Intel Corporation

Subrata Banik

Vincent J Zimmer

Rajaram Regupathy

Francesc Guim Bernat

Kshitij Arun Doshi

Rajesh Poornachandran

Karthik Kumar

Marcos Emanuel Carranza

Asad Azam

Robert E Gough

Julius Yuli Mandelblat

Saranya Gopal

Jenny Pelner

Ravi Poovalur Rangarajan

Peter Ewert

Kalyan Kondapally

Jabeena Begum Gaibusab

Vagdevi P

V Sowmya

Maulik V Vaghela

Xiang Ma

Aamir Bohra

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to increase boot performance are disclosed. An example apparatus including instructions stored in the apparatus; and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to: during a boot process: identify a boot task that is to be performed during the boot process; execute the boot task using a first processor component; collect data corresponding to the execution of the boot task on the first processor component; categorize the boot task based on the collected data; and generate an entry for a boot table based on the categorization, the boot table used to schedule the boot task on at least one of the first processor component or a second processor component different than the first processor component based on the categorization.

Methods and apparatus to increase boot performance by categorizing boot tasks

During a computing system boot sequence, reference firmware provided by a computing system component supplies Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) code that generates ACPI tables and definition blocks to a bootloader. During a boot sequence, the reference firmware receives an indication from the bootloader which components the reference firmware is to initialize. As part of component initialization performed by the reference firmware, the reference firmware populates hand-off data structures (e.g., hand-off blocks (HOBs)) with ACPI code (AML code) that, when executed by the bootloader, generates and populates ACPI tables (e.g., DSDT and SSDT tables) and definition blocks with information pertinent to the initialization and runtime management of computing system components. Component initialization and runtime configuration workarounds can be implemented in the bootloader incorporating reference firmware updates provided by the component vendor.

Platform hardening for bootloaders via reference firmware

Systems, apparatuses and methods may provide for technology that identifies, during a first boot process, whether at least one task associated with at least one software program is set to occur in a single-threaded process or a multithreaded process, in response to the at least one task being set to occur in the multithreaded process, executing the at least one task in the multithreaded process during the first boot process, and in response to the at least one task being set to occur in the single-threaded process, executing the at least one task in the single-threaded process during the first boot process.

Firmware boot task distribution to enable low latency boot performance

A data processing system comprises a processing core to execute a basic input/output system (BIOS) as part of a boot process. The data processing system also comprises static random-access memory (SRAM) in communication with the processing core. The data processing system also comprises a pre-BIOS component in communication with the SRAM. The pre-BIOS component is configured to execute a pre-BIOS block before the processing core begins executing the BIOS. The pre-BIOS block, when executed by the pre-BIOS component, causes the pre-BIOS component to (a) initialize the pre-BIOS component, (b) measure an amount of time taken to initialize the pre-BIOS component, and (c) save the measured amount of time to the SRAM as a pre-BIOS boot-time record. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Technology to measure boot activity before a processor enters a working state

An apparatus to facilitate provenance audit trails for microservices architectures is disclosed. The apparatus includes one or more processors to obtain provenance metadata for a microservice from a local blockchain of provenance metadata maintained for the hardware resource executing a task performed by the microservice, the provenance metadata comprising identification of the microservice, operating state of at least one of a hardware resource or a software resource used to execute the microservice and the task, and an operating state of a sidecar of the microservice during the task; access one or more policies established for the microservice; analyze the provenance metadata with respect to the one or more policies to identify if there is a violation of the one or more policies; and generate one or more evaluation metrics based on whether the violation of the one or more policies is identified.

Provenance audit trails for microservices architectures

Systems, apparatuses and methods may provide for technology that detects a low battery condition in a computing system including an integrated graphics processor and a discrete graphics processor, wherein the low battery condition is detected during a pre-boot stage of the computing system. The technology may also disable a root port associated with the discrete graphics processor in response to the low battery condition, conduct an initialization of an integrated display while the root port is disabled, and enable the root port in response to a successful negotiation of increased power by a verified read write code of an embedded controller of the computing system.

Dynamic bios policy for hybrid graphics platforms

Systems, methods, and apparatuses relating to circuitry to implement a multiprocessor boot flow for a faster boot process are described. In one embodiment, a system includes a hardware processor comprising a processor core, a cache coupled to the hardware processor, storage for hardware initialization code, and a controller circuit to initialize a portion of the cache as memory for usage by the hardware initialization code before beginning execution of the hardware initialization code after a power on of the system.

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for a multiprocessor boot flow for a faster boot process

An apparatus to facilitate at-scale telemetry using interactive matrix for deterministic microservices performance is disclosed. The apparatus includes one or more processors to: receive user input comprising an objective or task corresponding to scheduling a microservice for a service, wherein the objective or task may include QoS, SLO, ML feedback; identify interaction matrix components in an interaction matrix that match the objective or tasks for the microservice; identify knowledgebase components in knowledgebase that match the objective or tasks for the microservice; and determine a scheduling operation for the microservice, the scheduling operation to deploy the microservice in a configuration that is in accordance with the objective or task, wherein the configuration comprises a set of hardware devices and microservice interaction points determined based on the interaction matrix components and the knowledgebase components.

At-scale telemetry using interactive matrix for deterministic microservices performance

Embodiments are directed to a phased boot process to dynamically initialize devices in a verified environment. An embodiment of a system includes a memory device to store platform initialization firmware to cause the processing system to: initialize, during a boot process, a portion of the one or more memory modules as system management random access memory (SMRAM) for system management mode (SMM) usage; generate an SMM component in the SMRAM, the SMM component comprising an SMM handler routine to handle dynamic intellectual property (IP) management operations corresponding to the plurality of hardware components; register the SMM handler routine with an SMM interrupt (SMI) for identification of SMM events from an operating system (OS); and generate an SMM dispatcher in the SMRAM, the SMM dispatcher to create an instance of the SMM handler routine in the SMRAM in response to receiving an SMI from the OS during runtime of the processing system.

Phased boot process to dynamically initialize devices in a verified environment

An apparatus to facilitate provenance audit trails for microservices architectures is disclosed. The apparatus includes one or more processors to: obtain, by a microservice of a service hosted in a datacenter, provisioned credentials for the microservice based on an attestation protocol; generate, for a task performed by the microservice, provenance metadata for the task, the provenance metadata including identification of the microservice, operating state of at least one of a hardware resource or a software resource used to execute the microservice and the task, and operating state of a sidecar of the microservice during the task; encrypt the provenance metadata with the provisioned credentials for the microservice; and record the encrypted provenance metadata in a local blockchain of provenance metadata maintained for the hardware resource executing the task and the microservice.

Embodiments are directed to improving boot process for early display initialization and visualization. An embodiment of a system includes a plurality of processor cores; a cache coupled to the plurality of processor cores; and a controller circuit to: initialize a portion of the cache as static memory for hardware initialization code usage before beginning execution of the hardware initialization code after a power on of the hardware processor; and cause initialization of a display device to be performed using the portion of the cache, the initialization of the display device performed independently of initialization of dynamic memory of the hardware processor.

Boot process for early display initialization and visualization

Systems, apparatuses and methods may provide for technology that initiates a boot of a computing system containing an embedded controller while the computing system is in a low power mode, conducts a verification that code to perform the boot is uncorrupted, and negotiates an increased power delivery with a source device connected to the computing system if the verification is successful.

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Bengaluru, India

Subrata Banik