Patent ID: 8381264

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for preventing a host machine from accessing a provisioning system during reboot, comprising: under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, receiving a request from a user, the request capable of being processed by providing the user with native access to a host machine; provisioning a customer on at least one of a plurality of host machines using at least one provisioning system on a network; before the customer has access to perform operations on any provisioned host machine, directing at least one network switch along any communications path between the at least one provisioned host machine and the at least one provisioning system to disable communications between each provisioned host machine and each provisioning system for the duration of the time the user is utilizing the at least one host machine and while maintaining access to other communication paths of the network, wherein the user is unable to access the at least one provisioning system during a reboot of any of the at least one provisioned host machine; and after the customer is no longer provisioned on the at least one host machine, directing the at least one network switch between the at least one provisioned host machine and the at least one provisioning system to enable communications between each provisioned host machine and each provisioning system.