TWI659295B - Server and initialization method in a booting server process - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a server and a server initialization method. The server includes a non-volatile storage unit, a control unit, a substrate management controller, and a control chipset. The non-volatile storage unit stores an initialization setting. The control unit is coupled to the non-volatile storage unit to obtain an initial setting. The control unit includes a plurality of pins to output a voltage level corresponding to each pin according to the initial setting. At least one of the substrate management controller and the control chipset receives the voltage levels output by the pins before self-initialization, so as to perform the initialization operation according to the voltage levels.

Description

Server and server startup initialization method

The invention relates to a server, in particular to a server and a server boot initialization method.

The server can be subdivided into multiple steps during the startup process, such as: starting the power supply, the power supply supplies power to the motherboard, and multiple components in the motherboard receive power and need to feed the required signals to their pins. Generally speaking, the connection traces have been laid out on the motherboard to feed the required signals to the corresponding components, so that these components can be initialized according to the input signals. However, during the product development stage or for the convenience of maintenance after the product is shipped, the motherboard will also cooperate with hardware components (such as switch, jumper) to change the circuit. As a result, additional hardware costs are incurred and manual operations are required.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a server including a non-volatile storage unit, a control unit, a substrate management controller, and a control chip set.

The non-volatile storage unit stores an initialization setting. The control unit is coupled to the non-volatile storage unit to obtain an initial setting. The control unit includes a plurality of pins to output a voltage level corresponding to each pin according to the initial setting. The baseboard management controller is coupled to the control unit. The control chipset is coupled to the control unit. At least one of the substrate management controller and the control chipset receives the voltage levels output by the pins before self-initialization, so as to perform the initialization operation according to the voltage levels.

In one embodiment, the control chipset writes the initialization settings into the non-volatile storage unit.

In one embodiment, the server further includes a communication interface coupled to the non-volatile storage unit. The non-volatile storage unit receives the initialization settings transmitted by an update device through a communication interface and stores the received initialization settings.

In one embodiment, the server further includes a network interface connected to the baseboard management controller. The baseboard management controller receives an initialization setting transmitted by an update device through a network interface. The substrate management controller controls and controls the chipset to write the received initialization settings to the non-volatile storage unit.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a server startup initialization method, including: storing an initialization setting in a non-volatile storage unit; reading a non-volatile storage unit with a control unit, wherein the control unit includes a plurality of pins; and the control unit according to the read The initialization is set at a voltage level corresponding to each pin output; and a substrate management controller or control chipset receives the corresponding voltage level output from each pin, and performs an initialization operation according to the voltage levels.

In one embodiment, the storage initialization setting is set in the non-volatile storage unit, and the control unit writes the initialization setting into the non-volatile storage unit.

In one embodiment, before storing an initialization setting in a non-volatile storage unit, the method further includes: connecting an update device via a communication interface to receive the initialization setting from the update device.

In one embodiment, the method further includes: the baseboard management controller receives an initialization setting transmitted by an update device through a network interface; and the baseboard management controller controls and controls the chipset to write the received initialization setting to Non-volatile storage unit.

In summary, according to the server and server boot initialization method provided in the embodiments of the present invention, the software can be used to enable the control unit to provide the parameter settings required for the initialization of the substrate management controller and the control chipset, thereby saving traditional adoption. The hardware cost of hardware allocation can also shorten the setting time and avoid human error.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of a server 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The server 100 includes a non-volatile storage unit 110, a control unit 120, a baseboard management controller (BMC) 130, and a control chipset 140. The non-volatile storage unit 110 may be a non-volatile memory such as an electronic erasable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, and the like. The control unit 120 may be an arithmetic unit such as a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), a microcontroller, and the like. The control chip set 140 may be a control chip that can be connected to an input / output device, such as a Platform Controller Hub (PCH) or a South Bridge chip. The control unit 120 and the control chipset are coupled to the non-volatile storage unit 110. Here, the control unit 120 and the control chipset are coupled to the non-volatile storage unit 110 through a system management bus (System Management Bus, SMB), but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. The control unit 120 includes a plurality of pins 121. The substrate management controller 130 includes one or more pins 131, and the control chip group 140 includes one or more pins 141. These pins 131 and 141 are coupled one-to-one with the pins 121 of the control unit 120.

Here, although the pin 131 of the substrate management controller 130 is coupled to the pin 121 of the control unit 120 and the pin 141 of the control chip group 140 is coupled to the pin 121 of the control unit 120 as an example, In some embodiments, only the pin 131 of the substrate management controller 130 and the pin 121 of the control unit 120 may be coupled to initialize the substrate management controller 130; or only the pin 141 of the control chip group 140 It is coupled to the pins 121 of the control unit 120 to initialize the control chip group 140.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a flowchart of a boot initialization method applicable to the foregoing server 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Each step of the method is described in detail below.

In step S210, the storage initialization is set in the non-volatile storage unit 110. In other words, the non-volatile storage unit 10 can be used for storing initial settings.

In step S220, the control unit 120 obtains its stored initialization settings from the non-volatile storage unit 110. The initialization setting specifies the voltage level that each pin 121 should output. The voltage level may correspond to a logic variable. For example, a high voltage level (such as 3 volts) corresponds to a logic true, and a low voltage level (such as 0 volts) corresponds to a logic false. The voltage level may also correspond to a rated voltage value, that is, a certain pin level 121 maintains an output of a specific voltage level (such as 3.3 volts, 5 volts). This specific voltage level may be the aforementioned high voltage level Level, low voltage level, or a voltage value in-between.

In step S230, according to the actual demand, the control unit 120 outputs a corresponding voltage level at each of its pins 121 according to the read initialization settings. For example, if the board management controller 130 is to be initialized, the control unit 120 will output the required voltage level at the pin 121 coupled to the pin 131 of the board management controller 130; When the 140 performs an initialization operation, the control unit 120 outputs a required voltage level at the pin 121 coupled to the pin 141 of the control chip group 140. Taking the C216 chipset produced by Intel Corporation as an example, the pin 141 required for the initialization of the control chipset 140 may be, for example, a "No Reboot" pin, a "Top-Block Swap Override" pin, and a "Boot BIOS Strap" pin.

In step S240, the baseboard management controller 130 or / and the control chipset 140 receives the respective voltage levels of the control unit 120 to output corresponding voltage levels, and performs an initialization operation according to these voltage levels. Thereby, at least one of the substrate management controller 130 and the control chipset 140, that is, the substrate management controller 130 or / and the control chipset 140, can receive the output of these pins 121 before the initialization. Voltage levels (that is, parameter settings required for initialization), and initialization operations can be performed according to these voltage levels.

In some embodiments, in step S210, the initialization setting written to the non-volatile storage unit 110 may be an original parameter setting, or may be an update parameter of an old initialization setting that has been stored in the non-volatile storage unit 110. set up.

In one embodiment, the server 100 may execute the write initialization setting locally, that is, the initialization setting is written into the non-volatile storage unit 110 via the control chipset 140.

Referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of a server 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown. The difference from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is that the server 100 in this embodiment further includes a communication interface 150 coupled to the non-volatile storage unit 110. Thereby, the non-volatile storage unit 110 can receive the initialization settings transmitted by an update device 300 through the communication interface 150, and store the received initialization settings. Here, the communication interface 150 can support the aforementioned system management bus, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. The update device 300 may be, for example, an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a personal computer, a notebook computer, and a tablet computer.

Referring to FIG. 4, it is a block diagram of a server 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is that the server 100 in this embodiment further includes a network interface 160 connected to the baseboard management controller 130. The baseboard management controller 130 receives the initialization settings transmitted by the update device 300 through the network interface 160. Accordingly, the substrate management controller 130 may issue an instruction to the control chipset 140 to perform control, so as to write the received initialization settings to the non-volatile storage unit 110 through the control chipset 140. In detail, when the initialization setting is to be transmitted, the substrate management controller 130 first sends an interrupt signal to the control chipset 140, so that the control chipset 140 suspends the current execution operation and obtains the initialization setting from the substrate management controller 130. The control chipset 140 writes the initialization settings into the non-volatile storage unit 110. Here, the communication between the substrate management controller 130 and the control chipset 140 complies with a low pin count (LPC) convergence transmission protocol. In some embodiments, the communication between the substrate management controller 130 and the control chipset 140 may also use the aforementioned system management bus, or an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI).

In some embodiments, the control unit 120, the substrate management controller 130, and the control chipset 140 include other pins in addition to the above-mentioned pins 121, 131, and 141. These pins are not the substrate management controller 130 or / And the control chipset 140 is required for initialization, which is not specifically shown and explained herein. In other words, the pins 121, 131, and 141 described herein are only pins required to perform the initialization operation on the substrate management controller 130 or / and the control chipset 140, the control unit 120, the substrate management controller 130, and the control chip Group 140 also includes pins for performing other controls, such as power-on control of other chips. Furthermore, the control chipset 140 can read other settings from the non-volatile storage unit 110 and plan the states of other pins according to the settings to achieve other purposes of control.

5 is a block diagram of a server 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the previous embodiment is that the server 100 in this embodiment has both a communication interface 150 and a network interface 160 for the update device 300 to choose to transmit the initialization settings through the communication interface 150 or through the network interface 160.

In summary, according to the server 100 and the startup initialization method thereof according to the embodiments of the present invention, the control unit 120 can provide the parameter settings required for the initialization of the substrate management controller 130 and the control chipset 140 through software, and can further It saves the hardware cost of traditional hardware allocation, shortens the setting time, and avoids human error.

100‧‧‧Server

110‧‧‧Non-volatile storage unit

120‧‧‧Control unit

121, 131, 141‧‧‧

130‧‧‧ substrate management controller

140‧‧‧control chipset

150‧‧‧ communication interface

160‧‧‧Interface

170‧‧‧ Basic I / O Unit

S210, S220, S230, S240 ‧‧‧ steps

300‧‧‧ update device

[FIG. 1] A block diagram of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 2] A flowchart of a server startup initialization method according to an embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 3] A block diagram of a server according to another embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 4] A block diagram of a server according to another embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 5] A block diagram of a server according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (8)

A server includes: a non-volatile storage unit that stores an initialization setting; a control unit that is coupled to the non-volatile storage unit to obtain the initialization setting, and the control unit includes a plurality of pins for setting the The pin position outputs a corresponding voltage level; a substrate management controller coupled to the control unit; and a control chipset coupled to the control unit; wherein at least one of the substrate management controller and the control chipset The user receives the voltage levels output by the pins before self-initialization, so as to perform the initialization operation according to the voltage levels. The server according to claim 1, wherein the control chipset writes the initialization setting into the non-volatile storage unit. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a communication interface coupled to the non-volatile storage unit. The non-volatile storage unit receives the initialization settings transmitted by an update device through the communication interface and stores the received initialization settings. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a network interface connected to the substrate management controller. The substrate management controller receives the initialization setting transmitted by an update device through the network interface, and the substrate management controller controls The control chipset writes the received initialization settings into the non-volatile storage unit. A server startup initialization method includes: storing an initialization setting in a non-volatile storage unit; reading the non-volatile storage unit with the control unit, wherein the control unit includes a plurality of pins; and using the control unit to read the The initialization is set at a voltage level corresponding to each of the pin outputs; and a substrate management controller or a control chipset receives the voltage level corresponding to each of the pin outputs, and performs an initialization operation according to the voltage levels. . The server startup initialization method according to claim 5, wherein the initializing setting is stored in a non-volatile storage unit, and the initialization setting is written into the non-volatile storage unit by the control chipset. The server boot initialization method according to claim 5, wherein the storing an initialization setting before a non-volatile storage unit further includes: connecting an update device via a communication interface to receive the initialization setting from the update device. The server boot initialization method according to claim 5, further comprising: the substrate management controller receiving the initialization setting transmitted by an update device via a network interface; and controlling the control chipset with the substrate management controller to Write the received initial setting to the non-volatile storage unit.