System and method for performing an image-based update

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10795688-B2
Application number	US-201816042399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2018
Priority date	Jul 23, 2018
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

A target device operating on a first operating system can receive an incremental update for a second operating system and store in a first data set a snapshot of the second the second operating system based on the incremental update. The target device may then export an image of the second operating system to a second data set and boot into the second image. The target device may receive operating system updates, build operating system images in the background, and boot into the updated operating system when the process is complete. Storing snapshots of the incremental updates and previous operating system images allows for reversion to old operating systems.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of updating an operating system on a target device using incremental updates, comprising:
storing, in a target device memory a first operating system image according to a first file system on the target device;
storing, in the target device memory, a snapshot of the first operating system image in a target-device-held series of snapshots according to a second file system on the target device that is snapshot capable;
receiving, by the target device and from a remote storage device, data equivalent to a snapshot of a second operating system image, the second operating system image being an image of an updated version of the first operating system image;
forming the snapshot of second operating system image from the data equivalent to the snapshot of the second operating system image;
storing, in the target device, the snapshot of the second operating system image in the target-device-held series of snapshots according to the second file system on the target device;
exporting, to the target device memory, a second operating system image containing data representative of the snapshot of the second operating system image;
storing, in the target device memory the second operating system image according to the first file system on the target device; and
booting the target device using the second operating system image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the equivalent data of the snapshot of the second operating system image is an incremental operating system update representative of a difference between the snapshot of the first operating system image and the snapshot of the second operating system image.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the forming the snapshot of the second operating system image comprises snapshotting the incremental operating system update and at least some of the data associated with the snapshot of the first operating system image.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising copying user configurations from the first operating system image to the second operating system image according to the first file system on the target device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first file system on the target device is not a snapshot-capable operating system.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining, in the target-device-held series of snapshots the snapshot of the first operating system image and the snapshot of the second operating system image representing pairwise differences between the first operating system image and the second operating system image.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storing, in the target device memory the second operating system image includes maintaining data blocks representative of the first operating system image in the first file system on the target device.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining the success of the boot of the target device using the second operating system image; and
on the condition of determining an unsuccessful boot of the target device, booting the target device using the first operating system image.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, during a target device check-in, a notification that the target device is scheduled to receive equivalent data of the snapshot of the second operating system image from a plurality of snapshots of a plurality of operating system images stored on the remote storage device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting, to the remote storage device, information identifying the operating system version of the first operating system image.

11. A method of updating an operating system on a target device using incremental updates, comprising:
storing, in a target device first data set a first operating system image;
storing, in a target device second data set, a snapshot of the first operating system image comprising a first set of data blocks representing the first operating system image and information pointing to the first set of data blocks;
receiving, by the target device and from a remote storage device, data equivalent to a snapshot of a second operating system image, wherein the second operating system image is an image of an updated version of the first operating system image and wherein the data equivalent to a snapshot of the second operating system image includes at least one additional data block representing one or more pairwise differences between the snapshot of the first operating system image and the snapshot of the second operating system image;
forming the snapshot of second operating system image from the data equivalent to the snapshot of the second operating system image, wherein the snapshot of the second operating system image comprises at least one of the blocks in the first set of data blocks and the at least one additional data block;
storing, in the target device second data set, the snapshot of the second operating system image;
exporting, to the target device first data set, a second operating system image containing data representative of the snapshot of the second operating system image;
storing, in the target device first data set the second operating system image; and
booting the target device using the second operating system image.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the equivalent data of the snapshot of the second operating system image is an incremental operating system update, and the equivalent data of the snapshot of the second operating system image further comprises information identifying the blocks to be included in the snapshot of the second operating system image.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the forming the snapshot of the second operating system image comprises snapshotting at least one of the blocks in the first set of data blocks and the at least one additional data block based on the information identifying the blocks to be included in the snapshot of the second operating system image.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising copying user configurations from the first operating system image to the second operating system image according to the target device first data set.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the target device first data set is stored according to a file system that is not a snapshot-capable file system.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the target device second data set is stored according to a file system that is a snapshot-capable file system.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising maintaining, in the target device second data set the snapshot of the first operating system image and the snapshot of the second operating system image.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the storing, in the target device first data set the second operating system image includes maintaining blocks representative of the first operating system image in the target device first data set.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
determining of the boot of the target device using the second operating system image was successful; and
on the condition of determining an unsuccessful boot of the target device, booting the target device using the first operating system image.

20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving, during a target device check-in, a notification that the target device is scheduled to receive equivalent data of the snapshot of the second operating system image from a plurality of snapshots of a plurality of operating system images stored on the remote storage device.

Assignees

• Datto Inc

Inventors

• Roland John
• Kosie Chad
• Heckel Philipp

Classifications

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F9/441 Primary

  Multiboot arrangements, i.e. selecting an operating system to be loaded · CPC title

• G06F8/658 Primary

  Incremental updates; Differential updates · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title