Providing a rescue Environment in a software provisioning environment

• US 8,832,256 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2008
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2008
• 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, Likins, Adrian Karstan, Vidal, Seth Kelby
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, HIEU T
• Application Number:
  US12/325,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20100138521A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,111 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/24 Marginal checking or other specified testing methods not covered by G06F11/26, e.g. race tests
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405

Abstract

A provisioning server can remotely deliver a rescue environment to a malfunctioning target machine. The provisioning server can operate in conjunction with a network management server in order to identify malfunctioning target machines, for example, target machines with damaged operating systems. Once a malfunctioning target machine is identified, the provisioning server can be configured to identify a rescue environment to repair the malfunctioning target machine and provide the rescue environment to the malfunctioning target machine.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a target machine, in a network of target machines, unable to boot;

determining a specification of software installed on the target machine and a specification of hardware of the target machine, wherein the specification of software comprises an operating system identifier and the specification of hardware comprises a network hardware address;

locating a compatible rescue environment capable of being executed on the target machine, wherein the compatible rescue environment is identified in view of the specification of hardware and the specification of software of the target machine, wherein the rescue environment comprises a software appliance, and wherein the specifications are determined from a record of the target machine;

providing the rescue environment to the target machine over a network connection; and

communicating, using a hardware processor, with the rescue environment to remotely manage a repair of the target machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the target machine comprises:

receiving an indication that identifies the target machine from a network management server.

3. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining a set of software previously installed on the target machine; and

providing the set of software to the target machine over the network connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of software is determined from a record of the network of target machines.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

sending instructions to alter a power state of the target machine after providing the rescue environment.

6. A system comprising:

a network interface to a network of target machines; and

a hardware processor, to communicate with the network interface, the hardware processor to;

identify a target machine, in the network of target machines, unable to boot;

determine a specification of the software installed on the target machine and a specification of hardware of the target machine, wherein the specification of software comprises an operating system identifier and the specification of hardware comprises a network hardware address;

locate a compatible rescue environment capable of being executed on the identified target machine, wherein the compatible rescue environment is identified in view of the specification of hardware and the specification of software of the target machine, wherein the rescue environment comprises a software appliance, and wherein the specifications are determined from a record of the target machine;

provide the rescue environment to the target machine over the network interface to the network of target machines; and

communicate with the rescue environment to remotely manage a repair of the target machine.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein identifying the target machine comprises:

receiving an indication that identifies the target machine from a network management server.

8. The system of claim 6, the hardware processor to:

determine a set of software previously installed on the target machine; and

provide the set of software to the target machine over the network connection.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of software is determined from a record of the network target machines.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the hardware processor to:

send instructions to alter a power state of the target machine after providing the rescue environment.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions for causing a hardware processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying a target machine, in a network of target machines, unable to boot;

determining a specification of software installed on the target machine and a specification of hardware of the target machine, wherein the specification of software comprises an operating system identifier and the specification of hardware comprises a network hardware address;

locating a compatible rescue environment capable of being executed on the target machine, wherein the compatible rescue environment is identified in view of the specification of hardware and the specification of software of the target machine, wherein the rescue environment comprises a software appliance, and wherein the specifications are determined from a record of the target machine;

providing the rescue environment to the target machine over a network connection; and

communicating, using a hardware processor, with the rescue environment to remotely manage a repair of the target machine.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein identifying the target machine comprises:

receiving an indication that identifies the target machine from a network management server.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

determining a set of software previously installed on the target machine; and

providing the set of software to the target machine over the network connection.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the set of software is determined from a record of the network of target machines.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

sending instructions to alter a power state of the target machine after providing the rescue environment.