Methods and systems for assigning provisioning servers in a software provisioning environment

• US 8,244,836 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: DeHaan, Michael Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Osman, Ramy M
• Application Number:
  US12/201,646
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057890A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/220, 709/221, 709/230, 709/232, 717168-173, 717176-178
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A software provisioning environment can include several provisioning servers for providing software provisioning to one or more target machines. To assign provisioning servers to the target machines, a provisioning server can be configured to assign the provisioning servers utilizing the provisioning objects. The provisioning server can be configured to associate selected provisioning objects with respective provisioning servers. By associating a provisioning object with a respective provisioning server, the respective provisioning server will operate as the provisioning server for any provisioning processes performed on target machines utilizing the selected provisioning object. The provisioning server can be configured to associate the provisioning objects with the provisioning servers based on any number of factors such as location of the provisioning servers, specifications of the provisioning servers, load on a provisioning server, and performance of a provisioning server.

Claims

1. A method of managing a software provisioning environment, comprising:

selecting a profile to be associated with a provisioning server in a network of provisioning servers, wherein the profile specifies software to be provisioned to target systems;

associating the provisioning server with the profile, wherein the associating will cause the target systems, which are utilizing the profile, to select, from the network of provisioning servers, the provisioning server to perform provisioning processes; and

providing the software, specified by the profile, to the provisioning server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from at least one of the target systems, a request for a provisioning process associated with the profile.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the provisioning server with the profile, comprises:

inserting a reference to the provisioning server in the profile.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the reference comprises at least one of an identity of the provisioning server or a location of the provisioning server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile comprises identity information of the target systems.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection is based on at least one of a performance of the provisioning server, specifications of the provisioning server, workload of the provisioning server, or location of the provisioning server.

7. A system for managing a software provisioning environment, comprising:

a network interface to a network, wherein the network comprises target systems; and

a provisioning server, communicating with the network interface, the provisioning server being configured to;

select a profile to be associated with at least one other provisioning server, wherein the profile specifies software to be provisioned to the target systems;

associate the at least one other provisioning server with the profile, wherein the associating will cause the target systems, which are utilizing the profile, to select the at least one other provisioning server to perform provisioning processes; and

provide the software, specified by the profile, to the at least one other provisioning server.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the provisioning server is further configured to:

perform a provisioning process for at least one of the target systems.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein associating the at least one other provisioning server with the profile, comprises:

inserting a reference to the at least one other provisioning server in the profile.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the reference comprises at least one of an identity of the at least one other provisioning server, or a location of the at least one other provisioning server.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the profile comprises identity information of the target systems.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the selection is based on at least one of a performance of the at least one other provisioning server, specifications of the at least one other provisioning server, workload of the at least one other provisioning server, or location of the at least one other provisioning server.

13. A provisioning application, the provisioning application being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising instructions for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

selecting a profile to be associated with a provisioning server, wherein the profile specifies software to be provisioned to target systems;

associating the provisioning server with the profile, wherein the associating will cause the target systems, which are utilizing the profile, to select, from the network of provisioning servers, the provisioning server for performing provisioning processes; and

providing the software, specified by the profile, to the provisioning server.

14. The provisioning application of claim 13, wherein associating the provisioning server with the profile, comprises:

inserting a reference to the provisioning server in the profile.

15. The provisioning application of claim 14, wherein the reference comprises at least one of an identity of the provisioning server or a location of the provisioning server.

16. The provisioning application of claim 13, wherein the profile comprises identity information of the target systems.

17. The provisioning application of claim 13, wherein the selection is based on at least one of a performance of the provisioning server, specifications of the provisioning server, workload of the provisioning server, or location of the provisioning server.

18. A method of managing a software provisioning environment, comprising:

identifying a software provisioning server to provide software provisioning to a set of target systems;

inserting a reference to the provisioning server in a profile for the set of target systems, wherein the profile specifies software to be provisioned to the set of target systems; and

providing the software, specified by the profile, to the provisioning server, wherein the target systems that use the profile will select, from a plurality of provisioning servers, the provisioning server for performing provisioning processes.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the reference comprises at least one of an identity of the provisioning server or a location of the provisioning server.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein identifying the provisioning server is based on at least one of a performance of the provisioning server, specifications of the provisioning server, workload of the provisioning server, or location of the provisioning server.