MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLIENT PACKAGES

• US 20100042990A1
• Filed: 08/14/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Kinder, Nathan G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,047,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

A method and system of a distributing server that encapsulates a client package within a client software repository package. The client software repository package contains at least a portion of a client repository. The client repository is installed at the subscribing server and is associated with one or more clients that are not authorized to access the distributing server. The distributing server transmits the client software repository package to a subscribing server that is authorized to access the distributing server. The subscribing server then serves the client package to the clients through the client repository.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

encapsulating, at a distributing server, a client package within a client software repository package that contains at least a portion of a client repository, the client repository being associated with one or more clients that are not authorized to access the distributing server; and

transmitting the client software repository package to a subscribing server that is authorized to access the distributing server to cause the client repository to be stored at the subscribing server and the client package to be served to the clients through the client repository.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client package has a format that is compatible with an operating system of the clients and is incompatible with a native package format used by the distributing server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the client software repository package contains one or more client packages associated with one or more client products that are subscribed by the subscribing server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the client software repository package to a subscribing server further comprises:

receiving a query from the subscribing server for a new or updated client package; and

in response to the query, indicating to the subscribing server that the new or updated client package is available.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating a client package further comprises:

encapsulating information of the client repository in the client software repository package for the subscribing server to communicate with the clients.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the clients are registered with the subscribing server and have access to the client repository under the control of the subscribing server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the client software repository package has a native package format used by the distributing server and the subscribing server.

8. A system comprising:

data storage to store a repository, the repository contains a client software repository package that contains at least a portion of a client repository, the client repository being associated with one or more clients that are not authorized to access a distributing server; and

the distributing server coupled to the data storage, the distributing server to encapsulate a client package within the client software repository package, and to transmit the client software repository package to a subscribing server that is authorized to access the distributing server to cause the client repository to be stored at the subscribing server and the client package to be served to the clients through the client repository.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the client package has a format that is compatible with an operating system of the clients and is incompatible with a native package format used by the distributing server.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the client software repository package contains one or more client packages associated with one or more client products that are subscribed by the subscribing server.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the distributing server further comprises:

a distributing manager to receive a query from the subscribing server for a new or updated client package, and in response to the query, to indicate to the subscribing server that the new or updated client package is available.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the distributing server further comprises:

a distributing manager to encapsulate information of the client repository in the client software repository package for the subscribing server to communicate with the clients.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the client software repository package has a native package format used by the distributing server and the subscribing server.

14. A computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

encapsulating, at a distributing server, a client package within a client software repository package that contains at least a portion of a client repository, the client repository being associated with one or more clients that are not authorized to access the distributing server; and

transmitting the client software repository package to a subscribing server that is authorized to access the distributing server to cause the client repository to be stored at the subscribing server and the client package to be served to the clients through the client repository.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the client package has a format that is compatible with an operating system of the clients and is incompatible with a native package format used by the distributing server.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the client software repository package contains one or more client packages associated with one or more client products that are subscribed by the subscribing server.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein transmitting the client software repository package to a subscribing server further comprises:

receiving a query from the subscribing server for a new or updated client package; and

in response to the query, indicating to the subscribing server that the new or updated client package is available.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein encapsulating a client package further comprises:

encapsulating information of the client repository in the client software repository package for the subscribing server to communicate with the clients.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the clients are registered with the subscribing server and have access to the client repository under the control of the subscribing server.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the client software repository package has a native package format used by the distributing server and the subscribing server.