Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to control operating system images for diskless servers

A system to control operating system images for a group of diskless servers comprising:

• an operating system builder to create a binary image of an operating system and modify components of the image by automated operation, the binary image operative as a common base operating system image for multiple servers;
• an operating system image manager to discover and manage a set of diskless servers in conjunction with a server manageability interface and a boot server;
• and
• a run-time configuration and management tool for the set of diskless servers to implement high-availability management, server and application health monitoring, and enforce a security protocol between a network and a host server and individual diskless servers, wherein at least one of the operating system builder, the operating system manager, or the run-time configuration and management tool comprises a tangible article of manufacture storing machine-accessible instructions.

A tangible article of manufacture storing machine-accessible instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to control operating system images for a group of diskless servers by:

• creating a binary image of an operating system on a random access memory (RAM) disk by assembly of a kernel, an operating system loader, configuration files, drivers, and data files;
• modifying configuration and kernel parameter files by automated operation;
• creating a common base operating system image for multiple servers using configuration information from a configuration file loaded at bootstrap loading;
• discovering and managing a set of diskless servers in conjunction with a server manageability interface and a boot server;
• and
• performing run-time configuration and management for the set of diskless servers including high-availability management, server and application health monitoring, and enforcing a security protocol between a network and a host server and individual diskless servers.