Automated services procurement through multi-stage process

• US 8,176,150 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2009
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Collins, Mark, Ganesan, Subramanian
• Primary Examiner(s): Salad, Abdullahi
• Application Number:
  US12/539,679
• Publication Number:
  US 20110040857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-224, 717/120, 717/127, 717174-178
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A system which enables a secure network boot to address customer services offerings. The customer service offerings can include on-demand diagnostics to system reinstallation as well as automatic entitlement validation and service installation. Such a system enables a method of network booting that can be secure from beginning to end, is routable in any network configuration that supports Internet routing, avoids traditional infrastructure requirements thereby making the infrastructure more accessible, is extensible to address scaling requirements, is extensible to EFI technology and can be used on existing BIOS option-ROM implementations, provides a better (i.e., simpler, more secure) customer experience for network boot services, provides a multi-stage architecture that allows numerous service offerings to be obtained once entitlement is validated, and provides for both In-Band (OS operational and booted) and Out-of-Band (OS not operational or not installed) access to remote service capabilities.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a managed system to determine customer entitlements comprising:

storing a common base agent on the information handling system;

storing a configuration file on the information handling system;

combining the common base agent and the configuration file to provide a managed system specific agent, the managed system specific agent identifying entitlements associated with the managed system;

determining whether the managed system specific agent is present when the managed system is booted up;

accessing a provisioning server if the managed system specific agent is not present; and

,

reinstalling the configuration file from the provisioning server onto the managed system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the entitlements comprise on-demand diagnostics to system reinstallation as well as automatic entitlement validation and service installation.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the managed system comprises a unique identifier; and

,

the configuration file determines entitlements based upon the unique identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the provisioning server is included within a management system; and

,

the management system is coupled to a plurality of managed systems, each of the plurality of managed systems comprising respective configuration files, the respective configuration files identifying respective entitlements.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein:

the management system further comprises a managed services portion, the managed services portion providing the entitlements to each of the plurality of managed systems.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein:

the management system comprises a remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform and a distributed device management (DDM) system.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein:

the management system comprises a product and services server, the product and services server storing product and services customer information, the product and services customer information comprising a plurality of product and services customer identifiers, the plurality of product and services customer identifiers associating particular entitlements with a respective managed system.

8. An apparatus for enabling a managed system to determine customer entitlements comprising:

means for storing a common base agent on the information handling system;

means for storing a configuration file on the information handling system;

means for combining the common base agent and the configuration file to provide a managed system specific agent, the managed system specific agent identifying entitlements associated with the managed system;

means for determining whether the managed system specific agent is present when the managed system is booted up;

means for accessing a provisioning server if the managed system specific agent is not present; and

,

means for reinstalling the configuration file from the provisioning server onto the managed system.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein:

the entitlements comprise on-demand diagnostics to system reinstallation as well as automatic entitlement validation and service installation.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein:

the managed system comprises a unique identifier; and

,

the configuration file determines entitlements based upon the unique identifier.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein:

the provisioning server is included within a management system; and

,

the management system is coupled to a plurality of managed systems, each of the plurality of managed systems comprising respective configuration files, the respective configuration files identifying respective entitlements.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein:

the management system further comprises a managed services portion, the managed services portion providing the entitlements to each of the plurality of managed systems.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein:

the management system comprises a remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform and a distributed device management (DDM) system.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein:

the management system comprises a product and services server, the product and services server storing product and services customer information, the product and services customer information comprising a plurality of product and services customer identifiers, the plurality of product and services customer identifiers associating particular entitlements with a respective managed system.