22 | 2011 | 4 th Edi t ion | Embedded Innovator | inte l .com/go/embeddedinnovator

Minimizing Downtime in High-Reliability SystemsRadiSys eSP and Intel® vPro™ Technology Aid Protection and RepairBy Scott Fabini, Systems Architect, RadiSys Corporation

OEMs targeting medical, telecommunications, and military and aerospace markets take great pains to achieve high reliability, selecting the most reliable components possible. But errors such as disk corruption, memory failures, and unseated add-in cards can still occur, often leading to serious consequences. In addition to the monetary costs associated with repairs and replacements, the system downtime can interrupt vital services or cause tactical or strategic advantages to be compromised.

OEMs can offer software and services for mini-mizing system downtime by using the 2nd gen-eration Intel® Core™ processor family along with the new RadiSys Embedded System Platform (eSP) tool suite. Together these technologies offer pre-boot diagnostic and repair capabilities that help service teams perform preemptive system readiness checks, isolate problems, and recover the systems in the event that an error occurs. The result is improved time-to-repair, allowing critical functions to resume service quickly and smoothly. In fact, these technolo-gies can find use ranging from a system ven-dor’s factory all the way to the field.

Building on the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)Pre-boot diagnostics and repair is enabled by the sophisticated modularity and programming environment of the new Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) standard for BIOS. The BIOS initializes and identifies system devices, rec-ognizes peripherals, and locates bootable software. As systems have grown increasingly complex, what is now known as “legacy BIOS” code has become increasingly difficult to main-tain, customize, and enhance. To address these shortcomings, Intel helped drive the transition to EFI-based firmware. EFI BIOS provides a more modular solution, which eases software devel-opment and BIOS customization. As illustrated in Figure 1, EFI essentially acts as a processing layer between the low-level hardware and the OS, providing a standards-based environment for running pre-boot applications and booting the operating system.

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Building on the benefits of EFI, RadiSys has introduced the RadiSys Embedded System Platform (eSP). The RadiSys eSP, available on RadiSys’ line of COM Express* modules, offers unique features designed to help system design engi-neers reduce system development and maintenance costs both prior to and after deployment. As illustrated in Figure 2, the RadiSys eSP’s unique feature set includes field-proven Application Programming Interface (APIs), user-based BIOS customization tools, and EFI BIOS-enabled software utili-ties to provide system support throughout the lifetime of the product.

Pre-Boot EnvironmentIf a system encounters problems in the field, technicians must be able to restore the system quickly, rolling the system files back to an earlier state prior to corruption or damage. One of the benefits offered by the RadiSys eSP is support for pre-boot applications through a pre-boot envi-ronment. If an OS is unavailable—whether due to disk drive failure, file corruption, or any other reason—the system ser-vices are still available through these pre-boot capabilities built into the EFI BIOS. The two primary functional uses of pre-boot applications are diagnostics and system backup/recovery. Combined, these packages can reduce mean time to repair, resulting in lower total cost of ownership for OEMs and end users.

RadiSys eSP Diagnostics offers a suite of diagnostic tools to test system integrity, bus connectivity, and device failure. By having these diagnostics available in the pre-boot environment, users can diagnose system-level problems even when the OS

is corrupted or unable to boot. RadiSys eSP Recovery can store a copy of the entire system image into a compressed file that can be saved on a local HDD or remote drive. This allows for easy backups and, if the OS ever crashes or becomes corrupt, full system recovery and restoration. Because these pre-boot applications are provided in the pre-boot environment, separate from the OS and system application, they offer a higher level of reliability than comparable post-boot software solutions.

Remote Management and Security with Intel® vPro™ TechnologyIntel® vPro™ technology goes a step further, providing enhanced security, maintainability, and management capabilities at the hardware level. These capabilities include Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT), a set of hardware fea-tures that allow technicians to discover assets remotely, even when the device is powered off, the OS is unresponsive, or the software agents are disabled. Intel AMT also provides enhanced diagnostics and verification capabilities that allow system man-agers to repair problems without investing in field services.

Along with remote management, Intel vPro technology offers hardware features that help developers meet increased security requirements. The features include Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT), which helps ensure the

The EFI is a pre-boot processing layer that sits between the OS and platform hardware.

RadiSys eSP provides a complete set of system design, monitoring, and restoration capabilities.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Operating System

EFI OS Loader

SystemManagement BIOS

(SMBIOS)

AdvancedConfiguration

Power Interface(ACPI)

EFI BootServices

EFI RuntimeServices

EFIBIOS

Platform Hardware

}

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system boots into a known good state—the “measured launch envi-ronment”—and Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT), which allows environments with different levels of security to run safely on the same hardware.

Intel vPro technology is available in select 2nd generation Intel Core processors and chipsets. These processors and chipsets are available in a range of off-the-shelf hardware such as the RadiSys Procelerant* CEQM67 shown in Figure 3. This COM Express module features the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 processors and the Mobile Intel® QM67 Express chipset, along with the new COM Express Revision 2.0 Type 6 pinout.

COM Express modules like the Procelerant CEQM67 offer other ben-efi ts. System design engineers are experiencing increasing pressure to design systems under shortened deadlines and constrained resources. Building the system using a computer-on-module (COM) solution can simplify much of the hardware complexity. This is particularly true for modules like the Procelerant CEQM67 that were designed with mil/aero applications like command and control in mind.

Although COM Express modules can signifi cantly speed hardware development, the software—which is often the fundamental project differentiator—still requires signifi cant investment in both time and resources. In this situation, a structured set of BIOS modifi cation tools and standardized APIs like those included in RadiSys eSP can stream-line software development and allow the system design engineers to meet their deadline without undue resource investment.

Tools and APIs Improve Software DevelopmentEarly in the development cycle, OEMs often require BIOS customiza-tions to ensure the COTS product is suitable for their needs. The EFI BIOS modifi cation tools included in RadiSys eSP provide a solid base for platform design, giving system design engineers access to com-mon BIOS customizations, where system settings can be adjusted to suit individual system needs.

BIOS modifi cation tools for the EFI pre-boot environment include tools for designers to update System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) informa-tion and confi gure PCI Express* (PCIe) lane widths to their applica-tions’ needs. BIOS update tools provided as Microsoft* Windows* and Linux* applications allow system designers to replace the logo splash screen, replace the binary fi le for Microsoft Windows OEM activation (known as SLP), or replace option ROMs such as vBIOS in the BIOS image in order to change default video settings. The system modularity of the EFI framework allows the EFI BIOS to be re-used from design to design, creating a simplifi ed and streamlined development process and commonality for end users.

RadiSys eSP also includes APIs that abstract low-level functions like setting up watchdog timers and temperature/fan/voltage monitoring. Without these APIs, the functions must be re-written every time the hardware changes. Using consistent APIs to confi gure these func-tions can help insulate developers from hardware changes, enabling the most commonly used functions to be written in software that can move between different generations of hardware.

The RadiSys APIs provide a solid, fi eld-tested platform for developing software and maintaining system integrity. The APIs support control and monitoring of several vital functions, including access and control of onboard SMBUS/I2C bus, control of LVDS display backlight, GPIO settings, watchdog timers, and the ability to fetch board information such as a product name and BIOS version. The RadiSys APIs are com-pliant to the PICMG* EAPI* standard, which standardizes functions commonly used in embedded applications, but do not otherwise have a common programming interface. This eliminates the need for devel-opers to write customized hardware programming codes. Instead, developers can focus their resources on creating unique applications and lowering time-to-market.

Effi cient Design and MaintenanceThe RadiSys eSP, enabled by the latest Intel vPro technology, is a unique solution designed to speed product development and minimize system downtime. The eSP assists system designers with software development by offering a set of modular, fi eld-proven features to streamline software development. By using a platform with onboard system recovery and diagnostics tools, developers can diagnose, backup, and restore sys-tems, ensuring system health and slashing system repair time and cost. Proactive alerting further reduces system downtime, and pinpointed diagnostics tools minimize time-to-repair, helping to increase support staff effi ciency. It also enables quick turnaround on service, which can minimize the impact of system failures. By integrating these features into the hardware, the RadiSys eSP allows systems designers to improve time-to-deployment and ensure ongoing system health, slashing both the likelihood of system downtime and its resulting costs.

For more reducing costs and downtime with Intel vPro technology, see intel.com/go/embedded-manageability

RadiSys (intel.com/go/ea-radisys) is a Premier member of the Intel® Embedded Alliance and a leading provider of medical, telecom, and military and aerospace solutions. Through customer collaboration and innovative technologies, RadiSys helps OEMs, systems integrators, and solution providers thrive.

The RadiSys Procelerant® CEQM67 features 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5 and Intel® Core™ i7 processors with the Mobile Intel® QM67 Express chipset.

Figure 3.

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