SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING SYSTEM RESTORATION ORDER FOR NETWORK RECOVERY

• US 20100220584A1
• Filed: 02/27/2009
• Published: 09/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: DeHAAN, Michael Paul, Likins, Adrian Karstan, Vidal, Seth Kelby
• Granted Patent: US 8,667,096 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/216
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0846 based on copy from other elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for automatically generating a system restoration order for network recovery. A set of managed machines, such as personal computers or servers, can be managed by a network management platform communicating with the machines via a secure channel. The network management platform can access a dependency map indicating a required order for restoration of machines or nodes on a network. The network management platform likewise access a reverse kickstart file for each machine to be automatically restored in order to ensure proper functioning of the network, and extract a current configuration of that machine for purposes of restoring the overall network.

Claims

1. A method of restoring a network, comprising:

accessing a dependency map for a set of nodes on a network, the dependency map encoding a dependency relationship between nodes in the network based on software installed on the nodes;

accessing a reverse kickstart file for a first node represented in the dependency map, the reverse kickstart file encoding a set of software hosted on the first node;

generating a provisioning installation on the first node using the reverse kickstart file associated with the first node via a provisioning server;

accessing an associated kickstart file for remaining nodes in the set of nodes; and

restoring the network by generating a provisioning installation for the remaining nodes using the associated reverse kickstart file for each of the remaining nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dependency map comprises a set of ordered links between nodes in the network based on a first set of software generating output or services used as inputs to a second set of software.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dependency map is generated via a network management platform issuing a set of discovery commands.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning installation comprises at least one of an operating system and a set of applications.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the reverse kickstart file contains instructions for recreating the contents of at least one system installation on at least one file system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of nodes comprises at least one of a set of servers, a set of hosts, and a set of targets.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the network restoration using a validation process performed via a network management platform.

8. A network management platform, comprising:

an interface to a network having a set of nodes; and

a network management engine, communicating with the set of nodes via the interface, the network management engine being configured to—

access a dependency map for the set of nodes on the network, the dependency map encoding a dependency relationship between nodes in the network based on software installed on the nodes,

access a reverse kickstart file for a first node represented in the dependency map, the reverse kickstart file encoding a set of software hosted on the first node,

generate a provisioning installation on the first node using the reverse kickstart file associated with the first node via a provisioning server,

access an associated kickstart file for remaining nodes in the set of nodes, and

restore the network by generating a provisioning installation for the remaining nodes using the associated reverse kickstart file for each of the remaining nodes.

9. The network management platform of claim 8, wherein the dependency map comprises a set of ordered links between nodes in the network based on a first set of software generating output or services used as inputs to a second set of software.

10. The network management platform of claim 8, wherein the network management engine is further configured to generate the dependency map by issuing a set of discovery commands.

11. The network management platform of claim 8, wherein the provisioning installation comprises at least one of an operating system and a set of applications.

12. The network management platform of claim 8, wherein the reverse kickstart file contains instructions for recreating the contents of at least one system installation on at least one file system.

13. The network management platform of claim 8, wherein the set of nodes comprises at least one of a set of servers, a set of hosts, and a set of targets.

14. The network management platform of claim 8, wherein the network management engine is further configured to validate the network restoration using a validation process.

15. A restored network, the network being restored via a method of:

accessing a dependency map for a set of nodes on the restored network, the dependency map encoding a dependency relationship between nodes in the restored network based on software installed on the nodes;

accessing a reverse kickstart file for a first node represented in the dependency map, the reverse kickstart file encoding a set of software hosted on the first node;

generating a provisioning installation on the first node using the reverse kickstart file associated with the first node via a provisioning server;

accessing an associated kickstart file for remaining nodes in the set of nodes; and

generating the restored network by generating a provisioning installation for the remaining nodes using the associated reverse kickstart file for each of the remaining nodes.

16. The restored network of claim 15, wherein the dependency map comprises a set of ordered links between nodes in the network based on a first set of software generating output or services used as inputs to a second set of software

17. The restored network of claim 15, wherein the dependency map is generated via a network management platform issuing a set of discovery commands.

18. The restored network of claim 15, wherein the provisioning installation comprises at least one of an operating system and a set of applications.

19. The restored network of claim 15, wherein the reverse kickstart file contains instructions for recreating the contents of at least one system installation on at least one file system.

20. The restored network of claim 15, wherein the set of nodes comprises at least one of a set of servers, a set of hosts, and a set of targets.