Automated discovery and inventory of nodes within an autonomic distributed computing system

A method comprising:

• storing a model within a database of a control node, wherein the model defines an organization of a distributed computing system having a plurality of computing nodes;
• automatically detecting an addition of a node to a network;
• upon detecting the addition of the node, network booting the detected node with an inventory software image that includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node;
• executing the inventory process on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and to send the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model;
• updating the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node;
• automatically deploying the detected node within the distributed computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware attributes, wherein automatically deploying the detected node comprises automatically loading a software image onto the detected node to replace the inventory software image and provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications;
• determining whether the detected node is a control node for a plurality of nodes;
• creating a respective node object within the model for each of the plurality of the nodes;
• automatically identifying attributes for each of the plurality of nodes;
• and
• updating the node objects to store the attributes.

A method comprising:

• storing a model within a database of a control node, wherein the model defines an organization of a distributed computing system having a plurality of computing nodes;
• automatically detecting an addition of a node to a network;
• upon detecting the addition of the node, network booting the detected node with an inventory software image that includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node;
• executing the inventory process on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and to send the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model;
• updating the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node;
• automatically deploying the detected node within the distributed computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware attributes, wherein automatically deploying the detected node comprises automatically loading a software image onto the detected node to replace the inventory software image and provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications;
• automatically updating the model to assign the detected node to a discovered pool upon detecting the node;
• and
• automatically updating the model to assign the detected node to a free pool upon identifying the attributes.

A method comprising:

• storing a model within a database of a control node, wherein the model defines an organization of a distributed computing system having a plurality of computing nodes;
• automatically detecting an addition of a node to a network;
• upon detecting the addition of the node, network booting the detected node with an inventory software image that includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node;
• executing the inventory process on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and to send the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model;
• updating the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node;
• automatically deploying the detected node within the distributed computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware attributes, wherein automatically deploying the detected node comprises automatically loading a software image onto the detected node to replace the inventory software image and provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications;
• receiving input that defines the model in a hierarchical form that includes a fabric having one or more domains, and wherein each domain has at least one tier that includes at least one node slot;
• and
• automatically configuring the distributed computing system in accordance with the model.

A computing system comprising:

• a database that stores a model that defines an organization for the computing system;
• and
• a control node that detects an addition of a node to a network and automatically identifies hardware attributes for the detected node, wherein the network interconnects a plurality of application nodes, wherein the control node comprises an inventory service that network boots the detected node with an inventory software image when the control node detects the addition of the node, wherein the inventory software image primarily includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node, wherein the inventory process executes on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and sends the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model, wherein the control node updates the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node and automatically deploys the detected node within the computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware and based on one or more requirements of a function assigned to the detected node, and automatically loads a software image onto the detected node to replace the inventory software image and provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications.

A computing system comprising:

• a database that stores a model that defines an organization for the computing system;
• a control node that detects an addition of a node to a network and automatically identifies hardware attributes for the detected node, wherein the network interconnects a plurality of application nodes, wherein the control node comprises an inventory service that network boots the detected node with an inventory software image when the control node detects the addition of the node, wherein the inventory software image primarily includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node, wherein the inventory process executes on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and sends the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model, wherein the control node updates the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node and automatically deploys the detected node within the computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware, and automatically loads a software image onto the detected node to replace the inventory software image and provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications;
• and
• wherein the discovery service determines whether the detected node is a control node for a plurality of nodes and creates a respective node object within the model for each of the plurality of the nodes, and wherein the discovery service automatically identifies attributes for each of the plurality of nodes and updates the node objects to store the attributes.

A computing system comprising:

• a database that stores a model that defines an organization for the computing system;
• a control node that detects an addition of a node to a network and automatically identifies hardware attributes for the detected node, wherein the network interconnects a plurality of application nodes, wherein the control node comprises an inventory service that network boots the detected node with an inventory software image when the control node detects the addition of the node, wherein the inventory software image primarily includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node, wherein the inventory process executes on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and sends the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model, wherein the control node updates the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node and automatically deploys the detected node within the computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware, and automatically loads a software image onto the detected node to replace the inventory software image and provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications, and
• wherein the control unit comprises a discovery service that automatically detects the node and updates the model to add the node to a pool of discovered nodes, and wherein the inventory service automatically identifies the attributes and updates the model to assign the node from the pool of discovered nodes to a pool of free nodes available for deployment within the distributed computing system.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that cause a processor to:

• store a model within a database of a control node, wherein the model defines an organization of a distributed computing system having a plurality computing nodes;
• automatically detect an addition of a node to a network;
• network boot the detected node with an inventory software image upon detecting the addition of the node, wherein the inventory software image includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node;
• execute the inventory process on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and to send the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model;
• update the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node;
• and
• automatically deploy the detected node within the distributed computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware attributes and based one or more requirements of a function assigned to the detected node, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to automatically deploy the detected node comprise instructions that cause the processor to automatically load a software image onto the detected node to replace the inventory software image and provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications.

A computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to store a model within a database of a control node, wherein the model defines an organization of a computing system having a plurality of computing nodes;
• computer readable program code configured to automatically detect an addition of a node to a network;
• computer readable program code configured to, upon detecting the addition of the node, network boot the detected node with an inventory software image that includes an executable inventory process for identifying hardware attributes of the detected node;
• computer readable program code configured to execute the inventory process on the detected node to automatically identify the hardware attributes for the detected node and to send the identified hardware attributes from the detected node to the control node for storage within the model;
• computer readable program code configured to update the model to store the identified hardware attributes for the detected node;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to automatically deploy the detected node within the computing system in accordance with the model based on the identified hardware attributes and based on one or more requirements of a function assigned to the detected node, wherein automatically deploying the detected node comprises automatically loading a software image onto the detected node to provide a computing environment for execution of user software applications.