Granted Patent B2

US 11,620,122 · App. 17/249,188 · Granted Apr 4, 2023

Inventors: Gregory L. Tinker (Milton, GA); George Carter (Centre, AL)

Assignee: Verinex Corp.

G06F8/65G06F9/45558G06F9/547G06F11/327G06F11/1433G06F2009/45591G06F2201/815

Abstract

Claims (69)

1. An automation controller providing central management of an upgrade process in an IT infrastructure, comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:

execute, by a control module, an automation code script and at least one corresponding automation input file;

index, by an index module, data from the at least one automation input file to identify at least one target node in the IT infrastructure to be upgraded, and associate at least one patch firmware bundle with the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

execute, by an execution module, the automation code script; and

manage, by a management module, the upgrade process through to exception or successful completion of the upgrade process at the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

wherein if the index module determines that the input file is missing data or the input file is improperly formatted, the execution module halts executing the automation code script and issues a notification to an administrator.

2. The automation controller of claim 1 , further comprising a communications module configured to receive a location of the at least one patch firmware bundle from a hypervisor.

3. The automation controller of claim 1 , further comprising a communications module configured to receive a location of the at least one patch firmware bundle from a patch management server.

4. The automation controller of claim 1 , further comprising a communications module, wherein the automation code script includes instructions to perform a connectivity test on the at least one target node to ensure communication after the index module indexes the input file.

5. The automation controller of claim 4 , wherein if the communications module cannot establish communication to the at least one target node, the execution module halts executing the automation code script and issues a notification to an administrator.

6. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein the index module performs target node inventory after confirmation of communication between the automation controller and the at least one target node.

7. The automation controller of claim 1 , further comprising a validation module to perform validation against the at least one target node based on variables from the automation input file to ensure that the at least one target node meets minimum defined health parameters and has minimum defined resources available for a pending upgrade process.

8. The automation controller of claim 7 , wherein after completing validation, the at least one target node is marked for maintenance within a configuration management database (CMDB), and the at least one target node is placed into a maintenance posture giving attention to any migration flags so that a hypervisor is available to execute specified updates from the automation input file.

9. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein the management module receives status messages during the upgrade process and subsequently recorded in an automation controller log file.

10. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein the management module halts the upgrade process if any errors are encountered during the upgrade process, and the management module issues an alert to an administrator specified in the automation input file.

11. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein the management module verifies patch and hardware revision levels and moves the at least one target node out of a maintenance posture by resetting migration flags upon successful completion of the upgrade process.

12. The automation controller of claim 11 , wherein the management module updates a status of the at least one target node within a configuration management database (CMDB) and a final confirmation of the successful completion of the upgrade process is issued to the administrator.

13. The automation controller of claim 12 , wherein the management module produces an option for the administrator to elect to retain the at least one target node in a maintenance posture after the successful completion of the upgrade process and continue by upgrading underlying hardware infrastructure before exiting the maintenance posture.

14. The automation controller of claim 13 , wherein the management module is further configured to upgrade the underlying hardware infrastructure as a foundation layer for a virtual environment by communicating to a management server for the virtual environment.

15. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein the management module executes a REST API, and if any validations fail, the management module halts the upgrade process and issues an alert to an administrator specified in the automation input file.

16. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein the management module instructs a patch management server to push patch and firmware baselines to the at least one target node.

17. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein the management module receives status messages during the upgrade process, and the management module subsequently records the status messages in an automation controller log file.

18. The automation controller of claim 17 , wherein if any errors are encountered, the management module halts the upgrade process and issues an alert to an administrator specified in the automation input file.

19. The automation controller of claim 1 , wherein after successful completion of the upgrade process, the management module verifies patch and hardware revision levels at the at least one target node, moves the at least one target node out of a maintenance posture, resets migration flags where applicable, updates a configuration management database (CMDB), and issues a successful completion alert to an administrator.

20. An automation controller providing central management of an upgrade process in an IT infrastructure, comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:

execute, by a control module, an automation code script and at least one corresponding automation input file;

index, by an index module, data from the at least one automation input file to identify at least one target node in the IT infrastructure to be upgraded, and associate at least one patch firmware bundle with the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

execute, by an execution module, the automation code script; and

manage, by a management module, the upgrade process through to exception or successful completion of the upgrade process at the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

perform validation, by a validation module, against the at least one target node based on variables from the automation input file to ensure that the at least one target node meets minimum defined health parameters and has minimum defined resources available for a pending upgrade process;

wherein after completing validation, the at least one target node is marked for maintenance within a configuration management database (CMDB), and the at least one target node is placed into a maintenance posture giving attention to any migration flags so that a hypervisor is available to execute specified updates from the automation input file.

21. An automation controller providing central management of an upgrade process in an IT infrastructure, comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:

execute, by a control module, an automation code script and at least one corresponding automation input file;

index, by an index module, data from the at least one automation input file to identify at least one target node in the IT infrastructure to be upgraded, and associate at least one patch firmware bundle with the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

execute, by an execution module, the automation code script; and

manage, by a management module, the upgrade process through to exception or successful completion of the upgrade process at the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

wherein the management module halts the upgrade process if any errors are encountered during the upgrade process, and the management module issues an alert to an administrator specified in the automation input file.

22. An automation controller providing central management of an upgrade process in an IT infrastructure, comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:

execute, by a control module, an automation code script and at least one corresponding automation input file;

index, by an index module, data from the at least one automation input file to identify at least one target node in the IT infrastructure to be upgraded, and associate at least one patch firmware bundle with the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

execute, by an execution module, the automation code script; and

manage, by a management module, the upgrade process through to exception or successful completion of the upgrade process at the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

wherein the management module verifies patch and hardware revision levels and moves the at least one target node out of a maintenance posture by resetting migration flags upon successful completion of the upgrade process.

23. An automation controller providing central management of an upgrade process in an IT infrastructure, comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:

execute, by a control module, an automation code script and at least one corresponding automation input file;

index, by an index module, data from the at least one automation input file to identify at least one target node in the IT infrastructure to be upgraded, and associate at least one patch firmware bundle with the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

execute, by an execution module, the automation code script; and

manage, by a management module, the upgrade process through to exception or successful completion of the upgrade process at the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

wherein the management module executes a REST API, and if any validations fail, the management module halts the upgrade process and issues an alert to an administrator specified in the automation input file.

24. An automation controller providing central management of an upgrade process in an IT infrastructure, comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:

execute, by a control module, an automation code script and at least one corresponding automation input file;

index, by an index module, data from the at least one automation input file to identify at least one target node in the IT infrastructure to be upgraded, and associate at least one patch firmware bundle with the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

execute, by an execution module, the automation code script; and

manage, by a management module, the upgrade process through to exception or successful completion of the upgrade process at the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

wherein the management module receives status messages during the upgrade process, and the management module subsequently records the status messages in an automation controller log file;

wherein if any errors are encountered, the management module halts the upgrade process and issues an alert to an administrator specified in the automation input file.

25. An automation controller providing central management of an upgrade process in an IT infrastructure, comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:

execute, by a control module, an automation code script and at least one corresponding automation input file;

index, by an index module, data from the at least one automation input file to identify at least one target node in the IT infrastructure to be upgraded, and associate at least one patch firmware bundle with the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

execute, by an execution module, the automation code script; and

manage, by a management module, the upgrade process through to exception or successful completion of the upgrade process at the at least one target node in the IT infrastructure;

wherein after successful completion of the upgrade process, the management module verifies patch and hardware revision levels at the at least one target node, moves the at least one target node out of a maintenance posture, resets migration flags where applicable, updates a configuration management database (CMDB), and issues a successful completion alert to an administrator.

Assignments (10)

Continuity (2)