Method of manufacturing operating system master template, method of manufacturing a computer entity and product resulting therefrom, and method of producing a production version of an operating system

• US 7,000,231 B1
• Filed: 09/22/2000
• Issued: 02/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Gold, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Wei Y.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nahar, Qamrun
• Application Number:
  US09/667,516
• Time in Patent Office: 1,971 Days
• Field of Search: 717/168, 717/171, 717/174, 717/175, 711/173, 713/2
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order

Abstract

A manufacturing system is disclosed for creating a master disk for producing clone copies installed on a plurality of production headless computer entities, said manufacturing system comprising: a build operating system, a set of primary operating system files, a set of emergency operating system files, a set of set-up files, a user interface and a data disk, wherein the manufacturing system creates a master system disk template from the data disk. The master system disk has not less than 3 operating systems, and the master manufacturing system is configured to initialize the master system disk.

Claims

1. A method of manufacture of an operating system master template for installing at least one operating system onto a computer entity, said manufacturing method comprising the steps of:

installing a primary operating system on a first partition of a data storage device;

installing a secondary operating system on a second partition of said data storage device; and

installing an installation component on a third partition of said data storage device;

wherein said first, second, and third partitions of said data storage device are separate from each other; and

wherein said secondary operating system is installed on said second of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device only upon said primary operating system being installed on said first of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device and while the primary operating system is in a non-running static state.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said installation component comprises:

database installation sub-components configured for installation of database onto said computer entity.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said installation component comprises:

a back-up application sub-component for installation of a back-up application onto said computer entity.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said installation component comprises:

a plurality of set up data files for set up of said primary operating system; and

a set up data file installation component for installing said set up data files onto said computer entity, and for deletion of said set up data files after a successful set up of said primary operating system.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said installation component comprises:

a plurality of set up data files for set up of said secondary operating system; and

a set up data file installation component for installing said set up data files onto said computer entity and for deletion of said set up data files after a successful set up of said secondary operating system.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a conventional computer including a processor, a memory, a display, and a mouse in response to operator inputs, and the template is for forming a master system disk for a headless computer for use with a network, the method further including:

installing the master system disk template and a master data disk template into the headless computer;

with the master system disk template and the master data disk template installed into the headless computer, causing the headless computer to create administration page software of the headless computer from set-up files in the installation component on the third partition.

7. A method of manufacture of a computer entity, said computer entity comprising at least one data processor and at least one data storage device, said method comprising the steps of:

partitioning said data storage device into a plurality of partitions;

installing a primary operating system onto a first of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device;

installing a secondary operating system onto a second of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device;

installing an installation component onto a third of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device; and

after installation of said primary and secondary operating systems, deleting said installation component wherein said first, second, and third partitions of said data storage device are separate from each other; and

wherein said secondary operating system is installed on said second of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device only upon said primary operating system being installed on said first of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device and while the primary operating system is in a non-running static state.

8. The method of manufacture as claimed in claim 7, further comprising the step of:

running a program to set up license key data on a further partition of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said third partition onto which said installation component is installed comprises a reserved space partition, which is separate from said first and second partitions on which said primary and secondary operating systems are installed.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said step of installing said installation component comprises:

installing a database installation component for installing a database onto said computer entity.

11. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said step of deleting said installation component comprises deleting a database installation component after a successful installation of a database on said computer entity.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said step of installing said installation component comprises:

installing a back-up program installation component for installing a back-up program on said computer entity.

13. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said step of deleting said installation component comprises:

deleting a back-up program installation component after a successful installation of a back-up program onto said computer entity.

14. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising the step of:

creating system identification data on said data storage device, wherein said system identification data uniquely identifies a relationship between said operating system and said computer entity.

15. A computer entity product comprising a data storage device, said computer entity manufactured by a method comprising the steps of:

partitioning said data storage device into a plurality of partitions;

installing a primary operating system onto a first partition of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device;

installing a secondary operating system onto a second partition of said plurality of partitions said of said data storage device;

installing an installation component onto a third partition of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device; and

after installation of said primary and secondary operating systems, deleting said installation component from said data storage device;

wherein said first, second, and third partitions of said data storage device are separate from each other; and

wherein said secondary operating system is installed on said second of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device only upon said primary operating system being installed on said first of said plurality of partitions of said data storage device and while the primary operating system is in a non-running static state.

16. A method of producing a production version of an operating system for installation into a production version computer entity, said method comprising the steps of:

creating an operating system master template having a plurality of partitions, wherein a primary operating system is stored on a first of said plurality of partitions, a secondary operating system is stored on a second of said plurality of partitions, and an installation component is stored on a third of said plurality of partitions;

loading said operating system master template into a mastering computer entity to create a master disk image of said operating system master template on said mastering computer entity; and

replicating said master disk image by loading said master disk image from said mastering computer entity onto said production computer entity;

wherein said first, second, and third partitions of said operating system master template are separate from each other; and

wherein said secondary operating system is installed on said second of said plurality of partitions of said master disk only upon said primary operating system being installed on said first of said plurality of partitions of said master disk and while the primary operating system is in a non-running static state.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein:

said replicated master disk image loaded onto said production computer entity operates to;

install said primary operating system onto a first partition of said production computer entity;

install said secondary operating system onto a second partition of said production computer entity; and

self-delete said installation component after a successful loading of said primary and secondary operating systems onto said production computer entity.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said installation component comprises:

a back-up program installation component for installing a back-up program.

19. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said installation component comprises:

a database installation component for installing a database onto said production computer entity.

20. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein, during said step of replicating said loaded master disk image by loading onto said production computer entity, said installation component is installed on a third partition of said production computer entity.

21. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said step of replicating said loaded master disk image from said mastering computer entity onto said production computer entity comprises:

creating a plurality of partitions on a data storage device of said production computer entity.