System and method for device deployment

• US 10,628,170 B1
• Filed: 10/03/2018
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Chaganti, Ravikanth, Ali, Rizwan, Patel, Dharmesh M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoynov, Stefan
• Application Number:
  US16/151,242
• Publication Number:
  US 20200110617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4416 Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/344 Out-of-band transfers

Abstract

A configurable device includes computing resources. The configurable device further includes an out-of-band management platform that obtains a configuration request for the configurable device to place the configurable device into a predetermined state; in response to obtaining the configuration request, obtains a configurable device profile associated with the configurable device using an out-of-band channel; instantiates a pre-operating system agent based on the configurable device profile using the computing resources; loads an operating system package into the computing resources using an in-band channel secured by the pre-operating system agent; boots the configurable device using: the operating system package, and the computing resources; and, after booting the configurable device, orchestrates post-operating system automation of the configurable device to place the configurable device into the predetermined state.

Claims

1. A configurable device, comprising:

computing resources; and

an out-of-band management platform programmed to;

obtain a configuration request for the configurable device to place the configurable device into a predetermined state;

in response to obtaining the configuration request;

obtain a configurable device profile associated with the configurable device using an out-of-band channel;

instantiate a pre-operating system agent based on the configurable device profile using the computing resources;

load an operating system package into the computing resources using an in-band channel secured by the pre-operating system agent;

boot the configurable device using;

the operating system package, and

the computing resources; and

after booting the configurable device;

orchestrate post-operating system automation of the configurable device to place the configurable device into the predetermined state.

2. The configurable device of claim 1, wherein the out-of-band management platform is further programmed to:

while booting the configurable device, streaming logs of the boot using the out-of-band channel.

3. The configurable device of claim 2, wherein streaming the logs of the boot using the out-of-band channel comprises obtaining the logs of the boot from the pre-operating system agent using an always-on in-band channel.

4. The configurable device of claim 1, wherein the out-of-band management platform is further programmed to:

while orchestrating post-operating system automation, streaming logs of the post-operating system automation using the out-of-band channel.

5. The configurable device of claim 4, wherein streaming the logs of the post-operating system automation using the out-of-band channel comprises obtaining the logs of the post-operating system automation from the pre-operating system agent using an always-on in-band channel.

6. The configurable device of claim 1, wherein loading the operating system package into the computing resources using the in-band channel secured by the pre-operating system agent comprises:

identifying a location where at least a portion of the operating system package is stored by the pre-operating system agent; and

obtaining the operating system package from the location by the pre-operating system agent.

7. The configurable device of claim 1, wherein instantiating the pre-operating system agent based on the configurable device profile using the computing resources comprises:

loading an image of the pre-operating system agent stored in persistent storage of the out-of-band management platform on the computing resources;

loading at least a portion of the image into a memory of the computing resources; and

initiating execution of the pre-operating system agent using the image.

8. A method for configuring a configurable device, comprising:

obtaining a configuration request for the configurable device to place the configurable device into a predetermined state, wherein the configuration request is obtained using an out-of-band channel associated with the configurable device;

in response to obtaining the configuration request;

obtaining a configurable device profile associated with the configurable device using the out-of-band channel associated with the configurable device;

instantiating a pre-operating system agent based on the configurable device profile using computing resources of the configurable device;

loading an operating system package into the computing resources using an in-band channel secured by the pre-operating system agent;

booting the configurable device using;

the operating system package, and

the computing resources; and

after booting the configurable device;

orchestrating post-operating system automation of the configurable device to place the configurable device into the predetermined state.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

while booting the configurable device, streaming logs of the boot using the out-of-band channel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein streaming the logs of the boot using the out-of-band channel comprises obtaining the logs of the boot from the pre-operating system agent using an always-on in-band channel.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

while orchestrating post-operating system automation, streaming logs of the post-operating system automation using the out-of-band channel.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein streaming the logs of the post-operating system automation using the out-of-band management channel comprises obtaining the logs of the post-operating system automation from the pre-operating system agent using an always-on in-band channel.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein loading the operating system package into the computing resources using the in-band channel secured by the pre-operating system agent comprises:

identifying a location where at least a portion of the operating system package is stored by the pre-operating system agent; and

obtaining the operating system package from the location by the pre-operating system agent.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein instantiating the pre-operating system agent based on the configurable device profile using the computing resources comprises:

loading an image of the pre-operating system agent stored in a persistent storage of an out-of-band management platform hosted by the configurable device on the computing resources;

loading at least a portion of the image into a memory of the computing resources; and

initiating execution of the pre-operating system agent using the image.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor enables the computer processor to perform a method for configuring a configurable device, the method comprising:

obtaining a configuration request for the configurable device to place the configurable device into a predetermined state, wherein the configuration request is obtained using an out-of-band channel associated with the configurable device;

in response to obtaining the configuration request;

obtaining a configurable device profile associated with the configurable device using the out-of-band channel associated with the configurable device;

instantiating a pre-operating system agent based on the configurable device profile using computing resources of the configurable device;

loading an operating system package into the computing resources using an in-band channel secured by the pre-operating system agent;

booting the configurable device using;

the operating system package, and

the computing resources; and

after booting the configurable device;

orchestrating post-operating system automation of the configurable device to place the configurable device into the predetermined state.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

while booting the configurable device, streaming logs of the boot using the out-of-band channel.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein streaming the logs of the boot using the out-of-band channel comprises obtaining the logs of the boot from the pre-operating system agent using an always-on in-band channel.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

while orchestrating post-operating system automation, streaming logs of the post-operating system automation using the out-of-band channel.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein streaming the logs of the post-operating system automation using the out-of-band management channel comprises obtaining the logs of the post-operating system automation from the pre-operating system agent using an always-on in-band channel.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein loading the operating system package into the computing resources using the in-band channel secured by the pre-operating system agent comprises:

identifying a location where at least a portion of the operating system package is stored by the pre-operating system agent; and

obtaining the operating system package from the location by the pre-operating system agent.