Intel Corporation

James A Sutton, Ii

David W Grawrock

Gilbert A Neiger

Carl M Ellison

Francis X Mckeen

Shreekant S Thakkar

Howard C Herbert

Roger A Golliver

Derrick Chu Lin

Ken Reneris

Millind Mittal

Ioannis T Schoinas

Linda J Rankin

Robert J Greiner

Kushagra V Vaid

John H Wilson

Mazin S Yousif

Willard M Wiseman

Ernie F Brickell

Clifford D Hall

Michael A Kozuch

Richard A Uhlig

David I Poisner

Lawrence O Smith

Mohan J Kumar

Stephen Anthony Fischer

Rajesh Sankaran Madukkarumukumana

Robert T George

Sham M Datta

Bradley Gene Burgess

Andy Glew

Milland Mittal

Andrew F Glew

Shekhar Yeshwant Borkar

Dion Rodgers

Lily Pao Looi

George W Cox

Douglas Raymond Moran

Sin Sim Tan

Luke E Girard

Alberto J Martinez

Craig B Peterson

John A Urbanski

David W Archer

Keith-Michael W Self

Anne Gregory

Williard M Wiseman

A method and apparatus for initiating secure operations in a microprocessor system is described. In one embodiment, one initiating logical processor initiates the process by halting the execution of the other logical processors, and then loading initialization and secure virtual machine monitor software into memory. The initiating processor then loads the initialization software into secure memory for authentication and execution. The initialization software then authenticates and registers the secure virtual machine monitor software prior to secure system operations.

System and method for execution of a secured environment initialization instruction

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method includes verifying a master processor of a system; validating a trusted agent with the master processor if the master processor is verified; and launching the trusted agent on a plurality of processors of the system if the trusted agent is validated. After execution of such a trusted agent, a secure kernel may then be launched, in certain embodiments. The system may be a multiprocessor server system having a partially or fully connected topology with arbitrary point-to-point interconnects, for example.

Launching a secure kernel in a multiprocessor system

A method and apparatus is described herein for supporting direct memory accesses between peer I/O devices. It is determined whether a guest physical address (GPA) referenced by an access generated from an I/O device, is within a range of GPAs associated with local I/O devices based at least in part on a GPA base and a GPA window size. If the GPA is within the window, then the GPA is translated to an HPA based at least in part on a base HPA associated with a local device and then forwarded to that local device. However, if the GPA is not within the window, then the access is forwarded upstream.

Direct memory access (DMA) address translation between peer input/output (I/O) devices

Direct memory access (DMA) address translation between peer-to-peer input/output (I/O) devices

Apparatuses, methods, and systems for reconfiguring a secure system are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a configuration storage location, a lock, and lock override logic. The configuration storage location is to store information to configure the apparatus. The lock is to prevent writes to the configuration storage location. The lock override logic is to allow instructions executed from sub-operating mode code to override the lock.

Reconfiguring a secure system

Delivering a Direct Proof private key to a device installed in a client computer system in the field may be accomplished in a secure manner without requiring significant non-volatile storage in the device. A unique pseudo-random value is generated and stored in the device at manufacturing time. The pseudo-random value is used to generate a symmetric key for encrypting a data structure holding a Direct Proof private key and a private key digest associated with the device. The resulting encrypted data structure is stored on a protected on-line server accessible by the client computer system.

Method of delivering direct proof private keys to devices using an on-line service

Growing community of inventors

Portland, OR, United States of America

James A Sutton, Ii