Patent ID: 7783727

Claim:
A system for automatically configuring a diskless host computer upon being physically connected to a network, comprising: at least one diskless host computer that automatically boots an operating system as a result of being connected to the network, wherein the diskless host computer was not previously connected to the network; a storage system on which are stored a plurality of host configurations, each configuration including an operating system; a switch coupled to each diskless host computer and having a plurality of ports, each port coupled to the storage system; and a control station computer configured for: monitoring for receipt a World Wide Name (WWN) transmitted by the diskless host computer to the switch in accordance with a Fibre Channel log-in protocol, accessing, in response to receiving the WWN, a database comprising a correspondence between a WWN of each of a plurality of diskless host computers and a configuration associated with the corresponding diskless host computer in order to look up a configuration corresponding to the received WWN transmitted by the diskless host computer, said configuration identifying the operating system associated with the diskless host computer, and directing the switch to provide the diskless host computer access to a storage device on which the operating system identified in the configuration is stored; wherein the storage system is configured to copy the operating system to the storage device, to which the switch provides the diskless host computer with access, from another device of the storage system, said another device configured to maintain an unaltered copy of the operating system; and wherein the database comprises a correspondence between a WWN of at least one diskless host computer not previously connected to the network and a configuration associated with the corresponding diskless host computer.