Hypervisor Boot Loader Mode for Firmware-Free Bare Metal Booting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for bare metal booting of control programs, such as hypervisors or operating systems, require cycling through firmware initialization phases, which is time-consuming and necessitates the presence of platform firmware, limiting flexibility and efficiency, especially in 'firmware-free' environments.
Innovation Solution
The method involves a hypervisor transitioning to a boot loader mode to emulate firmware services, allowing a control program to boot directly on hardware without relying on BIOS, UEFI, or Open Firmware, thereby bypassing the need for firmware and enabling efficient repurposing of computing devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If firmware initialization phases are used for bare metal booting, then the control program can boot on traditional hardware, but the process becomes time-consuming and requires platform firmware presence
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential firmware services (boot services, hardware abstraction) from the traditional firmware layer and implements them directly within the hypervisor. This allows the control program to boot without cycling through external firmware initialization phases, eliminating the time-consuming reboot process while maintaining compatibility with traditional boot expectations
Solution Approach 2:
The hypervisor pre-establishes firmware service capabilities and hardware abstraction layers before the control program needs to boot. By having these services ready in advance within the hypervisor memory space, the system eliminates the need for time-consuming firmware initialization cycles during actual boot operations
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional firmware initialization is used, then booting follows standard hardware protocols, but flexibility for firmware-free environments is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The hypervisor is designed to perform multiple functions: it acts as both the virtualization layer and the firmware substitute. By integrating firmware service emulation within the hypervisor itself, the system can operate in both traditional firmware-dependent environments and firmware-free environments, achieving universality across different hardware boot scenarios
Solution Approach 2:
The hypervisor serves as an intermediary between the control program and the physical hardware, providing firmware-like services without requiring actual firmware. This mediator layer translates control program boot requests into hardware operations, enabling firmware-free booting while maintaining compatibility with standard boot protocols
Data Source
AI summary
Mechanisms for executing a bare metal boot operation for bare metal booting a control program are provided. These mechanisms boot a computing device to a hypervisor ownership phase of the bare metal boot operation. During the hypervisor ownership phase of the bare metal boot operation a hypervisor is loaded and controls and manages platform hardware of the computing device. The computing device is then booted from the hypervisor ownership phase to a transition phase in which the hypervisor releases control and management of the platform hardware of the computing device to the control program. The computing device is then booted from the transition phase to a control program ownership phase in which the control program is in full control and manages the platform hardware. The bare metal boot operation is performed without restarting the computing device and without cycling through initialization of firmware.