Patent · US Active

Secure and automatic provisioning of computer systems having embedded network devices

US7831997B2 · kind B2 · utility

58Cited by
3References
54Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 22, 2006
Grant dateNov 9, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 9, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L63/168
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A provisioning method and mechanism for computer systems having embedded network devices. After an initial boot-up of a computer platform, an out-of-band (OOB) controller automatically connects to a corporate DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server to obtain an IP (Internet Protocol) address and a domain name in which the computer platform is running. The domain name is concatenated with a pre-defined host name to obtain a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) for a provisioning server. The OOB controller then establishes a TCP connection to the provisioning server. A server certificate chain received from the provisioning server is validated. An attempt to login to the provisioning server is made. If corporate security policy dictates granting access to the computer platform, then provisioning configuration data is received over a secure and encrypted channel.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.