US 12,608,214 B2Granted

Automated network boot image server detection and selection

OwnerAlexandru Cozma, Jeffery J Van Heuklon +2inventors

InventorsAlexandru Cozma, Jeffery J Van Heuklon, Fred Allison Bower, III, Li Jun Gu

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Abstract

A computer program product and method include the operations of loading an iPXE client that is stored in firmware, transmitting a query over a wide area network to a DNS server that requests the location of iPXE boot image servers that store a boot image for use by the computer, and receiving a DNS SRV record from the DNS server. The DNS SRV record identifies an Internet Protocol address for each of a plurality of iPXE boot image servers that are outside a subnet that includes the computer. The operations further include determining one or more network properties of network communication, such as latency, between the computer and each iPXE boot image server, identifying the iPXE boot image server having the most suitable value of network property(ies), such as latency, for obtaining the boot image, and booting the boot image obtained from the identified iPXE boot image server.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer program product comprising a non-volatile computer readable medium and non-transitory program instructions embodied therein, the program instructions being configured to be executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

loading an implementation of the Preboot execution Environment (iPXE) client that is stored in firmware on a computer that includes the processor, wherein the iPXE client implements Preboot execution Environment client software with the capability to use a wide area network communication protocol;
transmitting, during booting of the computer, a query over a wide area network to a Domain Name System server, wherein the query requests the location of at least one boot image server that stores a boot image for use by the computer;
receiving, in response to the query, a Domain Name System Service record over the wide area network from the Domain Name System server, wherein the Domain Name System Service record identifies an Internet Protocol address for each of a plurality of boot image servers that are outside a subnet that includes the computer;
determining one or more network properties of network communication between the computer and each of the plurality of boot image servers;
selecting one of the plurality of boot image servers for obtaining the boot image using the determined one or more network properties as selection criteria;
and
booting the boot image obtained from the selected boot image server.

4 more elements

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

loading an implementation of the Preboot eXecution Environment (iPXE) client that is stored in firmware on a computer that includes the processor, wherein the iPXE client implements Preboot eXecution Environment client software with the capability to use a wide area network communication protocol;
transmitting, during booting of the computer, a query over a wide area network to a Domain Name System server, wherein the query requests the location of at least one boot image server that stores a boot image for use by the computer;
receiving, in response to the query, a Domain Name System Service record over the wide area network from the Domain Name System server, wherein the Domain Name System Service record identifies an Internet Protocol address for each of a plurality of boot image servers that are outside a subnet that includes the computer;
determining one or more network properties of network communication between the computer and each boot image server identified by the Domain Name System server;
selecting one of the plurality of boot image servers for obtaining the boot image using the determined one or more network properties as selection criteria;
and
booting the boot image obtained from the selected boot image server.

4 more elements

A method comprising:

performing a network boot on a plurality of computers, the network boot for each computer comprising:
loading an implementation of the Preboot execution Environment (iPXE) client that is stored in firmware on the computer, wherein the iPXE client implements Preboot execution Environment client software with the capability to use a wide area network communication protocol;
transmitting, during booting of the computer, a query over a wide area network to a Domain Name System server, wherein the query requests the location of at least one boot image server that stores a boot image for use by the computer;
receiving, in response to the query, a Domain Name System Service record over the wide area network from the Domain Name System server, wherein the Domain Name System Service record identifies an Internet Protocol address for each of a plurality of boot image servers that are outside a subnet that includes the computer;
determining one or more network properties of network communication between the computer and each boot image server identified by the Domain Name System server;
selecting one of the plurality of boot image servers for obtaining the boot image using the determined one or more network properties as selection criteria;
and
booting the boot image obtained from the selected boot image server.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.