System and method for cloud remediation of a client with a non-bootable storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9792168-B2
Application number	US-201514687357-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2015
Priority date	Apr 15, 2015
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

A remediation server receives a service request from a data processing device, the service request to diagnose a failure to load an operating system at the data processing device. A data storage device local to data processing device is identified, the data storage device storing the operating system. A diagnostic process is provided at the remediation server, the diagnostic process to mount the data storage device. A diagnostic service is performed based on information stored at the data storage device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving at a remediation server a service request from a data processing device located remotely from the remediation server, the service request to diagnose a failure to load an operating system at the data processing device;
identifying at the remediation server a data storage device local to the data processing device, the data storage device storing the operating system;
providing a diagnostic process at the remediation server, the diagnostic process to mount the data storage device;
generating at the remediation server a software module including instructions executable by the data processing device to enable the remediation server to remotely mount the data storage device;
providing the software module to the data processing device;
mounting the data storage device over an Internet protocol compliant network; and
performing a diagnostic service based on information stored at the data storage device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service request is generated by firmware at the data processing device during initialization of the data processing device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a first request at the remediation server, the first request soliciting mount information from the data processor device; and
receiving the mount information at the remediation server.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a report documenting a result of the diagnostic service.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising mounting the data storage device using an Internet Small Computer System Interface.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operating system failed to load twice in successive attempts.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising mounting the data storage device as a block device.

8. A system comprising:
a data processing device; and
a remediation server located remotely from the data processing device, the remediation server communicatively coupled to the data processing device by a network, the remediation server to:
receive a service request from the data processing device, the service request to diagnose a failure to load an operating system at the data processing device;
identify a data storage device local to the data processing device, the data storage device storing the operating system;
provide a diagnostic process at the remediation server, the diagnostic process to mount the data storage device;
generate a software module including instructions executable by the data processing device to enable the remediation server to remotely mount the data storage device;
provide the software module to the data processing device;
mount the data storage device over an Internet protocol compliant network; and
perform a diagnostic service based on information stored at the data storage device.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the service request is generated by firmware at the data processing device during initialization of the data processing device.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the remediation server is further to:
generate a first request soliciting mount information from the data processor device; and
receive the mount information from the data processing device.

11. The system of claim 8 , further comprising mounting the data storage device as a block device.

12. A method comprising:
identifying at a data processing device a failure to load an operating system, the operating system stored at a data storage device included at the data processing device;
issuing a service request to a remediation server located remotely from the data processing device, the service request to determine a cause of the failure;
receiving from the remediation server a software module including instructions executable by the data processing device to enable the remediation server to remotely mount the data storage device;
receiving at the data processing device a request from the remediation server to remotely mount the data storage device to perform diagnostic services;
enabling at the data processing device mounting of the data storage device over an Internet protocol compliant network by the remediation server; and
receiving at the data processing device a diagnostic report from the remediation server documenting results of the diagnostic services.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the service request is generated by firmware at the data processing device during initialization of the data processing device.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising mounting the data storage device as a block device.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a first request from the remediation server, the first request soliciting mount information from the data processor device; and
providing the mount information to the remediation server.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Boyapalle Anantha
• Lo Yuan-Chang
• Swierk Todd E
• Andrews Carlton A

Classifications

• G06F11/2284

  by power-on test, e.g. power-on self test [POST] · CPC title

• G06F11/0748

  in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault (remote testing G06F11/2294) · CPC title

• G06F11/0793

  Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40) · CPC title

• G06F11/079 Primary

  Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis (in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36) · CPC title

• G06F11/22

  Detection or location of defective computer hardware by testing during standby operation or during idle time, e.g. start-up testing · CPC title