Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Asif H Haswarey

Francesco DiMambro

Anil Umarshi Visariya

David M Kahn

Sumanth R Kamatala

An enhanced VPD structure includes a type field to indicate whether a particular property is a general property to be associated with an interface card or other computer system component, or a device- or function-specific property to be associated with one or more devices or functions. The enhanced VPD structure also includes fields for identifying the device(s) and/or function(s) to which a device- or function-specific property applies, along with the value of the property, a data type and length of the property, and a meaningful name of the property. The enhanced VPD structure may be accessed during system boot, during hot-swapping of an interface card or other component, or at other times.

Enhanced VPD (Vital Product Data) structure

A system and method for persisting device operating parameters through different phases of the boot process of a computer system. A boot command is entered to boot from a remote (or local) source through a boot device (e.g., a network interface, a disk controller), and is accompanied by one or more operating parameters (e.g., speed, duplex, link-clock). The parameters are converted to properties of the boot device and saved. Subsequently, one or more communication connections are established using the boot device properties. Using an initial boot program, the system may establish a first connection to access and load a secondary boot program, and another connection to load an operating system kernel. The boot device properties are thus used to establish communication connections at different times in the boot process, while the system is controlled by different programs (e.g., open boot PROM, secondary boot program, operating system kernel).

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Newark, CA, United States of America

Asif H Haswarey