Patent ID: 7437545

Claim:
A program of executable code stored in Random Access Memory (RAM) and executed by a Central Processing Unit (CPU) to perform operations to autonomically configure a data storage device, the operations comprising: storing configuration data on a remote storage system, the configuration data comprising operating systems, applications and updates for multiple users with single instances of shared operating systems, applications and updates and an index of which operating systems, applications and updates are used on a next configuration of a data storage device; booting a computer system from an alternate boot program other than the regular boot program, the alternate boot program downloading a root file system through a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) and executing a kernel operating system through the TFTP, the alternate boot program providing access to a network in electronic communication with the remote storage system; and configuring the data storage device that is in electrical communication with the computer system using the stored operating systems, applications and updates in response to the index on the remote storage system.