Customization, deployment and management of virtual and physical machine images in an enterprise system

A system for providing imaging of computing devices, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• a finite state machine management (FSM) server executing on the processor configured to:
• receive a developer created customized deployment job;
• register the customized deployment job with a machine management service;
• a machine management server executing the machine management service configured to:
• provide machine configuration data context to a workflow host;
• request an imaging job from the workflow host;
• and
• the FSM server executing at least one workflow host configured to:
• create a workflow comprising job steps based on the machine configuration context associated with the imaging job request;
• execute the workflow, wherein an image related to each job step is retrieved from a cache tree for each job step;
• if an image is created for a job step, update the cache tree with the newly created image;
• delete a virtual machine if a target of the imaging job is the virtual machine requiring reimaging;
• deploy an operating system and bring a machine to an operational state if the target of the imaging job is a physical machine;
• discover a relevant part of an image to be deployed if a job step requires image transfer;
• transfer the image if parts of the image are already downloaded to a target machine;
• and
• provide a result of the workflow execution to the machine management service upon completion of the workflow.

A computer-readable memory with instructions stored thereon for enterprise system imaging, the instructions comprising:

• receiving a developer created customized deployment job;
• registering the customized deployment job with a machine management service;
• receiving an imaging job request;
• transferring the received imaging job request to the machine management service;
• requesting the imaging job from a workflow host by the machine management service, wherein the workflow host executes the workflow;
• creating a workflow at the workflow host, the workflow comprising job steps based on a configuration context of the imaging job request;
• executing the workflow at the workflow host, wherein an image related to each job step is retrieved from a cache tree for each job step;
• if an image is created for a job step, updating the cache tree with the newly created image;
• deleting a virtual machine if a target of the imaging job is the virtual machine requiring reimaging;
• deploying an operating system and bring a machine to an operational state if the target of the imaging job is a physical machine;
• discovering a relevant part of an image to be deployed if a job step requires image transfer;
• transferring the image if parts of the image are already downloaded to a target machine;
• and notifying a client submitting the imaging job request through a callback from the machine management service.