Method and system for remote software distribution and installation

• US 20020078186A1
• Filed: 12/18/2001
• Published: 06/20/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Generac Power Systems Incorporated (Generac Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Engel, Gerhard, Heinrich, Uwe
• Granted Patent: US 7,130,896 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A mechanism for the remote distribution/installation of computer programs from a source to a number of target computers. The computer programs are transferred as packages identified in a package list. Attempt numbers for retrying a push mode and a pull mode distribution are pre-specified. A next package is identified in the package list and it is checked if a target computer is available. If it is available then installation of the package on the target computer is started. Otherwise, if at least one push mode attempt is left, a next push mode is resumed and rescheduled and, if no push mode attempt is left, but at least one pull mode attempt is left, a next pull mode distribution is resumed and rescheduled. The mechanism particularly proposes a queue manager that activates a request, i.e., moves the request from a request queue into an active queue, and has implemented throttling that balances the load during a software distribution/installation.

Claims

1. A method for remote distribution/installation of computer programs from a source data processing system to at least one target data processing system based on at least two distribution/installation modes, comprising the steps of:

checking if the at least one target data processing system is available;

performing the distribution/installation according to one of the at least two distribution/installation modes, if the at least one target data processing system is available;

monitoring if the distribution/installation is successful; and

switching the distribution/installation mode if the distribution/installation is not successful.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the computer programs are transferred as packages which are identified in a package list, the method comprising the further particular steps of:

pre-specifying attempt numbers for retrying a push mode distribution and a pull mode distribution;

retrieving a next package identified in the package list;

checking if the at least one target data processing system is available;

if the at least one target computer system is available then starting installation of the package on the target data processing system;

otherwise, if at least one push mode attempt is left, resuming and rescheduling a next push mode distribution and, if no push mode attempt is left, but at least one pull mode attempt is left, resuming and rescheduling a next pull mode distribution.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein if the target data processing system is not available after several retries, performing the further particular steps of:

if the number of push retries is greater than 0, moving

a distribution/installation request into a hold queue and scheduling re-insertion of the request into a request queue;

if the number of push retries is equal 0 and the number of pull retries is greater than 0, moving the request into a pull queue and restarting when the target computer system logs in; and

if the number of push retries is equal 0 and the number of pull retries is equal 0, moving the request into an abort queue.

4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, further comprising queuing a distribution/installation request in a request queue and setting the distribution/installation request into an active queue when a pre-specified time is exceeded.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, further comprising detecting an active queue overload and checking if a currently selected target data processing system is already active.

6. A data processing program for execution in a data processing system comprising software code portions for performing a method according to any of claims 1 to 3 when said program is run on said computer.

7. A computer program product stored on a computer usable medium, comprising computer readable program means for causing a computer to perform a method according to any of claims 1 to 3 when said program is run on said computer.

8. A software distribution system for remote distribution/installation of computer programs from a source data processing system to at least one target data processing system based on at least two distribution/installation modes, comprising:

means for checking the availability of the at least one target data processing system and for performing the distribution/installation dependent on the results of the availability checking;

means for monitoring the distribution/installation process; and

means for switching the distribution/installation mode, dependent on the results of the monitoring.

9. A software distribution system for remote distribution/installation of computer programs from a source data processing system to at least one target data processing system based on at least two distribution/installation modes, wherein the computer programs are transferred as packages which are identified in a package list, the system comprising a queue manager which includes a request queue and an active queue for handling the remote distribution.

10. The system according to claim 9, where the queue manager comprises

means for checking if a pre-specified time is exceeded and

means for checking if the active queue is overloaded and, if not, for setting the request into the active queue.

11. The system according to claim 9 or 10, where the queue manager comprises means for checking if a current target data processing system is already active and, if not, for setting the request into the active queue.