Network Settings Preservation in Pre-Boot Environment
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Solution Overview
Problem
When a computer switches from a booted up state to a pre-boot state, either by powering down and then powering back up or rebooting, certain network settings are discarded, leading to delays as the device must reacquire this information, hindering efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A method and system to preserve network settings by detecting the initiation of a shut down process, identifying network configuration information, generating a timestamp, and storing it in a storage medium accessible by the primary operating system, allowing for retrieval and validation in the pre-boot environment to maintain network access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the computer switches from booted up state to pre-boot state, then the computer can be powered down or rebooted, but network settings are discarded and must be reacquired, causing delays
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by detecting the initiation of a shut down process and storing network configuration information in a storage medium before the computer actually transitions to pre-boot state. This advance preparation ensures that network settings are preserved and readily available when needed, eliminating the delay that would otherwise occur during boot-up when settings would need to be reacquired.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a copy of the network configuration information and stores it in a persistent storage medium. This copy persists across power cycles and state transitions, allowing the pre-boot environment to retrieve and use the copied network settings without needing to reacquire them from the network, thus maintaining reliability while reducing boot time.
2Loss of time
If network configuration information is stored in a persistent storage medium, then network settings are preserved across state transitions, but additional storage and processing operations are required
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential network configuration information (such as IP address, subnet mask, gateway) from the full system configuration and stores only this extracted subset in the storage medium. This selective extraction reduces the amount of data that needs to be stored and processed, minimizing the added complexity while still achieving the goal of preserving network settings across state transitions.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method to preserve network settings for a computing device in a pre-boot environment is described. Initiation of a shut down process for the computing device is detected. Network configuration information is identified. A timestamp to associate with the identified network configuration information is generated. The identified network configuration information and the associated timestamp are stored in a storage medium.