Methods and systems for provisioning software

• US 8,185,891 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2007
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: DeHaan, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHILLIP H
• Application Number:
  US11/763,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20080288938A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,804 Days
• Field of Search: 717/177, 717/171, 717/172, 717/176, 709/238
• US Class Current: 717/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

The present invention provides a unified provisioning environment, which comprehensively manages the tasks related to software provisioning. In particular, the present invention manages software provisioning using a hierarchy of commands. The lowest level in the hierarchy comprises distribution commands, which primarily handle base operating system specific tasks of provisioning. The second level comprises profile commands, which associate a configuration file, such as a Linux kickstart file, with a distribution and optionally allow for customization. The third level comprises system commands, which associate remote systems that are involved with the provisioning of the software. The fourth level comprises repository commands, which address configurations and tasks related to updating the software, remote installation procedures, and optionally customizing the software.

Claims

1. A method of provisioning software to a target machine, said method comprising:

retrieving, by a provisioning server hosted by a boot server machine, at least one software distribution, wherein the provisioning server has access to templates of configurations;

identifying, by the provisioning server, one or more resources associated with the target machine;

determining, by the provisioning server, a function to be performed by the target machine based on the identified one or more resources associated with the target machine;

generating, by the provisioning server, a profile for the at least one software distribution, wherein the profile associates the at least one software distribution with the function to be performed by target machines utilizing the at least one software distribution and wherein the profile links a configuration file to the at least one software distribution;

receiving, by the provisioning server, information indicating a system remote from the target machine that will assist in installing the at least one software distribution on the target machine;

receiving, by the provisioning server, update information for the at least one software distribution; and

automatically installing, by the provisioning server, the at least one software distribution and update information on the target machine based on the profile and with the assistance of the remote system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the at least one software distribution comprises retrieving a Linux distribution.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the at least one software distribution comprises retrieving a distribution having a specified kernel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the at least one software distribution comprises retrieving a distribution having a specified initrd.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the at least one software distribution comprises specifying parameters in the configuration file that are to be substituted.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile links a kickstart file to the at least one software distribution.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile links a AutoYAST file to the at least one software distribution.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile specifies a virtualization disk image size in to the configuration file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile specifies an amount of RAM that may be consumed on the target machine in to the configuration file.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicating the system remote from the target machine that will assist in installing the at least one software distribution on the target machine comprises receiving an IP address of the remote system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicating the system remote from the target machine that will assist in installing the at least one software distribution on the target machine comprises receiving a hostname of the remote system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicating the system remote from the target machine that will assist in installing the at least one software distribution on the target machine comprises receiving a MAC address of the remote system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving update information for the at least one software distribution comprises receiving information indicating a repository mirror for the at least one software distribution.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining when the target machine last requested a file; and

determining a status of installing the at least one software distribution based on when the target machine last requested the file.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein installing, automatically, the at least one software distribution and update information on the target machine based on the profile and with the assistance of the remote system comprises installing, automatically, the at least one software distribution via PXE on the target machine.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein installing, automatically, the at least one software distribution and update information on the target machine based on the profile and with the assistance of the remote system comprises installing, automatically, the at least one software distribution on a virtual machine on the target machine.

6. The method of claim I, wherein retrieving the at least one software distribution comprises retrieving a parameter that sets an architecture for a PXE bootloader that will be used in installation of the at least one software distribution.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions of a provisioning server, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor of a server machine that has access to templates of configurations, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

retrieving at least one software distribution;

identifying one or more resource associated with a target machine;

determining a function to be performed by the target machine based on the identified one or more resources associated with the target machine;

generating a profile for the at least one software distribution, wherein the profile associates the at least one software distribution with the function to be performed by the target machine utilizing the at least one software distribution;

receiving information indicating a system remote from the target machine that will assists in installing the at least one software distribution on the target machine;

receiving update information for the at least one software distribution; and

installing, automatically, the at least one software distribution and update information on the target machine based on the profile and with the assistance of the remote system.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein retrieving the at least one software distribution comprises at least one of retrieving a Linux distribution, retrieving a distribution having a specified kernel, retrieving a distribution having a specified initrd, specifying parameters in the configuration file that are to be substituted, or retrieving a parameter that sets an architecture for a PXE bootloader that will be used in installation of the at least one software distribution.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the profile specifies at least one of a virtualization disk image size in the configuration file or an amount of RAM that may be consumed on the target machine in to the configuration file.