Automatically providing identity information for a network appliance

• US 8,621,027 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2007
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Schneider, James P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zong, Ruolei
• Application Number:
  US11/985,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20090132681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,237 Days
• Field of Search: 709/208, 709217-219, 709220-222, 709/224, 713/175, 716/2, 716/5
• US Class Current: 709/208
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A method and system for activating a network appliance. The method may include providing a user interface for a network appliance, and allowing a user to request an activation of the network appliance via the user interface, without requiring the user to specify the identity of the network appliance. The method may further include sending an activation request to a server, receiving a response triggering an activation process on the network appliance from the server, and performing the activation process on the network appliance.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a user interface for a network appliance, the network appliance comprising a processing device;

allowing a user to request an activation of the network appliance by providing a link to request the activation via the user interface to initiate monitoring of performance of a device on a local network by the network appliance, without requiring the user to specify data pertaining to an identity of the network appliance, wherein the link is associated with the identity of the network appliance;

sending an activation request to a server, wherein the activation request comprises the identity of the network appliance and wherein the identity of the network appliance comprises an IP address of the network appliance;

receiving, by the network appliance, a response from the server, the response triggering an activation process on the network appliance; and

performing the activation process on the network appliance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a user activation of the link.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a user activation of the link; and

enabling a referer header to be sent in the activation request to allow the server to extract the identity of the network appliance from the referer header, the identity being an IP address of the network appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the response is a web page redirect to request an activation web page.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the response from the server includes a network appliance identifier and a transaction identifier for a transaction associated with the activation request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the activation process on the network appliance comprises:

transmitting a certificate signing request (CSR) and a transaction identifier from the network appliance to the server; and

receiving a certificate from the server at the network appliance if the activation is valid.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying the server of a completion of the activation process, wherein notifying the server comprises sending, by the network appliance, a redirect to a status web page on the server.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising executable instructions which when executed by a processing device cause said processing device to perform operations comprising:

providing a user interface for a network appliance, the network appliance comprising a processing device;

allowing a user to request an activation of the network appliance by providing a link to request the activation via the user interface to initiate monitoring of performance of a device on a local network by the network appliance, without requiring the user to specify data pertaining to an identity of the network appliance, wherein the link is associated with the identity of the network appliance;

sending an activation request to a server, wherein the activation request comprises the identity of the network appliance and wherein the identity of the network appliance comprises an IP address of the network appliance;

receiving, by the network appliance, a response from the server, the response triggering an activation process on the network appliance; and

performing the activation process on the network appliance.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

detecting a user activation of the link.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

detecting a user activation of the link; and

enabling a referer header to be sent in the activation request to allow the server to extract the identity of the network appliance from the referer header, the identity being an IP address of the network appliance.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the response is a web page redirect to request an activation web page.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the response from the server includes a network appliance identifier and a transaction identifier for a transaction associated with the activation request.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein performing the activation process on the network appliance comprises:

transmitting a certificate signing request (CSR) and a transaction identifier from the network appliance to the server; and

receiving a certificate from the server at the network appliance if the activation is valid.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising notifying the server of a completion of the activation process, wherein notifying the server comprises sending, by the network appliance, a redirect to a status web page on the server.

15. A computing system comprising:

a memory to store instructions for a network appliance; and

a processing device, connected to the memory, to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the processing device to;

provide a user interface for the network appliance , the network appliance comprising a processing device, allow a user to request an activation of the network appliance to initiate monitoring of performance of a device on the network appliance by providing a link to request the activation via the user interface, without requiring the user to specify data pertaining to an identity of the network appliance, wherein the link is associated with the identity of the network appliance, and send an activation request to a server, wherein the activation request comprises the identity of the network appliance and wherein the identity of the network appliance comprises an IP address of the network appliance,

receive a response from the server, the response triggering an activation process on the network appliance, and perform the activation process on the network appliance.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to send a status response to the server.

17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to detect a user activation of the link, and to include an IP address of the network appliance associated with the link in the activation request upon detecting a user activation of the link.

18. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to detect a user activation of the link, and to enable a referer header to be sent in the activation request to allow the server to extract location of the network appliance from the referer header.