System and method for prevention of boot storms in a computer network
First Claim
1. A network system configured to download an operating system image from an image server to a plurality of clients, comprising:
- a management logic module configured to query resources of the network system selected from the group consisting of available image server memory and available network bandwidth of a network used by the plurality of clients to communicate with the image server and, based at least in part on said query, determine a maximum number of clients to enable for simultaneous boot access to the image server within a threshold download time, wherein said determined maximum numbers of clients is less than a total plurality of clients in communication with the image server;
wherein the management logic module is further configured to increment the determined maximum number of clients and measure a total time required to boot a fixed number of clients of the plurality of clients, the fixed number larger than the incremented determined maximum number of clients, and select a one of the determined maximum number of clients and the incremented determined maximum number of clients that results in a shortest total boot time for the fixed number of the clients; and
restrict simultaneous downloading of an operating image system by the clients from said image server to no more than the selected one of the determined maximum number and the incremented determined maximum number of the clients.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This invention is useful in a networked system with densely packaged servers or server blades. The servers are connected to a system management network, a communication network and an image server. A management module attached to the system management network and a network switch monitors and controls network booting from an image server on the communication network to prevent over commitment of network and image server resources in order to avoid a boot storm. The management module collects system information and calculates the number of servers or clients the networked system can boot at any one instant of time without burdening the system. The management module logic controls booting via the system management network and service processor elements, which can block server booting and release servers to boot when other servers have completed their boot process.
54 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A network system configured to download an operating system image from an image server to a plurality of clients, comprising:
- a management logic module configured to query resources of the network system selected from the group consisting of available image server memory and available network bandwidth of a network used by the plurality of clients to communicate with the image server and, based at least in part on said query, determine a maximum number of clients to enable for simultaneous boot access to the image server within a threshold download time, wherein said determined maximum numbers of clients is less than a total plurality of clients in communication with the image server;
wherein the management logic module is further configured to increment the determined maximum number of clients and measure a total time required to boot a fixed number of clients of the plurality of clients, the fixed number larger than the incremented determined maximum number of clients, and select a one of the determined maximum number of clients and the incremented determined maximum number of clients that results in a shortest total boot time for the fixed number of the clients; and restrict simultaneous downloading of an operating image system by the clients from said image server to no more than the selected one of the determined maximum number and the incremented determined maximum number of the clients. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- a management logic module configured to query resources of the network system selected from the group consisting of available image server memory and available network bandwidth of a network used by the plurality of clients to communicate with the image server and, based at least in part on said query, determine a maximum number of clients to enable for simultaneous boot access to the image server within a threshold download time, wherein said determined maximum numbers of clients is less than a total plurality of clients in communication with the image server;
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8. A method for controlling downloading of an operating system image from an image server to a plurality of clients, comprising:
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querying resources of an image server connected to a plurality of clients, the resources selected from the group consisting of available image server memory and available network bandwidth; based at least in part on the querying of the image server resources, determining a maximum number of the plurality of clients for simultaneous boot access to the image server within a threshold download time, wherein said determined maximum number of clients may-be is less than a total of the plurality of clients;
p1 incrementing the determined maximum number of clients and measuring a total time required to boot a fixed number of clients of the plurality of clients, the fixed number larger than the incremented determined maximum number of clients;selecting a one of the determined maximum number of clients and the incremented determined maximum number of clients resulting in a shortest total boot time for the fixed number of the clients during empirical testing; and restricting simultaneous downloading of an operating system image from said image server to no more than the selected one of the determined maximum number and the incremented maximum number of the clients. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for downloading an operating system image to a plurality of clients, comprising:
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providing computer executable program code to be deployed to and executed on a computer system; the program code comprising instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to; query resources of an image server connected to a plurality of clients, the resources selected from the group consisting of available image server memory and available network bandwidth; based at least in part on the querying of the image server resources, determine a maximum number of the plurality of clients for simultaneous boot access to the image server within a threshold download time, wherein said determined maximum number of the clients is less than a total of the plurality of the clients; increment the determined maximum number of the clients and measure a total time required to boot a fixed number of clients of the plurality of clients, the fixed number larger than the incremented determined maximum number of the clients; select a one of the determined maximum number of the clients and the incremented determined maximum number of the clients resulting in a shortest total boot time for the fixed number of the clients during empirical testing; and restrict simultaneous downloading of an operating system image from said image server to no more than the determined maximum number of the clients. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A method for downloading an operating system image to a plurality of clients, comprising:
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storing computer executable program code on a computer readable medium; and providing the program code to be deployed to and executed on a computer system; the program code comprising instructions which, when executed on the computer system, causes the computer system to; query resources of an image server connected to a plurality of clients, said resources selected from the group consisting of available image server memory and available network bandwidth; based at least in part on the querying of the image server resources, determine a maximum number of the plurality of clients for simultaneous boot access to the image server within a threshold download time, wherein said determined maximum number of the clients is less than a total of the plurality of clients; increment the determined maximum number of the clients and measure a total time required to boot a fixed number of the clients, the fixed number larger than the incremented determined maximum number of the clients; select a one of the determined maximum number of the clients and the incremented determined maximum number of the clients resulting in a shortest total boot time for the fixed number of the clients during empirical testing; and restrict simultaneous downloading of an operating system image from said image server to no more than the determined maximum number of the clients.
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Specification