TWI556171B - Motherboard and method for booting - Google Patents

Description

Motherboard and boot method

The invention relates to a motherboard and a method for starting up, in particular to a motherboard for reducing the hardware cost of a read-only memory and a switch, and a method for booting.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the existing server system includes a local server 1 for the user to use, a remote server 2 connected to the local server 1 through a network, and a signal connected to the local server 1 External device 3. The local server 1 has at least one motherboard 11 , which includes a south bridge 111 (South Bridge), a baseboard management controller 112 (BMC), and a first switch 113 (Switch). A second switch 114, a plurality of read only memories 115 (ROMs) each storing an image file, and the image files 116 stored in the read-only memory 115 are respectively selected to provide a local server 1 Boot up. The remote server 2 has an image file 21, and the image file 21 can be loaded into a corresponding read-only memory 115 of the local server by network transmission to provide, for example, the servo. The setting when the device is turned on. The external device 3 is, for example, a flash drive or the like, and has an image file 31, which can be accessed by direct access. The image file 31 is loaded into one of the read-only memories 115 of the local server 1, providing, for example, settings for the server to be powered on. In FIG. 2, only the second read-only memory 115 is illustrated.

When the local server 1 performs booting, the baseboard management controller 112 sends a first control signal to the first switch 113 to open the first switch 113 and the south bridge 111 and the second controller 114. And a second control signal is sent to the second switch 114 to open a channel between the second switch 114 and the first switch 113 and the corresponding read-only memory, and the south bridge 111 passes the first A switch 113 and the second switch 114 read the image file data in the corresponding read-only memory to complete the booting.

When the local server 1 generates an error such as image file corruption during the booting process, the local server 1 can reload the image file through the external device 3 or the remote server 2 to boot.

Local server 1 boot data update - there are currently two update methods, one way is that the base management controller 112 sends a first control signal to the first switch 113 to open the first switch 113 and the a channel between the controller management controller 112 and the second switch 114, and sends a second control signal to the second switch 114 to open the second switch 114 and the first switch 113 and the corresponding only one Reading the channel between the memory, so that the image file to be updated can be loaded into the corresponding read-only memory by the baseboard management controller 112 via the first switch 113 and the second switch 114, and The next time the power is turned on, the updated image file is re-read for subsequent power-on settings; the other method is by the bottom board The controller 112 sends a first control signal to the first switch 113 to open a channel between the first switch 113 and the south bridge 111 and the second switch 114, and sends a second control signal to the a second switch 114, to open a channel between the second switch 114 and the first switch 113 and the corresponding read-only memory, so that the image file to be updated can be used by the south bridge 111 via the first switch 113 and the second switch 114 are loaded into the corresponding read-only memory, and the next updated image file is re-readed for the next boot process.

Since different boot data security protection designs are designed to ensure that the local server 1 can be turned on, it is usually necessary to set a plurality of read-only memory, and each of the read-only memories stores an image file, and when needed, the first The second switch 114 establishes a separate channel with the read-only memory, so that the more the read-only memory 115, the second switch 114 and the read-only memory 115 establish their respective channels. The more will be, which will lead to the complexity of the overall circuit structure. In addition, since the corresponding channel control is required for different situations during the access process of the image file data, the switching mechanism of the baseboard management controller for controlling the switches is further complicated, and the backplane management is further increased. The design complexity of the controller is used.

In summary, the current server system will set a plurality of read-only memory based on the integrity of the protection boot data, and correspondingly set a plurality of switches, thereby complicating the relevant control circuit and greatly improving the hard Body costs, so need to be improved.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a reduced read-only reading Recover the motherboard and the hardware cost of the switch.

Thus, the motherboard of the present invention is disposed on a local server.

The motherboard includes a south bridge and a floor control device.

The south bridge transmits an instruction to read the image file.

The baseboard control device includes a memory unit and a processing unit electrically connected between the random access memory and the south bridge, the memory unit stores image file data related to boot data, and the processing unit receives an instruction from the south bridge And interpreting the instruction to find the image file data from the memory unit, the processing unit formats the image file to generate a packet conforming to the south bridge agreement, and the processing unit transmits the packet to the The South Bridge.

The effect of the invention is that the processing instruction of the south bridge is interpreted by the processing unit on the bottom board control device to read the corresponding image file data from the random access memory on the bottom board control device, and the image file format is converted. The package conforms to the South Bridge Agreement and is transmitted to the South Bridge. There is no need to set up multiple read-only memory in the process, and there is no need to set up a switch to switch channels, so the hardware cost can be reduced.

4‧‧‧Remote Server

41‧‧‧Image file information

42‧‧‧Image file information

5‧‧‧Local server

51‧‧‧ motherboard

511‧‧‧Bottom plate control device

512‧‧‧South Bridge

513‧‧‧Control unit

514‧‧‧ memory unit, random access memory

515‧‧‧Processing unit

61~68‧‧‧Steps for the boot method

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the embodiments of the present invention, wherein: FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a conventional server system; FIG. 2 is a system diagram, with FIG. Illustrating the conventional motherboard; FIG. 3 is a system diagram illustrating an embodiment of a server system of the present invention; 4 is a system diagram, and a motherboard of the embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the process of updating and loading an image file of the embodiment; and FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the embodiment. A flow chart.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, an embodiment of the server system of the present invention includes a local server 5 and a remote server 4 storing a plurality of image files 41, 42 including at least one motherboard. In this embodiment, for convenience of description, the local server includes a motherboard as an example, but is not limited thereto. The motherboard 51 has a base control device 511 and a south bridge 512. The base control device 511 includes a control unit 513 connected to the remote server, a memory unit 514, and an electrical connection to the random access memory 514. And the processing unit 515 of the south bridge 512, the random access memory 514 stores an image file 41 related to the boot data, and the image file 41 is a BIOS image file. In the example, the image file 41 is related to the initial setting and software environment parameters of the hardware components inside the motherboard 51. The control unit 513 is a serial peripheral interface controller (Serial Peripheral Interface) in the BMC chip. SPI cotroller, and the processing unit 515 is a central processing unit (CPU), and the memory unit 514 can be a random access memory (RAM) 514, a read-only memory. (Read Only Memory, ROM) or an electronically erasable readable read-only memory (Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, One of the three EEPROMs, the random access memory 514 will be exemplified below.

Referring to FIG. 5, when the local server 5 performs booting, that is, when the motherboard 51 is powered on, all components inside the backplane control device 511 are initialized, and the server system sequentially performs the following steps 61 to 68.

In step 61, the control unit 513 receives an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) command (hereinafter referred to as an update command) transmitted from a system administrator (not shown). The so-called update command from the system administrator means that the user can directly input the update command to the internal control unit 513 by using the input interface of the local server 5 directly in the computer room where the local server 5 is located; or the user At the remote end, the remote server transmits the update command to the control unit 513 of the local server 5 through the network to select the BIOS update operation from the local end or the remote end, and the control unit 513 enters after the initialization is completed. Go to step 62, and in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, another method of the step 61 is: the control unit 513 determines by itself that the motherboard 51 is not booting up and needs to reload the image file data, then proceeds to Step 62.

In step 62, the control unit 513 issues a request command having a profile feature, such as an image file number, etc., and the plurality of image file materials 41, 42 respectively correspond to different specifications of the motherboard.

In step 63, the remote server 4 transmits the corresponding image file data to the random access memory 514 according to the request command. Specifically, the remote server 4 is configured by the majority image file according to the image file number. Selecting one of the corresponding image file materials, and transmitting the corresponding image file data to the random access memory 514, to complete loading of the image file data, and performing a subsequent booting process, in this embodiment, regardless of The image file size is equal to (or less than) the capacity of the random access memory 514. The initial address of the image file placed in the random access memory 514 is fixed, and the content of the image file is continuous, but not Limited to this practice.

Subsequent step 64 is to transmit an instruction to read the image data by the south bridge 512. In this embodiment, the instruction for reading the image file transmitted by the south bridge 512 is a serial peripheral interface bus (SPI command).

In step 65, the processing unit 517 receives an instruction from the south bridge 512 and interprets the instruction to learn the memory address of the desired image file in the random access memory 514. The unit 517 can read the required image file data by using the learned memory address into the random access memory 514. It should be further noted that the instruction from the south bridge 512 carries a relevant The data location parameter of the starting address.

In step 66, the processing unit 517 formats the required image data to produce a packet conforming to the South Bridge 512 protocol, and the South Bridge 512 protocol conforms to the serial peripheral interface protocol.

In step 67, the processing unit 517 transmits the packet to the south bridge 512, and after the south bridge 512 reads the packet, the initial setting to the local server 5 will be performed.

In step 68, the south bridge 512 determines whether all initials have been completed. Set, if no, go back to step 64 to repeat step 64 to step 67, and if so, the local server 5 is powered on.

In summary, the remote server 4 loads the corresponding image file data into the random access memory 514 on the backplane control device 511, and reads the image via the processing unit 515 on the backplane control device 511. The file data is further converted into a packet usable by the south bridge 512 through the processing unit 515, and the packet is transmitted to the south bridge 512, so that the switch does not need to pass through the read-only memory and the additional setting. The object of the present invention can be achieved by updating and reading the image file data, thereby reducing the hardware cost.

The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, that is, the simple equivalent changes and modifications made by the patent application scope and patent specification content of the present invention, All remain within the scope of the invention patent.

4‧‧‧Remote Server

41‧‧‧Image file information

42‧‧‧Image file information

51‧‧‧ motherboard

511‧‧‧Bottom plate control device

512‧‧‧South Bridge

513‧‧‧Control unit

514‧‧‧ memory unit, random access memory

515‧‧‧Processing unit

Claims (10)

A motherboard is disposed on a local server, the motherboard includes: a south bridge for transmitting an instruction to read image file data; a bottom plate control device electrically connected to a remote server, and including a memory unit and an electric a processing unit connected between the memory unit and the south bridge, the memory unit stores an image file related to boot data; the processing unit receives an instruction from the south bridge, and interprets the command to The image file is found in the memory unit, and the processing unit formats the image file to generate a packet conforming to the south bridge agreement, and the processing unit transmits the packet to the south bridge for the motherboard to perform booting. The motherboard of claim 1, wherein the memory unit is a random access memory, and the processing unit interprets the command to learn the memory address of the image file in the random access memory. The instruction from the south bridge carries a data location parameter, and the data location parameter is a start address associated with the image file in the random access memory. The remote board server stores a plurality of image file data, wherein the remote control server further includes a control unit, the control unit receives an update command, and sends a update command according to the update command. a request instruction having an image file feature, to the remote server, causing the remote server to transmit a corresponding image according to the request command File to the random access memory. The motherboard of claim 3, wherein the image file feature comprises an image file number, and the plurality of image file materials respectively correspond to different specifications of the motherboard. The motherboard of claim 3, wherein, after the motherboard is powered on, the control unit determines that the motherboard is not powered on, the control unit issues the request command to the remote server to make the remote The end server transmits the corresponding image file to the random access memory according to the request command. A booting method is performed by a server system, the server system comprising at least one motherboard having a south bridge and a backplane control device, the backplane control device including an image file for storing a boot data The memory unit, and a processing unit connected between the memory unit and the south bridge, comprising the steps of: (A) the south bridge transmitting an instruction to read the image file; (B) the processing unit receiving the instruction from the south bridge, And interpreting the instruction to find the image file data from the memory unit; (C) the processing unit formats the image file to generate a packet conforming to the South Bridge Agreement; and (D) the The processing unit transmits the packet to the south bridge for the motherboard to perform booting. The method of booting according to claim 6, wherein the memory unit is a random access memory, and the server system further comprises a remote server, the bottom The board control device further includes a control unit electrically connected to the remote server, and further comprising the following steps before the step (A): (A1) the control unit transmits a request command with a profile feature to the remote server And (A2) the remote server transmits the corresponding image file data to the random access memory according to the request command. The method of booting according to claim 7, wherein the step (A1) further comprises a step: the control unit receives an update instruction, and issues the request instruction according to the update instruction. The method of booting according to claim 7, wherein the image file feature comprises an image file number, and the plurality of image file materials respectively correspond to different specifications of the motherboard. The method of booting according to claim 7, wherein the step (A1) further comprises a step of: after the motherboard is powered on, the control unit determines that the motherboard is not powered on, and proceeds to step (A1).