BMC updating method of multi-board-card computing device

Abstract

The invention relates to a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) updating method for multi-board-card computing equipment, and belongs to the field of program upgrading. The method supports two updating modes of in-band updating and out-of-band updating. For in-band updating, a function of updating the BMC is added by utilizing a service serial port between the CPU and the BMC, so that updating and upgrading can be carried out in a board card system; for out-of-band updating, a common minicom tool and a ymodem transmission protocol supported by the common minicom tool are used for transmitting a BMC program file to complete updating. According to the BMC updating method, a burner does not need to be connected with a burning interface for burning so as to update the BMC, the BMC updating workload is greatly reduced, two in-band and out-band BMC updating modes are provided, and the BMC updating method is enriched.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of program upgrade, and in particular relates to a BMC updating method for a multi-board computing device. Background Art

[0002] BMC is a dedicated controller for monitoring and managing boards. It is independent of the board system and has independent processing chips and memory. It ensures the normal operation of the board system by monitoring the temperature, voltage and other information of the board. Multi-board computing devices are used to handle complex computing tasks. Usually, each board has its own BMC. Each board transmits its own health information to the same master node, and the master node then uniformly reports the overall health information of the computer to the outside. During the operation of BMC, flash is used to store its program content. The traditional BMC update method is to use an offline method to burn the compiled code file into flash through a burner.

[0003] To meet the increasingly complex computing needs, the number of boards in computing devices continues to increase, and the traditional BMC update method becomes cumbersome and time-consuming. In many cases, computing devices do not have corresponding burning interfaces for each board, which requires taking out the board separately and using a special debugging baseboard to burn the program into the flash to complete the BMC update, which will further increase the workload of BMC update. In addition, in some restricted environments, it is not easy to take the board out of the device to update the program. Therefore, it is necessary to design a reliable and convenient online update method to efficiently complete the BMC update and upgrade task. Summary of the invention

[0004] 1. Technical issues to be resolved

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is how to provide a BMC updating method for a multi-board computing device to solve the problem that it is cumbersome and difficult to update and upgrade the BMC of the multi-board computing device.

[0006] (II) Technical solution

[0007] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention proposes a BMC update method for a multi-board computing device, which provides two update modes: internal update and out-of-band update;

[0008] In-band update mode, the CPU and BMC use the serial port to transfer the compiled BMC program bin file to the flash backup area of ​​the BMC through the IPMI-Serial protocol;

[0009] The out-of-band method uses the ymodem transmission protocol to transfer the compiled BMC program bin file to the flash backup area of ​​the BMC through the serial port;

[0010] Then, the BMC switches to update mode, updates the contents in the flash backup area to the main program area, and then restarts to complete the online self-update;

[0011] At the same time, the BMC transfers the program file to the flash backup area of ​​the other board BMC through IPMB communication, and then the board switches to the update mode to write the contents of the backup area to its main program area, completing the update of the slave BMC.

[0012] (III) Beneficial effects

[0013] The present invention provides a BMC update method for a multi-board computing device, the key points of the present invention are:

[0014] 1. For in-band updates, the present invention utilizes the service serial port between the CPU and the BMC to add the function of updating the BMC, so that updates and upgrades can be performed within the board system;

[0015] 2. For out-of-band updates, this board uses the commonly used minicom tool and the ymoden transmission protocol it supports to transmit the BMC program file to complete the update; 3. The present invention utilizes the interconnection characteristics of the board BMCs in a multi-board computing device and uses IPMB communication to implement the function of updating the BMCs of all boards in the device on one board.

[0016] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0017] 1. Provides an online BMC update method, which no longer requires a burner to connect to the burning interface to burn and update the BMC, greatly reducing the workload of BMC update.

[0018] 2. Provides two BMC update modes: in-band and out-of-band, enriching the BMC update methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 This is a diagram of the architecture of a multi-board computing device;

[0020] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the Flash area division of the BMC of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 3 It is a flow chart of BMC in-band update of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of the BMC out-of-band update of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to make the purpose, content and advantages of the present invention more clear, the specific implementation methods of the present invention are further described in detail below in conjunction with the drawings and examples.

[0024] The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a BMC online update method to solve the problem that it is cumbersome and difficult to update and upgrade the BMC of a multi-board computing device. The method of the present invention provides two update modes: internal update and out-of-band update.

[0025] In the in-band update mode, the CPU and BMC use the serial port to transfer the compiled BMC program bin file to the flash backup area of ​​the BMC through the IPMI-Serial protocol.

[0026] The out-of-band method uses the ymodem transmission protocol through the serial port to transfer the compiled BMC program bin file to the flash backup area of ​​the BMC.

[0027] Then, the BMC switches to update mode, updates the contents in the flash backup area to the main program area, and then restarts to complete the online self-update.

[0028] At the same time, the BMC can transfer the program file to the flash backup area of ​​the BMC of other boards through IPMB communication, and then the board switches to the update mode to write the contents of the backup area to its main program area to complete the update from the BMC.

[0029] In addition, BMC can also update itself and other boards' BMC online update programs through serial port and IPMB. In this way, BMC updates of all boards of the entire computing device can be completed through one main BMC, improving BMC update efficiency.

[0030] Embodiment 1:

[0031] The electronic device architecture implemented by the present invention is as follows Figure 1 As shown in the figure, the multi-board computing device has multiple types of boards, such as power boards, switch boards, computing boards, AI boards, and image boards. Each board has its own BMC. The board BMCs are interconnected through the IIC bus and use IPMB for communication. Now the computing board BMC is used as the main BMC, and the other boards are used as slave BMCs to perform BMC online update tasks.

[0032] The Flash area of ​​the main board and slave board BMC is divided as follows Figure 2 As shown, there is a BMC main program area, a backup area for temporarily storing update codes, and an update program area for writing the backup area content to the main program area. Different boards communicate through IPMB.

[0033] Figure 3 This is a flow chart of the in-band update of the technical solution of the present invention. The BMC in-band update method shown specifically includes the following steps:

[0034] S11, transferring the BMC program file to be updated and the BMC online update program to the mainboard card system, storing them in the hard disk, and running the BMC online update program.

[0035] S12, BMC online update program determines whether to update the BMC of this board or other boards according to the user input. If the BMC of this board is updated, enter S13. If the BMC of other boards is updated, it is necessary to enter the IPMB communication address of the target board and check whether the communication between this board and the target board is normal. If the communication is normal, enter S13, otherwise end.

[0036] Specifically, the BMC online update program is a command line interactive software that can receive user input and perform corresponding operations. Specifically, after the BMC online update program is run, a menu will be printed in the terminal, a updates the current board, b updates other boards, and the user can enter a or b to make a selection.

[0037] S13, select the BMC program file to be updated, and input the file path. The file path is the path where the BMC program file to be updated is stored after being transferred to the board system in step S1.

[0038] S14, transfer the program file to the backup area of ​​the target board. If the BMC of this board is updated, the file is transferred to the Flash backup area of ​​this board through the communication serial port between the CPU and the BMC; if the BMC of other boards is updated, the update data received from the CPU serial port must be transferred to the Flash backup area of ​​the target board through the IIC bus connecting the BMC of this board to the BMC of other boards using IPMB.

[0039] S15. After the BMC program file is transferred, the BMC switches to the update mode, writes the contents of the backup area to the main program area, and then restarts to complete the update operation.

[0040] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of the out-of-band update of the technical solution of the present invention. The BMC out-of-band update method shown specifically includes the following steps:

[0041] S21. Connect the debugging computer to the BMC serial port of the mainboard card. The debugging computer should have the compiled BMC program file and minicom serial port tool.

[0042] S22. Connect to the BMC serial port through the minicom serial port tool.

[0043] S23. Enter the BMC update command in the serial console. The serial console provides the option of updating this board or updating other boards for the user to choose.

[0044] S24, BMC determines whether to update the BMC of this board or other boards according to the input command parameters. If the BMC of this board is updated, enter S25. If the BMC of other boards is updated, it is necessary to enter the IPMB communication address of the target board and check whether the communication between this board and the target board is normal. If the communication is normal, enter S25, otherwise end.

[0045] S25, transfer the program file to the backup area of ​​the target board. Select the program file and use the minicom serial port tool to transfer it to the Flash backup area of ​​this board through the ymoden protocol. If you want to update the BMC of other boards, you need to use the IIC bus that connects the BMC of this board to the BMC of other boards, and use IPMB to transfer the update data received from the CPU serial port to the Flash backup area of ​​the target board.

[0046] S26. After the BMC program file is transferred, the BMC switches to the update mode, writes the contents of the backup area to the main program area, and then restarts to complete the update operation.

[0047] The key points of the present invention are:

[0048] 1. For in-band updates, the present invention utilizes the service serial port between the CPU and the BMC to add the function of updating the BMC, so that updates and upgrades can be performed within the board system;

[0049] 2. For out-of-band updates, this board uses the commonly used minicom tool and the ymoden transmission protocol it supports to transmit the BMC program file to complete the update; 3. The present invention utilizes the interconnection characteristics of the board BMCs in a multi-board computing device and uses IPMB communication to implement the function of updating the BMCs of all boards in the device on one board.

[0050] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0051] 1. Provides an online BMC update method, which no longer requires a burner to connect to the burning interface to burn and update the BMC, greatly reducing the workload of BMC update.

[0052] 2. Provides two BMC update modes: in-band and out-of-band, enriching the BMC update methods.

[0053] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the technical principles of the present invention. These improvements and modifications should also be regarded as the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A BMC update method for a multi-board computing device, characterized in that: This method provides two update modes: in-band update and out-of-band update; In-band update mode, the CPU and BMC use the serial port to transfer the compiled BMC program bin file to the flash backup area of ​​the BMC through the IPMI-Serial protocol; The out-of-band method uses the ymodem transmission protocol to transfer the compiled BMC program bin file to the flash backup area of ​​the BMC through the serial port; Then, the BMC switches to update mode, updates the contents in the flash backup area to the main program area, and then restarts to complete the online self-update; At the same time, the BMC transfers the program file to the flash backup area of ​​the other board BMC through IPMB communication, and then the board switches to the update mode to write the contents of the backup area to its main program area, completing the update of the slave BMC.

2. The BMC update method of a multi-board computing device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The multi-board computing device has various types of boards, including: power boards, switch boards, computing boards, AI boards and image boards; each board has its own BMC, and the board BMCs are interconnected through an IIC bus and communicate using IPMB.

3. The BMC update method of a multi-board computing device as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The computing board BMC serves as the master BMC, and the other boards serve as slave BMCs to perform BMC online update tasks.

4. The BMC update method of a multi-board computing device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The Flash area of ​​the main board and the slave board BMC is divided into: a BMC main program area, a backup area for temporarily storing update codes, and an update program area for writing the contents of the backup area to the main program area.

5. The BMC updating method of a multi-board computing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The in-band update method comprises the following steps: S11, transferring the BMC program file to be updated and the BMC online update program to the mainboard card system, and running the BMC online update program; S12, BMC online update program determines whether to update the BMC of this board or other boards according to the user input; if the BMC of this board is updated, enter S13; if the BMC of other boards is updated, it is necessary to enter the IPMB communication address of the target board and check whether the communication between this board and the target board is normal. If the communication is normal, enter S13, otherwise end; S13, select the BMC program file to be updated and enter the file path; S14, transfer the program file to the backup area of ​​the target board; if the BMC of this board is updated, the file is transferred to the Flash backup area of ​​this board through the communication serial port between the CPU and the BMC; if the BMC of other boards is updated, the update data received from the CPU serial port must be transferred to the Flash backup area of ​​the target board through the IIC bus connecting the BMC of this board with the BMC of other boards using IPMB; S15. After the BMC program file is transferred, the BMC switches to the update mode, writes the contents of the backup area to the main program area, and then restarts to complete the update operation.

6. The BMC update method of a multi-board computing device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: In S11, the program file is stored in the hard disk in the mainboard card system.

7. The BMC updating method of a multi-board computing device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: In S12, the BMC online update program is a command line interactive software, which is used to receive user input and perform corresponding operations; specifically, after the BMC online update program is run, a menu will be printed in the terminal, a updates the current board, b updates other boards, and the user enters a or b to make a selection.

8. The BMC updating method of a multi-board computing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The out-of-band update method includes the following steps: S21. Connect the debugging computer to the BMC serial port of the mainboard card. The debugging computer should have the compiled BMC program file and minicom serial port tool. S22. Connect to the BMC serial port through the minicom serial port tool; S23. Enter the BMC update command in the serial console; S24, BMC determines whether to update the BMC of this board or other boards according to the input command parameters; if the BMC of this board is updated, enter S25; if the BMC of other boards is updated, it is necessary to enter the IPMB communication address of the target board and check whether the communication between this board and the target board is normal. If the communication is normal, enter S25, otherwise end; S25, transfer the program file to the backup area of ​​the target board; select the program file and use the minicom serial port tool to transfer it to the Flash backup area of ​​the current board through the ymoden protocol; if updating other board BMCs, it is necessary to use the IIC bus that connects the BMC of this board to the BMC of other boards, and use IPMB to transfer the update data received from the CPU serial port to the Flash backup area of ​​the target board; S26. After the BMC program file is transferred, the BMC switches to the update mode, writes the contents of the backup area to the main program area, and then restarts to complete the update operation.

9. The BMC updating method of a multi-board computing device as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that: In S23, the serial port console provides the option of updating the current board or updating other boards for the user to choose.

10. The BMC updating method of a multi-board computing device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: BMC updates itself and other boards' BMC online update programs through the serial port and IPMB.

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