Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Richard Dickert Powers

Scott Lynn Michaelis

Guy Lowell Kuntz

Larry N McMahan

Ryan Lee Weaver

Michael F Angelo

Gary Belgrave Gostin

Mark Edward Shaw

Thomas E Ford

Anurupa Rajkumari

Vipul Gandhi

Gregg Bernard Lesartre

Craig William Warner

John A Morrison

Michael S Allison

Stephen J Silva

Bradley Gordon Culter

Paul Bouchier

Bryan Stephenson

Dong Wei

Arad Rostampour

Todd J Kjos

Brian Matthew Johnson

Sylvia K Myer

Brendan A Voge

Greg Albrecht

Khoa D Nguyen

Gregory Frank Albrecht

Glen Edwards

Leon Hong

David Matthew Bellia

Methods and apparatus for allocating computer hardware resources of a hard partition of a computer server system to one or more soft partitions. In response to a partitioning request, a nucleus firmware instance of a hard partition may be configured to launch a separate firmware instance corresponding to each requested soft partition, and to allocate partitionable hardware resources of the hard partition to the soft partitions by allocating the hardware resources to each separate firmware instance.

Managing hardware resources for soft partitioning

Methods and apparatus for subdividing a hard partition of a computer server system into one or more soft partitions using partition management programming installed within firmware of the server system. The partition management firmware may be disposed at least partially on a central service processor and may be programmed to present generic interfaces, so that operating systems do not require modification to interface with the partition management programming.

Routes between cells in an interconnection network are represented with a graph using graph theory. Failed links are identified, and using the graph, alternative routes between cells in the graph are found.

Network graph for alternate routes

The disclosed embodiments relate to a security module and a method of operating a security module. The method may comprise the acts of detecting a second security module, determining whether a key associated with the second security module is available to the first security module, and obtaining the key associated with the second security module if the key associated with the second security module is not available to the first security module. The security module may comprise a detector that is adapted to detect another security module and determine whether one of a plurality of keys is associated with the other security module, and a device that obtains at least one key associated with the other security module if the one of the plurality of keys is not associated with the other security module.

Method and apparatus for operating multiple security modules

One embodiment of the invention is a method for resetting a partition of a multiple partition system, wherein the partition comprises a plurality of processors, the method comprising executing, by one processor of the plurality of processors, reset code from firmware, building a list of reset register addresses associated with the plurality of processors, sending an interrupt to the other processors of the plurality of processors, resetting the other processors by writing a reset code to their associated reset registers, and resetting the one processor by writing to its associated reset register.

Resetting multiple cells within a partition of a multiple partition computer system

Information objects and system firmware for a processor in a partitionable computing system are disclosed. One object comprises information corresponding to components of the computer system. The information comprises entries defining an address and a size for registers normally accessible to other partitions. The registers are capable of defining an address area such that in use the processor is arranged to permit other partitions to access at least one address area defined by the at least one register and to deny other partitions access to address areas other than the at least one accessible address area.

Communication among partitioned devices

A method and apparatus for initializing multiple security modules are provided. The method may comprise the acts of determining if the security module is a controlling security module or a subordinate security module, generating at least one key if the security module is the controlling security module, and receiving at least one key from another security module if the security module is the subordinate security module. The apparatus may comprise a detector that is adapted to determine if the security module is a controlling security module or a subordinate security module, a key generator that generates a key for the security module if the security module is the controlling security module, and a key receiver that receives a key from another security module if the security module is the subordinate security module.

Method and apparatus for initializing multiple security modules

Methods and apparatus in a partitionable computing system. The system can include a computer readable medium comprising instructions configured to move an element of a first partition to a second partition.

Security measures in a partitionable computing system

According to one embodiment, a method comprises system firmware instructing a system's operating system to idle a processor, and responsive to the instructing, the operating system idling the processor and returning control over the processor to the system firmware. According to one embodiment, a method comprises detecting loss of lockstep (LOL) for a processor module in a system, and responsive to the detecting LOL for the processor module, system firmware instructing an operating system to idle the processor module.

System and method for system firmware causing an operating system to idle a processor

System and method of supporting virtual mappings for shared firmware contents in a computer system are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises, responsive to a function call issued by a processor, determining whether address translation has been enabled for the issuing processor; and responsive to a determination that address translation has been enabled, determining an ID of the issuing processor; identifying a Physical-to-Virtual ('PTV') Map corresponding to the issuing processor; extracting from the identified PTV map a virtual address corresponding to a physical address passed in the function call; and returning the virtual address to the issuing processor.

Method and system for supporting virtual mappings for shared firmware

A partitionable computer system and method of operating the same is disclosed. The partitionable computer system has a state machine, a processor, and a device controller. The state machine can be configured to monitor the status of a partition of the partitionable computer system. The information provided by the state machine can be used to provide security within the partitionable computing system.

A cellular computer system is constructed of a plurality of cells. Each cell has a memory system, a plurality of processors capable of accessing the memory system, a system communication interface coupled to processors, and a cell error queue maintained by a processor within the memory system. The system communication interface of each cell is coupled to other cells of the system. A first cell of the plurality of cells is a master cell that maintains a partition error queue and is capable of receiving into the partition error queue error descriptors from the cell error queue of a second cell of the plurality of cells.

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Highland Village, TX, United States of America

Richard Dickert Powers