Patent ID: 7350201

Claim:
A method of distributing software configurations in a data processing system, wherein the method comprises: embedding a configuration agent for interacting with the configuration server into each operating system image to be installed on a pristine target computer, defining a configuration element for an operating system on a configuration server, wherein the configuration element is an operating system element that specifies properties of the operating system on a pristine server, defining an action plan on the configuration server for applying the configuration element to a pristine target computer, associating the pristine target computer with an image of the operating system on the pristine server in response to a submission of the action plan such that the pristine server installs the associated image of the operating system and the configuration agent on the pristine target computer to form an endpoint target computer, defining at least one further action for installing a software product on each endpoint target computer, detecting a connection of the configuration agent of the endpoint target computer to the configuration server, enabling submission of the at least one further action in response to detection of the connection, and instructing the configuration agent of the endpoint target computer to install the corresponding software product in response to a submission of the at least one further action.