Locating a provisioning server

• US 8,838,827 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2008
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2008
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): KHAJURIA, SHRIPAL K
• Application Number:
  US12/198,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,212 Days
• Field of Search: 709/232
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A provisioning client can be configured to automatically locate a provisioning server in a provisioning environment in order to perform software provisioning. The provisioning client can locate the provisioning server by detecting the location of the provisioning server or by selecting the appropriate provisioning server from a record of available provisioning servers. Once located, the provisioning client can be configured to establish a connection with the provisioning server and to request or receive software provisioning.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a processor of a client device, network information broadcast by a plurality of available provisioning servers;

maintaining, by the processor, a record of the plurality of available provisioning servers in view of the detected broadcast network information, wherein the record comprises at least one of a network location of each available provisioning server, a network identity of each available provisioning server, or a configuration of each available provisioning server;

establishing a connection with a first provisioning server of the plurality of available provisioning servers in view of the network information; and

receiving a software provisioning action from the first provisioning server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting one of the plurality of available provisioning servers as the first provisioning server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of available provisioning servers comprises selecting based on a priority value of each available provisioning server.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

selecting a second of the plurality of available provisioning servers if the connection cannot be established with the first provisioning server.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

updating the record.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the record is a domain name system (DNS) service record.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching for the first provisioning server based on a common identification.

8. The method of claim 1, where establishing the connection with the first provisioning server comprises providing authentication information to the first provisioning server.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a client device, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

detecting, by the processor, network information broadcast by a plurality of available provisioning servers;

maintaining, by the processor, a record of the plurality of available provisioning servers in view of the detected network information, wherein the record comprises at least one of a network location of each available provisioning server, a network identity of each available provisioning server, or a configuration of each available provisioning server;

establishing a connection with a first provisioning server of the plurality of available provisioning servers in view of the network information; and

receiving a software provisioning action from the first provisioning server.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

selecting one of the plurality of available provisioning servers as the first provisioning server.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of available provisioning servers comprises selecting based on the priority of each available provisioning server.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

selecting a second of the plurality of available provisioning servers if the connection cannot be established with the first provisioning server.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

updating the record.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, where establishing the connection with the first provisioning server comprises providing authentication information to the first provisioning server.

15. A method comprising:

broadcasting, by a processor of a provisioning server, network information for the provisioning server, the network information comprising at least one of a network location of the provisioning server, a network identity of the provisioning server, or a configuration of the provisioning server, wherein the broadcast of the network information is a multicast DNS broadcast;

receiving a request from a provisioning client to establish a connection to the provisioning server to assist with software provisioning, wherein the request is based on the network information; and

providing a software provisioning action to the provisioning client.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

authenticating the provisioning client prior to providing the software provisioning action.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining a second provisioning server to provide the software provisioning action; and

providing network information of the second provisioning server to the provisioning client.

18. A system comprising:

a processor to;

broadcast network information for a provisioning server, the network information comprising at least one of a network location of the provisioning server, a network identity of provisioning server, or a configuration of the provisioning server, wherein the broadcast network information is a multicast DNS broadcast;

receive a request from a provisioning client to establish a connection to the provisioning server to assist with software provisioning, wherein the request is based on the network information; and

provide a software provisioning action to the provisioning client.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further to:

authenticate the provisioning client prior to providing the software provisioning action.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further to:

determine a second provisioning server to provide the software provisioning action; and

provide network information of the second provisioning server to the provisioning client.