SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION APPLICATION SUPPORTING OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLATIONS

A software distribution application supporting the installation of operating systems on pristine computers is proposed. A new configuration element is added for virtually defining an operating system; the configuration element points to a corresponding image of the operating system on different pristine servers. Moreover, the pristine computers can be defined in a target database before they actually exist; each pristine computer subscribes to a reference model specifying the installation of the operating system. A plan is then generated with actions for installing the operating system on the pristine computers. When the plan is submitted for execution, a plug-in module associates each pristine computer with the image of the operating system on the respective pristine server. In this way, as soon as a pristine computer is turned on and transmits a remote installation request to the pristine server the associated image is automatically installed.