Automatic full install upgrade of a network appliance

• US 8,683,458 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• 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): Zhen, Li B
• Assistant Examiner(s): MILLER, VIVA L
• Application Number:
  US11/998,552
• Publication Number:
  US 20090144722A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,307 Days
• Field of Search: 717/171
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A method and apparatus for upgrading a network appliance. In one embodiment, a network appliance determines that it should be upgraded using a full install image. The network appliance then reserves an upgrade staging area in its memory device, downloads the full install image from a server to the upgrade staging area, and marks the upgrade staging area as bootable. Further, the network appliance reboots itself, and installs the full install image.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by an upgrade manager of a network appliance, that an upgrade of a network appliance via an upgrade patch has failed, the upgrade manager comprising a component of the network appliance that controls upgrades of the network appliance;

in response to the detecting, determining, by the upgrade manager, that the network appliance is to be modified using a full install image of the network appliance, the full install image comprising a collection of software packages in a pre-installed state that can be unpacked to create an executable image;

scheduling, by the upgrade manager, an unattended install of the network appliance for a specific time determined by the upgrade manager; and

performing, by the upgrade manager, the unattended install of the network appliance at the specific time, wherein the performing the unattended install comprises;

reserving a staging area in a memory of the network appliance, the staging area comprising a swap partition of a hard drive of the network appliance;

obtaining the full install image from an upgrade server;

storing the obtained full install image in the staging area;

obtaining configuration information of the network appliance that is used locally by the network appliance to operate;

storing the configuration information in the staging are to be accessible to a process of the obtained full install image;

identifying the staging area as bootable;

rebooting the network appliance; and

installing the obtained full install image onto the network appliance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the network appliance is to be modified using the full install image further comprises determining that the full install image is available at the upgrade server.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

upon determining that the full install image is available at the upgrade server, performing the scheduling the unattended install for the specific time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of a certificate, a key, a network address of the network appliance, or a hardware configuration of the network appliance.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising deallocating unused memory space on the network appliance after the rebooting the network appliance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the reserving, the storing, the identifying, the rebooting, and the installing are performed without user interaction.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the unattended install comprises an automated upgrade process of the network appliance performed without user interaction.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

detecting, by an upgrade manager executed by the processing device of a network appliance, that an upgrade of the network appliance via an upgrade patch has failed, the upgrade manager comprising a component of the network appliance that controls upgrades of the network appliance;

in response to the detecting, determining, by the upgrade manager, that the network appliance is to be modified using a full install image of the network appliance, the full install image comprising a collection of software packages in a pre-installed state that can be unpacked to create an executable image;

scheduling, by the upgrade manager, an unattended install of the network appliance for a specific time determined by the upgrade manager; and

performing, by the upgrade manager, the unattended install of the network appliance at the specific time, wherein the performing the unattended install comprises;

reserving a staging area in a memory of the network appliance, the staging area comprising a swap partition of a hard drive of the network appliance;

obtaining the full install image from an upgrade server;

storing the obtained full install image in the staging area;

obtaining configuration information of the network appliance that is used locally by the network appliance to operate;

storing the configuration information in the staging are to be accessible to a process of the obtained full install image;

identifying the staging area as bootable;

rebooting the network appliance; and

installing the obtained full install image onto the network appliance.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein determining that the network appliance is to be modified using the full install image further comprises determining that the full install image is available at the upgrade server.

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

upon determining that the full install image is available at the upgrade server, performing the scheduling the unattended install for the specific time.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of a certificate, a key, a network address of the network appliance, or a hardware configuration of the network appliance.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise deallocating unused memory space on the network appliance after the rebooting the network appliance.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the reserving, the storing, the identifying, the rebooting, and the installing are performed without user interaction.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the unattended install comprises an automated upgrade process of the network appliance performed without user interaction.

11. A network appliance apparatus, comprising:

a memory device to store a staging area, the staging area comprising a swap partition of a hard drive of the network appliance;

a processing device communicably coupled to the memory device; and

an upgrade manager executable from the memory by the processing device, the upgrade manager to control upgrades of the network appliance apparatus and to;

detect that an upgrade of the network appliance apparatus via an upgrade patch has failed;

in response to the detecting, determine that the network appliance apparatus is to be modified using a full install image of the network appliance, the full install image comprising a collection of software packages in a pre-installed state that can be unpacked to create an executable image;

schedule an unattended install of the network appliance apparatus for a specific time determined by the upgrade manager; and

perform an unattended install of the network appliance apparatus at the specific time by;

reserve the staging area in the memory device;

obtain the full install image from an upgrade server;

store the obtained full install image in the staging area;

obtain configuration information of the network appliance apparatus that is used locally by the network appliance apparatus to operate;

store the configuration information in the staging are to be accessible to a process of the obtained full install image;

identify the staging area as bootable;

reboot the network appliance apparatus; and

install the obtained full install image onto the network appliance apparatus.

12. The network appliance apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing device further to determine that the full install image is available at the upgrade server.

13. The network appliance apparatus of claim 11, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of a certificate, a key, a network address of the network appliance apparatus, or a hardware configuration of the network appliance apparatus.

18. The network appliance apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing device further to, upon determining that the full install image is available at the upgrade server, perform the scheduling the unattended install for the specific time.

19. The network appliance apparatus of claim 11, wherein the reserving, the storing, the identifying, the rebooting, and the installing are performed without user interaction, and wherein the unattended install comprises an automated upgrade process of the network appliance apparatus performed without user interaction.

20. The network appliance apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing device further to deallocate unused memory space on the network appliance apparatus after the rebooting the network appliance apparatus.