TW202024941A - System management bus device management system and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A system management bus (SMB) device management system and method thereof are provided. The SMB device management system includes: multiple SMB devices and a SMB utility module coupled to the SMB devices. The SMB utility module obtains an external file, the external file including addressing information of the SMB devices. The SMB utility module establishes a hierarchical structure corresponding to the SMB devices through the external file such that each of the SMB devices has a unique address trace.

Description

System management bus device management system and method

The present invention relates to a system management bus device management system and a method thereof, and in particular to a system management bus device management system and a method thereof capable of effectively addressing System Management Bus (SMB) devices.

Due to the birth of the SMB switch, users cannot see all SMB devices at once. If you open all the channels of the SMB switch, you may encounter problems such as the address duplication of the SMB device or the overload of the SMB device, which may cause the read and write function of the SMB host to be abnormal. The working status and the actual physical meaning of the device linked to the register of each SMB device are defined by each manufacturer, and there is no unified specification. Therefore, the user needs to carefully confirm the specifications of the SMB device before knowing how to use the SMB device. In addition, when the firmware reads and writes to the SMB device, it is difficult to control due to the lack of a general management method. Therefore, how to effectively address the SMB device and give the corresponding physical meaning to the SMB device register is the goal that those skilled in the art should strive for.

The present invention provides a system management bus device management system and a method thereof, which can effectively address SMB devices and give the SMB device register corresponding physical meaning

The present invention provides an SMB device management system, including: a plurality of SMB devices; and an SMB function module coupled to the SMB device. The SMB function module obtains external files, and the external files include address information of the SMB device. The SMB function module establishes a hierarchical structure corresponding to the SMB device through external files, so that each SMB device has a unique address track.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the SMB function module scans SMB devices through a hierarchical structure and displays the scanned SMB devices.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned hierarchical structure is a tree structure.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the external file includes physical meaning information corresponding to multiple register values of each SMB device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned SMB device management system further includes a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware module coupled to the SMB function module and the SMB device. The SMB function module generates code files based on the register configuration and unique address track of the SMB device. The UEFI firmware module decodes the encoded file and identifies the SMB device through the unique address track, and then writes the register data in the register configuration to the corresponding SMB device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned register configuration includes register values in the configuration space, and the SMB function module receives a register change command to change one of the register values.

The present invention provides an SMB device management method, which includes: obtaining external files through an SMB function module, the external files including addressing information of the SMB device; and establishing a hierarchical structure corresponding to the SMB device through the external files by the SMB function module, So that each SMB device has a unique address track.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the SMB function module scans SMB devices through a hierarchical structure and displays the scanned SMB devices.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned hierarchical structure is a tree structure.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the external file includes physical meaning information corresponding to multiple register values of each SMB device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned SMB device management method further includes: generating an encoded file by the SMB function module according to the register configuration and unique address track of the SMB device; and decoding the encoding by the UEFI firmware module The file identifies the SMB device through the unique address track, and then writes the register data in the register configuration to the corresponding SMB device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned register configuration includes register values in the configuration space, and the SMB function module receives a register change command to change one of the register values.

Based on the above, the system management bus device management system and method of the present invention can establish a hierarchical structure of SMB devices through external files so that each SMB device has a unique address track, allowing users to see each SMB device and Its connection relationship. In addition, the SMB function module can generate an encoded file based on the register configuration and unique address track of the SMB device, decode the encoded file through the UEFI firmware module and identify the SMB device through the unique address track, and then configure the register Write the register data in the corresponding SMB device. In this way, the user can quickly give the SMB device register a physical meaning by modifying the value of the SMB device register.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an SMB management system according to an embodiment of the invention. 2 is a comparison diagram before and after establishing a hierarchical structure of SMB devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1, an SMB management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a physical server 110, an SMB function module 130 and a UEFI firmware module 160. The physical server 110 includes a first SMB device 111, a second SMB device 112, and a third SMB device 113. Here, the number of SMB devices is only an example. The physical server 110 may include fewer or more SMB devices. The first SMB device 111, the second SMB device 112, and the third SMB device 113 are unknown SMB devices before the hierarchical structure of the SMB device is established. The unknown SMB device represents the address, offset, and register meaning of the SMB device. There is no unified specification, so the physical server 110 cannot address and register multiple unknown SMB devices. Unified management of attributes. The SMB function module 130 can be implemented by firmware or a hardware circuit.

Through the existing functions of SMB and external files 120, a virtual server 140 can be created in the SMB function module 130. The virtual server 140 includes SMB device identifier (ID) one 141, SMB device identifier two 142, and SMB device identifier three 143 corresponding to the first SMB device 111, the second SMB device 112, and the third SMB device 113, respectively. The external file 120 includes the address information of the SMB device, so the SMB function module 130 can establish a hierarchical structure corresponding to the SMB device through the external file 120, so that each SMB device has a unique address track.

Taking FIG. 2 as an example, before establishing the SMB device hierarchical structure, the SMB host 210 is coupled to other SMB devices 220 through the hardware circuit 230. Due to the lack of a unified management specification, the SMB device 220 will be identified by the SMB host 210 as the "unknown SMB device" defined above. However, after the hierarchical structure of the SMB device 250 is established through the external file 120, the SMB host 240 and the SMB device 250 may form a hierarchical structure (for example, a tree structure). In this way, the SMB device 250 can have a uniformly defined identifier.

[SMB device hierarchical structure establishment method]

In one embodiment, the user needs to create an external file according to the SMB device specification (Spec) and the SMB function, and execute the program in the shell environment provided by UEFI to automatically load the external file. After loading the external file, the hierarchical structure of the SMB device is established based on the addressing information of the SMB device in the external file. Finally, the SMB function module 130 can scan SMB devices through a hierarchical structure and display the scanned SMB devices.

FIG. 3 is an example of a hierarchical structure of an SMB device according to an embodiment of the invention.

3, in the SMB device hierarchical structure, the address 310, location 320, address trace 330, type 340, and device identifier 350 of the scanned SMB device are displayed. Each SMB device corresponds to a unique address 310 (or address segment), and each SMB device has a unique address track 330. The unique address track 330 of each device forms a hierarchical structure of the SMB device.

[Give the name and physical meaning of the register of the SMB device]

In one embodiment, the user needs to create an external file according to the SMB device specification and SMB function, and execute the program in the shell environment provided by UEFI to automatically load the external file. In addition to the address information of the SMB device, the external file also includes the name and physical meaning information corresponding to the register value of each SMB device. The SMB function module 130 can create the name and physical meaning information corresponding to the register value of each SMB device according to the external file, and present it to the user through a graphical user interface combined with a configuration space.

FIG. 4 is an example of configuring a spatial layout register according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the configuration space 400 of the SMB device with address 0xB0 may include registers with offset values of 0 to 255, and there are 256 registers in total. For example, the register 410 may correspond to the name 420 whose text content is "CH0-CHA_1_VOD", where VOD represents voltage drop (Voltage Drop) physical meaning information. When the value of the register 410 is "01", it represents the physical meaning of a voltage drop of 0.8V. With the different definitions of SMB device specifications, when the value of the register 410 is changed from "01" to other values, it can also correspond to the physical meaning of different voltage drop values. It is worth noting that the “Smbus Address: 0xB0” at the bottom of FIG. 4 represents that the configuration space 400 in FIG. 4 is the configuration space of the SMB device with the address 310 of 0xb0 in FIG. 3. Although the value of the register in FIG. 4 is based on a byte as the display unit, in another embodiment, the value of the register may also be a word as the display unit, where one word is equal to two. Bytes.

[Feedback to read and write SMB device register value]

When the user wants to modify the register value of the SMB device (that is, the SMB function module 130 receives a register change command to change one of the register values), the user can use the user interface of FIG. 4 for example Modify the register value and generate an encoded file (for example, the BIN file in Figure 5) according to the register configuration of the SMB device "0xB0" and the unique address track. UEFI firmware will decode the encoded file and identify the SMB device "0xB0" through the unique address track, and then write the register data in the register configuration to the SMB device "0xB0". It is worth noting that one or more BIN files can be compiled by the SMB function module 130 at the same time. At the next startup, the value stored in the BIN file can be written back to the corresponding SMB device register.

Please refer to FIG. 1 again. After the user modifies the register value, the SMB function module 130 can generate a corresponding code file 150. The file decoding module 161 of the UEFI firmware module 160 decodes the above-mentioned encoded file 150 to generate the address, unique address track and register configuration of the SMB device, and then the SMB module 162 writes the register configuration into the SMB Device.

6 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between the basic structure of an encoded file and the UEFI firmware module according to an embodiment of the invention.

Please refer to FIG. 6, the content of the encoded file 650 corresponding to each SMB device may include a header part 610 and a configuration part 620. The header part 610 includes the address and address track of the SMB device, and the address track may include SMB device classification information such as switches, nodes, and devices. The configuration part 620 may include data such as registers and their values in the configuration space of the SMB device. The encoded file 650 can be stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM) 630 corresponding to the UEFI firmware module 640. At the next boot, the UEFI firmware module 640 will decode the encoded file 650 and write the decoded value back to the corresponding SMB device register.

Fig. 7 is a system architecture diagram of an SMB management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The system architecture 700 of the SMB management system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a hardware 710 and a UEFI firmware module 740. The UEFI shell 743 can provide an environment executable program to automatically load external files, establish a hierarchical structure of the SMB device, and assign a corresponding name and physical meaning to the SMB device register. When the user modifies the value of the register and generates the corresponding coded file 750, the coded file 750 is decoded by the file decoding module 742, and the SMB module 741 writes the decoded register data into the hardware 710. The decoded register data will be sent to the SMB device host 733, and sent to the slave SMB device 722 (ie, other SMB devices other than the SMB device host 733) through the unique address track of the SMB device. In addition, the hardware 710 may also include necessary components such as a motherboard 721, a processor 731, and a memory 732.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of an SMB device management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, in step S801, an external file is obtained, and the external file includes address information of the SMB device.

In step S802, a hierarchical structure corresponding to the SMB device is established through the external file, so that each SMB device has a unique address track.

In step S803, an encoded file is generated according to the register configuration of the SMB device and the unique address track.

In step S804, the encoded file is decoded and the SMB device is identified through the unique address track, and then the register data in the register configuration is written into the corresponding SMB device.

In summary, the system management bus device management system and method of the present invention can establish a hierarchical structure of SMB devices through external files so that each SMB device has a unique address track, allowing users to see each SMB Devices and their connections. In addition, the SMB function module can generate an encoded file based on the register configuration and unique address track of the SMB device, decode the encoded file through the UEFI firmware module and identify the SMB device through the unique address track, and then configure the register Write the register data in the corresponding SMB device. In this way, the user can quickly give the SMB device register a physical meaning by modifying the value of the SMB device register.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the relevant technical field can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention shall be subject to those defined by the attached patent scope.

100: SMB management system 110: physical server 111: first SMB device 112: second SMB device 113: third SMB device 120: external file 130: SMB function module 140: virtual server 141: SMB device identifier 1 142: SMB device identifier two 143: SMB device identifier three 150: encoding file 160: UEFI firmware module 161: file decoding module 162: SMB module 210: SMB host 220: SMB device 230: hardware circuit 240 : SMB host 250: SMB device 310: address 320: location 330: address track 340: type 350: device identifier 400: configuration space 410: register 420: name 610: header part 620: configuration part 630: Read-only memory 640: UEFI firmware module 650: Encoding file 700: System architecture 710: Hardware 721: Motherboard 722: Slave SMB device 731: Processor 732: Memory 733: SMB device Host 740: UEFI firmware Module 741: SMB module 742: File decoding module 743: UEFI shell 750: Encoding files S801~S804: Steps of SMB device management method

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an SMB management system according to an embodiment of the invention. 2 is a comparison diagram before and after establishing a hierarchical structure of SMB devices according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an example of a hierarchical structure of an SMB device according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is an example of configuring a spatial layout register according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an example of reading and storing the register value of the SMB device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between the basic structure of an encoded file and the UEFI firmware module according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 7 is a system architecture diagram of an SMB management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 8 is a flowchart of an SMB device management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

210: SMB host

220: SMB device

230: hardware circuit

240: SMB host

250: SMB device

Claims (12)

A system management bus (SMB) device management system includes: a plurality of SMB devices; and an SMB function module coupled to the SMB devices, wherein the SMB function module obtains an external file, the The external file includes address information of the SMB devices. The SMB function module uses the external file to create a hierarchical structure corresponding to the SMB devices, so that each of the SMB devices has a unique address track. In the SMB device management system described in the first item of the scope of patent application, the SMB function module scans the SMB devices through the hierarchical structure and displays the scanned SMB devices. In the SMB device management system described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, the hierarchical structure is a tree structure. According to the SMB device management system described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, the external file includes the physical meaning information corresponding to the multiple register values of each of the SMB devices. For example, the SMB device management system described in item 4 of the scope of patent application further includes a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware module coupled to the SMB function module and the SMB devices , Wherein the SMB function module generates an encoded file according to a register configuration of the SMB devices and the unique address track, and the UEFI firmware module decodes the encoded file and identifies the SMBs through the unique address track And then write the register data in the register configuration into the corresponding SMB devices. For the SMB device management system described in item 5 of the patent application, the register configuration includes the register values of a configuration space, and the SMB function module receives a register change command to change the register value. One of these registers. An SMB device management method includes: obtaining an external file by an SMB function module, the external file including address information of a plurality of SMB devices; and establishing corresponding SMBs through the external file by the SMB function module The hierarchical structure of the device allows each of the SMB devices to have a unique address track. In the SMB device management method described in item 7 of the scope of patent application, the SMB function module scans the SMB devices through the hierarchical structure and displays the scanned SMB devices. In the SMB device management method described in item 7 of the scope of patent application, the hierarchical structure is a tree structure. According to the SMB device management method described in item 7 of the scope of patent application, the external file includes physical meaning information corresponding to a plurality of register values of each of the SMB devices. For example, the SMB device management method described in item 10 of the scope of patent application further includes: generating an encoded file by the SMB function module according to a register configuration of the SMB devices and the unique address track, and by a The UEFI firmware module decodes the encoded file and identifies the SMB devices through the unique address track, and then writes the register data in the register configuration to the corresponding SMB devices. The SMB device management method described in item 11 of the scope of patent application, wherein the register configuration includes the register values of a configuration space, and the SMB function module receives a register change command to change the register value One of these registers.

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