System for managing boot-up of target computers
View Patent ↗A system for managing boot-up of target machines. In a preferred embodiment, a server computer acts as a managing computer. A target machine notifies the server that the target machine has been powered-up. The server allocates an IP address and sends a response to the target machine. The target machine download boot-up software from the server computer. The target machine then downloads discovery software from the server computer for purposes of determining information about the configuration and resources of the target machine. Standard protocols and mechanisms such as DHCP, BOOTP, TFTP and others can be used. The system works with different types of manufacturers' processors and platforms.
1. A method comprising:
configuring a first computer, wherein said configuring comprises:
discovering configuration information of the first computer, wherein said discovering comprises discovering Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) information for the first computer;
transmitting the configuration information of the first computer, wherein
said transmitting transmits the configuration information to a second computer and comprises formatting the configuration information into scoped attribute-value pairs; and
receiving a provisioning agent from said second computer, wherein
the provisioning agent is configured to execute on the first computer to install selected software, and
the selected software is selected using the configuration information.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
storing a first set of instructions in a memory on the first computer, wherein
the first set of instructions are configured to execute on the first computer to perform said discovering.
3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
receiving the first set of instructions from the second computer.
4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
transmitting a request to the second computer for the first set of instructions.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said discovering the configuration information further comprises:
discovering hardware configuration information.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the hardware configuration information comprises:
information describing one or more of memory capacity, memory type, disk drives, CPU type, CPU speed, and motherboard chipset.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the BIOS information comprises:
information describing one or more of serial number, model name, BIOS date, BIOS version, manufacturer identification of the first computer, BIOS vendor, CPU family, blade chassis location, blade chassis serial number, blade chassis IP address, blade chassis model, and rack serial number.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said discovering the configuration information further comprises:
discovering network interface information.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein said transmitting the configuration information further comprises:
performing said transmitting using boot control transfer protocol.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
installing the software on the first computer from a storage server coupled to the first computer.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the software comprises an operating system for the first computer.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the operating system is configured to support resources identified in the configuration information of the first computer.
13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing a dynamic computing environment (DCE) coupled to a managing processor, wherein
the DCE comprises resources, wherein
the resources comprise one or more of network resources, data storage resources, and computing resources; and
coupling one or more DCE resources to the first computer in response to an instruction from the managing processor.
14. A system comprising:
a processor;
a memory coupled to said processor and configured to store instructions executable on the processor for configuring the system, wherein the instructions comprise:
a first set of instructions for discovering configuration information of the system, wherein said discovering comprises discovering Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) information for the first computer;
a second set of instructions for forming a datastream comprising the configuration information of the system, wherein the configuration information is formatted into scoped attribute-value pairs; and
a third set of instructions for installing selected software on the system, wherein
the selected software is selected using the configuration information of the system; and
a network line card coupled to the processor and configured to:
transmit the datastream comprising the configuration information to a second computer, and
receive the third set of instructions from the second computer.
15. An apparatus comprising:
means for configuring a first computer, wherein said means for configuring comprises:
means for discovering configuration information of the first computer, wherein said discovering comprises discovering Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) information for the first computer; and
means for forming a datastream comprising the configuration information, wherein the configuration information is formatted into scoped attribute-value pairs; and
means for transmitting the datastream comprising the configuration information of the first computer, wherein
said means for transmitting the configuration information to a second computer; and
means for installing selected software on the first computer, wherein
said means for installing are received from the first computer, and
the selected software is selected using the configuration information.