Patent Application
20050125524
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling systems and, more particularly, to an improved method and apparatus for storing and disseminating software using a cache memory on a factory server used in the manufacturing of information handling systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes, thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of information handling systems that are manufactured based on a “build to order” process that allows a customer to specify specific hardware and software options. In “build to order” manufacturing systems, the operating system and other software files are stored as groups of compressed (“ZIP”) files that are organized according to software part numbers (sometimes referred to herein as “SRVs”). Each of the software part numbers is assigned a shell script (top script), and each of these scripts contains the names of corresponding ZIP files to download. A typical operating system file is approximately 500-650 megabytes, while a base image size is approximately 1-2 gigabytes. Different operating systems, multiple language versions and their related service packs can add up to several gigabytes of memory. These large file sizes cause problems with regard to the size of the cache required in a factory server used for manufacturing. In addition, the larger files require more download time, which in turn, results in longer “burn” time for each system in the manufacturing process.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a method and apparatus to minimize the size of files that must be stored in the cache of a server used in a “build to order” process for manufacturing information handling systems. Such a system is provided by the present invention, as described hereinbelow.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a method and apparatus for minimizing the size of the cache that is required to store software packages on a factory server for installation on an information handling system manufactured using a built-to-order system. In an embodiment of the invention, a plurality of software applications are received and are disassembled to separate the individual constituent program files. These program files are decompressed and are stored in temporary file directories. Program files that are common to each of the software applications are identified and indexed. After the file analysis, the files are regrouped and a stored as a new set of compressed (ZIP) files. Once the new set of ZIP files has been created, the top level scripts for the software application images are updated for use with the new ZIP files to allow the desired combinations of software applications to be regenerated. The new ZIP files are then loaded into the factory servers for use in manufacturing information handling systems.
The method and apparatus of the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by minimizing the amount of cache memory needed for the factory server used in the build to order system. In addition, the present invention significantly reduces the amount of “burn” time needed in the manufacturing of information handling systems, thereby resulting in increased throughput for the factory.
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.
Because different families of information handling systems and different individual computer components require different software installation, it is necessary to determine which software to install on a target information handling system 120. A descriptor file 130 is provided by converting an order 110, which corresponds to a desired information handling system having desired components, into a computer readable format via conversion module 132.
Component descriptors are computer readable descriptions of the components of target information handling system 120 which components are defined by the order 110. In an embodiment of the present invention, the component descriptors are included in a descriptor file called a system descriptor record which is a computer readable file containing a listing of the components, both hardware and software, to be installed onto target information handling system 120. Having read the plurality of component descriptors, database server 140 provides a plurality of software components corresponding to the component descriptors to file server 142 over network connection 144. Network connections 144 may be any network connection well-known in the art, such as a local area network, an intranet, or the internet. The information contained in database server 140 is often updated such that the database contains a new factory build environment. The software is then installed on the target information handling system 120. The software installation is controlled by a software installation management server, discussed in greater detail below, that is operable to control the installation of the operating system and other software packages specified by a customer.
For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
Typically, the software applications 302, 304, and 306 are supplied by vendors in a compressed format, such as a “ZIP” file, wherein the various program files are compressed. In the method and apparatus of the present invention, the software applications, 302, 304, and 306 are initially disassembled and each of the program files are decompressed or “un-ZIPped.”
The repack and script regeneration server 612 compares the individual program files with the existing files in the composite program library indexed and stored in the archive server 614. If an individual program file already exists in the composite program file library, that file is discarded to reduce the redundancy. The repack and script regeneration server 612 establishes a reference in the shell script for that software application to the file in the composite program file library. That file is already available on the download server 616 as well.
The repack and script regeneration server 612 also constructs an index of the program files contained in each of the software applications 302, 304, 306. This index and the related program files are used to construct a composite program file image library that is transferred to the download server 616, which includes a software image cache 617. The composite program file image library contains one copy of each of the unique program files but, as discussed herein, all of the redundant copies of the program files have been removed. The program files, e.g., program files A, B, . . . , G, assembled into the composite program file library 308, as discussed hereinabove, are stored in the software image cache 617 to decrease the time required to access these files, thereby improving the performance of the “build to order” system.
The repack and script regeneration server 612 generates top level factory scripts for each of the program files to produce “factory installable bits” corresponding to the various software applications. These “factory installable bits” are then transferred to the download server 616. Copies of the program file images are also transferred to an archive server 614. The repack and script regeneration server 612 then generates a signal authorizing the script and installation validation server 618 to generate appropriate commands to control downloading of software application to the target information handling system 120. The results of the installation are monitored by the server 618 and results are communicated to the software dissemination server 608 while the actual software images are downloaded by the download server 616 onto the hard drive or other storage media of the target information handling system 120.
After the software images have been downloaded to the target information handling system 120, tests are performed by a test validation sever 620 which performs a series of tests to confirm that the software images have been properly installed and that the operational integrity of the software package is satisfactory. The results of the test performed by the test validation server 620 are communicated to the software dissemination server 608 which is operable to generate a status report for viewing by a program manager 622.
Testing of the software can be accomplished using the system and methods described in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/267,513, filed on Oct. 9, 2002, entitled “Method and System for Test Management,” which by this reference is incorporated for all purposes.
Other embodiments are within the following claims.
For example, the above-discussed embodiments include software modules that perform certain tasks. The software modules discussed may include script, batch, or other executable files. The software modules may be stored on a machine-readable or computer-readable storage medium such as a disk drive. Storage devices used for storing software modules may be magnetic floppy disks, hard disks, or optical discs such as CD-ROMs or CD-Rs, for example. A storage device used for storing firmware or hardware modules may also include a semiconductor-based memory, which may be permanently, removably or remotely coupled to a microprocessor memory system. Thus, the modules may be stored within a computer system memory to configure the computer system to perform the functions of the module. Other new and various types of computer-readable storage media may be used to store the modules discussed herein. Consequently, the invention is intended to be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims, giving full cognizance to equivalents in all respects.
Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
