine the corresponding path-based device signature for each peripheral component device for identifying the respective peripheral component device.
12. The system of claim 11 further comprising:
a dynamic table accessed by the BIOS; and
the BIOS configured to store the path-based device signatures within the dynamic table.
13. The system of claim 11 wherein the PCI bus enumerator is configured to identify a peripheral component device and determine the path-based device signature during a Power-On Self-Test (POST) operation.
14. The system of claim 11 wherein the PCI bus enumerator is configured to identify at least one peripheral component configured according to one of the group consisting of a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) and Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCI-X).
15. A method for identifying peripheral components comprising:
generating a static table accessed by a Basic Input-Output System (BIOS) listing a plurality of peripheral component devices and corresponding paths and a path-based device signature corresponding to each peripheral component device;
identifying one or more peripheral component devices by a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus enumerator in communication with the BIOS;
determining a path-based device signature for each peripheral component device incorporating the path and operable to identify each respective peripheral component; and
wherein the path-based device signature comprises an enumeration value field, an embedded device number field, a slot number field and an instance number field that corresponds to the one or more peripheral component devices and a function.
16. The method of claim 15 comprising identifying one or more peripheral component devices and determining the path-based device signature during a Power-On Self-Test (POST) operation.
17. The method of claim 15 further comprising storing the path-based device signature in a dynamic table.