Network appliance management

A method of updating software and data on a network appliance having a hard disk, comprising:

• accessing a hard disk having an inactive software partition, an active software partition, an inactive data partition, and an active data partition;
• writing a new version of software to the inactive software partition of the hard disk;
• writing an old version of data to the inactive data partition of the hard disk;
• activating the inactive software partition and the inactive data partition;
• and
• migrating the old version of data to a new version of data, wherein the new version of software performs the migration.

A system for installing software on a network appliance having a short term memory and a hard disk, comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• receive an image of the software;
• load the image into a short term memory on the network appliance;
• write the image to a hard disk on the network appliance, wherein the network appliance is associated with a networking protocol, including one or more of:
• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System (DNS), and Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS);
• access a hard disk having an inactive software partition, an active software partition, an inactive data partition, and an active data partition;
• write a new version of software to the inactive software partition of the hard disk;
• write an old version of data to the inactive data partition of the hard disk;
• activate the inactive software partition and the inactive data partition;
• and
• migrate the old version of data to a new version of data, wherein the new version of software performs the migration;
• and
• a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory provides the processor with instructions;
• wherein the image is received using software that is configured to allow a networked computer without an operating system or a hard disk to be booted remotely over a network.

A computer program product for installing software on a network appliance having a short term memory and a hard disk, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

• receiving an image of the software;
• loading the image into a short term memory on the network appliance;
• and
• writing the image to a hard disk on the network appliance, wherein the network appliance is associated with a networking protocol, including one or more of:
• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System (DNS), and Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS);
• accessing a hard disk having an inactive software partition, an active software partition, an inactive data partition and an active data partition;
• writing a new version of software to the inactive software partition of the hard disk;
• writing an old version of data to the inactive data partition of the hard disk;
• activating the inactive software partition and the inactive data partition;
• and
• migrating the old version of data to a new version of data, wherein the new version of software performs the migration;
• wherein the image is received using software that is configured to allow a networked computer without an operating system or a hard disk to be booted remotely over a network.

A system for updating software and data on a network appliance having a hard disk, comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• access a hard disk having an inactive software partition, an active software partition, an inactive data partition, and an active data partition;
• write a new version of software to the inactive software partition of the hard disk;
• write an old version of data to the inactive data partition of the hard disk;
• activate the inactive software partition and the inactive data partition;
• and
• migrate the old version of data to a new version of data, wherein the new version of software performs the migration;
• and
• a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory provides the processor with instructions.

A computer program product for updating software and data on a network appliance having a hard disk, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

• accessing a hard disk having an inactive software partition, an active software partition, an inactive data partition, and an active data partition;
• writing a new version of software to the inactive software partition of the hard disk;
• writing an old version of data to the inactive data partition of the hard disk;
• activating the inactive software partition and the inactive data partition;
• and
• migrating the old version of data to a new version of data, wherein the new version of software performs the migration.