Operating system update management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11334338-B2
Application number	US-201916403649-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 6, 2019
Priority date	Jan 25, 2019
Publication date	May 17, 2022
Grant date	May 17, 2022

Abstract

Various examples are described for operating system update management. In some examples, an OS update schedule is generated. The OS update schedule specifies an OS update for a plurality of client devices. A command to deploy the OS update is transmitted to a subset of the client devices. Update behavior data is received from the client devices that have applied the OS update. An analysis of the update behavior data correlates an update incompatibility with the OS update. The OS update is prevented from being deployed to additional client devices specified in the OS update schedule.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
at least one computing device comprising at least one processor; and a memory storing executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one computing device to at least:
generate a user interface comprising an operating system (OS) deployment forecast graph of an OS update schedule that specifies an OS update for a plurality of client devices, wherein the OS deployment forecast graph is based on a history of deployments of previous OS updates;
transmit, to a first subset of the plurality of client devices, a command to deploy the OS update;
receive, from updated client devices comprising the first subset of the plurality of client devices, update behavior data associated with the OS update;
perform an analysis of the update behavior data that correlates an update incompatibility with the OS update, the update incompatibility specifying at least one of an application and a driver that is incompatible with the OS update, wherein the at least one of the application and the driver is identified as incompatible based on a threshold percentage of a set of the updated client devices that include the at least one of the application and the driver being correlated with updated behavior values that differ from a baseline behavior value;
prevent the OS update from being deployed to a second subset of the plurality of client devices specified by the OS update schedule; and
update the generated user interface to include an actual OS deployment graph, the OS deployment forecast graph, a release date indicator for an updated OS version included in the OS update, and an end-of-support date indicator for an OS version that is updated by the OS update, the actual OS deployment graph comprising an actual number of device updates over time between the release date indicator and the end-of-support date indicator.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the analysis identifies the update incompatibility based on a threshold number of application crashes.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:
receive client device identifiers for the first subset of the plurality of client devices, device data specifying the at least one of the application and the driver, wherein the update behavior data for the first subset of the plurality of client devices comprises the client device identifiers; and
identify the set of the updated client devices that include the at least one of the application and the driver based on the client device identifiers.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second subset of the plurality of client devices are selected for prevention of the OS update based on including the at least one of the application and the driver that is incompatible with the OS update.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:
identify a compatible version of the application;
transmit, to a client device, a command to install the compatible version of the application; and
deploy the OS update to the client device once the update incompatibility is resolved.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:
determine that a number of deployments of the OS update is behind a predetermined number of deployments indicated in the OS update schedule.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:
generate a user interface comprising: an indication that the OS update is prevented from being deployed to the second subset of the plurality of client devices, and an indication of at least one of: an availability of an updated application that resolves the update incompatibility, or an availability of an updated driver that resolves the update incompatibility.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause at least one computing device to at least:
generate a user interface comprising an operating system (OS) deployment forecast graph of an OS update schedule that specifies an OS update for a plurality of client devices, wherein the OS deployment forecast graph is based on a history of deployments of previous OS updates;
transmit, to a first subset of the plurality of client devices, a command to deploy the OS update;
receive, from updated client devices comprising the first subset of the plurality of client devices, update behavior data associated with the OS update;
perform an analysis of the update behavior data that correlates an update incompatibility with the OS update, the update incompatibility specifying at least one of an application and a driver that is incompatible with the OS update, wherein the at least one of the application and the driver is identified as incompatible based on a threshold percentage of a set of the updated client devices that include the at least one of the application and the driver being correlated with updated behavior values that differ from a baseline behavior value;
prevent the OS update from being deployed to a second subset of the plurality of client devices specified by the OS update schedule; and
update the generated user interface to include an actual OS deployment graph the OS deployment forecast graph, a release date indicator for an updated OS version included in the OS update, and an end-of-support date indicator for an OS version that is updated by the OS update, the actual OS deployment graph comprising an actual number of device updates over time between the release date indicator and the end-of-support date indicator.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the analysis identifies the update incompatibility based on a threshold number of unexpected operating system reboots.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:
receive client device identifiers for the first subset of the plurality of client devices, device data specifying the at least one of the application and the driver, wherein the update behavior data for the first subset of the plurality of client devices comprises the client device identifiers; and
identify the set of the updated client devices that include the at least one of the application and the driver based on the client device identifiers.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the second subset of the plurality of client devices are selected for prevention of the OS update based on including the at least one of the application and the driver that is incompatible with the OS update.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:
identify a compatible version of the application;
transmit, to a client device, a command to install the compatible version of the application; and
deploy the OS update to the client device once the update incompatibility is resolved.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause th

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Murthy Varun
• Roszak Jason
• Bhatnagar Saransh
• Regula Kalyan
• Shantharam Shravan
• Watts Blake
• Kelley Scott

Classifications

• G06F11/302

  where the computing system component is a software system · CPC title

• G06F11/004 Primary

  Error avoidance (G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/0709

  in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems · CPC title

• G06F11/1433

  during software upgrading · CPC title

• G06F2201/81

  Threshold · CPC title