Provisioning network resources by environment and network address

• US 20090300024A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James P. Schneider
• Original Assignee: James P. Schneider
• Inventors: Schneider, James P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,094,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play

Abstract

A method and apparatus for facilitating provisioning of network appliances based on different environments. A mapping server is provided to communicate with networked devices from different environments. The mapping server receives a request for a network address of a corresponding configuration server from one of the networked devices, determines a network identifier of this networked devices based on the request, and searches a mapping table for the network address of the corresponding configuration server using the network identifier of the networked device. The mapping server then provides the network address of the corresponding configuration server to the networked device.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

providing a mapping server to communicate with networked devices from a plurality of different environments;

receiving, at the mapping server, a request for a network address of a corresponding configuration server from one of the networked devices;

determining a network identifier of the one of the networked devices based on the request;

searching a mapping table for the network address of the corresponding configuration server using the network identifier of the one of the networked devices; and

providing the network address of the corresponding configuration server to the one of the networked devices.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the mapping server is a special-purpose domain name system (DNS) server.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of different environments comprises two or more of a production environment, a quality assurance (QA) environment, a development environment, and a staging environment.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the one of the networked devices is a network appliance designated to monitor devices within a network and send monitoring data to a service provider maintaining the plurality of different environments.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the network identifier of the one of the networked devices is any one of an Internet protocol (IP) address of the one of the networked devices, or a subnet identifier of a subnet including the one of the networked devices.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a user interface to facilitate user input for the mapping table.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the mapping table provides a correspondence between the network identifier of the one of the networked devices, the corresponding configuration server, and a corresponding environment.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the network address of the corresponding configuration server to the one of the networked devices comprises:

composing a message containing an IP address of the corresponding configuration server, and a corresponding environment; and

sending the composed message to the one of the networked devices.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein searching the mapping table for the network address of the corresponding configuration server comprises:

determining that the mapping table does not include the network identifier of the one of the networked devices;

assigning the one of the network devices to a default environment; and

returning a network address of a configuration server associated with the default environment.

10. A computer-readable storage medium that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform a method comprising:

providing a mapping server to communicate with networked devices from a plurality of different environments;

receiving, at the mapping server, a request for a network address of a corresponding configuration server from one of the networked devices;

determining a network identifier of the one of the networked devices based on the request;

searching a mapping table for the network address of the corresponding configuration server using the network identifier of the one of the networked devices; and

providing the network address of the corresponding configuration server to the one of the networked devices.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the mapping server is a special-purpose domain name system (DNS) server.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the plurality of different environments comprises two or more of a production environment, a quality assurance (QA) environment, a development environment, and a staging environment.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the one of the networked devices is a network appliance designated to monitor devices within a network and send monitoring data to a service provider maintaining the plurality of different environments.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the network identifier of the one of the networked devices is any one of an Internet protocol (IP) address of the one of the networked devices, or a subnet identifier of a subnet including the one of the networked devices.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the mapping table provides a correspondence between the network identifier of the one of the networked devices, the corresponding configuration server, and a corresponding environment.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein providing the network address of the corresponding configuration server to the one of the networked devices comprises:

composing a message containing an IP address of the corresponding configuration server, and a corresponding environment; and

sending the composed message to the one of the networked devices.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein searching the mapping table for the network address of the corresponding configuration server comprises:

determining that the mapping table does not include the network identifier of the one of the networked devices;

assigning the one of the network devices to a default environment; and

returning a network address of a configuration server associated with the default environment.

18. An apparatus for a server, comprising:

a mapping table to store network identifiers of networked devices and network addresses of corresponding configuration servers associated with a plurality of different environments; and

a configuration server address provider, coupled to the mapping table, to receive a request for a network address of a configuration server from one of the networked devices, to determine a network identifier of the one of the networked devices based on the request, to search the mapping table for the network address of the configuration server using the network identifier of the one of the networked devices, and to provide the network address of the corresponding configuration server to the one of the networked devices.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein:

the server is a special-purpose domain name system (DNS) server;

the plurality of different environments comprises two or more of a production environment, a quality assurance (QA) environment, a development environment, and a staging environment; and

the one of the networked devices is a network appliance designated to monitor devices within a network and send monitoring data to a service provider maintaining the plurality of different environments.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the network identifier of the one of the networked devices is any one of an Internet protocol (IP) address of the one of the networked devices, or a subnet identifier of a subnet including the one of the networked devices.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the configuration server address provider is further to determine that the mapping table does not include the network identifier of the one of the networked devices, to assign the one of the network devices to a default environment, and to return a network address of a configuration server associated with the default environment.