In-band hypervisor-managed firmware updates

1. A method for updating firmware of an information handling system, the method comprising:

obtaining a firmware inventory during boot of an operating system at the information handling system;

populating a software inventory with the firmware inventory;

analyzing the software inventory with an update manager running over the operating system to determine that a firmware update is due for at least some of the firmware in the firmware inventory;

obtaining a virtual firmware update with the update manager through a primary network interface; and

executing the virtual update over the operating system, the virtual update instructing a management processor of the information handling system to update the firmware through a secondary network interface.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual update instructs the management processor to update the firmware with a message sent through the primary network interface to the secondary network interface.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the management processor responds to the virtual update by retrieving a firmware update through the secondary network interface and staging the firmware update to execute at the next boot of the information handling system.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the management processor provides a firmware update complete message to the update manager upon staging the firmware update to execute.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the management processor provides a firmware update complete message to the update manager upon execution of the firmware update at the next boot of the information handling system.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the management processor automatically initiates a boot of the information handling system upon staging the firmware update to execute at the next boot of the information handling system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the operating system comprises a type 1 hypervisor.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the software inventory comprises virtual machines operable to run over the operating system.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the firmware update comprises a BIOS update.

10. An information handling system comprising:

a processor operable to execute instructions;

memory storing an operating system, the operating system operable to execute over the processor and to support execution of one or more virtual machines over the processor;

firmware interfaced with the processor and operable to boot the operating system from an off state to an on state;

an update manager operable to execute over the operating system to update software stored in the memory;

a management processor interfaced with the firmware; and

a firmware update manager operable to execute on the management processor to update the firmware;

wherein the update manager is further operable to retrieve a virtual firmware update through a primary network interface, the virtual firmware update operable to execute on the processor to send an instruction through the primary network interface to load a firmware update to the firmware update manager for updating the firmware.

11. The information handling system of claim 10 further comprising:

a software inventory stored in the memory; and

a firmware inventory stored in the memory at boot of the operating system by the firmware update manager;

wherein the update manager applies the firmware inventory to determine that a virtual firmware update exists to update the firmware.

12. The information handling system of claim 11 wherein the operating system comprises a type 1 hypervisor.

13. The information handling system of claim 12 wherein the software inventory comprises versions of hypervisor software modules, device drivers and supporting software.

14. The information handling system of claim 13 wherein the virtual firmware update instruction loads the firmware update for execution by the management processor through a secondary network interface of the management processor.

15. The information handling system of claim 14 wherein the firmware update manager is further operable to stage the firmware update for execution and to communicate an update complete message through the secondary network interface to the primary network interface for the update manager.

16. A system for updating firmware of an information handling system, the system comprising:

a software update resource operable to send software updates to the information handling system through a primary network interface;

a firmware update resource operable to send firmware updates to a management processor of the information handling system through a secondary network interface; and

a virtual firmware update stored in the software update resource for communication to the information handling system through the primary network interface, the virtual firmware update operable to execute over the operating system of the information handling system to initiate a download of a firmware update from the firmware update resource to the management processor through the secondary network interface.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the virtual firmware update executes over a type 1 hypervisor.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising a firmware update manager executing on the management processor and operable to store an inventory of firmware at memory of the information handling system accessible by the type 1 hypervisor.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising a software update manager running over the type 1 hypervisor and operable to access the inventory of firmware to determine a firmware update and to request a virtual firmware update from the software update resource, the virtual firmware update associated with the determined firmware update.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the software update manager is further operable to access an inventory of virtual machines and to request updates for the virtual machines from the software update resource.