Patent ID: 9317268
Filing Date: 2016-04-19
CPC Classification: G06F

Claim Text:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a request to install one of a plurality of different operating systems on one of a plurality of heterogeneous target machines, two or more of which comprise different hardware environments, the request comprising a name of the operating system to be installed and a name of the target machine; selecting, by a controller and based on the name of the operating system and the name of the target machine in the received request, a corresponding interface driver from a set of interface drivers coupled to the controller, each interface driver in the set being associated with a different operating system type and a different target machine type that a user may request to be installed, and each interface driver being a set of executable instructions specific to one of the different operating systems and one of the heterogeneous target machines, the set of executable instructions in the interface drivers providing a common set of commands for the controller to communicate with the plurality of different operating systems and the plurality of heterogeneous target machines; invoking, by the controller, the corresponding interface driver; issuing, via the corresponding interface driver invoked by the controller, one or more of the common set of commands to the target machine named in the request to install the operating system named in the request on the target machine; and wherein issuing, via the corresponding interface driver invoked by the controller, one or more of the common set of commands to the target machine to install the named operating system further comprises: determining an installation type of the operating system named in the request from a table that associates the name of the operating system in the received request and an associated install type, the associated install type being one of at least a scripted type or an image type; when the table indicates the installation type is a scripted type, sending to the target machine, a location of a scripted installer for the operating system to be installed; and when the table indicates the installation type is an image-based type, loading the operating system on the target machine, wherein the operating system comprises a plurality of imaging tools.