Remote automated volume mounting

• US 8,572,215 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2007
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ryder, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tammy
• Application Number:
  US11/764,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20070244989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,325 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/223, 709/219, 370/352, 707/781, 707/648
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/305 by remotely controlling device operation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for remotely and automatically mounting volumes over a network. The invention uses an interface, such as a web browser, to authenticate a client on a server. The server supplies volume mounting parameters specific to the authenticated client via a plug-in installed on the client. The plug-in then interacts, in one embodiment of the invention, with file system software on the client and automatically mounts the volume(s) in accordance with the supplied parameters.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

triggering a data transfer event on a computer that requires access to a set of remote volumes coupled to the computer through a network;

selecting the set of remote volumes using a profile associated with a user of the computer, wherein the profile describes remote volumes to be automatically and selectively mounted, and authentication information; and

without a need for intervention by the user of the computer, automatically mounting the set of remote volumes on the computer, wherein the set of remote volumes behaves as native to the computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of remote volumes comprises a set of public folders and a set of private folders.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending in response to the triggered data transfer event, authentication information from the computer to the server connected to the computer through the network, wherein the server identifies the profile based on the authentication information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a volume is one of a disk drive, a logical partition of a disk drive, and a physical partition of a disk drive.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a network of networks.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the network of networks is the Internet.

7. A method comprising:

on a server coupled to a computer through a network, receiving a request for mounting of a set of remote volumes, the set of remote volumes is coupled to the computer through the network;

at the server, based on the request identifying a profile associated with a user of the computer, the profile identifying a set of mounting parameters for the computer to mount the set of remote volumes; and

sending the set of mounting parameters from the server to the computer, said mounting parameters used by the computer to mount the set of remote volumes without a need for intervention by the user of the computer, wherein said set of remote volumes behaves as native to the computer after being mounted by the computer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the profile comprises access information relating to a set of public folders and a set of private folders relating to a volume in the set of volumes, the method further comprising sending the access information, wherein the access information allows the computer to access the set of public folders and restricts the computer from accessing the set of private folders.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising receiving authentication information at the server from a web browser on the computer.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein each volume is one of a disk drive, a logical partition of a disk drive, and a physical partition of a disk drive.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the network is a network of networks.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the network of networks is the Internet.

13. A method of automatically mounting remote volumes on a client, the method comprising:

at the client, automatically sending a request to a server that at least one remote volume be mounted from a remote location, wherein the server is communicatively coupled to the client via a network, wherein a profile of the client accessible by the server determines what file and which remote volumes are to be automatically mounted on the client;

at the client, receiving a mounting command and a set of mounting parameters from the server, wherein the client receives the mounting command and the set of mounting parameters from the server when a cookie is present on the client; and

automatically mounting the remote volumes at the client using the set of mounting parameters.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising sending authentication information from the client to the server prior to receiving said mounting command and set of mounting parameters at the client.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said mounting command and mounting parameters are received at a plug-in installed in the client.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the cookie that the plug-in is installed on the client.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein said mounting parameters comprise, for each remote volume in the set, a volume name, a server alias, a volume user name, and a volume password.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a client, the computer program for automatically mounting a set of remote volumes to the client, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

without intervention by a user of the client, logging onto a server communicatively coupled to the client via a network;

receiving a set of mounting parameters from the server, wherein the set of mounting parameters identify remote volumes to be mounted and information specific to the remote volumes to be mounted; and

automatically mounting said set of volumes utilizing said set of mounting parameters, the set of remote volumes after mounting behaving as native to the client, even though the set of remote volumes is located remote to the client.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the set of instructions for said logging into the server comprises a set of instructions for sending from the client to the server a login identification (ID) and a password intended for said login ID.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for receiving a mount command from the server.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein said mount command and said mounting parameters are part of all extensible markup language (XML) document received from the server.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the client opens a web interface to the server prior to said logging into the server.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein said web interface is established using a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP).

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a client, the computer program for automatically mounting a set of remote volumes to the client, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

without intervention by a user of the client, logging onto a server communicatively coupled to the client via a network;

receiving a set of mounting parameters from the server;

receiving from said server an address of the server;

comparing said address of the server against a built-in list of approved servers;

when said address is not included in said built-in list, terminating the process of automatically mounting; and

when said address is included in the built-in list of approved servers, automatically mounting said set of remote volumes utilizing said set of mounting parameters by;

passing of said mounting parameters to an application programming interface (API) of the client, and

completing the mounting of said volume by said API, said mounting achieved absent of the user intervention,

wherein, the set of remote volumes behaving as native volumes to the client after being mounted by the client, even though the set of remote volumes is located remote to the client.

25. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a client, the computer program for automatically mounting a set of remote volumes to the client, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

without intervention by a user of the client, logging onto a server communicatively coupled to the client via a network;

receiving a set of mounting parameters from the server, wherein said set of mounting parameters includes, for each of said remote volumes, a volume name, a server alias, a volume username, and a volume password; and

automatically mounting said set of remote volumes utilizing said set of mounting parameters, the set of remote volumes behaving as native volumes to the client after being mounted by the client, even though the set of remote volumes is located remote to the client.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the server is a first server, wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for resolving said server alias to an address of a second server, the second server housing the volume identified by the corresponding volume name.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the address of said second server is an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

28. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a client, the computer program for automatically mounting at least one volume to the client, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

without intervention by a user of the client, logging onto a first server communicatively coupled to the client via a network;

receiving, from the first server, a set of mounting parameters from the first server comprising a volume name, a server alias, a username, and a password for a volume associated with a second server; and

automatically mounting said volume by (i) looking up said server alias in a mapping table, (ii) retrieving an address of said second server that corresponds to the server alias from the mapping table, and (iii) accessing the volume using the address, username, and password.

29. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a server, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a login request at the server from a client, wherein the server is communicatively coupled to the client via a network;

determining a set of mounting parameters based on a user profile of the client, wherein the user profile identifies remote volumes to be mounted automatically and remote volumes to be mounted selectively; and

sending the set of mounting parameters from the server to the client, said set of mounting parameters for use by the client for automatically mounting a set of remote volumes, the remote volumes after mounting behaving as native to the client, even though the set of remote volumes is located remote to the client.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the set of instructions for receiving said login request comprises a set of instructions for receiving, from the client, a login identification (ID) and a password intended for said login ID.

31. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the computer program further comprises sets of instructions for sending a mount command to the client.

32. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein said mount command and said mounting parameters are part of an extensible markup language (XML) document sent to the client.

33. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein said mounting parameters include, for each volume in the set, a volume name, a server alias, a volume username, and a volume password.

34. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 33, wherein the server is a first server, wherein said server alias is resolved to an address of a second server, the second server housing the volume identified by the corresponding volume name.

35. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 34, wherein said address of said second server is an Internet Protocol (IP) address.