Abstract: Approaches in accordance with various embodiments provide for the management of system event data in a computing device. In particular, various embodiments provide an intelligent persistent buffer for system event log (SEL) messages. A SEL message can be generated by system BIOS on a computing device, which can send this message over an appropriate interface to a target recipient, such as the BMC. Instead of being received directly to the BMC, however, the SEL message can be received to a logic device, such as a CPLD, that is able to analyze the message, determine that the message relates to an important system event, and can cause this message to be stored to a persistent buffer. The BMC can then subsequently request the buffered SEL message from the logic device to take an appropriate action.

Abstract: When a computer boots up, a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) configures system memory to have a crash memory area within the system address map, which can be used by a processor to dump crash memory data. When an error event occurs, the processor can initiate a dump to the crash memory area. Any desired data can be placed into the crash memory area, but typical data can include a state of registers in the processor. The processor then sets a flag, such as an external pin, indicating that the crash memory data is ready to be read. The flag can be read by a secure processor, which then reads the crash memory area at normal memory access speeds using the system bus. For example, the secure processor can access the crash memory area using Direct Memory Access (DMA) reads over a PCIe system bus.