On-the-fly trivial file transfer protocol

• US 6,170,008 B1
• Filed: 12/07/1998
• Issued: 01/02/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Comcast MO Group Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: MediaOne Group Inc. (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Bahlmann, Bruce F., Field, Brian, Melle, Chris F.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US09/206,920
• Time in Patent Office: 757 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/222, 709/223, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227, 709/228, 709/230, 709/237, 709/250, 713/1, 713/2
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4416 Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication

Abstract

A network server, and a method for building a boot file in response to a standard protocol request. Network specific and client specific parameters necessary to build the boot file are encoded into the path name and file name of the standard protocol request respectively. A special character in the standard protocol request triggers the network server to decode the parameters from the standard protocol request and then use the decoded parameters to build the boot file on-the-fly.

Claims

1. A method of providing a boot file to a network device in response to a standard protocol request initiated by a client from the network device, the method comprises:

transmitting the standard protocol request from the network device to a standard protocol server, the standard protocol request having at least one network specific parameter, at least one client specific parameter, and a special character, the special character notifies the standard protocol server that the standard protocol request contains the at least one network specific parameter and the at least one client specific parameter;

checking by the standard protocol server for the special character in the standard protocol request;

decoding the at least one network specific parameter and the at least one client specific parameter from the standard protocol request in response to recognizing the special character;

reading at least two additional parameters from a server configuration information based upon the at least one client specific parameter in response to decoding the at least one client specific parameter;

building the boot file using the received at least one network specific parameter, the at least one client specific parameter, and the at least two additional parameters; and

providing the boot file to the network device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the standard protocol request includes a path name and a file name, the method further comprising:

encoding the special character and the at least one network specific parameter in the path name, and encoding the at least one client specific parameter in the file name in the standard protocol request.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the server configuration information includes a boot file build sequence, the method further comprising;

reading the boot file build sequence from the server configuration information in response to decoding the at least one client specific parameter; and

wherein the step of building the boot file includes building the boot file using the boot file build sequence read from the server configuration information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the server configuration information includes a boot file structure, the method further comprising:

reading the boot file structure from the server configuration information in response to decoding the at least one client specific parameter; and

wherein the step of building the boot file includes building the boot file using the boot file build structure read from the server configuration information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least two additional parameters includes at least one default value.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting a service class request from the network device to a provisioning server prior to transmitting the standard protocol request from the network device to the standard protocol server;

transmitting a service class response from the provisioning server to the network device, the service class response having the special character, at least one network specific parameter and the at least one client specific parameter appropriate for the. service class request; and

copying the special character, the at least one network specific parameter and the at least one client specific parameter contained in the service class response into the standard protocol request prior to transmitting the standard protocol request.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the service class response includes a path name and a file name, the method further comprises:

encoding the special character and the at least one network specific parameter in the path name, and encoding the at least one client specific parameter in the file name prior to transmitting the service class response to the network device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the service class response is selected from the group of responses comprising Bootstrap Protocol and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one client specific parameter includes a vendor identification parameter, a network device type parameter, a boot file type parameter, and at least one additional parameter.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one additional parameter includes a service class parameter and a customer identification parameter, the service class parameter having a plurality of possible values including a special directory value, the special directory value indicating that a plurality of parameters necessary to build the boot file are stored in a directory in a directory access protocol server and indexed by the customer identification parameter, the method further comprises:

checking the service class parameter for the special directory value after decoding the at least one client specific parameter;

transmitting the customer identification parameter from the special protocol server to the directory access protocol server in response to recognizing the special directory value in the service class parameter;

reading the plurality of parameters associated with the customer identification parameter from the directory in response to receiving the customer identification parameter by the directory access protocol server;

transmitting the plurality of parameters read from the directory access protocol server to the standard protocol server; and

wherein the step of building the boot file includes incorporating the plurality of parameters transmitted from the directory access protocol server.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the directory access protocol server is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol server.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the boot file is built in a random access memory.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the standard protocol request includes at least one security parameter, the method further comprises:

decoding the at least one security parameter in addition to decoding the at least one network specific parameter and the at least one client specific parameter; and

validating the decoded at least one security parameter prior to reading the at least two additional parameters from the server configuration information.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the standard protocol request is a Trivial File Transfer Protocol request and the standard protocol server is a Trivial File Transfer Protocol server.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

starting a timer in the standard protocol server in response to providing the boot file to the network device;

sending an acknowledgment from the network device to the standard protocol server in response to receiving the boot file at the network device;

canceling the timer in response to receiving the acknowledgment from the network device at the standard protocol server; and

providing the boot file to the network device again if the standard protocol request is received again at the standard protocol server while the timer is running and prior to receiving the acknowledgment.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising archiving the boot file in response to providing the boot file to the network device.

17. A standard protocol server which builds a boot file in response to a standard protocol request received from a network device, the standard protocol request having a special character, at least one network specific parameter, and at least one client specific parameter, an improvement comprises:

a first detector in communication with the network device, the first detector detects a presence of the special character in the standard protocol request, the presence of the special character indicates that the standard protocol request contains the at least one network specific parameter and the at least one client specific parameter;

a decoder connected to the first detector, the decoder extracts the at least one network specific parameter and the at least one client specific parameter from the standard protocol request in response to the detection of the special character;

a server configuration information, the server configuration information having at least two additional parameters indexed by the at least one client specific parameter; and

a boot file builder connected to the decoder and having access to the server configuration information, the boot file builder assembling the boot file using the at least one network specific parameter, the at least one client specific parameter, and the at least two additional parameters.

18. The standard protocol server of claim 17 further comprising a random access memory connected to the boot file builder, the random access memory holds the boot file as it is being assembled by the boot file builder.

19. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the standard protocol request has a path name and a file name, and the special character and the at least one network specific parameter are encoded in the path name, and the at least one client specific parameter is encoded in the file name.

20. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the server configuration information contains a sequence for assembling the boot file, and wherein the boot file builder assembles the boot file in accordance with the sequence contained in the server configuration information.

21. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the server configuration information contains a structure for assembling the boot file, and wherein the boot file builder assembles the boot file in accordance with the structure contained in the server configuration information.

22. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the at least two additional parameters includes at least one default value.

23. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the at least one client specific parameter includes a vendor identification parameter, a network device type parameter, a boot file type parameter, and at least one additional parameter.

24. The standard protocol server of claim 23 further including a directory access protocol server, wherein the at least one additional parameter includes a service class parameter and a customer identification parameter, the service class parameter having a plurality of possible values including a special directory value, the special directory value indicates that a plurality of parameters necessary to build the boot file are stored in the directory access protocol server and indexed by the customer identification parameter, the standard protocol server further comprising:

a second detector connected to the decoder for detecting the presence of the special directory value in the service class parameter;

a port connected between the second detector, the boot file builder, and the directory access protocol server, the port being responsive to the detection of the special directory value by the second detector to send the plurality of parameters from the directory access protocol server to the boot file builder; and

wherein the boot file builder incorporates the plurality of parameters received from the directory access protocol server into the boot file.

25. The standard protocol server of claim 24 wherein the directory access protocol server is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol server.

26. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the standard protocol request includes at least one security parameter, and wherein the decoder further extracts the at least one security parameter from the standard protocol request, the server further comprises a validator connected between the detector and the boot file builder, the validator validates the at least one security parameter extracted from the standard protocol request extracted by the decoder, and instructs the boot file builder to assemble the boot file when the at least one security parameter is valid.

27. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the standard protocol request is a Trivial File Transfer Protocol request and the standard protocol server is a Trivial File Transfer Protocol server.

28. The standard protocol server of claim 17 wherein the network device sends an acknowledgment in response to receiving the boot file, the standard protocol server further comprising:

a timer connected to the boot file builder, the timer starts running when the boot file builder finishes assembling the boot file, the timer is canceled when the acknowledgment is received from the network device, and the timer times-out after a predetermined amount of time; and

wherein the boot file builder also retains the boot file as long as the timer is running, and will transmit the boot file to the network device in response to a subsequently received standard protocol request prior to the timer timing out.

29. The standard protocol server of claim 17 further comprising a mass storage for archiving all boot files.