Systems And Methods For Out-Of Band Backup And Restore Of Hardware Profile Information

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented for out-of-band backup and/or restore of information handling system components. Such out-of-band backup and restore operations may be performed, in one embodiment, to backup and/or restore hardware profile information such as firmware images and corresponding system configuration information.

1 - 22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . An information handling system, comprising:
 at least one operational storage location on the information handling system; and   one or more processing devices coupled to the operational storage, the one or more processing devices being configured to receive a request from at least one of a local user or remote user for at least one of backup or restore of hardware profile information, and to respond to the received backup or restore request while UEFI BIOS is running on the one or more processing devices before booting a host operating system (OS) of the system to at least one of:
 backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location before booting a host operating system (OS) of the system, or 
 restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system before booting the host operating system (OS) of the system. 
   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , where at least one of the processing devices comprises an out-of-band processing device that is configured to perform the steps of:
 receiving the request from at least one of a local user or remote user for at least one of backup or restore of hardware profile information; and   providing the received backup or restore request to the one or more processing devices for processing.   
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 23 , where the one or more processing devices are configured to at least one of:
 run UEFI BIOS to backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location before booting the host operating system (OS); or   run UEFI BIOS to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system before booting the host operating system (OS).   
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 23 , where the one or more processing devices are configured to respond to the received backup or restore request while UEFI BIOS is running on the one or more processing devices to backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location before booting the host operating system (OS). 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 23 , where the one or more processing devices are configured to respond to the received backup or restore request while UEFI BIOS is running on the one or more processing devices to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system before booting the host operating system (OS). 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 23 , further comprising at least one local or external interface coupled to the one or more processing devices, the one or more processing devices being configured to receive the backup or restore request from a user across the interface; and where the one or more processing devices are configured to execute the created backup or restore job in response to the backup or restore request to at least one of:
 backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location; or   restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location to the operational storage location on the information handling system.   
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , where the one or more processing devices are configured to track the status of the hardware profile backup or restore job in real time, and to provide tracked job status information in real time to the user across the external I/O interface. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 23 , where the backup storage location comprises at least one of a removable NVRAM storage device or external network shared storage; and where the hardware profile information comprises at least one of firmware or firmware configuration information. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 23 , where the hardware profile information includes at least one of firmware or firmware configuration information rather than host operating system (OS) and associated software applications and data. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 23 , where the backup storage location comprises embedded persistent storage that is at least one of flash memory or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM). 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 23 , where the operational storage location comprises embedded persistent storage that is at least one of flash memory or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM). 
     
     
         34 . A method for backing up and/or restoring hardware profile information on an information handling system, the method comprising:
 receiving a request in the information handling system from at least one of a local user or remote user for at least one of backup or restore of hardware profile information on the information handling system; and   using one or more processing devices of the information handling system to respond to the received backup or restore request while UEFI BIOS is running on the one or more processing devices before booting a host operating system (OS) of the system to at least one of:
 backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location before booting a host operating system (OS), or 
 restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system before booting the host operating system (OS). 
   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising using at least one out-of-band processing device of the information handling system to:
 receive the request from at least one of a local user or remote user for at least one of backup or restore of hardware profile information; and   provide the received backup or restore request to the one or more processing devices for processing.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising using the one or more processing devices to at least one of:
 run UEFI BIOS to backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location before booting the host operating system (OS); or   run UEFI BIOS to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system before booting the host operating system (OS).   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising using the one or more processing devices to respond to the received backup or restore request while UEFI BIOS is running on the one or more processing devices to backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from an operational storage location on the information handling system to a backup storage location before booting the host operating system (OS). 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising using the one or more processing devices to respond to the received backup or restore request while UEFI BIOS is running on the one or more processing devices to restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from a backup storage location to an operational storage location on the information handling system before booting the host operating system (OS). 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising using the one or more processing devices to receive the backup or restore request from a user across at least one local or external interface coupled to the one or more processing devices; and execute the created backup or restore job in response to the backup or restore request to at least one of:
 backup the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the operational storage location on the information handling system to the backup storage location; or   restore the hardware profile information by transferring the hardware profile information from the backup storage location to the operational storage location on the information handling system.   
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , further comprising using the one or more processing devices to track the status of the hardware profile backup or restore job in real time; and to provide tracked job status information in real time to the user across the external I/O interface. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 34 , where the backup storage location comprises at least one of a removable NVRAM storage device or external network shared storage; and where the hardware profile information comprises at least one of firmware or firmware configuration information. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 34 , where the hardware profile information includes at least one of firmware or firmware configuration information rather than host operating system (OS) and associated software applications and data. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 34 , where the backup storage location comprises embedded persistent storage that is at least one of flash memory or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM). 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 34 , where the operational storage location comprises embedded persistent storage that is at least one of flash memory or Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM).