Platform firmware upgrade verification method and cluster management system based on out-of-band management

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of firmware upgrading, and discloses a platform firmware upgrading and checking method and a cluster management system based on out-of-band management, wherein the cluster management system comprises master equipment and slave equipment; the master equipment is in communication connection with a management terminal and a cloud server; each piece of equipment comprises a health management chip, a PHY chip and a physical switch; when a firmware updating instruction is detected, the management terminal controls the master equipment to download a firmware file for updating from the cloud server, and the management terminal sends slave equipment identification of the firmware to be updated to the master equipment; a physical switch corresponding to the master equipment is turned on, and a firmware updating instruction is sent to the slave equipment with the firmware to be updated through a communication bus to turn on a physical switch corresponding to the slave equipment with the firmware to be updated, so that a single Ethernet channel between the master equipment and the slave equipment is opened; and the master equipment sends the firmware file to the slave equipment with the firmware to be updated through the single Ethernet channel. The application is suitable for the scene of firmware upgrading of multiple devices without on-site attendance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of firmware upgrade technology, and in particular to a platform firmware upgrade verification method and a cluster management system based on out-of-band management. Background Technology

[0002] Firmware is software embedded in hardware that controls and manages the operation of the device. Unlike ordinary software, firmware is usually tightly integrated with the device's hardware, directly affecting the device's performance and functionality.

[0003] Firmware updates and upgrades are a crucial step in ensuring device performance and security. They can fix device vulnerabilities, prevent hacking and malware intrusion, improve device performance, enhance processing power and stability, and improve compatibility, ensuring the device is compatible with new operating systems and applications.

[0004] With business systems becoming increasingly integrated and complex, the number of devices is rising rapidly. In unattended cluster management, most attacks originating from the lower levels focus on unauthorized modifications to firmware. Therefore, the importance of device platform firmware security protection and recovery technologies becomes apparent.

[0005] Existing remote firmware upgrade technologies for multiple devices typically establish connections between devices via IPMB (Intelligent Platform Management Bus, a two-wire serial bus based on the I2C protocol). The main process involves operating through a web management interface, transferring the necessary firmware upgrade files to each device to execute the firmware upgrade script. Its advantages include no need for power interruption and no need for JTAG (Joint Test Action Group, an international standard testing protocol) flashing tools.

[0006] The existing firmware upgrade technologies mainly fall into the following categories:

[0007] Firmware upgrades for terminals based on wireless technology have several drawbacks. These include signal attenuation, signal delay, limited transmission distance, poor interference resistance, low security, poor stability, and high maintenance costs during large-scale deployment. This makes it particularly unsuitable for industrial or specialized sectors.

[0008] Upgrades based on wired networks or buses with in-band management systems have several drawbacks. Firstly, if the underlying firmware is attacked or malfunctions, the device's operating system will malfunction or even crash, making firmware recovery or upgrades impossible. Secondly, the operating system itself is at risk of crashing, which can also prevent firmware upgrades or maintenance.

[0009] On-site upgrades require the use of dedicated firmware upgrade equipment, which upgrades the firmware via hardware connection at the equipment site. The disadvantages are low efficiency, the need for manual on-site operation, high cost, poor operability, and unsuitability for maintaining large numbers of devices.

[0010] In summary, existing terminal firmware upgrade technologies are not suitable for scenarios involving unattended firmware upgrades of multiple devices. Summary of the Invention

[0011] The main objective of this invention is to provide a platform firmware upgrade verification method and a cluster management system based on out-of-band management, which aims to solve the problem that existing terminal firmware upgrade technologies are not suitable for unattended firmware upgrades of multiple devices.

[0012] To achieve the above objectives, this invention provides a platform firmware upgrade verification method, applied to a cluster management system based on out-of-band management. The cluster management system includes multiple devices, at least one of which is a master device, and the remaining devices are slave devices. The master device is communicatively connected to a management terminal and a cloud server. Each device includes a health management chip, a PHY chip, and a physical switch connected in sequence. The PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections. The method includes the following steps:

[0013] When a firmware update command is detected, the management terminal controls the master device to download the firmware file for the update from the cloud server, and the management terminal sends the slave device identifier of the firmware to be updated to the master device.

[0014] Turn on the physical switch corresponding to the master device and send a firmware update command to the slave device whose firmware is to be updated via the communication bus, so as to turn on the physical switch corresponding to the slave device whose firmware is to be updated, thereby opening a single pair of Ethernet channels between the master device and the slave device whose firmware is to be updated.

[0015] The master device sends the firmware file to the slave device whose firmware needs to be updated via the single pair of Ethernet channels.

[0016] Optionally, after the step of the master device sending the firmware file to the slave device whose firmware needs to be updated via the single pair of Ethernet channels, the method further includes:

[0017] After the slave device receives the firmware file and verifies that it is correct, it controls the corresponding health management chip to open the SPI channel of the CPU module so that the firmware file can be written to the FLASH chip, thereby realizing the firmware update of the slave device.

[0018] Optionally, the method further includes:

[0019] Obtain the operating information of each of the slave devices;

[0020] Based on the operational information, determine whether to trigger the firmware update command.

[0021] Optionally, the step of determining whether to trigger the firmware update instruction based on the running information includes:

[0022] Based on the operating information of each slave device, determine whether there is a slave device whose firmware needs to be updated;

[0023] If there is a slave device with firmware to be updated, mark the slave device with firmware to be updated as the device to be updated, and obtain the slave device identifier corresponding to the device to be updated;

[0024] Determine the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated, and form a device firmware update sequence table according to the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated;

[0025] The firmware update time for each device to be updated is determined according to the device firmware update sequence table.

[0026] The firmware update instruction is triggered to update the firmware of each of the devices to be updated according to the device firmware update sequence table and the firmware update time.

[0027] Optionally, the step of determining the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated, and forming a device firmware update sequence table according to the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated, includes:

[0028] Obtain the load changes of each device to be updated in historical time periods, and take the time period when the load of each device to be updated is lower than a preset value as the firmware update time period corresponding to each device to be updated;

[0029] Based on the operating information of each device to be updated, multiple devices with overlapping firmware update periods are sorted to obtain a sorting result.

[0030] A device firmware update sequence table is formed based on the firmware update time period corresponding to each of the devices to be updated, and the sorting results of multiple devices to be updated whose firmware update time periods overlap.

[0031] Optionally, the step of determining the firmware update time for each device to be updated based on the device firmware update sequence table includes:

[0032] Obtain the firmware update time period corresponding to each device to be updated in the device firmware update sequence table, and obtain the set firmware update duration for each device to be updated;

[0033] The firmware update time for each device to be updated is determined based on the firmware update period corresponding to each device to be updated and the set firmware update duration, wherein the firmware update times of each device to be updated do not overlap.

[0034] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also proposes a cluster management system based on out-of-band management, comprising multiple devices, wherein at least one of the devices is a master device and the remaining devices are slave devices; the master device is communicatively connected to a management terminal and a cloud server respectively; each device includes a health management chip, a PHY chip and a physical switch connected in sequence; the PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet.

[0035] The on / off state of the physical switch is controlled by the health management chip;

[0036] The physical switch of the master device is turned on when there is a slave device with firmware to be updated. The devices are connected to each other via a communication bus. The communication bus is used to transmit firmware update instructions between the master device and the slave device, so that the slave device that receives the firmware update instructions turns on the corresponding physical switch.

[0037] The single-pair Ethernet connection of the devices with the physical switch turned on is bus-connected, enabling the master device with the physical switch turned on to send firmware files to the slave device with the physical switch turned on via the single-pair Ethernet connection to perform firmware updates on the slave device.

[0038] Optionally, the health management chip is connected to the PHY chip via a MAC port; the GPIO of the health management chip is used to control the switching state of the physical switch; the MAC port is connected to the PHY chip via an RGMII interface.

[0039] Optionally, the health management chip is any one of BMC, CHMC, and MCU.

[0040] Optionally, the same terminal includes multiple devices, each device being a terminal component capable of firmware upgrades, and the terminal being any one of a security terminal, a vehicle-mounted terminal, and a computer terminal.

[0041] In the technical solution of this invention, each device is equipped with a health management chip, which is connected to a PHY chip. The PHY chip is connected to a physical switch, and the PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections. The physical switch is usually in the off state. The devices are also connected via a communication bus, through which command signals are transmitted. Simultaneously, the master device sends firmware files to the slave devices requiring firmware updates via the single pair of Ethernet connections. This achieves the separation of control and data flows, enabling out-of-band management of the cluster management system. The master device sending firmware files to the slave devices via the single pair of Ethernet connections also enables rapid firmware file transmission, improving the firmware update rate. Furthermore, when the firmware of the master and slave devices malfunctions, the management terminal can control the master device to download the firmware file for update from the cloud server and open the physical switches of the master device and the slave device requiring firmware updates. This allows the firmware file downloaded by the master device to be transmitted to the slave device requiring firmware updates via the single pair of Ethernet channels. Therefore, this invention also overcomes the drawback of in-band management technology where firmware updates are impossible when device firmware malfunctions or the system crashes. The firmware update process in this invention is controlled by a physical switch, effectively preventing unauthorized modification of device firmware in unattended cluster management, thus making the entire system's firmware update process more secure. The entire firmware upgrade process in this invention does not require on-site maintenance by technicians; upon triggering the firmware update command, a one-to-one connection is established between the master and slave devices for firmware updates. Therefore, the technical solution of this invention effectively addresses the problem that existing terminal firmware upgrade technologies are unsuitable for unattended firmware upgrades of multiple devices. Attached Figure Description

[0042] Figure 1 Here is a hardware schematic diagram for each device in this invention;

[0043] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the working principle of the cluster management system in this invention;

[0044] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating the platform firmware upgrade verification method in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0045] The objectives, features, and advantages of this invention will be further explained in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Detailed Implementation

[0046] It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

[0047] In the following description, the use of suffixes such as "unit," "component," or "element" to denote elements is solely for the purpose of illustrative purposes and has no specific meaning in itself. Therefore, "unit," "component," or "element" may be used interchangeably.

[0048] Please see Figures 1 to 3 To achieve the above objectives, a first embodiment of the present invention provides a platform firmware upgrade verification method, applied to the out-of-band management-based cluster management system. The cluster management system includes multiple devices, wherein at least one device is a master device and the remaining devices are slave devices. The master device is communicatively connected to a management terminal and a cloud server, respectively. Each device includes a health management chip, a PHY chip, and a physical switch connected in sequence. The PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections. The method includes the following steps:

[0049] Step S10: When a firmware update command is detected, the management terminal controls the master device to download the firmware file for update from the cloud server, and the management terminal sends the slave device identifier of the firmware to be updated to the master device.

[0050] Step S20: Turn on the physical switch corresponding to the master device and send a firmware update command to the slave device whose firmware is to be updated via the communication bus, so as to turn on the physical switch corresponding to the slave device whose firmware is to be updated, thereby opening a single pair of Ethernet channels between the master device and the slave device whose firmware is to be updated.

[0051] In step S30, the master device sends a firmware file to the slave device whose firmware needs to be updated via the single pair of Ethernet channels.

[0052] In the technical solution of this invention, each device is equipped with a health management chip, which is connected to a PHY chip. The PHY chip is connected to a physical switch, and the PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections. The physical switch is usually in the off state. The devices are also connected via a communication bus, through which command signals are transmitted. Simultaneously, the master device sends firmware files to the slave devices requiring firmware updates via the single pair of Ethernet connections. This achieves the separation of control and data flows, enabling out-of-band management of the cluster management system. The master device sending firmware files to the slave devices via the single pair of Ethernet connections also enables rapid firmware file transmission, improving the firmware update rate. Furthermore, when the firmware of the master and slave devices malfunctions, the management terminal can control the master device to download the firmware file for update from the cloud server and open the physical switches of the master device and the slave device requiring firmware updates. This allows the firmware file downloaded by the master device to be transmitted to the slave device requiring firmware updates via the single pair of Ethernet channels. Therefore, this invention also overcomes the drawback of in-band management technology where firmware updates are impossible when device firmware malfunctions or the system crashes. The firmware update process in this invention is controlled by a physical switch, effectively preventing unauthorized modification of device firmware in unattended cluster management, thus making the entire system's firmware update process more secure. The entire firmware upgrade process in this invention does not require on-site maintenance by technicians; upon triggering the firmware update command, a one-to-one connection is established between the master and slave devices for firmware updates. Therefore, the technical solution of this invention effectively addresses the problem that existing terminal firmware upgrade technologies are unsuitable for unattended firmware upgrades of multiple devices.

[0053] The slave device identifier can be a slave device ID number or other identifiers.

[0054] According to the first embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, and in the second embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, the method further includes the following after step S30:

[0055] Step S40: After the slave device receives the firmware file and verifies that it is correct through the verification module, it controls the corresponding health management chip to open the SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) channel of the CPU module so that the firmware file is written to the FLASH chip, thereby realizing the firmware update of the slave device.

[0056] Specifically, the verification module can be a TPM module (Trusted Platform Module). A TPM module is a security chip installed inside a computer, mainly used to manage BIOS passwords, monitor underlying status, or encrypt data to prevent unauthorized access.

[0057] Specifically, in this invention, after the slave device receives the firmware file sent by the master device, it does not directly perform a firmware update. Instead, after the verification module verifies that the firmware is correct, it opens the SPI channel of the CPU module to write the firmware to the FLASH chip, thus completing the firmware update. If the verification module fails the verification, it issues a prompt to stop writing the firmware, thereby preventing unauthorized modification of the firmware content and effectively improving the security of firmware updates.

[0058] Specifically, the verification module can verify the firmware file by verifying the firmware's checksum.

[0059] In a first or second embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, and in a third embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, the method further includes:

[0060] Step S50: Obtain the operating information of each of the slave devices;

[0061] Step S60: Based on the running information, determine whether to trigger the firmware update command.

[0062] Specifically, in the firmware update function, the master device in this invention has the function of receiving and sending firmware files, while each slave device only has the function of receiving firmware files.

[0063] In addition, each device reports its own operating information to the management terminal, which then determines whether to trigger a firmware update command for each device based on the operating information of each device.

[0064] The operational information includes: device health information, online / offline information, and firmware version number. This operational information can help identify symptoms of device instability, such as frequent crashes, restarts, abnormal voltage, abnormal current, and abnormal fan speed.

[0065] Furthermore, the management terminal can also proactively trigger firmware update commands when firmware updates are needed for each slave device, such as when a new firmware version is available, so as to update the firmware of both the master and slave devices one by one.

[0066] In the third embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, and in the fourth embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, step S60 includes:

[0067] Step S61: Based on the operating information of each slave device, determine whether there is a slave device whose firmware needs to be updated; for example, if the operating information of each slave device is normal and there is no firmware version to be upgraded, it can be considered that there is no slave device whose firmware needs to be updated.

[0068] Step S62: If there is a slave device with firmware to be updated, mark the slave device with firmware to be updated as a device to be updated, and obtain the slave device identifier corresponding to the device to be updated;

[0069] Step S63: Determine the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated, and form a device firmware update sequence table according to the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated;

[0070] Step S64: Determine the firmware update time for each device to be updated according to the device firmware update sequence table;

[0071] Step S65: Trigger the firmware update instruction to update the firmware of each of the devices to be updated according to the device firmware update sequence table and the firmware update time.

[0072] Specifically, the firmware update period for each device to be updated is used to limit the time interval during which firmware updates are allowed for each device to be updated.

[0073] Since the time intervals during which different devices in the same terminal may be allowed to update firmware may overlap, the process of the master device sending firmware files to the slave device in this invention is a one-to-one transmission process. Furthermore, the firmware update process consumes a large amount of system resources. Therefore, in this invention, only one device is allowed to perform firmware updates at the same time.

[0074] If the allowed firmware update time intervals of multiple devices overlap, then it is necessary to control each slave device to perform firmware updates in a sequential order to avoid multiple devices performing firmware updates at the same time.

[0075] In the fourth embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, and in the fifth embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, step S63 includes:

[0076] Step S631: Obtain the load change of each device to be updated in the historical time period, and take the time period when the load of each device to be updated is lower than the preset value as the firmware update time period corresponding to each device to be updated;

[0077] Step S632: Based on the operating information of each device to be updated, sort the multiple devices to be updated whose firmware update periods overlap to obtain a sorting result; if the firmware update periods of some devices to be updated do not overlap and the firmware update period reaches the set firmware update duration, then directly perform firmware update for the device during the firmware update period corresponding to these devices to be updated.

[0078] Step S633: Based on the firmware update time period corresponding to each of the devices to be updated, and the sorting results corresponding to multiple devices to be updated whose firmware update time periods overlap, a device firmware update sequence table is formed.

[0079] Specifically, it is determined whether the multiple devices to be updated with overlapping firmware update periods also have non-overlapping firmware update periods, and whether the non-overlapping firmware update periods have reached the set firmware update duration. If both are true, the firmware of the devices to be updated is updated during the non-overlapping firmware update periods of each device to be updated.

[0080] If the firmware update period does not reach the set firmware update duration, the longest firmware update period among the non-overlapping firmware update periods will be selected for firmware update.

[0081] If there are no other non-overlapping firmware update periods for the devices to be updated, perform the following steps to determine the firmware update order for the multiple devices to be updated with overlapping firmware update periods:

[0082] For multiple devices to be updated whose firmware update periods overlap, the stability of the devices is obtained based on the operating information, and a first weight is obtained based on the stability. The worse the operating stability, the larger the first weight is assigned.

[0083] Furthermore, the present invention also sets a second weight for each device, and sets the expected upgrade order for each device through the second weight. The device with a higher expected upgrade order is assigned a larger second weight value.

[0084] For multiple devices with overlapping firmware update periods, sort them from largest to smallest using the product of the first weight and the second weight. This sorting determines the firmware update order for the multiple devices with overlapping firmware update periods.

[0085] In the fourth or fifth embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, and in the sixth embodiment of the platform firmware upgrade verification method of the present invention, step S64 includes:

[0086] Step S641: Obtain the firmware update time period corresponding to each device to be updated in the device firmware update sequence table, and obtain the set firmware update duration for each device to be updated;

[0087] Step S642: Determine the firmware update time for each device to be updated based on the firmware update period corresponding to each device to be updated and the set firmware update duration, wherein the firmware update times of each device to be updated do not overlap.

[0088] For multiple devices whose firmware update times overlap, after determining the sorting result of the devices to be updated, a firmware update buffer time is reserved between the devices whose firmware update times overlap, based on the sorting result and the set firmware update duration of each device to be updated, thereby avoiding the overlap of firmware update times of the devices to be updated.

[0089] Furthermore, after detecting the firmware update command, the operating information of each device to be updated is monitored, and the alarm threshold of the health information of each device to be updated is adjusted according to the operating information of each device to be updated.

[0090] When the firmware update time for each device to be updated is reached, the health information of the device to be updated (health information includes parameters such as voltage, current, and fan speed used to assess the current health status of the device to be updated) is checked to see if it reaches the alarm threshold. If the health information does not reach the alarm threshold, the firmware of the device to be updated is updated.

[0091] Please see Figures 1 to 2 To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also provides a cluster management system based on out-of-band management, comprising multiple devices, wherein at least one of the devices is a master device and the remaining devices are slave devices; the master device is communicatively connected to a management terminal and a cloud server respectively; each device includes a health management chip, a PHY (Physical Layer Device) chip and a physical switch connected in sequence; the PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections;

[0092] The on / off state of the physical switch is controlled by the health management chip;

[0093] The physical switch of the master device is turned on when there is a slave device with firmware to be updated. The devices are connected to each other via a communication bus. The communication bus is used to transmit firmware update instructions between the master device and the slave device, so that the slave device that receives the firmware update instructions turns on the corresponding physical switch.

[0094] The single-pair Ethernet connection of the devices with the physical switch turned on is bus-connected, enabling the master device with the physical switch turned on to send firmware files to the slave device with the physical switch turned on via the single-pair Ethernet connection to perform firmware updates on the slave device.

[0095] In the technical solution of this invention, each device is equipped with a health management chip, which is connected to a PHY chip. The PHY chip is connected to a physical switch, and the PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections. The physical switch is usually in the off state. The devices are also connected via a communication bus, through which command signals are transmitted. Simultaneously, the master device sends firmware files to the slave devices requiring firmware updates via the single pair of Ethernet connections. This achieves the separation of control and data flows, enabling out-of-band management of the cluster management system. The master device sending firmware files to the slave devices via the single pair of Ethernet connections also enables rapid firmware file transmission, improving the firmware update rate. Furthermore, when the firmware of the master and slave devices malfunctions, the management terminal can control the master device to download the firmware file for update from the cloud server and open the physical switches of the master device and the slave device requiring firmware updates. This allows the firmware file downloaded by the master device to be transmitted to the slave device requiring firmware updates via the single pair of Ethernet channels. Therefore, this invention also overcomes the drawback of in-band management technology where firmware updates are impossible when device firmware malfunctions or the system crashes. The firmware update process in this invention is controlled by a physical switch, effectively preventing unauthorized modification of device firmware in unattended cluster management, thus making the entire system's firmware update process more secure. The entire firmware upgrade process in this invention does not require on-site maintenance by technicians; upon triggering the firmware update command, a one-to-one connection is established between the master and slave devices for firmware updates. Therefore, the technical solution of this invention effectively addresses the problem that existing terminal firmware upgrade technologies are unsuitable for unattended firmware upgrades of multiple devices.

[0096] The PHY chip is connected to the physical switch via a single Ethernet pair. The devices are various terminal components (e.g., computers) that require firmware updates; for example, each device can be a board within the terminal.

[0097] This invention employs out-of-band management, using a dedicated network management channel to manage the network, ensuring that management data and business data are physically or logically separated.

[0098] SPE (Single Pair Ethernet) refers to Ethernet technology that uses two wires to transmit data. Its main technical feature is that it can provide high data transmission rates and sufficient power supply with fewer wires in a smaller physical size.

[0099] This invention utilizes a single-pair Ethernet technology to build a network using the network ports of multiple devices within an out-of-band management system, enabling a management terminal to perform online firmware upgrades on each device. Besides achieving remote and unattended device management, it leverages the advantage of single-pair Ethernet supporting 100Mbps or even Gigabit Ethernet, significantly improving the speed of firmware upgrades and the stability of information transmission. Furthermore, by building the network within an out-of-band system, it avoids the problem of firmware corruption or operating system malfunctions preventing recovery and upgrades.

[0100] In this invention, each device is equipped with a health management chip in multiple usage scenarios. The health management chip includes, but is not limited to, a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller), a CHMC (Chassis Management Controller), and an MCU (Microcontroller Unit) that performs the same function. Of course, the type of health management chip is not limited to these; any component capable of performing the same function is similarly included within the scope of this invention. For example, it could also be a software-defined management controller. These health management chips can monitor and manage the devices through an out-of-band management system independent of the CPU module's operating system. Because its management process does not go through the CPU module's operating system network interface, it can be remotely managed even in the event of system failure or network unavailability.

[0101] The hardware block diagram of each device in this invention is as follows: Figure 1 As shown. A PHY chip is added to the MAC port of the health management chip. A single pair of Ethernet is connected between multiple PHYs via a bus. Each branch is switched on and off using a physical switch, and the control of the physical switch comes from the GPIO (General-Purpose Input / Output) of the health management chip.

[0102] The steps to implement a firmware update are as follows:

[0103] The management terminal connects to the master device via a standard Ethernet (Internet) shared network port. Through system operations on the web interface, the master device downloads firmware updates from the cloud server. At this time, all individual Ethernet branches of the slave devices are disabled.

[0104] The system notifies slave devices that need firmware updates via the communication bus, and the slave devices open their own single-pair Ethernet channels through the health management chip.

[0105] The master device sends firmware files via a single Ethernet pair. Since only one branch is open at this time, the files can be sent to the slave devices that need updating. This is also the principle behind enabling one master and multiple slave devices via a single Ethernet pair without a routing device.

[0106] Meanwhile, this invention enables one-to-one data transmission between the master device and the slave device by turning on the physical switches of the master device and the slave device.

[0107] The communication bus can be an IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) bus.

[0108] Optionally, the health management chip is connected to the PHY chip via a MAC (Media Access Control) port; the GPIO of the health management chip is used to control the switching state of the physical switch; the MAC port is connected to the PHY chip via an RGMII (Reduced Gigabit Media Independent Interface) interface.

[0109] Optionally, the health management chip is any one of BMC, CHMC, and MCU.

[0110] Optionally, the same terminal may include multiple devices, each of which is a terminal component capable of firmware upgrades. The terminal may be any one of a security terminal, a vehicle-mounted terminal, and a computer terminal. Of course, it may also be other types of terminals.

[0111] Specifically, a terminal includes multiple devices, and the multiple devices of the same terminal are respectively connected to the corresponding CPU module.

[0112] Specifically, the cluster management system of the present invention can manage multiple devices in one terminal at the same time, or manage multiple devices in different terminals.

[0113] When a cluster management system manages multiple devices on a single terminal, at least one of the devices is the master device, and the remaining devices are slave devices.

[0114] When managing multiple devices within different terminals in a cluster management system, each terminal includes multiple devices. Among the devices in each terminal, at least one device is a master device, and the remaining devices are slave devices.

[0115] Preferably, the device is a terminal component capable of firmware upgrades.

[0116] The terminal component includes at least one of a memory unit, a storage unit, different board units, and functional modules; the board unit can be one of a motherboard, graphics card, sound card, storage device, acquisition card, and switching card, and its types are not limited to these. All terminal components that may involve firmware updates are included within the protection scope of this invention.

[0117] Furthermore, the master-slave mode configuration and physical switch on / off control of each device network are determined by the health management chip of this device.

[0118] Furthermore, the cluster management system of the present invention can be specifically applied to terminals such as vehicle-mounted, security, and computer terminals. Especially for vehicle-mounted and security terminals, the number of wires is limited, and the wiring space is also limited. At the same time, the wiring method is not easily adjustable, and the reserved wiring positions are limited. The technical solution of the present invention does not require large-scale improvements to the wiring method, can be implemented in a relatively small wiring space, and requires only two wires to achieve transmission rates of 100 Mbps or even 1 Gbps Ethernet. It has broad application prospects, high stability, and strong scalability.

[0119] Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Of course, they can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a computer-readable storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) as described above, and includes several instructions to cause a terminal device to enter the methods described in the various embodiments of the present invention.

[0120] In the description of this specification, references to terms such as "one embodiment," "another embodiment," "other embodiments," or "first embodiment to Xth embodiment," etc., indicate that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, method steps, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

[0121] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or system that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or system. Unless otherwise specified, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or system that includes that element.

[0122] The sequence numbers of the above embodiments of the present invention are for descriptive purposes only and do not represent the superiority or inferiority of the embodiments.

[0123] The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not limit the scope of the patent. Any equivalent structural or procedural transformations made based on the description and drawings of the present invention, or direct or indirect applications in other related technical fields, are similarly included within the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A platform firmware upgrade verification method, characterized in that, This method is applied to a cluster management system based on out-of-band management. The cluster management system includes multiple devices, which are various terminal components requiring firmware updates. At least one of the devices is a master device, and the rest are slave devices. The master device is communicatively connected to a management terminal and a cloud server. Each device includes a health management chip, a PHY chip, and a physical switch connected in sequence. The on / off state of the physical switch is controlled by the health management chip. A PHY chip is added to the MAC port of the health management chip. A single pair of Ethernet connections is used between the multiple PHY chips in a bus configuration. Each branch uses a physical switch to switch on / off states. The physical switch is controlled by the GPIO of the health management chip. The health management chip is any one of a BMC, CHMC, and MCU. The PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections. The method includes the following steps: When a firmware update command is detected, the management terminal controls the master device to download the firmware file for the update from the cloud server, and the management terminal sends the slave device identifier of the firmware to be updated to the master device. Turn on the physical switch corresponding to the master device and send a firmware update command to the slave device whose firmware is to be updated via the communication bus, so as to turn on the physical switch corresponding to the slave device whose firmware is to be updated, thereby opening a single pair of Ethernet channels between the master device and the slave device whose firmware is to be updated. The master device sends the firmware file to the slave device whose firmware needs to be updated via the single pair of Ethernet channels.

2. The platform firmware upgrade verification method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After the step of the master device sending the firmware file to the slave device whose firmware needs to be updated via the single pair of Ethernet channels, the method further includes: After the slave device receives the firmware file and verifies that it is correct, it controls the corresponding health management chip to open the SPI channel of the CPU module so that the firmware file can be written to the FLASH chip, thereby realizing the firmware update of the slave device.

3. The platform firmware upgrade verification method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: Obtain the operating information of each of the slave devices; Based on the operational information, determine whether to trigger the firmware update command.

4. The platform firmware upgrade verification method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The step of determining whether to trigger the firmware update instruction based on the running information includes: Based on the operating information of each slave device, determine whether there is a slave device whose firmware needs to be updated; If there is a slave device with firmware to be updated, mark the slave device with firmware to be updated as the device to be updated, and obtain the slave device identifier corresponding to the device to be updated; Determine the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated, and form a device firmware update sequence table according to the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated; The firmware update time for each device to be updated is determined according to the device firmware update sequence table. The firmware update instruction is triggered to update the firmware of each of the devices to be updated according to the device firmware update sequence table and the firmware update time.

5. The platform firmware upgrade verification method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of determining the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated, and forming a device firmware update sequence table according to the firmware update time period for each of the devices to be updated, includes: Obtain the load changes of each device to be updated in historical time periods, and take the time period when the load of each device to be updated is lower than a preset value as the firmware update time period corresponding to each device to be updated; Based on the operating information of each device to be updated, the multiple devices to be updated with overlapping firmware update periods are sorted to obtain a sorting result. A device firmware update sequence table is formed based on the firmware update time period corresponding to each of the devices to be updated, and the sorting results of multiple devices to be updated whose firmware update time periods overlap.

6. The platform firmware upgrade verification method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, The step of determining the firmware update time for each device to be updated based on the device firmware update sequence table includes: Obtain the firmware update time period corresponding to each device to be updated in the device firmware update sequence table, and obtain the set firmware update duration for each device to be updated; The firmware update time for each device to be updated is determined based on the firmware update period corresponding to each device to be updated and the set firmware update duration, wherein the firmware update times of each device to be updated do not overlap.

7. A cluster management system based on out-of-band management, characterized in that, The system includes multiple devices, which are various terminal components that require firmware updates. At least one of these devices is a master device, and the others are slave devices. The master device is communicatively connected to both a management terminal and a cloud server. Each device includes a health management chip, a PHY chip, and a physical switch connected in sequence. The on / off state of the physical switch is controlled by the health management chip. A PHY chip is added to the MAC port of the health management chip. A single pair of Ethernet connections is used between the multiple PHY chips in a bus configuration. Each branch uses a physical switch to toggle on / off states. The physical switch is controlled by the GPIO of the health management chip. The health management chip can be any one of a BMC, CHMC, or MCU. The PHY chip and the physical switch are connected via a single pair of Ethernet connections. The on / off state of the physical switch is controlled by the health management chip; The physical switch of the master device is turned on when there is a slave device with firmware to be updated. The devices are connected to each other via a communication bus. The communication bus is used to transmit firmware update instructions between the master device and the slave device, so that the slave device that receives the firmware update instructions turns on the corresponding physical switch. The single-pair Ethernet connection of the devices with the physical switch turned on is bus-connected, enabling the master device with the physical switch turned on to send firmware files to the slave device with the physical switch turned on via the single-pair Ethernet connection to perform firmware updates on the slave device.

8. The cluster management system based on out-of-band management according to claim 7, characterized in that, The health management chip is connected to the PHY chip via a MAC port; the GPIO of the health management chip is used to control the switching state of the physical switch; the MAC port is connected to the PHY chip via an RGMII interface.

9. The cluster management system based on out-of-band management according to claim 7, characterized in that, The health management chip is any one of BMC, CHMC, and MCU.

10. The cluster management system based on out-of-band management according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that, The same terminal includes multiple devices, each of which is a terminal component capable of firmware upgrades, and the terminal is any one of a security terminal, a vehicle terminal, and a computer terminal.

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