Patent ID: 7631038

Claim:
A server in a networked environment for installing an operating system boot image on a client in the networked environment, said operating system boot image specific for a configuration of the client, said configuration of the client different from a configuration of at least one other client of a plurality of clients in the networked environment, said server comprising: one or more computer readable storage media for storing a network component and a plurality of application components; the network component, said network component receiving a first packet from the client in the networked environment, said first packet relating to selecting and installing the operating system boot image, said first packet comprising operating system information about the configuration of the client; and the plurality of application components, each of the plurality of application components configured with application logic for a different configuration of the client, said network component selecting one of the application components as a function of the configuration of the client as indicated by the operating system information in the first packet, said selected application component receiving the first packet from the network component, said selected application component parsing the first packet and generating a response to the parsed packet, said generated response comprising the specific operating system boot image for the determined configuration of the client wherein the generated boot image is not a pre-existing image stored in memory, said application component transmitting the response to the network component, wherein the network component formats the transmitted application response into a second packet and transmits said second packet to the client via the networked environment, said second packet executable by the client for selecting and installing the specific operating system boot image on the client.