WO2022199335A1

WO2022199335A1 - Method, apparatus and device for controlling firmware upgrade of server component, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2022199335A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/078490
Authority: WO
Inventors: 刘宝阳; 王晓通
Original assignee: 山东英信计算机技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-03-25
Filing date: 2022-02-28
Publication date: 2022-09-29
Also published as: CN113031999A

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application are a method, apparatus and device for controlling a firmware upgrade of a server component, and a storage medium. A control apparatus provided with an operating system and a firmware upgrade tool for a server component is preset in a server, and after the operating system of the control apparatus is started, the control apparatus obtains a firmware upgrade service pack for a component to be upgraded, and then invokes and runs the firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component; a firmware upgrade is performed on the component by using the firmware upgrade service pack. By means of the control apparatus, the server component is upgraded by using an existing mature firmware upgrade tool in an in-band upgrade manner, the complexity of a baseboard management controller code logic and the difficulties in development and component compatibility are reduced, manpower and material resources of operation and maintenance are saved, the operation and maintenance efficiency is improved, the customer experience is also improved, and customer requirements can be satisfied quickly.

Description

Control method, device, device and storage medium for firmware upgrade of server components

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application filed on March 25, 2021 with the application number 202110319107.2 and the title of the invention is "control method, device, device and storage medium for firmware upgrade of server components", the entire contents of which are Incorporated herein by reference.

technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of servers, and in particular, to a method, apparatus, device and storage medium for controlling firmware upgrade of server components.

Background technique

With the continuous development of server technology, various types of accelerator cards (GPU), memory cards (RAID) and other components of the server are constantly enriched, and the complexity of the components themselves is also increasing. The complexity of components increases the complexity of component firmware (firmware, FW). It is also getting higher and higher, and the complexity of firmware increases firmware development work and problems, and there are more and more scenarios for upgrading component firmware. Usually, the server manufacturer will provide the download link of the firmware or firmware patch package. After the operation and maintenance personnel download the component firmware through the official website, they can upgrade the firmware out-of-band through the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC). However, the implementation of the solution for upgrading firmware through the baseboard management controller is relatively complex, requiring not only the integration of the baseboard management controller and the interface for component firmware upgrade, but also a lot of compatibility work with the components, resulting in a huge workload for the compatible development of the baseboard management controller. With the update of components, the baseboard management controller needs to continuously update the version and add the upgraded code logic of new components, which brings great challenges to the stability of the baseboard management controller of the server management unit and the operation and maintenance of the server. Due to the slow response to the demand of the client component firmware and the complex logic of the baseboard management controller code, the user experience is not good.

How to solve the work pressure brought by the firmware upgrade management of the server components to the baseboard management controller is a technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present application is to provide a control method, device, device and storage medium for firmware upgrade of server components, which are used to reduce the work pressure brought by the firmware upgrade management of server components to the baseboard management controller.

In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present application provides a method for controlling firmware upgrade of server components, based on a control device provided in a server, the control device is pre-installed with an operating system and a firmware upgrade tool for components of the server, and the control device Methods include:

After starting and running the operating system, obtain the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded;

The firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded is invoked and run, and the firmware upgrade is performed on the component to be upgraded by using the firmware upgrade patch package.

Optionally, the obtaining the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded specifically includes:

Obtain the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package through the baseboard management controller;

Download the firmware upgrade patch package based on the link address.

Optionally, the obtaining the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package through the baseboard management controller is specifically:

Obtain the link address stored in the first storage space of the baseboard management controller.

The link address set by the external configuration host is received based on the second external command interface preset by the baseboard management controller.

Optionally, the obtaining the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded is specifically:

Obtain the firmware upgrade patch package pre-stored in the second storage space.

Optionally, the startup item of the server is set to start the basic input output system once after the control device is turned on.

Optionally, also include:

After the upgrade of each of the components to be upgraded is completed, the server is triggered to restart.

In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present application also provides a control device for firmware upgrade of server components, including:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded after the control device starts and runs the operating system;

an upgrade unit, configured to invoke and run a firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded, and use the firmware upgrade patch package to perform firmware upgrade on the component to be upgraded;

Wherein, the control device is set on the server where the components to be upgraded are located, and the control device is pre-installed with the operating system and the firmware upgrade tool for the components of the server.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present application also provides a control device for firmware upgrade of server components, including:

a memory for storing instructions, the instructions comprising the steps of any one of the above-mentioned control methods for firmware upgrade of server components;

a processor for executing the instructions.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the present application also provides a storage medium on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, implements the steps of the control method for firmware upgrade of a server component according to any one of the above.

In the method for controlling firmware upgrade of server components provided by the present application, a control device with an operating system and a firmware upgrade tool for components of the server is pre-installed on the server, and after the operating system of the control device is started, the control device obtains the components to be upgraded. The firmware upgrade patch package, then call and run the firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded, use the firmware upgrade patch package to upgrade the firmware of the component to be upgraded, and use the existing mature firmware upgrade tool to upgrade the firmware through the control device in the way of in-band upgrade. Upgrading server components reduces the complexity of the code logic of the baseboard management controller and the difficulty of developing components compatible with the components, which not only saves manpower and material resources for operation and maintenance, improves the efficiency of operation and maintenance, but also improves customer experience, which can quickly meet the needs of customers. client needs.

The present application also provides a control device, equipment and storage medium for firmware upgrade of server components, which are used to reduce the work pressure brought by the firmware upgrade management of server components to the baseboard management controller, and have the above beneficial effects, which will not be repeated here.

Description of drawings

In order to illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application or the prior art more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only For some embodiments of the present application, for those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained according to these drawings without any creative effort.

1 is a flowchart of a method for controlling firmware upgrade of a server component provided by an embodiment of the present application;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device for firmware upgrade of a server component provided by an embodiment of the present application;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device for firmware upgrade of a server component provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a storage medium according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The core of the present application is to provide a control method, device, device and storage medium for firmware upgrade of server components, which are used to reduce the work pressure brought by the firmware upgrade management of server components to the baseboard management controller.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, but not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for controlling firmware upgrade of a server component according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in FIG. 1 , a control device provided on a server is pre-installed with an operating system and a firmware upgrade tool for components of the server. Based on the control device, the method for controlling firmware upgrade of server components provided by the embodiment of the present application includes:

S101: After starting the operating system, obtain a firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded.

S102: Invoke and run a firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded, and use the firmware upgrade patch package to upgrade the firmware of the component to be upgraded.

In the specific implementation, the control device can select the built-in memory card (such as SD card, TF card, etc.) or U disk of the server, and the control device pre-stores the operating system (usually Linux OS boot disk) and the corresponding server components. Firmware upgrade tool. The control device is used to manage and upgrade the server components in a unified manner, and after new components or component upgrades, only the control device can be updated and maintained, without the need for the baseboard management controller to make corresponding compatibility updates.

When the server is normally started, the server service operating system is started after the Basic Input Output System (BIOS) is started. In order to make the control device perform the component firmware upgrade operation, in the control method for server component firmware upgrade provided by the embodiment of the present application, it is necessary to set the server to start the operating system (Linux OS) pre-stored in the control device after starting the basic input output system, and control the The device can perform component firmware upgrade work. For example, the operating system startup item of the server may be set to start the operating system pre-stored in the control device once after the server is powered on. Specifically, the baseboard management controller may provide a first external command interface for the external management software to set the operating system startup item, and set the operating system startup item to firstly start the operating system pre-stored in the control system after booting.

After starting and running the pre-stored operating system, the control device determines the component to be upgraded, obtains the corresponding firmware upgrade patch package, and invokes the corresponding firmware upgrade tool, so as to run the firmware upgrade tool and use the component upgrade patch package to upgrade the firmware of the to-be-upgraded component.

After performing the external component upgrade work, the server needs to enter the client service operating system to run normally, so the control method for server component firmware upgrade provided by the embodiment of the present application may further include:

After the upgrade of each component to be upgraded is completed, the server is triggered to restart.

In practical applications, the control device can automatically trigger the server to restart after performing the firmware upgrade of the components to be upgraded, so that the server starts the basic input and output system in the baseboard management controller, and guides it to the customer service operating system to run. . In addition, a monitoring script can also be set by the baseboard management controller, and after the monitoring and control device completes the firmware upgrade of each component to be upgraded, the server is triggered to restart.

The external management software may be software run by a server in a customer data center, or may be run by a computer, mobile phone, or other intelligent terminal.

In the method for controlling firmware upgrade of server components provided by the embodiments of the present application, a control device installed with an operating system and a firmware upgrade tool for components of the server is pre-installed on the server, and after the operating system of the control device is started, the control device obtains the information to be upgraded The firmware upgrade patch package of the component, and then call and run the firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded, use the firmware upgrade patch package to upgrade the firmware of the component to be upgraded, and use the existing mature firmware upgrade tool in the way of in-band upgrade through the control device. Upgrading the server components reduces the complexity of the code logic of the baseboard management controller and the difficulty of developing components compatible with the components, which not only saves the manpower and material resources of operation and maintenance, improves the efficiency of operation and maintenance, but also improves the customer experience. satisfy customer's request.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the control device may acquire the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded by acquiring the firmware upgrade patch package pre-stored in the second storage space. The second storage space can be a preset storage space on the control device or a storage space in another location, and is stored in this space by the operation and maintenance personnel for the control device to use. In addition, the baseboard management controller may also assume a bridge for the control device to obtain the firmware upgrade patch package, so that the control device automatically obtains the firmware upgrade patch package for component firmware upgrade. Then step S101 in FIG. 1 : obtaining the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded, which may specifically include:

Download the firmware upgrade patch package based on the link address.

The link address of the firmware upgrade patch package is usually the official website download address provided by the server manufacturer. Deploy the script in the control device in advance to download the firmware upgrade patch package from the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package. Wherein, the control device can obtain the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package in the baseboard management controller by using an intelligent platform management interface (Intelligent Platform Management Interface, IPMI) command in the operating system in-band.

A non-volatile storage space (EEPROM or Flash) can be set in the baseboard management controller in advance to store the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package; or the baseboard management controller can provide a second external command interface for external management software and control. The operating system of the device exchanges information so that the control device obtains the link address for storing the firmware upgrade patch package. Therefore, obtaining the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package through the baseboard management controller may specifically be: obtaining the link address stored in the first storage space of the baseboard management controller. Alternatively, obtaining the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package through the baseboard management controller may specifically include: receiving the link address set by the external configuration host based on the second external command interface preset by the baseboard management controller.

The method for controlling firmware upgrade of a server component provided by the embodiment of the present application is applied, and the operating system startup item is set by the baseboard management controller to be the operating system in the control device that is started first, and the control device goes to the baseboard management controller after the operating system starts and runs. Obtain the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded from , and automatically download the firmware upgrade patch package from the link address, and use the firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded to upgrade the firmware of the to-be-upgraded component with the firmware upgrade patch package. After the upgrade is complete, trigger the server to restart to enter the customer service operating system.

When adding new components or a new firmware upgrade tool, only the control device needs to be maintained, which eliminates the unstable factors brought about by the upgrade and maintenance of the baseboard management controller in the component management work.

Various embodiments corresponding to the control method for firmware upgrade of server components are described in detail above. Based on this, the present application also discloses a control device, device and storage medium for firmware upgrade of server components corresponding to the above method.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device for firmware upgrade of a server component according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the control device for firmware upgrade of server components provided by the embodiment of the present application includes:

an obtaining unit 201, configured to obtain a firmware upgrade patch package of a component to be upgraded after the control device starts and runs the operating system;

An upgrade unit 202, configured to call and run a firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded, and use a firmware upgrade patch package to upgrade the firmware of the component to be upgraded;

Wherein, the control device is set on the server where the components to be upgraded are located, and the control device is pre-installed with an operating system and a firmware upgrade tool for the components of the server.

Optionally, the control device for server component firmware upgrade provided by the embodiment of the present application further includes:

The restarting unit is used to trigger the server to restart after each component to be upgraded is upgraded.

Since the embodiment of the apparatus part corresponds to the embodiment of the method part, for the embodiment of the apparatus part, please refer to the description of the embodiment of the method part, which will not be repeated here.

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device for upgrading server component firmware according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the control device for server component firmware upgrade provided by the embodiment of the present application includes:

The memory 310 is configured to store instructions, where the instructions include the steps of the method for controlling firmware upgrade of a server component according to any one of the foregoing embodiments;

A processor 320 for executing the instructions.

The processor 320 may include one or more processing cores, such as a 3-core processor, an 8-core processor, and the like. The processor 320 may be implemented in at least one hardware form among digital signal processing DSP (Digital Signal Processing), field programmable gate array FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), and programmable logic array PLA (Programmable Logic Array). The processor 320 may also include a main processor and a coprocessor. The main processor is a processor used to process data in the wake-up state, also called a central processing unit (CPU); A low-power processor for processing data in a standby state. In some embodiments, the processor 320 may be integrated with a graphics processor GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), and the GPU is used for rendering and drawing the content required to be displayed on the display screen. In some embodiments, the processor 320 may further include an artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence) processor, where the AI processor is used to process computing operations related to machine learning.

Memory 310 may include one or more storage media, which may be non-transitory. Memory 310 may also include high-speed random access memory, as well as non-volatile memory, such as one or more disk storage devices, flash storage devices. In this embodiment, the memory 310 is at least used to store the following computer program 311 , wherein, after the computer program 311 is loaded and executed by the processor 320 , it can implement the related control methods for firmware upgrade of a server component disclosed in any of the foregoing embodiments. step. In addition, the resources stored in the memory 310 may also include an operating system 312, data 313, etc., and the storage mode may be short-term storage or permanent storage. The operating system 312 may be Windows. The data 313 may include, but is not limited to, the data involved in the above methods.

In some embodiments, the control device for firmware upgrade of the server component may further include a display screen 330 , a power supply 340 , a communication interface 350 , an input/output interface 360 , a sensor 370 and a communication bus 380 .

Those skilled in the art can understand that the structure shown in FIG. 3 does not constitute a limitation on the control device for firmware upgrade of the server component, and may include more or less components than those shown.

The device for controlling firmware upgrade of server components provided by the embodiments of the present application includes a memory and a processor. When the processor executes a program stored in the memory, the processor can implement the above-mentioned control method for firmware upgrade of server components, with the same effects.

It should be noted that the above-described apparatus and device embodiments are only illustrative. For example, the division of modules is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple modules or components. May be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not implemented. On the other hand, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or modules, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms. Modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution in this embodiment.

In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing module, or each module may exist physically alone, or two or more modules may be integrated into one module. The above-mentioned integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware, and can also be implemented in the form of software function modules.

If the integrated modules are implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as independent products, they may be stored in a storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of software products in essence, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions, and the computer software products are stored in a storage medium , execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application.

To this end, an embodiment of the present application further provides a storage medium, and FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a storage medium provided by an embodiment of the present application. Please refer to FIG. 4 , the storage medium 601 stores a computer program 602, and the computer program 602 The steps when executed by the processor implement a control method such as firmware upgrade of a server component.

The storage medium 601 may include: U disk, removable hard disk, read-only memory ROM (Read-Only Memory), random access memory RAM (Random Access Memory), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

The computer program 602 contained in the storage medium 601 provided in this embodiment can, when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the above-mentioned control method for firmware upgrade of a server component, and the effects are the same as above.

The control method, device, device, and storage medium for firmware upgrade of a server component provided by the present application have been described above in detail. The various embodiments in the specification are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. For the apparatuses, devices, and storage media disclosed in the embodiments, since they correspond to the methods disclosed in the embodiments, the descriptions are relatively simple, and for related parts, please refer to the description in the method section. It should be pointed out that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principles of the present application, several improvements and modifications can also be made to the present application, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the protection scope of the claims of the present application.

It should also be noted that, in this specification, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply these entities or operations. There is no such actual relationship or sequence between operations. Moreover, the terms "comprising", "comprising" or any other variation thereof are intended to encompass a non-exclusive inclusion such that a process, method, article or device that includes a list of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes not explicitly listed or other elements inherent to such a process, method, article or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element qualified by the phrase "comprising a..." does not preclude the presence of additional identical elements in a process, method, article or apparatus that includes the element.

Claims

A control method for firmware upgrade of server components, characterized in that, based on a control device provided in a server, the control device is pre-installed with an operating system and a firmware upgrade tool for components of the server, and the control method includes:

After starting and running the operating system, obtain the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded;

A firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded is invoked and run, and the firmware upgrade is performed on the component to be upgraded by using the firmware upgrade patch package.
The control method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded specifically includes:

Obtain the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package through the baseboard management controller;

Download the firmware upgrade patch package based on the link address.
The control method according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package through the baseboard management controller is specifically:

Obtain the link address stored in the first storage space of the baseboard management controller.
The control method according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining the link address of the firmware upgrade patch package through the baseboard management controller is specifically:

The link address set by the external configuration host is received based on the second external command interface preset by the baseboard management controller.
The control method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded is specifically:

Obtain the firmware upgrade patch package pre-stored in the second storage space.
The control method according to claim 1, wherein a startup item of the server is set to start the basic input output system once after the control device is turned on.
The control method according to claim 1, further comprising:

After the upgrade of each of the components to be upgraded is completed, the server is triggered to restart.
A control device for firmware upgrade of server components, characterized in that it includes:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain the firmware upgrade patch package of the component to be upgraded after the control device starts and runs the operating system;

an upgrade unit, configured to call and run a firmware upgrade tool corresponding to the component to be upgraded, and use the firmware upgrade patch package to perform firmware upgrade on the component to be upgraded;

Wherein, the control device is set on the server where the component to be upgraded is located, and the control device is pre-installed with the operating system and the firmware upgrade tool for the components of the server.
A control device for firmware upgrade of server components, comprising:

a memory for storing instructions, the instructions comprising the steps of a method for controlling firmware upgrade of a server component according to any one of claims 1 to 7;

a processor for executing the instructions.
A storage medium on which a computer program is stored, characterized in that, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method for controlling firmware upgrade of a server component according to any one of claims 1 to 7 are implemented.