Provisioning a device with multiple bit-size versions of a software component

• US 9,652,210 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2007
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• 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
• Application Number:
  US11/897,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20090064133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,549 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A provisioning system to automatically determine the appropriate components to install or make available for installation on a target computer system. The provisioning system ensures the provisioning of software components that are appropriate to each target computer system without requiring user input. The provisioning system can identify support for 64-bit software components. The provisioning system 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. If 64-bit support is not detected then a 32-bit component is installed to ensure that the target computer system is capable of executing the software component.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server device from a client device over a network, data indicative of a flag of a processing device of the client device in view of an operating system configuration file of the client device, the flag being indicative of a bit-size of the processing device and virtual machine extension support of the client device, wherein the bit-size of the processing device of the client device is a first bit-size;

determining, by a processing device of the server device, that a version of a software component associated with the first bit-size and the virtual machine extension support is not available;

provisioning a version of the software component associated with the virtual machine extension support and a second bit-size to the client device in view of the determination; and

notifying the client device when the version of the software component associated with the first bit-size and the virtual machine extension support is available for installation, the notifying occurring after provisioning the version of the software component associated with the second bit-size.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first bit-size is 64-bit and the version of the software component associated with the second bit-size comprises a 32-bit version of at least one of an operating system, operating system component or application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a version of the software component that meets a plurality of requirements of the client device, the requirements comprising bit-size, virtual machine extension support and instructions set support.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein provisioning the version of the software component comprises installing the version of the software component associated with the virtual machine extension support the second bit-size over the network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the bit-size of the processing device of the client device is received over at least one of a wide area network or a local area network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the server device, that the client device supports a mode associated with the second bit-size.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying a user device for a preferred bit-size version of the software component upon determining the processing device supports a plurality of bit-size versions of the software component.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein which when executed cause a processing device of a server device to:

receive, by the server device from a client device over a network, data indicative of a flag of a processing device of the client device in view of an operating system configuration file of the client device, the flag being indicative of a bit-size of the processing device and virtual machine extension support of the client device, wherein the bit-size of the processing device of the client device is a first bit-size;

determine, by the processing device of the server device, that a version of a software component associated with the first bit-size and the virtual machine extension support is not available;

provision a version of the software component associated with the virtual machine extension support and a second bit-size to the client device in view of the determination; and

notify the client device when the version of the software component associated with the first bit-size and the virtual machine extension support is available for installation, the notifying occurring after provisioning the version of the software component associated with the second bit-size.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the first bit-size is 64-bit and the version of the software component associated with the second bit-size comprises a 32-bit version of at least one of an operating system, operating system component or application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, the server device further to:

determine a version of the software component that meets a plurality of requirements of the client device, the requirements comprising bit-size, virtual machine extension support and instructions set support.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein provisioning the version of the software component comprises installing the software component over the network.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a first processing device operatively coupled to memory, the first processing device to;

receive, from a client device over a network, data indicative of a flag of a second processing device of the client device in view of an operating system configuration file of the client device, the flag being indicative of a bit-size of the second processing device and virtual machine extension support of the client device, wherein the bit-size of the second processing device of the client device is a first bit-size;

determine that a version of a software component associated with the first bit-size and the virtual machine extension support is unavailable;

provision a version of the software component associated with the virtual machine extension support and a second bit-size to the client device in view of the determination; and

notify the client device when the version of the software component associated with the first bit-size and the virtual machine extension support is available for installation, the notification occurring after provisioning the version of the software component associated with the second bit-size.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first processing device is to select the software component based in part on virtual machine extension support and instruction set support.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first processing device is to collect configuration data from the client device.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first processing device is to store compatibility data for a plurality of versions of the software component.