Registration process for determining compatibility with 32-bit or 64-bit software

• US 8,832,679 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2007
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Suchy, Miroslav, Zazrivec, Milan
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAYIM, SAMUEL E
• Application Number:
  US11/897,071
• Publication Number:
  US 20090064132A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,569 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/64 Retargetable

Abstract

A registration process for computers as part of a provisioning system that automatically determines the appropriate components to install in each computer system. The registration process ensures that the configuration information necessary for provisioning of software components that are appropriate to each system are collected. The registration process can identify support for 64-bit components. The registration process checks a field in the processor to determine longword, that is 64-bit support, or checks an entry in a file maintained by an operating system to determine 64-bit support.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a provisioning server device, a registration request from a computing system that is separate from the provisioning server device, the registration request to register the computing system with the provisioning server device;

requesting, by the provisioning server device from the computing system, configuration information of the computing system, wherein the configuration information comprises elements comprising at least an architecture bit-size support indicator of the computing system, an instruction set type, a processor type, a manufacturer identifier, and a virtual machine extension support indicator of the computing system that represents whether the computing system supports virtualization of hardware of the computing system;

receiving, by the provisioning server device from the computing system in response to the request, the requested configuration information of the computing system;

storing the received configuration information as a configuration profile for the computing system;

determining, by the provisioning server device, a plurality of software components that are compatible with the computing system, the plurality of software components maintained by the provisioning server device and stored separately from the computing system;

matching, by the provisioning server device, two or more characteristics of the plurality of software components determined to be compatible with the computer system to two or more elements of at least the configuration information in the configuration profile;

selecting, by the provisioning server device, one or more of the plurality of software components that are compatible with the computing system based on the matching, wherein the one or more of the plurality of software components can be selected without a one-to-one correspondence between all of the characteristics of the software components and all of the elements of the configuration information in the configuration profile; and

providing, by the provisioning server device, the selected software components to the computing system, the providing further comprising, for each of the selected software components, indicating which of the elements of the configuration information of the computing system match the characteristics of the selected software component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the architecture bit-size support indicator is based on a flag of a processor of the computing system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the architecture bit-size support indicator is based on a configuration file of an operating system of the computing system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a response from the computing system comprises a value indicating whether a longword flag is set in a processor of the computing system or a value indicating whether an operating system configuration file of the computing system comprises a longword support indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting a manufacturer identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

recording the manufacturer identifier in the configuration profile.

7. A non-transitory machine readable medium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed, cause a processing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the processing device of a provisioning server device, a registration request from a computing system that is separate from the provisioning server device, the registration request to register the computing system with the provisioning server device;

requesting, by the provisioning server device from the computing system, configuration information of the computing system, wherein the configuration information comprises elements comprising at least an architecture bit-size support indicator of the computing system, an instruction set type, a processor type, a manufacturer identifier, and a virtual machine extension support indicator of the computing system that represents whether the computing system supports virtualization of hardware of the computing system;

receiving, by the provisioning server device from the computing system in response to the request, the requested configuration information of the computing system;

storing the received configuration information as a configuration profile for the computing system;

determining, by the provisioning server device, a plurality of software components that are compatible with the computing system, the plurality of software components maintained by the provisioning server device and stored separately from the computing system;

matching, by the provisioning server device, two or more characteristics of the plurality of software components determined to be compatible with the computer system to two or more elements of at least the configuration information in the configuration profile;

selecting, by the provisioning server device, one or more of the plurality of software components that are compatible with the computing system based on the matching, wherein the one or more of the plurality of software components can be selected without a one-to-one correspondence between all of the characteristics of the software components and all of the elements of the configuration information in the configuration profile; and

providing, by the provisioning server device, the selected software components to the computing system, the providing further comprising, for each of the selected software components, indicating which of the elements of the configuration information of the computing system match the characteristics of the selected software component.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the architecture bit-size support indicator is based on a flag of a processor of the computing system.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the architecture bit-size support indicator is based on a configuration file of an operating system of the computing system.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein a response from the computing system comprises a value indicating whether a longword flag is set in a processor of the computing system or a value indicating whether an operating system configuration file of the computing system comprises a longword support indicator.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, which when executed, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising:

requesting a manufacturer identifier.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, which when executed, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising:

recording the manufacturer identifier in the configuration profile.

13. A provisioning server comprising:

a memory;

a processing device communicably coupled to the memory;

a registration manager executable from the memory by the processing device, the registration manager to;

service a registration request from a computer, the registration request requesting registration of the computer with the provisioning server;

request, from the computer, configuration information of the computer, wherein the configuration information comprises elements comprising at least an architecture bit-size support indicator of the computer, an instruction set type, a processor type, a manufacturer identifier, and a virtual machine extension support indicator of the computer that represents whether the computer supports virtualization of hardware of the computer; and

receive, in response to the request, the requested configuration information from the computer;

a provisioning configuration module communicably coupled to the registration manager and to store the received configuration information as a configuration profile for the computer; and

a provisioning manager communicably coupled to the registration manager and the provisioning configuration module, the provisioning manager to;

determine a plurality of software components that are compatible with the computing system, the plurality of software components maintained by the provisioning server device and stored separately from the computing system;

match two or more characteristics of the plurality of software components determined to be compatible with the computer system to two or more elements of at least the configuration information in the configuration profile;

select one or more of the plurality of software components that are compatible with the computing system based on the matching, wherein the one or more of the plurality of software components can be selected without a one-to-one correspondence between all of the characteristics of the software components and all of the elements of the configuration information in the configuration profile; and

provide the selected software components to the computing system, the providing further comprising, for each of the selected software components, indicating which of the elements of the configuration information of the computing system match the characteristics of the selected software component.

14. The provisioning server of claim 13, wherein the registration manager further to query a flag of a processor of the computer to obtain the architecture bit-size support indicator.

15. The provisioning server of claim 13, wherein the registration manager further to query an operating system configuration file of the computer for the architecture bit-size support indicator.

16. The provisioning server of claim 13, wherein the registration manager is a component of the provisioning manager.

17. The provisioning server of claim 16, wherein the provisioning manager further to designate software components as available for download based on the configuration profile collected by the registration manager.

18. The provisioning server of claim 16, further comprising:

a component tracking module coupled to the provisioning manager, the component tracking module to store compatibility data for the software components.