DEPLOYMENT OF BOOT IMAGES IN DISKLESS SERVERS

• US 20100287365A1
• Filed: 01/28/2008
• Published: 11/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Watkins, Mark R., Culter, Bradley G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,522,002 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4405 Initialisation of multiprocessor systems

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system, comprises a first computer system comprising at least a first diskless server, at least a first RAID controller coupled to the first diskless server, at least a first storage pool coupled to the RAID controller, and a remote management server coupled to the RAID controller via a an out-of-band communication link. The remote management server comprises a boot management module which, when executed, initiates a command to instruct the RAID controller to create at least a first logical volume in a memory module coupled to the RAID controller, transmits the command to the RAID controller via the out-of-band communication link, and transmits a boot image from the remote management server to the RAID controller via the out-of-band communication link. The RAID controller creates the first logical volume for the boot image in response to the command, and stores the boot image in the first logical volume.

Claims

1. A method to deploy a boot image in a diskless server in a computer system, comprising:

initiating, in a remote management server coupled to a RAID controller in the computer system by an out-of-band communication link, a command to instruct the RAID controller to create at least a first logical volume in a memory module coupled to the RAID controller;

transmitting the command to the RAID controller via the out-of-band communication link;

in response to the command, creating, in the RAID controller, the first logical volume for the boot image;

transmitting a boot image from the remote management server to the RAID controller via the out-of-band communication link;

storing the boot image in the first logical volume;

assigning ownership of the first logical volume to a first diskless server in the computer system; and

initiating a boot operation for the first server, wherein the first server boots from the boot image in the first logical volume.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a boot image from the remote management server to the RAID controller to a remote server comprises transmitting the boot image via the out-of-band communication link.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a boot image from the remote management server to the RAID controller to a remote server comprises:

retrieving the boot image from a repository of approved boot images;

and;

compressing the boot image.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving the boot image at the RAID controller; and

decompressing the boot image.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

passing a pointer to the logical volume from the RAID controller to the diskless server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a snapshot of the logical volume; and

storing the snapshot in a memory module.

7. A system, comprising:

a first computer system comprising;

at least a first diskless server;

at least a first RAID controller coupled to the first diskless server;

at least a first storage pool coupled to the RAID controller;

a remote management server coupled to the RAID controller via an out-of-band communication link and comprising a boot management module which, when executed;

initiates a command to instruct the RAID controller to create at least a first logical volume in a memory module coupled to the RAID controller;

transmits the command to the RAID controller via the out-of-band communication link; and

transmits a boot image from the remote management server to the RAID controller via the out-of-band communication link; and

wherein the RAID controller

creates the first logical volume for the boot image in response to the command; and

stores the boot image in the first logical volume.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the boot management module:

assigns ownership of the first logical volume to a first diskless server in the computer system; and

initiates a boot operation for the first server, wherein the first server boots from the boot image in the first logical volume.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the boot management module transmits a boot image from the remote management server to the RAID controller to a remote server comprises transmitting the boot image via the out-of-band communication link.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the boot management module:

retrieves the boot image from a repository of approved boot images; and

;

compresses the boot image.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the RAID controller:

receives the boot image at the RAID controller; and

decompresses the boot image.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the RAID controller:

passes a pointer to the logical volume from the RAID controller to the diskless server.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the RAID controller:

generates a snapshot of the logical volume; and

stores the snapshot in a memory module.

14. A computer system to manage boot operations of a first computer system comprising at least a first diskless server, at least a first RAID controller coupled to the first diskless server, and at least a first storage pool coupled to the RAID controller, the computer system comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory module coupled to the at least one processor and comprising logic instructions which, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to;

initiate a command to instruct the RAID controller to create at least a first logical volume in a memory module coupled to the RAID controller;

cause a command to be transmitted to the RAID controller via an out-of-band communication link; and

cause a boot image to be transmitted from the remote management server to the RAID controller via the out-of-band communication link.

15. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising logic instructions which, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

assign ownership of the first logical volume to a first diskless server in the first computer system; and

initiate a boot operation for the first diskless server, wherein the first diskless server boots from the boot image in the first logical volume.

16. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising logic instructions which, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

retrieve the boot image from a repository of approved boot images; and

;

compress the boot image.