Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support – Digital data processing system initialization or configuration
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-30
2004-06-08
Lee, Thomas (Department: 2116)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support
Digital data processing system initialization or configuration
C713S002000, C713S100000, C709S220000, C709S221000, C709S222000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06748525
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling requests for boot programs to a server computer system by a plurality of client computer systems in a remotely controlled boot environment. Specifically, the invention provides for a priority boot, a paced boot or a combination priority and paced boot enabled by a remotely controlled boot process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A computer or computer system, when turned on, must be prepared for operation by loading an operating system. In the normal operation of a single computer system, when a user issues a boot command to the computer, the computer responds to the boot command by attempting to retrieve the operating system files from the computer systems memory. Configuration data files are also needed to configure the specific machine with the hardware parameters necessary for the specific hardware configuration. These files also contain information needed to initialize video adapters, printers, and peripherals associated with the particular machine. For example, the files would include CONFIG.SYS in the MS-DOS operating system, available from MICROSOFT Corporation.
Computers or computer systems can be connected in a network normally consisting of a client workstation, a server and a central network. In a system where the computer's storage is maintained when the power is turned off, the operating system can be stored in the computer itself In a system where the computer has only storage that is lost when the power is turned off, the computer cannot retrieve the boot information from within the computer itself In that case, the client sends a request for the operating system files via the network to the server acting as a boot server. Even when the client workstation has non-volatile storage capability, it is advantageous to boot from the server because memory space is saved in the workstation computer. As operating system and application programs expand to provide new and greater capabilities, booting from a server can be highly advantageous.
Remote booting of a client workstation from a server is known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,011 discloses a method for booting a local workstation from a server where the network is established by sending the operating system to the workstation when the power is turned on at the local workstation. The local workstation then boots from the transferred operating system which is now in its memory. U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,210 discloses a method for booting the local workstation where the operating system is transferred to the local workstation by the server in response to the first interruption produced by a terminal after it is turned on.
Several methods of remote booting exist in the marketplace. One is called Remote Initial Program Load (RIPL). RIPL is the process of loading an operating system onto a workstation from a remote location. The RIPL protocol was co-developed by 3Com, Microsoft, and IBM. It is used today with IBM OS/2 Warp Server, DEC Pathworks, and Windows NT. Two other commonly used Remote IPL protocols are a Novell NCP (NetWare Core Protocol), and BOOT-P, an IEEE standard, used with UNIX and TCP/IP networks.
RIPL is achieved using a combination of hardware and software. The requesting device, called the requester or workstation, starts up by asking the loading device to send it a bootstrap program. The loading device is another computer that has a hard disk and is called the RIPL server or file server. The RIPL server uses a loader program to send the bootstrap program to the workstation. Once the workstation receives the bootstrap program, it is then equipped to request an operating system, which in turn can request and use application programs. The software implementations differ between vendors, but theoretically, they all perform similar functions and go through a similar process. The client workstation requires a special Read Only Memory (ROM) installed on its (Local Area Network) LAN adapter or Network Interface Card (NIC). The special ROM is known generally as a remote boot ROM, but two specific examples of remote boot chips are the RIPL chip, which supports ANSI/IEEE standard 802.2, and the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) chip, which is used in the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) environment.
While the process has many advantages for booting a computer that has volatile storage, such as a network computer, the computer is required to have a remote boot ROM on the LAN adapter or Network Interface Card (NIC). The remote boot ROM requirement does not allow any user interaction with the remote boot process. U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,530 discloses a remote boot process that does not require a remote boot ROM on the LAN adapter or NIC.
Existing boot manager configurations allow different partitions to be booted based on the user's choice from a menu at machine start time. The selection criteria for the menu is hard coded on the local machine hard drive. Therefore, changes to the boot manager configuration must be done locally at the machine and normally require a reboot post configuration, a very tedious process in a large enterprise environment involving thousands of machines.
Therefore, a need exists for a remotely controlled boot manager which would allow the administrator to change the boot manager configuration remotely, from a server, and have the workstation pick up those changes every boot. Administrators could then configure items such as what to boot, timeout values, and defaults from a server rather than at the local machine. Thus, a need exists for an apparatus and method in a LAN/WAN environment for remote administration of workstation boot choices.
Workstations that boot across a network such as RIPL or PX)E can create a high demand on the boot server. This demand can over stress the boot server and flood the network causing congestion. A need exists for a way to stagger the booting of these workstations. In other words, a need exists for a method and apparatus to delay the booting of some workstations while others are allowed to boot in order to minimize the incident of peak loads, thus relieving the load on the boot servers and the network congestion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention meeting the needs identified above is a Controlled Network Boot Process which provides an apparatus and method to allow a server in a LAN environment to control the boot requests from client machines to eliminate congestion on the network. Using the RIPL/PXE Emulation software, it is possible to control the workstations RIPL/PXE process. Just prior to sending out the RIPL Request or the start of the PXE process, the Controlled Network Boot Process (CNBP) would send a frame to a process, on another machine, responsible for monitoring and maintaining a staggered boot sequence. This “server” sided process of the CNBP would be responsible for understanding how to maintain a staggered boot order and would respond to each workstation request appropriately. Additionally, the controlling server can display a menu to the user at the client machine informing the user of the status of the boot activity. The invention is enabled by the Remotely Controlled Boot (RCB) process which comprises a set of programs at the workstation which interacts with the BOOTCONTROL program at the server.
The RCB programs at the workstation allow a remote boot and interaction with the server sided process of the CNBP called BOOTCONTROL. Instructions from a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) ROM are executed to load a Boot Code Loader (BCL) from a nonvolatile, read/write memory, such as a diskette or hard disk. The BCL executes to load a Remote Control Program (RCP) from the diskette, and the RCP executes to load a message program, a protocol manager and/or device drivers from the diskette without loading an operating system. The message program and/or device drivers communicate with a program called BOOTCONTROL in the network server. The program will interface with an NDIS compliant Network Interface Card (NIC) to send out a disc
Hubacher Kenneth
Sposato Dennis
Theiller Philip C.
Mims Jr. David A.
Siegesmund Rudolf O.
Trujillo James K.
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