Automated system setup

• US 7,266,818 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Issued: 09/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Nikaido, Michio, Pike, Nicky D., Hariharan, Ram G.
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng-Al T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Roche; Trenton J.
• Application Number:
  US10/184,215
• Publication Number:
  US 20040006688A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,894 Days
• Field of Search: 717174-178, 705/56
• US Class Current: 717/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Automated system setup includes automated configuration of an operating system on a computing device(s), automated configuration of custom software on a computing device(s), and/or automated configuration of a network switch(es). The various information used for the automated configuration(s) can also optionally be maintained for asset tracking purposes.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, causes the one or more processors to:

maintain mappings of identifiers of the computing device in profiles, wherein each profile indicates a type of functionality the corresponding computing device is to provide;

maintain software configuration information;

retrieve, from a network switch, a mapping of network interface card (NIC) identifiers to ports of the network switch;

identify for one or more of the network interface card (NIC) identifiers, a type of network the corresponding network interface card (NIC) is to be on;

generate switch configuration information based on the mappings and the identified network types;

write the switch configuration information to the network switch;

start a pre-execution environment on the computing device, wherein the pre-execution environment includes sufficient instructions to allow the computing device to access a staging server via a network and obtain operating system configuration information, stored in an SQL database, from a server, wherein the pre-execution environment is started prior to any network communication by the computing device corresponding to the pre-execution environment;

retrieve, based on an identifier of the computing device, the configuration information for the operating system of the computing device; and

install, using the configuration information, the operating system on the computing device.

2. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more computer readable media having stored thereon the instructions that cause the one or more processors to start the pre-execution environment comprises an optical disk.

3. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more computer readable media having stored thereon the instructions that cause the one or more processors to start the pre-execution environment comprises a memory device of a network interface card (NIC).

4. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises software and hardware configuration information.

5. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises data to be included in an unattended install answer file.

6. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to retrieve configuration information for the operating system comprise instructions that cause the one or more processors to retrieve the configuration information from a server device in a same data center as the computing device is located in.

7. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

retrieve, based on the identifier, custom software configuration information for the computing device; and

install, using the custom software configuration information, custom software on the computing device.

8. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to start the pre-execution environment, retrieve the configuration information, and install the operating system only if the device is a new device and no operating system has been previously installed on the computing device.

9. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to start the pre-execution environment, retrieve the configuration information, and install the operating system only if the device is to be rebuilt with the operating system.

10. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to start the pre-execution environment, retrieve the configuration information, and install the operating system only if one or more of the following applies:

the device is a new device and no operating system has not been previously installed on the computing device, or the device is to be rebuilt with the operating system.

11. A method comprising:

determining whether an operating system is to be installed on a computing device;

if the operating system is not to be installed, then executing a previously installed operating system; and

if the operating system is to be installed, then,

maintaining mappings of identifiers of the computing device in profiles, wherein each profile indicates a e of functionality the corresponding computing device is to provide;

maintaining software configuration information;

retrieving, from a network switch, a mapping of network interface card (NIC) identifiers to ports of the network switch;

identifying, for one or more of the network interface card (NIC) identifiers, a type of network the corresponding network interface card (NIC) is to be on;

generating switch configuration information based on the mappings and the identified network types;

writing the switch configuration information to the network switch;

obtaining an identifier of the computing device, wherein the computing device comprises a pre-execution environment that includes sufficient instructions to allow the computing device to access a staging server via a network and obtain the operating system configuration information, stored in a SQL database, from a server, wherein the pre-execution environment is provided to the computing device prior to any network communication by the computing device corresponding to the pre-execution environment,

using the identifier to obtain, from a remote device, the configuration information for the operating system, and

using the configuration information to install the operating system on the computing device.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the identifier is one of a plurality of identifiers that uniquely identify the computing device.

13. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the identifier of the computing device comprises a Medium Access Control (MAC) address of a network interface card (NIC) of the computing device.

14. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein using the identifier to obtain configuration information comprises:

using the identifier to obtain a device type that corresponds to the computing device, wherein the device type is mapped to a profile identifier that corresponds to the computing device, and wherein the profile identifier identifies the configuration information.

15. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the configuration information comprises software and hardware configuration information.

16. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

retrieving, based on the identifier, custom software configuration information for the computing device; and

installing, using the custom software configuration information, custom software on the computing device.

17. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, causes the one or more processors to:

maintain mappings of identifiers of the computing device in profiles, wherein each profile indicates a type of functionality the corresponding computing device is to provide;

maintain software configuration information;

retrieve, from a network switch, a mapping of network interface card (NIC) identifiers to ports of the network switch;

identify, for one or more of the network interface card (NIC) identifiers, a type of network the corresponding network interface card (NIC) is to be on;

generate switch configuration information based on the mappings and the identified network types;

write the switch configuration information to the network switch;

begin execution of an installed operating system on the computing device, wherein the computing device comprises a pre-execution environment, the pre-execution environment having sufficient instructions to allow the computing device to access a staging server via a network and obtain custom software configuration information, stored in a SQL database, from a sewer, wherein the computing device is not discovered by the network prior to the accessing the staging server;

retrieve, based on a unique identifier of the computing device, the custom software configuration information for the computing device; and

install, using the custom software configuration information, the custom software on the computing device.

18. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the custom software configuration information comprises information identifying which type of a plurality of types of devices the computing device is to be, and further comprises information identifying one or more application programs to be installed on the computing device in order for the computing device to provide the functionality associated with the type.

19. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the identifier is a Medium Access Control (MAC) address of one of a plurality of network interface cards (NICs) of the computing device.

20. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to, prior to beginning execution of the installed operating system:

start the pre-execution environment on the computing device;

retrieve, based on the unique identifier of the computing device, configuration information for the operating system; and

install, using the configuration information for the operating system, the operating system on the computing device.

21. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more computer readable media having stored thereon the instructions that cause the one or more processors to start the pre-execution environment comprises an optical disk.

22. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more computer readable media having stored thereon the instructions that cause the one or more processors to start the pre-execution environment comprises a memory device of a network interface card (NIC).

23. A method comprising:

maintaining mappings of identifiers of a computing device in profiles, wherein each profile indicates a type of functionality the corresponding computing device is to provide;

maintaining software configuration information;

retrieving, from a network switch, a mapping of network interface card (NIC) identifiers to ports of the network switch;

identifying, for one or more of the network interface card (NIC) identifiers, a type of network the corresponding network interface card (NIC) is to be on;

generating switch configuration information based on the mappings and the identified network types;

writing the switch configuration information to the network switch;

receiving, from a pre-execution environment on a computing device, a computing device identifier, wherein the pre-execution environment includes sufficient instructions to allow the computing device to access a staging server via a network and obtain operating system configuration information, stored in a SQL database, from the server, wherein the pre-execution environment is extent on the computing device prior to any network communication by the computing device corresponding to the pre-execution environment;

identifying, based on the computing device identifier, configuration information for an operating system of the computing device; and

sending, to the computing device, the configuration information for installation of the operating system on the computing device.

24. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the identifying comprises:

obtaining, based on the computing device identifier, a device type that corresponds to the computing device;

obtaining, based on the device type, a profile identifier that corresponds to the computing device; and

obtaining, based on the profile identifier, the configuration information.

25. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the configuration information includes components of the operating system.

26. A method comprising:

maintaining mappings of identifiers of a computing device in profiles, wherein each profile indicates a type of functionality the corresponding computing device is to provide;

maintaining software configuration information;

retrieving, from a network switch, a mapping of network interface card (NIC) identifiers to ports of the network switch;

identifying, for one or more of the network interface card (NIC) identifiers, a type of network the corresponding network interface card (NIC) is to be on;

generating switch configuration information based on the mappings and the identified network types;

writing the switch configuration information to the network switch;

receiving, from a computing device comprising a pre-execution environment that includes sufficient instructions to allow the computing device to access a staging server and obtain operating system and custom software configuration information, stored in a SQL database, from the server, a computing device identifier that uniquely identifies the computing device, wherein the pre-execution environment is extent on the computing device prior to any network communication by the computing device corresponding to the pre-execution environment;

identifying, based on the computing device identifier, custom software configuration information for the computing device; and

sending, to the computing device, the custom software configuration information for installation of the custom software on the computing device.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein the identifier is a Medium Access Control (MAC) address of one of a plurality of network interface cards (NICs) of the computing device.

28. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein the identifying comprises:

obtaining, based on the computing device identifier, a device type that corresponds to the computing device;

obtaining, based on the device type, a profile identifier that corresponds to the computing device; and

obtaining, based on the profile identifier, the custom software configuration information.

29. A system comprising:

one or more staging servers that maintain mappings of identifiers of computing devices in the system to profiles, wherein each profile indicates a type of functionality a corresponding computing device is to provide, and wherein the one or more staging servers maintain software configuration information, and wherein the one or more staging servers further retrieve, from a network switch, a mapping of network interface card (NIC) identifiers to ports of the network switch, identify, for one or more of the network interface card (NIC) identifiers, a type of network the corresponding network interface card (NIC) is to be on, generate switch configuration information based the mappings and the identified network types, write the switch configuration information to the network switch; and

a computing device that starts a pre-execution environment, wherein the pre-execution environment includes sufficient instructions to allow the computing device to access a staging server via a network and obtain operating system and custom software configuration information, stored in a SQL database, from a server, and the computing device subsequently retrieves, from at least one of the one or more of the staging sewers, the configuration information for the operating system of the computing device, and installs the operating system using the configuration information, and wherein the computing device further retrieves the custom software configuration information for the computing device and installs, using the custom software configuration information, the custom software on the computing device, wherein the computing device is aware of the SQL database by virtue of the pre-execution environment prior to the accessing the staging server.