Firmware management engine for integrated system memory management and firmware provisioning

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for providing firmware management using a firmware management engine of a cloud computing system are described. The firmware management engine supports using a hot-plugged memory (e.g., Compute Express Link (CXL) pooled memory) to temporarily migrate system memory (e.g., Central Processing Unit (CPU) local memory or CXL attached memory) of a server node, while performing firmware management operations (e.g., a firmware update) on the server node. The hot-plugged memory can be CXL pooled memory that is a shared at a rack level, the CXL pooled memory can be used to store system memory data of system memory while updating and activating new memory initialization firmware code. A virtual machine associated with the server node stays operational temporarily using the hot-plugged memory. Firmware management is performed on a server node while virtual machines associated with the server node and the system memory of the server node remain operational.