JP2009187456A - Firmware update system, information processor, and firmware update method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a firmware update system capable of efficiently achieving update of a plurality of firmwares without troubling a manager and capable of managing the plurality of firmwares unitarily, and to provide an information processor, and a firmware update method and a program. <P>SOLUTION: A first device collects version information showing the version of each firmware from the plurality of firmwares and transmits the collected version information to a second device, and the second device receives the version information, inputs a firmware for update corresponding to the plurality of firmwares, collates the received version information with the version of the inputted firmwares for update, determines the acceptance/rejection of update in each of the plurality of firmwares, and transmits a firmware for update to the first device about the firmware determined to be updatable. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a firmware update system, an information processing apparatus, a firmware update method, and a program for updating firmware included in an electronic device.

An electronic device that operates based on firmware can have a new function by updating the firmware. As a technical example related to the present invention, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that updates firmware included in an electronic device (hereinafter referred to as a device) via a network.
JP 2003-5991 A

  However, in the case of a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a blade server), uploading of firmware included in the plurality of devices has been performed individually. In addition, there is no mechanism for centrally managing each firmware (for example, BIOS, control firmware, etc.) included in a plurality of devices.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, can efficiently implement a plurality of firmware updates without bothering the administrator, and can perform a unified management of the plurality of firmware, A firmware update system, an information processing apparatus, a firmware update method, and a program are provided.

  In order to achieve such an object, a firmware update system of the present invention is a firmware update system having a first device having a plurality of firmware and a second device for managing the first device. The first device collects version information indicating the version of each firmware from a plurality of firmware, and first transmission means for transmitting the version information collected by the collection device to the second device; The second device includes a second receiving unit that receives the version information transmitted by the first transmitting unit, an input unit that inputs firmware for updating corresponding to a plurality of firmware, Version information received by the communication means 2 and the update firmware input by the input means A determination means for checking the update version for each of a plurality of firmware, and for the firmware determined to be updateable by the determination means, the update firmware is transmitted to the first device. 2 transmission means.

  The information processing apparatus of the present invention is used as the first apparatus or the second apparatus in the firmware update system of the present invention.

  The firmware update method of the present invention is a firmware update method for updating a plurality of firmwares using a first device having a plurality of firmwares and a second device for managing the first devices. The first device collects version information indicating the version of each firmware from a plurality of firmware, a version information transmission step that transmits the version information collected in the collection step to the second device, The second device includes a version information receiving step for receiving the version information transmitted in the version information transmitting step, a firmware input step for inputting firmware for update corresponding to a plurality of firmware, and version information Receive step The version information received from the firmware and the version of the firmware for update entered in the firmware input step, the judgment step for judging whether or not the update is possible for each of the plurality of firmware, and the firmware judged to be updateable by the judgment step And a firmware transmission step of transmitting firmware for update to the first device.

  A program according to the present invention causes a computer to execute the firmware update method according to the present invention.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently update a plurality of firmware without bothering an administrator, and to centrally manage the plurality of firmware.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  First, the configuration of an embodiment of a firmware update system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the firmware update system of this embodiment includes a blade server 100 as a first device and a management computer (central processing device; processor; data processing device; information processing device) as a second device. 200).

  The blade server 100 includes a management controller 101 and a plurality of devices (hereinafter also referred to as update target devices) in the blade server 100. In FIG. 1, nine devices 111 to 115, 121, 122, 131, and 132 are set as update target devices.

  The configuration of the management computer 200 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the management computer 200 includes an input / output interface 201, a storage area 210, and a control unit 220. The storage area 210 includes a revision management area 211, an update image storage area 212, and an update method storage area 213 for each device.

  Next, the operation (firmware update method) of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  In the blade server 100, the management controller 101 having a storage area collects and manages version information indicating the current version of the firmware included in each device from a plurality of devices in the blade server 100 (step A1 in FIG. 5). ). The management controller 101 transmits the managed version information to the management computer 200 as needed according to the timing instructed from the management computer 200 (step A2 in FIG. 5).

  The management computer 200 receives the version information transmitted from the management controller 101 via the input / output interface 201 and stores it in the revision management area 211 of each device in the storage area 201 (step B1 in FIG. 5). An example of the version information stored at this time is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, version information (firmware version) is stored for each firmware identification number (item number). Further, the version information associates the number and address of the chassis (blade server) with the mounting slot number and address of the device. The case number and address and the device mounting slot number and address are used when updating the firmware.

  Next, in the management computer 200, the update firmware corresponding to the firmware of each device is input through the input / output interface 201 (step B2 in FIG. 5). The update firmware input is assumed to be input from a recording medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk 1, CD-ROM 2, USB device 3, and download from a public line through the Internet. The update firmware input through the input / output interface 201 is stored in the update image storage area 212 of the storage area 210. The firmware for update includes an identification number (item number) for identifying the firmware and version information (firmware version) indicating the version of the firmware.

  Next, in the management computer 200, the control unit 220 uses the storage area 210 to store the version information stored in the revision management area 211 of each device and the version of the update firmware stored in the update image storage area 212. The information is collated (step B3 in FIG. 5). This collation is performed between those having the same firmware identification number.

  Here, for example, a case of collating firmware with the identification number “1” will be described. It is assumed that the version information with a larger number is newer. For example, if the version information of the input firmware for update is “1.05”, the version information and the version information “1.03” (see FIG. 3) stored in the revision management area 211 of each device Compared to, the firmware for update is newer. Therefore, the control unit 220 determines that the firmware having the identification number “1” can be updated. Then, the control unit 220 associates the version information “1.05” of the firmware for update with the version information “1.05” of the update firmware and the version information “1.0” shown in FIG. It is generated as management information and stored in the revision management area 211 of each device (step B4 in FIG. 5). An example of the version management information stored at this time is shown in FIG. If the version information stored in the revision management area 211 of each device is the same as the version information of the firmware for update as a result of the above collation, there is no need for update. Become. In this way, the control unit 220 collates all the version information stored in the revision management area 211 of each device with the version information of the input firmware for update.

  Next, in the management computer 200, the control unit 220 transmits to the blade server 100 the update firmware that indicates whether or not the version management information can be uploaded (step B5 in FIG. 5). At this time, the control unit 220 sends an image of the update firmware to the update target device according to the update method (method determined in advance by the device) stored in the update method storage area 213. Further, the control unit 220 sends an instruction of “timing to perform update” designated by the operator (administrator) to the management controller 101.

  In the blade server 100, the management controller 101 updates the firmware of each device based on the instruction received from the management computer 200 (step A3 in FIG. 5).

  In the blade server 100, after performing the update, the management controller 101 notifies the management computer 200 that the update has been completed.

  When the management computer 200 receives the upload completion notification, the control unit 220 updates the version management information stored in the revision management area 211 of each device to the version information format shown in FIG. 3 (step of FIG. 5). B6). In other words, in the version management information shown in FIG. 4, after deleting the “update possible” column and moving each data in the “latest” column of “firmware version” to the “each device” column, respectively. , Delete the “Latest” column. Thereby, the operator can grasp the current version of the firmware of each device by referring to the version management information in the revision management area 211 of each device.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
The first effect is that, when the versions of the plurality of firmware of the update client (blade server 100) are older than the version management information held in the update server (management computer 200), the update server has the update client. Upgrade multiple firmware versions.
A second effect is that unified management of version information of a plurality of devices in the blade server is possible. For this reason, on the management server, the necessity of updating each device is compared with the latest version.

  In the above embodiment, the blade server has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any device (system) including a plurality of firmwares may be used. In addition, the plurality of devices described above may be regarded as independent platforms such as a rack mount server or a stand-alone server, and resource sharing across the plurality of platforms can be realized in the same manner as described above via a network. .

  In the above embodiment, a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, and a USB memory are used as examples of the storage medium.

  In the above embodiment, the input / output interface 201 may have not only a single configuration but also a plurality of blade servers 100 and other networks such as public lines.

  In the above embodiment, the number of devices (update target devices) in the blade server 100 is nine as an example, but the number is not limited to this.

  In the above embodiment, the revision management area 211 and the update image storage area 212 of each device are separated in the storage area 210 shown in FIG. 2, but they may be shared within the same storage area.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, it is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary.

  For example, the operation (the operation shown in FIG. 5) in each of the embodiments described above can be executed by hardware, software, or a combined configuration of both.

  When executing processing by software, a program in which a processing sequence is recorded may be installed and executed in a memory in a computer incorporated in dedicated hardware. Or you may install and run a program in the general purpose computer which can perform various processes.

  For example, the program can be recorded in advance on a hard disk or a ROM (Read Only Memory) as a recording medium. Alternatively, the program is temporarily or permanently stored on a removable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), an MO (Magneto optical) disc, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a magnetic disc, or a semiconductor memory. It can be stored (recorded). Such a removable recording medium can be provided as so-called package software.

  The program may be wirelessly transferred from the download site to the computer in addition to being installed on the computer from the removable recording medium as described above. Alternatively, the data may be transferred to the computer by a wire via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet. The computer can receive the transferred program and install it on a recording medium such as a built-in hard disk.

  In addition to being executed in time series in accordance with the processing operations described in the above embodiment, the processing capability of the apparatus that executes the processing, or to be executed in parallel or individually as necessary Is also possible.

  In addition, the system described in the above embodiment can be configured to have a logical set configuration of a plurality of devices or to mix the functions of each device.

  The present invention can be applied to uses such as device version management and update management in a device in which a plurality of different devices and firmware are mounted in the same device such as a blade server. Further, the present invention is effective even in a device that is not a blade server but has a plurality of firmware.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the firmware update system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the management computer which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the version information managed with the blade server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the version management information managed with the management computer which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence chart which shows operation | movement of the firmware update system which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Floppy disk 2 CD-ROM
3 USB device 100 Blade server 101 Management controller 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 121, 122, 131, 132 Device (update target device)
200 management computer 201 input / output interface 210 storage area 211 revision management area of each device (first storage means)
212 Update image storage area 213 Update method storage area (second storage means)
220 Control unit

Claims (10)

A firmware update system comprising a first device comprising a plurality of firmware and a second device for managing the first device,
The first device includes:
Collecting means for collecting version information indicating the version of each firmware from the plurality of firmware;
First transmission means for transmitting the version information collected by the collection means to the second device,
The second device includes:
Second receiving means for receiving the version information transmitted by the first transmitting means;
Input means for inputting firmware for update corresponding to the plurality of firmware;
A judgment means for collating the version information received by the second communication means with the version of the firmware for update inputted by the input means, and judging whether update is possible for each of the plurality of firmware;
Second firmware for transmitting the firmware for update to the first device for the firmware determined to be updateable by the determination unit;
A firmware update system comprising: The first device includes:
First receiving means for receiving the update firmware transmitted by the second transmitting means and an instruction for timing of updating the update firmware;
Update execution means for performing an update of the firmware for the update based on the timing;
The firmware update system according to claim 1, further comprising: The second device includes:
First storage means for storing the version information received by the second receiving means;
An update means for updating the version information stored in the first storage means when receiving a notification from the first device that the execution of the update is completed;
The firmware update system according to claim 1, further comprising: The second device includes:
A second storage means for storing data indicating a preset update method;
The second transmission means transmits the update firmware to the first apparatus according to the update method stored in the second storage means. 4. The firmware update system according to any one of 3 above.   5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is used as a first device or a second device in the firmware update system according to claim 1. A firmware update method for updating the plurality of firmware using a first device having a plurality of firmware and a second device for managing the first device,
The first device includes:
A collecting step of collecting version information indicating a version of each firmware from the plurality of firmware;
A version information transmission step of transmitting the version information collected by the collection step to the second device,
The second device includes:
A version information receiving step for receiving the version information transmitted by the version information transmitting step;
A firmware input step for inputting firmware for update corresponding to the plurality of firmware;
Checking the version information received in the version information receiving step with the version of the firmware for update input in the firmware input step, and determining whether to update for each of the plurality of firmware;
A firmware transmission step of transmitting the update firmware to the first device for the firmware determined to be updateable by the determination step;
A firmware update method characterized by comprising: The first device includes:
A firmware receiving step for receiving the update firmware transmitted by the firmware transmitting step and an instruction of timing for performing the update of the update firmware;
An update execution step for performing an update of the firmware for the update based on the timing;
The firmware update method according to claim 6, further comprising: The second device includes:
A version information storing step for storing the version information received in the version information receiving step in a storage area;
A version information update step for updating the version information stored in the version information storage step when receiving a notification from the first device that the execution of the update is completed;
The firmware update method according to claim 6 or 7, further comprising: The second device includes:
An update method storage step for storing data indicating a preset update method;
9. The firmware transmission according to claim 6, wherein when the firmware for update is transmitted to the first device, the firmware is transmitted according to the update method stored in the update method storage step. 10. Firmware update method described in 1.   A program for causing a computer to execute the firmware update method according to any one of claims 6 to 9.

Images