Apparatus and method for booting a system
View Patent ↗A method and apparatus for booting a system are provided. The apparatus may comprise a boot block and a baseboard management controller coupled together in the system. The baseboard management controller may be configured to receive a request from the boot block for a basic input/output system image; determine at least one location to access the basic input/output system image; and obtain the basic input/output system image from the at least one location.
1. A system, comprising:
a system processor;
a boot block associated with the system processor, the boot block being adapted to provide a request for a basic input/output system image, the request being provided independent from the operation of the system processor;
a baseboard management controller that stores the basic input/output system image, the baseboard management controller being adapted to receive the request for the basic input/output system image, to determine a location to access the basic input/output system image, to obtain the basic input/output system image from the location, and to provide the basic input/output system image to the boot block; and
wherein the boot block is adapted to receive the basic input/output system image from the baseboard management controller, to load the basic input/output system image into a system random access memory as a shadow basic input/output system image, and to transfer control of the initialization process from the boot block to the shadow basic input/output system image.
2. The system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the baseboard management controller comprises:
a processor; and
a memory adapted to store policy code configured to determine the location to access the basic input/output system image.
3. The system, as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the baseboard management controller comprises:
a network interface card coupled to the processor; and
wherein the policy code is configured to utilize the network interface card to obtain the basic input/output system image from the location.
4. The system, as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the policy code is configured to:
access an external memory to obtain the basic input/output system image; and
access a local flash memory to obtain the basic input/output system image, if the baseboard management controller cannot access the basic input/output system image from the external memory.
5. The system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the location is an external memory coupled to the baseboard management controller via a network.
6. The system, as set forth in claim 5 , wherein the network is a local area network.
7. The system, as set forth in claim 5 , wherein the network is a wide area network.
8. The system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the boot block is configured to request a family of basic input/output system images.
9. The system, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the boot block is configured to validate the basic input/output system image.
10. The system, as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the validation comprises comparing a digital signature of the one of the plurality of basic input/output system image with a previously stored digital signature.