METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR REPLICATING PROVISIONING SERVERS IN A SOFTWARE PROVISIONING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20100217840A1
• Filed: 02/25/2009
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dehaan, Michael Paul, Henson, Scott Jared
• Granted Patent: US 9,727,320 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

A software provisioning environment can include several provisioning servers for providing software provisioning to one or more target machines. In the environment, one of the provisioning servers can initiate a replication action. The replication action can transfer and apply the metadata from one provisioning server to another provisioning server. Additionally, the replication action can transfer and apply portions of an inventory of provisioning objects from one provisioning server to another provisioning server. During the replication action, the provisioning server can utilize the interfaces and protocols of standard provisioning processes to transfer the metadata and portions of the inventory.

Claims

1. A method of managing a software provisioning environment, comprising:

initiating an action to replicate a provisioning server;

receiving metadata, from the provisioning server, in at least one other provisioning server, wherein the metadata defines a configuration of the provisioning server; and

applying the metadata to the at least one other provisioning server to replicate the provisioning server.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the at least one other provisioning server, at least one of a portion of a set of software distributions, a portion of a set of provisioning profiles, and a portion of a set of provisioning templates.

3. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

selecting, at the provisioning server, the at least one of the portion of the set of software distributions, the portion of the set of provisioning profiles, and the portion of the set of provisioning templates.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the action to replicate the provisioning server comprises:

transmitting a request to replicate the provisioning server from the at least one other provisioning server to the provisioning server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the action to replicate the provisioning server comprises:

selecting the at least one other provisioning server; and

initiating the action to replicate at the provisioning server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the action to replicate the provisioning server comprises:

detecting, at the provisioning server, a change in the metadata; and

initiating the action to replicate based on the detected change in the metadata.

7. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

checking the applied metadata for errors.

8. A system for managing a software provisioning environment, comprising:

a network interface to a network comprising a set of provisioning servers; and

a provisioning server in the set of provisioning servers, communicating with the network interface, the provisioning server being configured to

initiate an action to replicate at least one other provisioning server in the set of provisioning servers;

receive metadata, from the at least one other provisioning server, wherein the metadata defines a configuration of the at least one other provisioning server; and

apply the metadata to replicate the at least one other provisioning server.

9. The system of claim 8, the provisioning server being further configured to

receive, from the at least one other provisioning server, at least one of a portion of a set of software distributions, a portion of a set of provisioning profiles, and a portion of a set of provisioning templates.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one other provisioning server selects the at least one of the portion of the set of software distributions, the portion of the set of provisioning profiles, and the portion of the set of provisioning templates.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein initiating the action to replicate the at least one other provisioning server comprises:

transmitting a request to replicate to the at least one other provisioning server.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein initiating the action to replicate is initiated by the at least one other provisioning server.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein initiating the action to replicate comprises detecting, at the at least one other provisioning server, a change in the metadata.

14. The system of claim 8, the provisioning server being further configured to

check the applied metadata for errors.

15. A provisioning application, the provisioning application being embodied in a computer readable storage medium and comprising instructions for causing a processor to perform a method comprising:

initiating an action to replicate a provisioning server;

receiving metadata, from the provisioning server, in the provisioning application, wherein the metadata defines a configuration of the provisioning server; and

applying the metadata to the provisioning application to replicate the provisioning server.

16. The provisioning application of claim 15, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the provisioning application, at least one of a portion of a set of software distributions, a portion of a set of provisioning profiles, and a portion of a set of provisioning templates.

17. The provisioning application of claim 16, the method further comprising:

selecting, at the provisioning server, the at least one of the portion of the set of software distributions, the portion of the set of provisioning profiles, and the portion of the set of provisioning templates.

18. The provisioning application of claim 15, wherein initiating the action to replicate the provisioning server comprises:

transmitting a request to replicate the provisioning server from the provisioning application to the provisioning server.

19. The provisioning application of claim 15, wherein initiating the action to replicate the provisioning server comprises:

selecting the provisioning application; and

initiating the action to replicate at the provisioning server.

20. The provisioning application of claim 15, wherein initiating the action to replicate the provisioning server comprises:

detecting, at the provisioning server, a change in the metadata, and

initiating the action to replicate based on the detected change in the metadata.

21. The provisioning application of claim 15, the method further comprising:

checking the applied metadata for errors.