Abstract:
Methods and apparatus relating to pre-OS (pre Operating System) image rewriting to provide cross-architecture support, security introspection, and/or performance optimization are described. In an embodiment, logic rewrites a non-native firmware interface driver into a native firmware interface driver in response to a determination that sufficient space is available in an integrity cache storage device to store the native firmware interface driver. The logic rewrites the non-native firmware interface driver into the native firmware interface driver by performing one or more of its operations during operating system runtime. Other embodiments are also claimed and described.
Abstract:
A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for secure server system management. A payload containing system software and/or firmware updates is distributed in an on-demand, secure I/O operation. The I/O operation is performed via a secured communication channel inaccessible by the server operating system to an emulated USB drive. The secure communication channel can be established for the I/O operation only after authenticating the recipient of the payload, and the payload can be protected from access by a potentially-infected server operating system. Furthermore, the payload can be delivered on demand rather than relying on a BIOS update schedule, and the payload can be delivered at speeds of a write operation to a USB drive.
Abstract:
Some aspects include beginning a power on self test (POST) by a BIOS for a computer system; enumerating the computer system by the BIOS; providing, based on the enumeration of the computer system by the BIOS, at least one configuration setting of the computer system to a management engine (ME) of the computer system; and applying a lock to the at least one configuration setting by the ME to manage a change to the at least one configuration setting, all prior to an ending of the POST.
Abstract:
Embodiments of multinode hubs for trust operations are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a multinode hub may include a plurality of memory regions, a trapping module, and a trusted platform module (TPM) component. Each memory region may be associated with and receive trust operation data from a coherent computing node. The trapping module may generate trap notifications in response to accesses to the plurality of memory regions by the associated coherent computing nodes. The trap notifications may indicate which of the plurality of memory locations has been accessed, and the TPM component may process the trust operation data in a memory region indicated by a trap notification. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.
Abstract:
Techniques and mechanisms for providing access to a storage device of a computer platform. In an embodiment, an agent executing on the platform may be registered for access to the storage device, the agent being allocated a memory space by a host operating system of the platform. Registration of the agent may result in a location in the allocated memory space being mapped to a location in the storage device. In another embodiment, the agent may write to the location in the allocated memory space to request access to the storage device, wherein the request is independent of any system call to the host OS which describes the requested access.
Abstract:
In one embodiment, a peripheral controller coupled to a processor can include a storage controller. This storage controller can control access to a non-volatile storage coupled to the peripheral controller. The storage may include both secure and open partitions, and the storage controller can enable access to the secure partition only when the processor is in a secure mode. In turn, during unsecure operation such as third party code execution, visibility of the secure partition can be prevented. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
Abstract:
Methods and apparatus to protect segments of memory are disclosed herein. An example method includes intercepting an interrupt request indicating an error; determining whether a first segment of memory is corrupt, the first segment of memory being designated as a protected region of memory; when the protected region of memory is corrupt, repairing the corrupted region of memory using a parity block of code; and in response to validating the protected region of memory, generating an interrupt enabling a utilization of code stored in the protected region of memory to handle the error associated with the interrupt request.
Abstract:
Generally, this disclosure provides systems, devices, methods and computer readable media for a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) with durable storage to provide memory write persistence, for example, in the event of power loss. The system may include a processor to host the firmware interface which may be configured to control access to system variables in a protected region of a volatile memory. The system may also include a power management circuit to provide power to the processor and further to provide a power loss indicator to the firmware interface. The system may also include a reserve energy storage module to provide power to the processor in response to the power loss indicator. The firmware interface is further configured to copy the system variables from the volatile memory to a non-volatile memory in response to the power loss indicator.
Abstract:
Platform controller, computer-readable storage media, and methods associated with initialization of a computing device. In embodiments, a platform controller may comprise a boot controller and one or more non-volatile memory modules, coupled with the boot controller. In embodiments, the one or more non-volatile memory modules may have first and second instructions stored thereon. The first instructions may, when executed by a processor of a computing device hosting the platform controller, initialize the computing device. The second instructions, when executed by the boot controller, may cause the boot controller to monitor at least a portion of the execution of the first instructions by the computing device and may generate a trace of the monitored portion of the execution of the first instructions. In embodiments, the trace may be stored in the one or more non-volatile memory modules. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
Abstract:
Technologies for providing manageability redundancy for micro server and clustered System-on-a-Chip (SoC) deployments are presented. A configurable multi-processor apparatus may include multiple integrated circuit (IC) blocks where each IC block includes a task block to perform one or more assignable task functions and a management block to perform management functions with respect to the corresponding IC block. Each task block and each management block may include one or more instruction processors and corresponding memory. Each IC block may be controllable to perform a function of one or more other IC blocks. The IC blocks may communicate with each other via a management communication infrastructure that may include a communication path from each of the management blocks to each of the other management blocks. Via the management communication infrastructure, the management blocks may bridge communication paths between pairs of management blocks.