Patent ID: 7774774

Claim:
A machine readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method to set up software installed on a storage device of the data processing system, the method comprising: automatically searching in a plurality of locations for a configuration information that includes one or more parameters to configure the software that includes determining whether a first portion of the configuration information is at a first location based on a first identification data of the data processing system, wherein the first identification data include first identifications that are unique to the data processing system and second identifications that are not unique to the data processing system, wherein the second identifications have lower priorities than the first identifications in the searching, wherein the configuration information associated with the first identifications is configured to overwrite at least a portion of the configuration information associated with the second identifications, wherein the first identifications include a hardware serial number, an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, a hostname, a hardware address, or any combination thereof, and the second identifications include a subnet mask, a generic identification associated with a plurality of data processing systems, or any combination thereof; continuing the searching in one or more second locations for a second portion of the configuration information based on a second identification of the data processing system; and configuring the software installed on the storage device of the data processing system for operation of the data processing system according to the one or more parameters contained in the configuration information found in at least one of the plurality of locations.