On-the-fly trivial file transfer protocol

Details On-the-fly trivial file transfer protocol On-the-fly trivial file transfer protocol

1998-12-07

2001-01-02

Vu, Viet D. (Department: 2758)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput

Network computer configuring

C709S228000, C709S230000, C709S250000, C713S002000

Utility Patent

active

06170008

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the field of building boot files in a network server using network specific and client specific parameters encoded in a standard protocol request.
BACKGROUND ART
The use of a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) and boot files began with the “classic” Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP). In classic BOOTP, when a client logs on a network, it is directed to a TFTP server for downloading of a boot file that is unique for that client. The TFTP server receives requests from the clients, looks up the clients in a table, and if there is a match the TFTP server downloads the contents of the boot file to the client. The boot files usually reside in the TFTP home directory. As the number of computer networks and the number of clients on each network expands, the classic BOOTP approach creates a bottleneck. Not only are the boot files unique to the client, they are also unique to the network the client is using. This means that for each client, and for each network that the client can log onto, there must be one unique boot file. The sum of all of the individual boot files can require a large amount of storage in the server.
Analysis of the boot files used in classic BOOTP has shown that all of the clients in the same class of service on the same network have identical configuration information. This permits all of the clients in one service class on one network to have their configuration information stored as a single shared boot file. The server then downloads the shared boot file according to the network and service class that the client came from. Additional server storage reductions can be achieved using a standard naming convention for the shared boot files, and storing them in a directory structure that is unique for each network and/or each class of service.
The shared boot file approach is susceptible to scaling problems associated with updates in the number of networks, the number of service classes, the number of features within a service class, new network equipment, and redundancy requirements. Increases in the number of networks cause an increase in the number of shared boot files that the TFTP servers must store. Likewise, an increase in the number of service classes causes an increase in the number of shared boot files. Where the number of features available to the client increases, the size of each file supporting the new features increases, thus requiring even more storage in the TFTP server. In addition, the server administrators must retool the code that creates the boot files from the shared boot files to enable each new release of features for the clients. New network equipment operating according to new standards also requires the creation of new support files. Finally, where the clients require redundant TFTP servers, the server administrators must synchronize the files in each TFTP server so that all of the servers have the same version of the files. All these situations require either additional hard drive space to be added to the TFTP servers and/or additional administrative efforts to account for any expansions or changes.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present invention provides a network server, and a method for building a boot file in response to a standard protocol request. Network specific and client specific parameters necessary to build the boot file are encoded into the path name and file name of the standard protocol request respectively. A special character in the standard protocol request triggers the network server to decode the parameters from the standard protocol request and then use the decoded parameters to build the boot file on-the-fly.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a network server and method for building a boot file in response to a standard protocol request. Another object of the present invention is that the standard protocol request has a special character, one or more network specific parameters, and one or more client specific parameters. Another object of the invention is to check for the special character in the request. Another object of the invention is to extract the network specific and client specific parameters from the request. Another object is to provide server configuration information which contains additional parameters. The client specific parameters are then used to index additional parameters from a server configuration information. Still another object of the present invention is the assembling of the boot file using the network specific parameters, the client specific parameters, and the additional parameters.
These and other objects, features and advantages will be readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5790548 (1998-08-01), Sistanizadeh et al.
patent: 5974547 (1999-10-01), Klimenko
patent: 6070187 (2000-05-01), Subramaniam et al.

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