IFWI Integrated Firmware Integration automation for Servers

Abstract

The process of IFWI (Integrated Firmware Image) Validation till date has been done manually. Manual testing is highly expensive in terms of manpower, time and cost. It isn't feasible also for testing large numbers of server boards or platforms for running comprehensive tests, which include test cases in different domains. Hence the need for automation of this process, arose and is now widespread throughout the industry. In order to successfully automate the validation, the three broad require- ments are: a way to obtain real time state information from the platform, a way to send data to the platform and a way to receive information from the platform. The require- ments have been satisfied by creating a serial or network connection between the host, which is responsible for the testing the platform which is connected using sound wave control box. Test cases are written and developed for a wide variety of domains like security, networking, memory, storage and so on. The purpose of these test cases is to determine whether all aspects of the platform, which are of importance to the client are in successful working condition. The second purpose is to check what degree of duress the platform can be pushed and still have the minimum functionality that the board should have.