Automated Operating System Device Driver Updating System

• US 20080098094A1
• Filed: 10/05/2006
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Guy, Susan M., Finkelstein, Paul E., Velazquez, Nelson, Thio, Hsiao C., Puri, Rajeev
• Granted Patent: US 8,584,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers

Abstract

Generally speaking, systems, methods and media for updating device drivers of an operating system for a server computer system are disclosed. Embodiments may include a method for updating device drivers for a server computer system by a build server. Embodiments of the method may include determining whether device drivers for an operating system image source need to be updated, such as by crawling a vendor website. Embodiments may also include in response to determining that device driver updates need to be downloaded, scheduling a time for download of device driver updates. Embodiments of the method may also include downloading the scheduled device driver updates based on the scheduled time and storing the device driver updates in a device driver update database. Further embodiments of the method may include installing the operating system image source on a target server and installing the device driver updates on the target server.

Claims

1. A method for updating device drivers for a server computer system, the method comprising:

determining, by a build server, whether device drivers for an operating system image source need to be updated;

in response to determining that device driver updates need to be downloaded, scheduling by the build server a time for download of device driver updates;

downloading, by the build server, the scheduled device driver updates based on the scheduled time; and

storing, by the build server, the device driver updates in a device driver update database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

installing, by the build server, the operating system image source on a target server; and

installing, by the build server, the device driver updates on the target server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein installing the device driver updates on the target server comprises copying the device driver updates to the target server after installing the operating system image source.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein installing the device driver updates on the target server comprises copying the device driver updates to the operating system image source before installing the operating system image source on the target server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a configuration parameter based on received input from a user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a wait time before crawling a vendor website, an indication of device drivers to be excluded, or a time for downloading device drivers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether device drivers for the operating system image source need to be updated comprises crawling a vendor website for device driver updates.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining whether device drivers for the operating system image source need to be updated further comprises after crawling a vendor website for device driver updates, comparing a list of found device driver updates with a list of current device drivers.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein crawling a vendor website for device driver updates comprises crawling the vendor website for device driver updates after waiting a specified time since a last crawl of the vendor website.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling by the build server the download of device driver updates comprises excluding one or more device driver updates from download based on an exclusion filter.

11. A computer-readable medium containing instructions effective, when executing in a data processing system, to cause said data processing system to perform operations comprising:

determining, by a build server, whether device drivers for an operating system image source need to be updated;

in response to determining that device driver updates need to be downloaded, scheduling by the build server a time for download of device driver updates;

downloading, by the build server, the scheduled device driver updates based on the scheduled time; and

storing, by the build server, the device driver updates in a device driver update database.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

installing, by the build server, the operating system image source on a target server; and

installing, by the build server, the device driver updates on the target server.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising setting a configuration parameter based on received input from a user.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein determining whether device drivers for the operating system image source need to be updated comprises crawling a vendor website for device driver updates.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein determining whether device drivers for the operating system image source need to be updated further comprises after crawling a vendor website for device driver updates, comparing a list of found device driver updates with a list of current device drivers.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein crawling a vendor website for device driver updates comprises crawling the vendor website for device driver updates after waiting a specified time since a last crawl of the vendor website.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein scheduling by the build server the download of device driver updates comprises excluding one or more device driver updates from download based on an exclusion filter.

18. A device driver update system, the system comprising:

a build server in communication with a target server via a network, comprising;

a database, the database having an operating system image source for installing an operating system on a target server, the operating system image source including one or more operating system device drivers;

an operating system installer to install the operating system image source on the target server via the network; and

a device driver updater to download and install device driver updates, the device driver updater comprising;

a device driver update detector to determine whether device driver updates need to be downloaded;

a device driver update downloader to schedule a download of device driver updates to be downloaded and to download the device driver updates; and

a device driver update installer to install the downloaded device driver updates on the target server via the network.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a target server.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the device driver updater is integrated within the operating system installer.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the device driver updater further comprises a configuration module to setting a configuration parameter based on received input from a user.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a wait time before crawling a vendor website, an indication of device drivers to be excluded, or a time for downloading device drivers.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the device driver update detector further comprises a web crawler module to crawl an operating system vendor website for device driver updates.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the device driver update detector further comprises an exclusion module to exclude found device driver updates from download based on an exclusion list.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the device driver update downloader downloads the device driver updates from an operating system vendor website.