Providing backup and restore services to network attached appliances in a network

1. A computer program product for backing-up configuration settings in a network attached appliance with backup servers in a network, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in the network attached appliance to perform operations, the operations comprising:

gathering configuration settings used in the network attached appliance;

determining a unique identifier for the network attached appliance;

generating a backup request including the gathered configuration settings, the unique identifier, and a backup operation code;

broadcasting the backup request on the network to be received by the backup servers, wherein a plurality of backup servers of the backup servers receiving the broadcasted backup request are to store the gathered configuration settings for the unique identifier;

broadcasting a restore request including the unique identifier of the network attached appliance to be received by the backup servers in the network;

receiving a plurality of restore replies from multiple of the backup servers, wherein each of the plurality of restore replies includes a return unique identifier and return configuration settings;

determining a restore reply, of the plurality of restore replies, having a return unique identifier matching the unique identifier of the network attached appliance; and

applying return configuration settings of the determined restore reply to the network attached appliance.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

including a header in the backup request specifying a service class to direct the broadcasted backup request to backup servers in the network listening for requests associated with the service class.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the return configuration settings in the determined restore reply configure the network attached appliance in response to determining that the return unique identifier in the determined restore reply matches the unique identifier of the network attached appliance.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 , wherein the operations further comprise:

discarding the received restore replies received after applying the return configuration settings in the determined restore reply.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein

the determined restore reply is a first received restore reply of the plurality of restore replies; and

discarding the plurality of restore replies received after applying the return configuration settings in the determined restore reply.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the

determined restore reply is a first received restore reply of the plurality of restore replies;

wherein applying a return configuration settings of the determined restore reply further comprising:

determining whether a timestamp of the return configuration settings in the determined restore reply is later than a timestamp of configuration settings most recently applied to the network attached appliance; and

applying the return configuration settings in the determined restore reply to the network attached appliance in response to determining that the timestamp of the return configuration settings in the determined restore reply is later than the timestamp of configuration settings most recently applied.

7. A network attached appliance in communication with backup servers in a network, comprising:

appliance hardware; and

an embedded system implementing computer program code executed to perform operations, the operations comprising:

gathering configuration settings used in the network attached appliance;

determining a unique identifier for the network attached appliance;

generating a backup request including the gathered configuration settings, the unique identifier, and a backup operation code;

broadcasting the backup request on the network to be received by the backup servers, wherein a plurality of backup servers of the backup servers receiving the broadcasted backup request are to store the gathered configuration settings for the unique identifier;

broadcasting a restore request including the unique identifier of the network attached appliance to be received by the backup servers in the network;

receiving a plurality of restore replies from multiple of the backup servers, wherein each of the plurality of restore replies includes a return unique identifier and return configuration settings;

determining a restore reply of the plurality of restore replies having a return unique identifier matching the unique identifier of the network attached appliance; and

applying return configuration settings of the determined restore reply to the network attached appliance.

8. The network attached appliance of claim 7 , wherein the return configuration settings in the determined restore reply configure the network attached appliance in response to determining that the return unique identifier in the determined restore reply matches the unique identifier of the network attached appliance.

9. A method for backing-up configuration settings in a network attached appliance with backup servers in a network, comprising:

gathering configuration settings used in the network attached appliance;

determining a unique identifier for the network attached appliance;

generating a backup request including the gathered configuration settings, the unique identifier, and a backup operation code;

broadcasting the backup request on the network to be received by the backup servers, wherein a plurality of backup servers of the backup servers receiving the broadcasted backup request are to store the gathered configuration settings for the unique identifier;

broadcasting a restore request including the unique identifier of the network attached appliance to be received by the backup servers in the network;

receiving a plurality of restore replies from multiple of the backup servers, wherein each of the plurality of restore replies includes a return unique identifier and return configuration settings;

determining a restore reply of the plurality of restore replies having a return unique identifier matching the unique identifier of the network attached appliance; and

applying return configuration settings of the determined restore reply to the network attached appliance.

10. A computer program product for backing-up configuration settings in a network attached appliance with backup servers in a network, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in the network attached appliance to perform operations, the operations comprising:

gathering configuration settings used in the network attached appliance;

determining a unique identifier for the network attached appliance;

generating a backup request including the gathered configuration settings, the unique identifier, and a backup operation code;

broadcasting the backup request on the network to be received by the backup servers to store the gathered configuration settings for the unique identifier;

broadcasting a restore request including the unique identifier of the network attached appliance to be received by the backup servers in the network;

determining a restore reply of multiple received restore replies having a return unique identifier matching the unique identifier of the network attached appliance; and

applying configuration settings of the determined restore reply to the network attached appliance.

11. A network attached appliance in communication with backup servers in a network, comprising:

appliance hardware; and

an embedded system implementing computer program code executed to perform operations, the operations comprising:

gathering configuration settings used in the network attached appliance;

determining a unique identifier for the network attached appliance;

generating a backup request including the gathered configuration settings, the unique identifier, and a backup operation code;

broadcasting the backup request on the network to be received by the backup servers to store the gathered configuration settings for the unique identifier;

broadcasting a restore request including the unique identifier of the network attached appliance to be received by the backup servers in the network;

determining a restore reply of multiple received restore replies having a return unique identifier matching the unique identifier of the network attached appliance; and

applying the configuration settings of the determined restore reply to the network attached appliance.

12. A method for backing-up configuration settings in a network attached appliance with backup servers in a network, comprising:

gathering configuration settings used in the network attached appliance; and

determining a unique identifier for the network attached appliance;

generating a backup request including the gathered configuration settings, the unique identifier, and a backup operation code;

broadcasting the backup request on the network to be received by the backup servers to store the gathered configuration settings for the unique identifier; broadcasting a restore request including the unique identifier of the network attached appliance to be received by the backup servers in the network;

determining a restore reply of multiple received restore replies having a return unique identifier matching the unique identifier of the network attached appliance; and

applying the configuration settings of the determined restore reply to the network attached appliance.