US-20260126978-A1 - USING CONTAINERS ON NETWORK DEVICES FOR PROVISIONING COMPUTING DEVICES AT EDGE SITES

Abstract

In certain examples, a method includes detecting, by a network device, that a computing device at an edge site requires provisioning; obtaining, by the network device, identifying information corresponding to the computing device from the computing device; providing, by the network device, the identifying information to a cloud service device; receiving, from the cloud service device and at a proxy provisioning container executing on the network device, provisioning information corresponding to the computing device; obtaining, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning items based on the provisioning information; and orchestrating, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning of the computing device using the provisioning items.

Inventors

• Bharath Narayan
• Eshwara Rajesh Padaru
• Gallig Renaud

Assignees

• Bharath Narayan
• Eshwara Rajesh Padaru
• Gallig Renaud

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20250227

Priority Date

20241104

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A network device, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: detect, by the network device, that a computing device at an edge site requires provisioning; obtain, by the network device, identifying information corresponding to the computing device from the computing device; provide, by the network device, the identifying information to a cloud service device; receive, from the cloud service device and at a proxy provisioning container executing on the network device, provisioning information corresponding to the computing device; obtain, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning items based on the provisioning information; and orchestrate, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning of the computing device using the provisioning items.
2. 2 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein to detect, by the network device, that the computing device at the edge site requires provisioning, the instructions further cause the one or more processors to: detect that the computing device is connected to the network device via at least one of a management port and a network port of the computing device.
3. 3 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein to obtain, by the network device, the identifying information corresponding to the computing device from the computing device, the instructions further cause the one or more processors to: request, by the network device, the identifying information from a management component of the computing device.
4. 4 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the provisioning information comprises one or more of an operating system version, a firmware version, a software package, and a configuration setting to be provisioned to the computing device.
5. 5 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the provisioning items are obtained from a remote location separate from the edge site.
6. 6 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the provisioning items are obtained from a storage device at the edge site that is accessible to the network device.
7. 7 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the provisioning items comprise at least one of an operating system installation image, a firmware installation package, and a software installation package.
8. 8 . The network device of claim 7 , wherein, after orchestrating the provisioning of the computing device, the instructions further cause the one or more processors to: perform, by the proxy provisioning container, on-going maintenance monitoring of the computing device; and orchestrate, by the proxy provisioning container, an update of at least one of an operating system, a firmware, a software application, and a configuration setting of the computing device.
9. 9 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the identifying information comprises at least one of a serial number, a part number, and a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the computing device.
10. 10 . A computer-implemented method, comprising: detecting, by a network device, that a computing device at an edge site requires provisioning; obtaining, by the network device, identifying information corresponding to the computing device from the computing device; providing, by the network device, the identifying information to a cloud service device; receiving, from the cloud service device and at a proxy provisioning container executing on the network device, provisioning information corresponding to the computing device; obtaining, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning items based on the provisioning information; and orchestrating, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning of the computing device using the provisioning items.
11. 11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein detecting, by the network device, that the computing device at the edge site requires provisioning comprises: detecting that the computing device is connected to the network device via at least one of a management port and a network port of the computing device.
12. 12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein obtaining, by the network device, the identifying information corresponding to the computing device from the computing device comprises: requesting, by the network device, the identifying information from a management component of the computing device.
13. 13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the provisioning information comprises one or more of an operating system version, a firmware version, a software package, and a configuration setting to be provisioned to the computing device.
14. 14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the provisioning items are obtained from a remote location separate from the edge site.
15. 15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the provisioning items are obtained from a storage device at the edge site that is accessible to the network device.
16. 16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the provisioning items comprise at least one of an operating system installation image, a firmware installation package, and a software installation package.
17. 17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein, after orchestrating the provisioning of the computing device, the method further comprises: performing, by the proxy provisioning container, on-going maintenance monitoring of the computing device; and orchestrating, by the proxy provisioning container, an update of at least one of an operating system, a firmware, a software application, and a configuration setting of the computing device.
18. 18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the identifying information comprises at least one of a serial number, a part number, and a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the computing device.
19. 19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing programming for execution by one or more processors, the programming comprising instructions to: detect, by a network device, that a computing device at an edge site requires provisioning; obtain, by the network device, identifying information corresponding to the computing device from the computing device; provide, by the network device, the identifying information to a cloud service device; receive, from the cloud service device and at a proxy provisioning container executing on the network device, provisioning information corresponding to the computing device; obtain, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning items based on the provisioning information; and orchestrate, by the proxy provisioning container, provisioning of the computing device using the provisioning items.
20. 20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the provisioning information comprises one or more of an operating system version, a firmware version, a software package, and a configuration setting to be provisioned to the computing device.

Description

BACKGROUND Computing devices (e.g., servers) may be deployed at a variety of locations. Such computing devices often require provisioning (e.g., installation of operating system and software, configuration of settings). Provisioning of computing devices to be deployed at remote locations may be performed prior to shipment of the computing devices to the remote locations (e.g., in a factory). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Certain examples discussed herein will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings listed below. However, the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain aspects or implementations of examples described herein by way of example, and are not meant to limit the scope of the claims. Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, and advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an edge cloud ecosystem 100, in accordance with to one or more examples disclosed herein; FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a portion of an edge cloud ecosystem, in accordance with to one or more examples disclosed herein; FIG. 3 illustrates an overview of an example method for provisioning a computing device at an edge site, in accordance with to one or more examples disclosed herein; FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a computing device, in accordance with one or more examples disclosed herein; and FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a computing device, in accordance with one or more examples disclosed herein. The figures are drawn to illustrate various aspects of the disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. DESCRIPTION The following disclosure provides many different examples for implementing different features. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. Computing devices (e.g., servers) are sometimes deployed at edge sites. An edge site may refer to a location where computing resources (e.g., compute, storage, and/or network resources, and the like) are located away from centralized data centers (e.g., closer to end-users, data sources, and the like). As such, edge sites are often remotely located (e.g., geographically), may be numerous, may be relatively isolated, may have intermittent and/or sporadic connection to outside networks (e.g., the Internet), and may or may not have any qualified information technology personnel available. Such factors may pose challenges for provisioning and maintenance of computing devices located at such edge sites. Provisioning a computing device may include, but is not limited to, configuring the computing device with an operating system, configuring various device and/or component settings, performing any installation and/or updates of various components (e.g., firmware updates), installing relevant software, configuring security measures, and the like. Provisioning of computing devices may be performed prior to shipping the computing devices to edge sites (e.g., at a factory). However, configurations, software, and the like provisioned for computing devices prior to deployment at an edge site may result in such provisioning being obsolete, out-of-date, and the like, thereby requiring re-provisioning, which may, for example, be prone to failures. Additionally, or alternatively, provisioning of computing devices at an edge site may be performed, at least in part, by pre-configuring the computing devices with certain software that is configured to activate when a computing device is deployed (e.g., connected to a network and powered on), and perform additional provisioning. However, such techniques may require a portion of the computing resources of the computing device, and/or connection (e.g., via a network) to devices external to the edge site. One or more examples disclosed herein may address at least some of the challenges of provisioning computing devices deployed at edge sites by moving the provisioning activities to being performed on-site after physical deployment of the computing devices by a network device located at the edge site. An edge site generally includes, along with a number of computing devices, one or more network devices for providing network connectivity within and external to the edge site. Network devices are often more reliably powered on, up and running, connected to an external network, and the like. As such, using network devices at edge sites for provisioning computing devices at such edge sites may improve the provisioning of the computing devices at edge sites. In one or more examples, to set up an edge site includes shipping one or more network devices, any number of computing devices, and any other relevant components to the edg