Software deployment using client location

• US 8,756,318 B1
• Filed: 10/09/2007
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Reus, Edward, Hou, Jianbo, Davis, Jefferson, Li, Jimin
• Primary Examiner(s): ALGIBHAH, HAMZA N
• Application Number:
  US11/869,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20090094378A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,443 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B

Abstract

A software distribution mechanism evaluates network addresses of requesting clients to determine a location for each client. The clients from a particular location are grouped together and a fraction of those clients in a particular group are recipients of a software distribution. The faction is adjusted to enable more or fewer clients to download, thus effectively throttling the amount of bandwidth consumed by a mass distribution event. The fraction may be adjusted for particular geographical locations and the time of day to make more effective use of network bandwidth.

Claims

1. At a computer system, the computer system having a processor and system memory, the computer system including a local group distribution manager, the local group distribution manager managing software distributions to a distribution group of assigned devices, a method for controlling a software distribution to a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

for each device in the plurality of devices, receiving an assignment that the device is assigned to the distribution group;

receiving an indication that a software distribution is to be deployed from a distribution server to the distribution group, the software distribution also being deployed to one or more other distribution groups of devices;

accessing a distribution policy, the distribution policy defining the behavior of the local group distribution manager for deploying software distributions to the distribution group, including defining time-based resource restrictions applicable to deploying software distributions from the distribution server to the plurality of devices;

accessing date/time information;

determining applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution to a subset of the distribution group based on the accessed date/time information;

deploying the software distribution from the distribution server to the subset of the distribution group in accordance with the applicable resource restrictions, including allocating one or more of;

bandwidth capacity and server capacity for the subset of the distribution group so as to control resource consumption associated with the distribution server, and

subsequent to determining applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution based on the accessed date/time information;

accessing second date/time information, the second date/time information including at least a time of day for a geographic location;

adjusting applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution based on the accessed second date/time information, including the at least a time of day for a geographic region; and

deploying the software distribution from the distribution server to an adjusted subset of the distribution group by deploying the software distribution in accordance with the adjusted applicable resource restrictions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the software distribution comprises pushing said software distribution to the selected subset of the plurality of devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the software distribution to a subset set of the distribution group comprising permitting a fraction of the distribution group to download the software distribution.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the software distribution from the distribution server to an adjusted subset of the distribution group comprises deploying the software distribution to an adjusted subset of the distribution group that includes more devices than the subset of the distribution group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the software distribution from the distribution server to an adjusted subset of the distribution group comprises deploying the software distribution to an adjusted subset of the distribution group that includes fewer devices than the subset of the distribution group.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the software distribution from the distribution server to a subset of the distribution group comprises deploying a version of the software distribution, from among a plurality of versions of the software distribution, that includes content tailored for a geographic region.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein deploying the software distribution to an adjusted subset of the distribution group that includes fewer devices than the subset of the distribution group comprises halting an ongoing transfer of the software distribution to at least one of the plurality of devices prior to completion.

8. The method of claim 1, said software distribution comprising at least one of a group composed of:

an operating system update;

an application update; and

a data file.

9. A computer readable storage device comprising computer executable code adapted to perform the method of claim 1.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each of the plurality of devices;

determining a network address for the device;

determining a geographic location for the device based on the network address; and

assigning the device to the local group distribution manager based on the geographic location of the device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an assignment that the device is assigned to the distribution group comprises receiving an assignment that the device is assigned to the distribution group based on the geographic location of the device, the geographic location of the device determined from a network address for the device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining second applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution to a second subset of the distribution group based on the accessed date/time information; and

deploying the software distribution from the distribution server to the second subset of the distribution group in accordance with the second applicable resource restrictions, including allocating one or more of;

a second different bandwidth capacity and a second different server capacity for the second subset of the distribution group so as to control resource consumption associated with the distribution server.

13. A system for deploying software distributions, the system comprising:

a processor;

an address resolver that determines a network address for each of a plurality of clients;

a location resolver that uses the network address to determine a geographic location for each of the plurality of clients;

a distribution engine; and

a plurality of local group distribution managers, each of the plurality of local group distribution managers associated with a geographic region; and

wherein the distribution engine is adapted to assign each of the plurality of clients to an appropriate local group distribution manager, selected from among the plurality of local group distribution managers, based on the determined geographic location of the client; and

wherein each of the plurality of local group distribution managers is adapted to;

receive an indication that a software distribution is to be deployed from a distribution server;

access a distribution policy, the distribution policy defining the behavior of the local group distribution manager for deploying software distributions, including defining time-based resource restrictions applicable to deploying software distributions to clients assigned to the local group distribution manager;

access date/time information for the geographic region;

determine applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution based on the accessed date/time information; and

deploy the software distribution to a subset of the assigned clients in a controlled manner by deploying the software distribution in accordance with the applicable resource restrictions, including metering one or more of;

bandwidth capacity and server capacity for the distribution server so as to control resource consumption associated with the distribution server; and

subsequent to determining applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution based on the accessed date/time information;

access second date/time information, the second date/time information including at least a time of day for a geographic location;

adjust applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution based on the accessed second date/time information,

including the at least a time of day for a geographic region; and

deploy the software distribution from the distribution server to an adjusted subset of the assigned clients by deploying the software distribution in accordance with the adjusted applicable resource restrictions.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to deploy the software distribution comprising each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to push the software distribution to assigned clients.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to deploy the software distribution comprises each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to permit the software distribution to be downloaded by a fraction of the assigned clients.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising, subsequent to determining applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution based on the accessed date/time information, each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to:

access second date/time information for said geographic region;

adjust applicable resource restrictions for deploying the software distribution based on the accessed second date/time information; and

deploy the software distribution from the distribution server to an adjusted subset of the assigned clients in a controlled manner by deploying the software distribution in accordance with the adjusted applicable resource restrictions.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to deploy the software distribution from the distribution server to an adjusted subset of the assigned clients comprises each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to deploy the software distribution to an adjusted subset of the assigned clients that includes fewer than the subset of the assigned clients.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to deploy the software distribution to an adjusted subset of the assigned clients that includes fewer clients than the subset of the assigned clients comprises each of the plurality of local group distribution managers being adapted to halt an ongoing transfer for at least one client.