SYSTEM FOR AND METHOD OF NETWORK BOOTING OF AN OPERATING SYSTEM TO A CLIENT COMPUTER USING HIBERNATION

• US 20080140816A1
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ardence Delaware, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Ardence, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: SANDUSKY, Marc, LUSINSKY, Robert, BUNCH, Kenny, BUROKAS, Gintautas, GARELICK, Mike
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4416 Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A system for and method of network booting of an operating system (O/S) on one or more client devices, such as personal computers (PC'"'"'s), employing a hibernation image. Remote booting of sets of client devices is facilitated by employing virtual disk emulation and, in certain preferred embodiments, broadcasting or multicasting of data residing on a network server which is necessary to appropriately boot and configure the one or more client devices, the data including hibernation, O/S and application files.

Claims

1. A method for streaming an operating system to one or more client devices from a server on a network, the method comprising:

identifying, by a pre-boot execution environment service executing on the one or more client devices, a first server having an address of a virtual boot drive resident on the network;

detecting, by the pre-boot execution environment service, the virtual boot drive having a hibernation file with operating system data;

establishing, with pre-boot execution code, a virtual drive connection between the one or more client devices and the virtual boot drive;

receiving, from the virtual boot drive, a requested master boot record;

executing the master boot record on the one or more client devices, the master boot record issuing a request to the virtual boot drive for an operating system loader;

receiving, from the virtual boot drive, the operating system loader;

loading, by the operating system loader, the hibernation file downloaded from the virtual boot drive responsive to the requests issued by the master boot record code;

restoring an operating system on the one or more client devices via the loaded hibernation file; and

activating, with the operating system, drivers able to execute the operating system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein locating further comprises, locating a boot server on the network, the boot server associated with the virtual boot drive.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the requested data sectors, each data sector transmitted by the virtual boot drive to the one or more client devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein activating drivers further comprises, activating each of a storage driver and a network filter driver.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

relaying, by the network filter driver, a portion of the requested data sectors to a storage driver; and

reading, by the operating system, the portion of the requested data sectors to initialize the network filter driver.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing, in cache memory, read and write requests issued by the operating system;

initializing, by the operating system, a network interface card driver; and

retrieving from cache memory, by the storage driver, each of the stored read and write requests, the retrieval of the read write requests restoring the operating system.

7. A system for streaming an operating system to one or more client devices from a server on a network, the method comprising:

a means for identifying, by a pre-boot execution environment service executing on the one or more client devices, a first server having an address of a virtual boot drive resident on the network;

a means for detecting, by the pre-boot execution environment service, the virtual boot drive having a hibernation file with operating system data;

a means for establishing, with pre-boot execution code, a virtual drive connection between the one or more client devices and the virtual boot drive;

a means for receiving, from the virtual boot drive, a requested master boot record;

a means for executing the master boot record on the one or more client devices, the master boot record issuing a request to the virtual boot drive for an operating system loader;

a means for receiving, from the virtual boot drive, the operating system loader;

a means for loading, by the operating system loader, the hibernation file downloaded from the virtual boot drive responsive to the requests issued by the master boot record code;

a means for restoring an operating system on the one or more client devices via the loaded hibernation file; and

a means for activating, with the operating system, drivers able to execute the operating system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a means for locating further comprises, a means for locating a boot server on the network, the boot server associated with the virtual boot drive.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising a means for receiving the requested data sectors, each data sector transmitted by the virtual boot drive to the one or more client devices.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein a means for activating drivers further comprises, a means for activating each of a storage driver and a network filter driver.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a means for relaying, by the network filter driver, a portion of the requested data sectors to a storage driver; and

a means for reading, by the operating system, the portion of the requested data sectors to initialize the network filter driver.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a means for storing, in cache memory, read and write requests issued by the operating system;

a means for initializing, by the operating system, a network interface card driver; and

retrieving from cache memory, by the storage driver, each of the stored read and write requests, the retrieval of the read write requests restoring the operating system.