A BIOS refresh control method, server, and storage medium

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of servers, and discloses a BIOS refresh control method, a server, and a storage medium. The BIOS refresh control method comprises the following steps: when the server is powered off, the BMC module performs an online update operation on the BIOS file after receiving a refresh instruction; after the online update operation is completed, the BMC module sends a power-off instruction to the CPLD module; after the CPLD module receives the power-off instruction, it controls all PCHs to be powered off. The embodiment of the present invention reduces the step of setting the ME to a recovery mode before the update operation, thereby completely eliminating the interference of various unexpected interference factors, removing the hardware platform restrictions, and ensuring the smooth progress of the online update operation; at the end of the update operation, the BMC module controls all PCHs to be powered off through the CPLD module, which can effectively ensure that the power is completely cut off and ensure the smooth execution of the server restart operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of servers, and in particular to a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) refresh control method, a server, and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] During the use of the server, refreshing the BIOS is a frequently used operation. For example, when a BIOS failure occurs or a BIOS version update is available, a refresh is required.

[0003] In the refresh method in the prior art, on the one hand, the refresh can only be performed when the ME (Management Engine) enters the recovery mode, and some unexpected interference factors or hardware platform limitations often make the ME unable to enter the recovery mode, which ultimately leads to the failure of the refresh and the system crashes; on the other hand, after the refresh is completed, the PCH (Platform Controller Hub) needs to be powered off, but it is often impossible to completely power off, resulting in the inability to restart the server. Summary of the invention

[0004] The object of the present invention is to provide a BIOS refresh control method, a server and a storage medium to solve the problems in the prior art of prone refresh failure and inability to restart due to inability to completely cut off power.

[0005] To achieve this object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] A BIOS refresh control method comprises the following steps:

[0007] When the server is powered off, the baseboard management controller (BMC) module performs an online update operation on the basic input and output system BIOS file after receiving the refresh command;

[0008] After the online update operation is completed, the BMC module sends a power-off instruction to the complex programmable logic device CPLD module;

[0009] After receiving the power-off instruction, the CPLD module controls all PCHs to power off.

[0010] Optionally, it also includes: after controlling all PCHs to be powered off, the CPLD module waits for a preset time and then controls the server to start up.

[0011] Optionally, the power-off instruction uses a serial general purpose input and output SGPIO signal.

[0012] Optionally, the power-off instruction is a high-level signal or a low-level signal.

[0013] A server comprises a BMC module and a CPLD module;

[0014] The BMC module is used to perform an online update operation on the BIOS file after receiving a refresh instruction when the server is powered off; and is also used to send a power-off instruction to the CPLD module after the online update operation is completed;

[0015] The CPLD module is used to control all PCHs to power off after receiving the power-off instruction.

[0016] Optionally, the CPLD module is further used to control the server to power on after all PCHs are powered off and then wait for a preset period of time.

[0017] Optionally, the BMC module and the CPLD module are connected using an SGPIO bus, and the power-off instruction is an SGPIO signal.

[0018] Optionally, the power-off instruction is a high-level signal or a low-level signal.

[0019] A storage medium stores a plurality of instructions, wherein the instructions are suitable for a processor to load to execute the steps in any of the above BIOS refresh control methods.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, the embodiments of the present invention have the following beneficial effects:

[0021] The embodiment of the present invention adopts a method in which the BMC directly performs an online update operation on the BIOS file when the server is in a shutdown state, thereby reducing the step of setting the ME to the recovery mode before the update operation, thereby completely eliminating the interference of various unexpected interference factors on the recovery mode setting step, and at the same time removing the hardware platform restriction, ensuring the smooth progress of the online update operation; in addition, when the update operation is completed, the BMC module of the embodiment of the present invention controls the PCH to be powered off through the CPLD module, which can effectively ensure complete power off and ensure the smooth execution of the server restart operation compared with the existing method. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0023] Figure 1 A flow chart of a BIOS refresh control method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the server provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] In order to make the purpose, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the embodiments described below are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0026] In order to solve the problem that the existing BIOS refresh method is susceptible to various unpredictable interference factors and hardware platform limitations, resulting in refresh failure and inability to restart after the refresh operation, the present invention provides a BIOS refresh control solution, which is not affected by interference factors, is not limited by hardware platforms, has strong portability and low cost.

[0027] Embodiment 1

[0028] See also Figure 1 This embodiment provides a BIOS refresh control method, including the steps of:

[0029] Step 101: When the server is powered off, the BMC module performs an online update operation on the BIOS file after receiving a refresh instruction.

[0030] This step uses out-of-band management to control the refresh of the BIOS program. Out-of-band management means that management control information and data information are transmitted through different physical channels. The control plane and the data plane are completely independent and do not affect each other. The out-of-band management method allows the BIOS program to be controlled through the control plane channel while it is running, that is, processing business through the data plane channel.

[0031] The BMC module is the out-of-band management software that can manage the business system, such as managing the business power supply (power on or off, etc.), providing remote KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) function and image mounting function to facilitate users to manage the business system; the BMC module can also manage the hardware of the device, for example, monitoring the working status of the CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory, hard disk, and network card to detect abnormalities in time; in addition, the BMC module can also provide a variety of user interfaces for users to manage the device through the out-of-band management software, such as interfaces based on WEB, SSH, and FTP.

[0032] At present, the BMC module can manage power on and off, temperature, speed regulation, alarms, fault diagnosis, etc. Among them, when the BMC module manages the BIOS, it can communicate with the BIOS through the LPC (Low Pin Count) interface to monitor the status of the BIOS and business system during the power-on process; or it can communicate with the BIOS solidified in the SPI Flash chip through the SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) and upgrade the firmware of the BIOS solidified in the SPI Flash after obtaining read and write permissions.

[0033] The online update operation in this step may be performed in a conventional manner, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0034] Step 102: After the online update operation is completed, the BMC module sends a power-off instruction to the CPLD module.

[0035] The power-off instruction is used to instruct the CPLD module to power off the PCH. Exemplarily, the power-off instruction may be an SGPIO signal, specifically a high level signal or a low level signal.

[0036] Step 103: After receiving the power-off instruction, the CPLD module controls all PCHs to power off.

[0037] Step 104 : After controlling all PCHs to be powered off, the CPLD module waits for a preset time and then controls the server to be powered on.

[0038] Since it takes a certain amount of time to power off all the PCHs, in order to power off all the PCHs to ensure that the subsequent servers can be powered on normally, this step uses a delay control for the power-on operation. Exemplarily, the preset time length can be 1 to 5 seconds.

[0039] In summary, the embodiment of the present invention adopts a method in which the BMC module directly performs an online update operation on the BIOS file when the server is in a shutdown state, thereby reducing the step of setting the ME to the recovery mode before the update operation, thereby completely eliminating the interference of various unexpected interference factors on the recovery mode setting step, removing the hardware platform restriction, improving portability, and ensuring the smooth progress of the online update operation.

[0040] In addition, when the update operation is finished, the BMC module sends an SGPIO protocol signal to the CPLD module to notify the CPLD to control all PCHs to power off, which can effectively ensure that the PCH is completely powered off and guarantee the smooth execution of the server restart operation.

[0041] Embodiment 2

[0042] Accordingly, see Figure 2 , this embodiment 2 provides a server, including: a BMC module and a CPLD module.

[0043] The BMC module is used to perform an online update operation on the BIOS file after receiving a refresh instruction when the server is powered off; it is also used to send a power-off instruction to the CPLD module after the online update operation is completed;

[0044] The CPLD module is used to control all PCHs to be powered off after receiving a power-off instruction; and is also used to wait for a preset time after all PCHs are powered off, and then control the server to start up.

[0045] The BMC module and the CPLD module can be connected by an SGPIO bus, and the power-off instruction is an SGPIO signal, which can be a high level signal or a low level signal. Of course, the power-off instruction can also use other signals, which is not limited by the present invention.

[0046] In summary, the embodiment of the present invention adopts BMC, i.e., out-of-band management, to control the refresh of the BIOS program. On this basis, the BMC module of the embodiment of the present invention automatically triggers the CPLD to power off the PCH after the online update operation is completed, which can effectively ensure that the PCH is completely powered off and ensure the smooth execution of the server restart operation.

[0047] Embodiment 3

[0048] A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or part of the steps in the various methods of the above embodiments may be completed by instructions, or by controlling related hardware through instructions. The instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium and loaded and executed by a processor.

[0049] To this end, an embodiment of the present invention provides a storage medium, in which a plurality of instructions are stored. The instructions can be loaded by a processor to execute the steps in the BIOS refresh control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

[0050] The storage medium may include: a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0051] As described above, the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit the same. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments may still be modified, or some of the technical features thereof may be replaced by equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A BIOS refresh control method, characterized in that: Includes steps: When the server is powered off, the baseboard management controller (BMC) module receives a refresh command and uses an out-of-band management method to perform an online update operation on the basic input and output system BIOS file. After the online update operation is completed, the BMC module sends a power-off instruction to the complex programmable logic device CPLD module; After the CPLD module receives the power-off instruction, the control platform controls the hub PCH to power off all of them; The method also includes: after the CPLD module controls all PCHs to be powered off, the CPLD module waits for a preset time and then controls the server to be powered on.

2. The BIOS refresh control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The power-off instruction uses a serial general purpose input and output SGPIO signal.

3. The BIOS refresh control method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The power-off instruction is a high level signal or a low level signal.

4. A server, characterized in that: Including BMC module and CPLD module; The BMC module is used to perform an online update operation on the BIOS file in an out-of-band management manner after receiving a refresh instruction when the server is powered off; and is also used to send a power-off instruction to the CPLD module after the online update operation is completed; The CPLD module is used to control all PCHs to power off after receiving the power-off instruction; The CPLD module is also used to control the server to start up after all PCHs are powered off and waiting for a preset time.

5. The server according to claim 4, characterized in that: The BMC module and the CPLD module are connected by using an SGPIO bus, and the power-off instruction is an SGPIO signal.

6. The server according to claim 4, characterized in that: The power-off instruction is a high level signal or a low level signal.

7. A storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a plurality of instructions, and the instructions are suitable for being loaded by a processor to execute the steps in the BIOS refresh control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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