Method for automatic bootstrapping environment using operating system and address of imaging location for remote node configuration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12566601-B2
Application number	US-202318504978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2023
Priority date	Nov 8, 2023
Publication date	Mar 3, 2026
Grant date	Mar 3, 2026

Abstract

A system and method for imaging a self-bootstrapping computing node includes booting, from a boot device, the computing node into a bootstrapping environment using a bootstrap operating system, where the bootstrap operating system is configured with an address of an imaging location, accessing the imaging location and receiving a software image for the computing node, and, imaging the computing node using the software image including installing another operating system on the computing node to boot from the boot device. Monitoring a status of the computing node's imaging operations using an application programming interface (API), monitoring a health status of the computing node, and enabling restart of the boot process upon failure (e.g., self-healing, self-recovery, etc.), is also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computing node comprising:
a boot device; at least one processor; at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions which, when executed are configured to cause the computing node to perform imaging operations comprising:
boot, from the boot device, the computing node into a bootstrapping environment using a bootstrap operating system, the bootstrap operating system configured with an address of an imaging location;
access the imaging location and receive a software image for the computing node; and
image the computing node using the software image including installing another operating system on the computing node to boot from the boot device.

2 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to:
monitor, based at least on an application programming interface (API) of the bootstrapping environment, a status of the imaging operations.

3 . The computing node of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to:
provide, using a graphical user interface, the status of the imaging operations based at least on the monitoring, wherein the status comprises one or more progress updates associated with the imaging operations.

4 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the imaging location is a URL using one or more schemes, including Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), or combinations thereof, and wherein the URL is accessible from the computing node without client authentication.

5 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the imaging location is a URL and points to a JavaScript object notation (JSON) file provided to the computing node.

6 . The computing node of claim 3 , wherein the one or more progress updates are stored on one or more files, wherein at least one of the one or more files is accessible via the API of the bootstrapping environment, and wherein one or more log files may comprise the one or more progress updates.

7 . The computing node of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to:
monitor the status of the imaging operations; and based on determining that the imaging operations have failed, restart the boot process to image the computing node.

8 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to:
monitor a health status of the computing node; based on determining the computing node is in a failsafe state, restart the boot process to image the computing node.

9 . The computing node of claim 7 , wherein failure of the imaging operations is caused by one or more of a failure to access the imaging location and receive the software image for the computing node, accessing an incorrect imaging location, accessing an incorrect software image for the computing node, or combinations thereof.

10 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to:
upon completion of installing the another operating system on the computing node to boot from the boot device, cause the computing node to join one or more other computing nodes as a plurality of computing nodes.

11 . The computing node of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of computing nodes comprises the one or more other computing nodes and the computing node, and wherein each node of the plurality of computing nodes is configured to perform one or more functions, including a distributed file server function, a backup system function, or a combination thereof.

12 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computing node to:
upon completion of installing the another operating system on the computing node to boot from the boot device, cause the computing node to operate without joining one or more other computing nodes.

13 . The computing node of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of nodes is a cluster of nodes.

14 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the software image comprises the another operating system and wherein the boot device comprises a solid-state drive (SSD), hard disk drive (HDD), non-volatile memory express (NVMe), or combinations thereof.

15 . The computing node of claim 2 , wherein the API is a REST API, an RPC API, a GraphQL API, or combinations thereof.

16 . The computing node of claim 1 , wherein the image location is at a filer location.

17 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computing node in a computing system, cause the computing node to:
boot, from a boot device, the computing node into a bootstrapping environment using a bootstrap operating system, wherein the bootstrap operating system is configured with an address of an imaging location comprising another operating system; access, by the computing node, the imaging location and receiving a software image for the computing node comprising the another operating system; and image, by the computing node, the computing node using the software image, the imaging including installing the another operating system on the computing node to boot from the boot device.

18 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , the computing node further caused to monitor, based at least on an application programming interface (API) of the bootstrapping environment, a status of the imaging operations.

19 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , the computing node further caused to provide, using a graphical user interface, the status of the imaging operations based at least on the monitoring, wherein the status comprises one or more progress updates associated with the imaging operations.

20 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the imaging location is a URL using one or more schemes, including Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), or combinations thereof, and wherein the URL is accessible from the computing node without client authentication.

21 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the imaging location is a URL and points to a JavaScript object notation (JSON) file provided to the computing node.

22 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the one or more progress updates are stored on one or more files, wherein at least one of the one or more files is accessible via the API of the bootstrapping environment, and wherein one or more log files may comprise the one or more progress updates.

23 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , the computing node further caused to:
monitor the status of the imaging operations; and based on determining that the imaging operations have failed, restart the boot process to image the computing node.

24 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , the computing node further caused to:
monitor a health status of the computing node; based on determining the computing node is in a failsafe state, restart the bo

Assignees

• Nutanix Inc

Inventors

• Adusumilli Monica
• Varghese Toms
• Sidhartha Kumar
• Patidar Amritesh

Classifications

• G06F9/4406 Primary

  Loading of operating system · CPC title

• G06F9/4416

  Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL] · CPC title

• G06F8/63 Primary

  Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order · CPC title