JP2708636B2 - Information processing device maintenance control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a maintenance control of an information processing apparatus.
According to the method , in particular, hardware resources such as a main storage unit are divided and a plurality of operating systems (OS)
To improve the operation environment of an information processing apparatus that operates a program (hereinafter, referred to as a hypervisor) that controls the operation of a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an information processing apparatus which divides hardware resources and operates a plurality of OSs under the control of a hypervisor, an operator inputs an operation command of the hypervisor from a console device of the information processing apparatus. The maintenance operation of hardware resources can be performed by the hardware access function of the hypervisor. This is the hardware maintenance function of the hypervisor.

By the way, during normal operation of the information processing apparatus, in order to protect hardware resources, it is guarded that the hardware maintenance function of the hypervisor operates unconditionally by operation on the console device. There is a need. Traditionally, this has been achieved with hypervisor software.

[0004] In this type of information processing apparatus,
As a publicly known document related to protection of a software resource, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-120637, “Virtual Computer System” is given.

[0005]

Generally, a service processor for performing maintenance and diagnosis of the information processing apparatus is connected to the information processing apparatus. Usually, this service processor has a function (hereinafter, referred to as CE-KEY) for enabling or disabling maintenance / diagnosis of the information processing apparatus by a key operation of a maintenance operator. Maintenance operations are not performed.

In the prior art, in the case of an information processing apparatus which divides the above hardware resources and operates a plurality of OSs under the control of a hypervisor, a function of guarding an unnecessary access to the hardware resources from an operator is provided as a function. The guard function by the software of the hypervisor and the guard function by the CE-KEY of the service processor are provided independently of each other. Therefore, inconsistency may occur between the guard functions of both, and the maintenance operation is complicated. Was.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to unify the maintenance operation environment between a service processor and a hypervisor in an information processing apparatus that divides hardware resources and runs a plurality of OSs, so that there is no contradiction between the guard functions of both. Thus, the maintenance operation is simplified.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an interface between a hypervisor and a service processor, and the hypervisor receives a CE-KEY from the service processor upon receiving a maintenance operation instruction from the console device. To receive the status report of
To determine whether the maintenance operation by the state of the E-KEY
It was made. Specifically, the hypervisor is
When a maintenance operation is instructed by the
Request the CE-KEY status report to
The service processor indicates the status of the CE-KEY to the processing device.
Write to the specified area of the main memory and interrupt the hypervisor
The hypervisor issues a request to the main memory
Read the contents of the area and check the status of CE-KEY,
Determining whether to perform maintenance operations
You .

[0009]

When the state of the CE-KEY is such that the maintenance operation of the information processing apparatus becomes impossible, the maintenance operation is guarded by the service processor by the operation on the console device. In such a case, when the maintenance operation is instructed to the hypervisor by the operation on the console device, the hypervisor requests a status report of the CE-KEY to the service processor before the maintenance operation is started. Receive KEY report. This C
If the state of the E-KEY indicates that the maintenance operation cannot be performed, the hypervisor also rejects the maintenance operation. As described above, according to the present invention, the guard function of the maintenance operation of both the hypervisor and the service processor can be provided by only the CE-KEY, and a unified operation environment is realized.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a processing device, 20 is a service processor (SVP), and 30 is a console device common to the processing device 10 and the service processor 20.

The processing device 10 has a main storage unit 110, on which a hypervisor 111, which is a program for controlling a plurality of OSs, is loaded from an external storage device (not shown) or the like. ing. On the other hand, the service processor 20 for maintaining and diagnosing the processing device 10
Is provided with a CE-KEY 121 that enables or disables the maintenance function of the processing device 10.

The characteristic structure of FIG.
22. Reference numeral 112 denotes a specific area provided in the main storage unit 110 for writing data from the service processor 20. Reference numeral 113 denotes an interface for sending an instruction from the hypervisor 111 to the service processor 20;
Is an interface for issuing an interrupt from the service processor 20 to the hypervisor 111.

The hypervisor 111 and the service processor 20 can operate in parallel, and the console device 30
By switching the control frame in, the operator can operate both the hypervisor 111 and the service processor 20. Hereinafter, each case will be described.

Now, the control frame of the console device 30 is set to the SVP operation, and the service processor 20 performs maintenance and diagnosis of the processing device 10 by the operation on the console device 30. At this time, if the CE-KEY 121 is in a state where the maintenance operation cannot be performed, the maintenance operation of the service processor 20 is prohibited. This is the same as the conventional one.

Next, the control frame of the console device 30 is switched to the hypervisor operation, and the hypervisor 111 is switched.
It is assumed that the hardware maintenance function is operated. FIG. 2 shows a processing flow of the hypervisor 111 in this case.

From the console device 30, the hypervisor 1
When a command instructing the maintenance operation by the H.11 is input (step 201), the hypervisor 111 issues a SVP interface instruction to the service processor 20 through the interface 113 before starting the maintenance operation.
Request status report of KEY 121 (step 20)
2). In response, the service processor 20 sets the CE-
The status of the KEY 121 is written to the area 112 of the main storage unit 110 and reported to the hypervisor 111 by an interrupt through the interface 122. The hypervisor 111 reads the state of the CE-KEY 121 stored in the area 112 in response to an interrupt on the interface 122 (step 203), and determines whether a maintenance operation is possible (step 204). As a result, if the CE-KEY 121 is in the state in which the maintenance operation is possible, the hypervisor 111 performs the maintenance operation of the command input from the console device 109 (step 205). , Reject the maintenance operation. When rejecting the maintenance operation, the hypervisor 111 may output the fact on the display surface of the console device 30.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the maintenance operation of the service processor 20 and the hypervisor 111 by the operation on the console device 30 can be uniformly guarded by the CE-KEY 121 of the service processor 20.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the hypervisor 1
Although the operation of the service processor 20 and the operation of the service processor 20 are performed by the common console device 30, they may be performed by separate console devices.
1 executes the processing of FIG. 2 in response to a maintenance operation command from the dedicated console device.

[0019]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the maintenance operation of the service processor and the hypervisor is simply and uniformly guarded by using the CE-KEY originally provided in the service processor. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a maintenance control method for an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of a hypervisor when a maintenance operation instruction is given from a console device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 processing device 20 service processor (SVP) 30 console device 110 main storage unit 111 hypervisor 112 SVP data write area 121 CE-KEY 113, 122 interface

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-120637 (JP, A) JP-A-60-5346 (JP, A) JP-A-62-145452 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A processing device having a program (hereinafter, referred to as a hypervisor) for controlling a plurality of operating systems, and means (hereinafter, referred to as a CE-KEY) for enabling or disabling a maintenance operation of the processing device. ) And a console device for instructing the hyperprocessor and the service processor to perform a maintenance operation, wherein an interface is provided between the hypervisor and the service processor, and the hypervisor performs a maintenance operation from the console device. When instructed,
Require CE-KEY status report to service processor
Request, and the service processor receives CE-K
Writes the state of EY to a predetermined area of the main storage unit of the processing device
An interrupt is issued to the hypervisor, and the hypervisor is
Reads the contents of a predetermined area of the main storage unit in response to the interrupt.
Maintenance control method for an information processing apparatus characterized by reading to check the state of the CE-KEY, to determine whether to perform the maintenance operation.