Shared transient memory storage in basic input/output system environment
A method may be provided in a basic input/output system embodied in persistent memory including two data areas for storing data associated with the basic input/output system and a code area comprising firmware for performing functionality of the basic input/output system. The method may include, at any given time, designating one of the data areas as a non-transitory data area and designating the other of the data areas as a transitory data area; and for each item of data associated with the basic input/output system, determining if such item of data is non-transitory-type data or transitory-type data, storing such item of data in the non-transitory data area if such item of data is determined to be non-transitory-type data, and storing such item of data in the transitory data area if such item of data is determined to be transitory-type data.
1. An information handling system comprising:
a processor;
a basic input/output system embodied in persistent memory, communicatively coupled to the processor, and comprising:
two data areas for storing data associated with the basic input/output system; and
a code area comprising firmware for performing functionality of the basic input/output system, including a transient memory manager configured to, when read and executed by the processor:
at any given time, designate one of the data areas as a non-transitory data area and designate the other of the data areas as a transitory data area; and
for each item of data associated with the basic input/output system:
determine if such item of data is non-transitory-type data or transitory-type data;
store such item of data in the non-transitory data area if such item of data is determined to be non-transitory-type data; and
store such item of data in the transitory data area if such item of data is determined to be transitory-type data.
2. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein non-transitory-type data is data required by the basic input/output system to survive across multiple boot cycles of the information handling system.
3. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein transitory-type data is data not required by the basic input/output system to survive across multiple boot cycles of the information handling system.
4. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the transient memory manager is configured to, responsive to either of the two data areas being full, perform a reclamation process on the two data areas.
5. The information handling system of claim 4 , wherein the reclamation process comprises:
transferring contents of the transient data area to a memory external to the basic input/output system;
performing reclamation of non-transient-type data in the non-transitory data area, including:
re-designating the transient data area as the non-transitory data area and storing the non-transient-type data into such newly-designated non-transitory data area; and
re-designating the non-transient data area as the transitory data; and
restoring the transient-type data from the memory to such newly-designated non-transitory data area.
6. The information handling system of claim 5 , wherein the reclamation process comprises performing cleanup on the transient-type data prior to storing the transient-type data to memory.
7. The information handling system of claim 5 , wherein the reclamation process comprises performing cleanup on the non-transient-type data prior to storing the non-transient-type data to the newly-designated non-transitory data area.
8. The information handling system of claim 5 , wherein the reclamation process comprises:
determining if any of the transient-type data stored to the memory should be re-classified as non-transient-type data;
re-classifying any such transient-type data as non-transient-type data; and
storing such re-classified non-transient-type data to the non-transitory data area.
9. The information handling system of claim 5 , wherein the reclamation process comprises:
determining if any of the non-transient-type data stored to the newly-designated non-transitory data area memory should be re-classified as transient-type data;
re-classifying any such non-transient-type data as transient-type data; and
storing such re-classified transient-type data to the newly-designated transitory data area.
10. The information handling system of claim 5 , wherein the reclamation process comprises archiving telemetry data of the transitory-type data.
11. A method comprising, in a basic input/output system embodied in persistent memory including two data areas for storing data associated with the basic input/output system and a code area comprising firmware for performing functionality of the basic input/output system:
at any given time, designating one of the data areas as a non-transitory data area and designating the other of the data areas as a transitory data area; and
for each item of data associated with the basic input/output system:
determining if such item of data is non-transitory-type data or transitory-type data;
storing such item of data in the non-transitory data area if such item of data is determined to be non-transitory-type data; and
storing such item of data in the transitory data area if such item of data is determined to be transitory-type data.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein non-transitory-type data is data required by the basic input/output system to survive across multiple boot cycles of the information handling system.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein transitory-type data is data not required by the basic input/output system to survive across multiple boot cycles of the information handling system.
14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, responsive to either of the two data areas being full, performing a reclamation process on the two data areas.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the reclamation process comprises:
transferring contents of the transient data area to a memory external to the basic input/output system;
performing reclamation of non-transient-type data in the non-transitory data area, including:
re-designating the transient data area as the non-transitory data area and storing the non-transient-type data into such newly-designated non-transitory data area; and
re-designating the non-transient data area as the transitory data; and
restoring the transient-type data from the memory to such newly-designated non-transitory data area.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reclamation process comprises performing cleanup on the transient-type data prior to storing the transient-type data to memory.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reclamation process comprises performing cleanup on the non-transient-type data prior to storing the non-transient-type data to the newly-designated non-transitory data area.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reclamation process comprises:
determining if any of the transient-type data stored to the memory should be re-classified as non-transient-type data;
re-classifying any such transient-type data as non-transient-type data; and
storing such re-classified non-transient-type data to the non-transitory data area.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reclamation process comprises:
determining if any of the non-transient-type data stored to the newly-designated non-transitory data area memory should be re-classified as transient-type data;
re-classifying any such non-transient-type data as transient-type data; and
storing such re-classified transient-type data to the newly-designated transitory data area.
20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reclamation process comprises archiving telemetry data of the transitory-type data.