PORTABLE DEVICE INTEGRATED WITH A PROVISIONING APPLICATION TO AID IN DISCOVERY OF NON-NETWORK ATTACHED RESOURCES AND PROVIDE SUGGESTIONS FOR PHYSICAL SETUP OF THE RESOURCES BASED ON DATA CENTER NEEDS

• US 20090319640A1
• Filed: 06/24/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kugel, Jacob
• Granted Patent: US 9,037,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A portable, e.g. handheld, device that would assist in the discovery of hardware ‘in the box’, and non-connected resources in general, by using detection methods such as scanning a barcode, manually entering a UPC, or detecting an RFID tag on the asset or resource, and then recommending the physical location, cabling and other setup information based on datacenter needs and real-time load information and displaying the instructions on the portable device. The above-mentioned portable device may also include a GPS receiver to locate various resources, i.e. pieces of hardware, based on their location in a large datacenter.

Claims

1. A portable device for discovery of resources and for network configuration selection, comprising:

a communication module configured to send a type of a non-connected resource from the portable device to a provisioning server and to receive therefrom configuration information including one or more prospective configurations for the resource;

a screen configured to display the one or more prospective configurations; and

an input device configured to accept a user input and to select a selected configuration, including a selected location, from the one or more prospective configurations.

2. The portable device according to claim 1, further comprising an identifier configured to identify the type of the non-connected resource.

3. The portable device according to claim 2, wherein the identifier is configured to respond to an identification selected from the group consisting of a barcode, an RFID tag, a wireless telephone transmission and a code entered into the input device by the user.

4. The portable device according to claim 1, further comprising a detector configured to detect the non-connected resource.

5. The portable device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more prospective configurations each include real-time load information.

6. The portable device according to claim 1, wherein the selected configuration further includes recommendations for connections between the resource and other equipment.

7. The portable device according to claim 1, further comprising an integrated navigational device, wherein

the screen is configured to display a current position of the portable device according to navigational information provided by the navigational device;

and

the communication module is configured to report the current position to the provisioning server.

8. The portable device according to claim 7, wherein the screen is configured to display a distance and a direction from the current position to the selected location according to the navigational information provided by the navigational device and according to the configuration information provided by the provisioning server.

9. The portable device according to claim 7, wherein the navigational device comprises a receiver configured to receive navigational reference signals from geostationary satellites.

10. The portable device according to claim 1, wherein the communication module is an integrated cellular telephone.

11. The portable device according to claim 1, wherein the communication module is a wireless LAN card.

12. A method for discovery of resources and for network configuration selection, comprising:

sending a type of a non-connected resource from the portable device to a provisioning server and receiving therefrom configuration information including one or more prospective configurations for the non-connected resource;

displaying the one or more prospective configurations at the portable device; and

selecting a selected configuration, including a selected location, from the one or more prospective configurations according to a user input to the portable device.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising identifying the type of the non-connected resource by responding to an identifier selected from the group consisting of a barcode, an RFID tag, a wireless telephone transmission and a code entered into the input device by the user.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising detecting the presence of the non-connected resource.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the one or more prospective configurations each include real-time load information.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein the selected configuration further includes recommendations for connections between the resource and other equipment.

17. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

displaying a current position of the portable device at the portable device according to navigational information provided by a navigational device; and

reporting the current position to the provisioning server.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising displaying at the portable device a distance and a direction from the current position to the selected location according to the navigational information provided by the navigational device and according to the configuration information provided by the provisioning server.

19. A computer program product for discovery of resources and for network configuration selection, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium in a portable device having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

instructions to send a type of a non-connected resource to a provisioning server and to receive therefrom configuration information including one or more prospective configurations for the resource;

instructions to display the one or more prospective configurations at the portable device; and

instructions to select a selected configuration, including a selected location, from the one or more prospective configurations according to a user input to the portable device.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, further comprising instructions to identify the type of the non-connected resource.

21. The computer program product according to claim 19, further comprising instructions to detect the presence of the non-connected resource in the vicinity of the portable device.

22. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the one or more prospective configurations each include real-time load information.

23. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the selected configuration further includes recommendations for connections between the resource and other equipment.

24. The computer program product according to claim 19, further comprising;

instructions to display a current position of the portable device according to navigational information provided by a navigational device; and

instructions to report the current position to the provisioning server.

25. The computer program product according to claim 24, further comprising instructions to display at the portable device a distance and a direction from the current position to the selected location according to the navigational information provided by the navigational device and according to the configuration information provided by the provisioning server.

26. A method for a provisioning server for network configuration selection according to discovered network resources, comprising:

receiving a type of a non-connected network resource from a portable device;

querying PhysicalPackage resources for unused space and for whether any existing components thereof need replacement; and

resolving a priority for each PhysicalPackage;

sorting each PhysicalPackage by priority;

sending configuration information to the portable device including one or more prospective configurations for the non-connected network resource, each prospective configuration derived from a respective PhysicalPackage.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein resolving the priority for each PhysicalPackage includes using a static integer value for the priority if a value of the priority is the static integer, and finding a DynamicFulfillmentPriority if the priority of the PhysicalPackage indicates a DynamicFulfillmentPriority is used.

28. The method according to claim 26, wherein the one or more prospective configurations each include real-time load information.

29. The method according to claim 26, wherein the one or more prospective configurations each include recommendations for connections between the resource and other equipment.