Methods and systems for updating clients from a server

• US 20070276916A1
• Filed: 05/25/2006
• Published: 11/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: McLoughlin, Mark, Nottingham, William, Burke, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,312 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/208
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

An embodiment generally relates to a method of updating clients from a server. The method includes maintaining a master copy of a software on a server and capturing changes to the master copy of the software on an update disk image, where the changes are contained in at least one chunk. The method also includes merging the update disk image with one of two client disk images of the client copy of the software.

Claims

1. A method of updating multiple clients from a server, comprising:

maintaining a master copy of a software on a server;

capturing changes to the master copy of the software on an update disk image, wherein the changes are contained in at least one chunk; and

merging the update disk image with one of two client disk images of the client copy of the software.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the creation of the update disk image further comprises:

creating a server disk image of at least one physical disk storing the master copy of the software;

creating a first server disk image and a second server disk image from the server disk image; and

creating a server copy-on-write (COW) disk image from the server disk image.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

selecting a snapshot fork from one of the first server disk image and the second server disk image; and

implementing a change to the snapshot fork.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining at least one chunk affected by the change in the snapshot fork in the server disk image;

copying the at least one chunk from the server disk image to the update disk image.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising implementing the change to the at least one logical chunk on the update disk image.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising aggregating changes to the master copy of the software over a user-defined period of time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a client disk image, a first client child disk image, a second client child image, the first client child disk image and the second client child disk image based on the client disk image, and a client COW disk image.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising selecting one of the first child disk image and the second child disk image as a target disk image.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving the update disk image; and

creating a client snapshot fork based on the target disk image and the update disk image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the client snapshot fork contains an up-to-date version of the master copy of the software.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising merging the target disk image and the update disk image.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the merging of the target disk image and the update disk image further comprises copying at least one chunk from the update disk image to the target disk image.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining at least one chunk in the client disk image affected by the least one chunk from the update disk image;

copying the at least on chunk in the client disk image to the client COW disk; and

implementing the change contained in the at least one chunk from the update disk image on the client disk image to create an updated client copy of the software.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising ceasing the merging of the update disk image and the one of the first child client disk image and the second child client disk image in response to the client snapshot fork being identical to the one of the first child client disk image and the second child client disk image.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising discarding the client snapshot fork.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising executing the updated client copy of the software in a subsequent boot-up.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the software is one of an application program, an operating system, a utility and an applet.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the update disk image to multiple clients over a network.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a request for the server update disk image.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the transmission of the request occurs in response to a user action.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the transmission of the request occurs over a user-defined periodicity.

22. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of claim 1.

23. A computer readable medium comprising executable code for performing the method of claim 1.

24. A system for updating clients from a server, the system comprising:

a network configured to provide a communication channel;

a server configured to comprise of at least one processor, a memory and at least one server disk configured to store a master copy of a software and maintain a server disk image of the master copy of the software; and

a plurality of clients, each client implemented as a computing platform with at least one processor, memory, and at least one client disk, wherein the client is configured to store and execute a client version of the software and interface with the network;

wherein the server is also configured to create and maintain an update disk image that is partitioned into chunks, aggregate changes to the server disk image of the master copy of the software, and transmit the update disk image to at least one client of the plurality of clients over the network and each client is configured to merge the update disk image to update the client version of the software.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the server is further configured to create a server disk image of at least one physical disk storing the master copy of the software;

a first server disk image and a second server disk image from the server disk image; and

a server copy-on-write (COW) disk image from the server disk image.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the server is further configured to select a snapshot fork from one of the first server disk image and the second server disk image and implement a change to the snapshot fork.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the server is configured to determine at least one chunk affected by the change in the snapshot fork in the server disk image and copy the at least one chunk from the server disk image to the update disk image.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the server is configured to implement the change to the at least one logical chunk on the update disk image.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the server is configured to aggregate the changes to the master copy of the software over a user-defined period of time.

30. The system of claim 24, wherein a client of the plurality of clients is configured to create a client disk image, a first client child disk image, a second client child image, the first client child disk image and the second client child disk image based on the client disk image, and a client COW disk image.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the client is configured to select one of the first child disk image and the second child disk image as a target disk image.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the client is configured to receive the update disk image and create a client snapshot fork based on the target disk image and the update disk image.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the client snapshot fork contains an up-to-date version of the master copy of the software.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the client is further configured to merge the target disk image and the update disk image.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the merging of the target disk image and the update disk image further comprises copying at least one chunk from the update disk image to the target disk image.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the client is further configured to determine at least one chunk in the client disk image affected by the least one chunk from the update disk image;

copy the at least one chunk in the client disk image to the client COW disk; and

implement the change contained in the at least one chunk from the update disk image on the client disk image to create an updated client copy of the software.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the client is further configured to cease the merging of the update disk image and the one of the first child client disk image and the second child client disk image in response to the client snapshot fork being identical to the one of the first child client disk image and the second child client disk image.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the client is further configured to discard the client snapshot fork.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the client is further configured to execute the updated client copy of the software in a subsequent boot-up.

40. The system of claim 24, wherein the software is one of application program, an operating system, a utility and an applet.

41. The system of claim 24, wherein the client is further configured to transmit a request for the server update disk image.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the transmission of the request occurs in response to a user action.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the transmission of the request occurs over a user-defined periodicity.

44. The system of claim 24, wherein the server update disk image is an incremental backup.

45. The system according to claim 24, wherein a client is a backup system and the server COW disk image contains an incremental backup.