METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING REMOTE SOFTWARE PROVISIONING TO MACHINES

• US 20100050169A1
• Filed: 08/21/2008
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: DEHAAN, Michael Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,512 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A provisioning server can generate a network boot emulator configured to provision software for target machines that may not support network booting. The provisioning server can be configured to build the network boot emulator in a format that is usable by target machines regardless of the software available on the target machines. The network boot emulator can include instructions necessary to locate and access software distributions, combine software distributions according to the templates or profiles in order to generate a software installation, and install the software installation on a target machine. The network boot emulator can also include instructions necessary to configure the software installation.

Claims

1. A method of providing software provisioning, comprising:

selecting at least one of a set of software distributions, a set of installation templates, or a set of installation profiles to be associated with a network boot emulator;

building the network boot emulator, wherein building the network boot emulator comprises generating a set of instructions for provisioning software for the selected at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles; and

providing the network boot emulator to at least one target system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles comprises selecting the at least one of a set of software distributions, a set of installation templates, or a set of installation profiles based on a received requirement from the at least one target system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles comprises selecting the at least one of a set of software distributions, a set of installation templates, or a set of installation profiles based on predetermined installations for the at least one target system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the network boot emulator comprises transferring the network boot emulator to the at least one target system over a network connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the network boot emulator comprises writing the network boot emulator to a portable storage medium.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network boot emulator is built in a standard format accessible by different types of target systems.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the network boot emulator is built as a disk image.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include instructions for generating an interface to perform the software provisioning based on the selected at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include instructions for performing the software provisioning in cooperation with a provisioning server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include instructions for configuring software installations generated by the network boot emulator.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include a portion of the selected at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles.

12. A system for providing software provisioning, comprising:

a network interface to a network comprises at least one new system; and

a provisioning server, communicating with the network interface, the provisioning server being configured to—

select at least one of a set of software distributions, a set of installation templates, or a set of installation profiles to be associated with a network boot emulator;

build the network boot emulator, wherein building the network boot emulator comprises generating a set of instructions for provisioning software for the selected at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles; and

provide the network boot emulator to at least one target system.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein selecting the at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles comprises selecting the at least one of a set of software distributions, a set of installation templates, or a set of installation profiles based on a received requirement from the at least one target system.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein selecting the at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles comprises selecting the at least one of a set of software distributions, a set of installation templates, or a set of installation profiles based on predetermined installations for the at least one target system.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the provisioning server is further configured to transfer the network boot emulator to the at least one target system over a network connection.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the provisioning server is further configured to write the network boot emulator to a portable storage medium.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the network boot emulator is built in a standard format accessible by different types of target systems.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the network boot emulator is built as a disk image.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include instructions for generating an interface to perform the software provisioning based on the selected at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include instructions for performing the software provisioning in cooperation with the provisioning server.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include instructions for configuring software installations generated by the network boot emulator.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the network boot emulator is further built to include a portion of the selected at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles.

23. A network boot emulator, the network boot emulator being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising instructions for causing a computer to provision software, the instructions comprising:

instructions for provisioning software based on at least one of a set of software distributions, a set of installation templates, or a set of installation profiles;

instructions for generating an interface to perform the software provisioning based on the at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles;

instructions for obtaining the at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles to generate a software installation;

instructions for generating the software installation based input from the interface; and

instructions for configuring the software installations generated by the network boot emulator.

24. The network boot emulator of claim 23, wherein the network boot emulator includes a portion of the at least one of the set of software distributions, the set of installation templates, or the set of installation profiles.

25. The network boot emulator of claim 23, further comprising:

instructions for performing the software provisioning in cooperation with a provisioning server.

26. The network boot emulator of claim 23, wherein the instructions are embodied as standard format accessible by different types of target systems.

27. The network boot emulator of claim 26, wherein the instructions are embodied as a disk image.