System and method for configuration management service

• US 10,419,289 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Alford, William J., Lohia, Sumit, Whitcomb, Thomas William, Hamer, Kenneth L., McLain, Evan Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Shepperd, Eric W
• Application Number:
  US15/162,340
• Publication Number:
  US 20160269227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/20 Network management software packages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

System and method for agentless computing system configuration management in networked environments. A configuration management service may be implemented as a service on a network with a standard network interface. A client may communicate with the service to specify a configuration for a target system, for example through a browser interface. The specified configuration may be stored by the service. The service may generate a package according to the specified configuration. The package may be delivered to the target system via the network. The package may then install the configuration, for example, one or more software, data, or other digital components, on the target systems in accordance with the specified configuration. The clients may request that the service verify and/or update the installed configuration on the target system. The service may, in response, generate an update package for the installed configuration. Target systems may include computer systems and virtual machines.

Claims

1. A configuration management system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors to implement a configuration management service configured to;

receive via a network, from a plurality of remote clients of the configuration management service, a plurality of configuration requests, wherein;

each of the plurality of configuration requests is received from the remote clients of the configuration management service as a particular network protocol message in accordance with a network interface of the configuration management service, wherein for individual ones of the configuration requests received from the remote clients, the particular network protocol message specifies both respective network addresses for respective target systems of a plurality of target systems for communicating with the configuration management service and respective configurations to be installed for respective target systems of the plurality of target systems, and

the respective configurations to be installed do not require any instances of agent software on the respective target systems to implement the respective configurations on the respective target systems; and

for each individual ones of the received configuration requests;

generate a plurality of packages respectively comprising one or more components for implementing respective ones of the configurations specified by the particular network protocol message on respective target systems of the plurality of target systems indicated by the particular network protocol message independently of any agent software residing on the respective target systems of the plurality of target systems; and

send, via a network, respective packages of the plurality of packages to respective ones of the network addresses for respective target systems of the plurality of target systems indicated by the particular network protocol message.

2. The configuration management system as recited in claim 1, wherein each package is configured to install the specified configuration on a respective target system after the package is received on the respective target system.

3. The configuration management system as recited in claim 1, wherein at least two of the generated packages include different sets of components for implementing the same specified configuration on respective heterogeneous target systems indicated in the particular network protocol message.

4. The configuration management system as recited in claim 1, wherein each package is configured to:

determine that a respective target system does not include one or more components necessary to install the specified configuration on the respective target system; and

obtain the one or more necessary components.

5. The configuration management system as recited in claim 4, wherein each package is further configured to obtain the one or more necessary components from the configuration management service.

6. The configuration management system as recited in claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a data storage, and wherein the configuration management service is further configured to store configuration specifications to the data storage, wherein the configuration specifications comprise information indicating the specified configurations for the plurality of target systems.

7. The configuration management system as recited in claim 1, wherein at least two of the generated packages include different sets of components for implementing different configurations on respective target systems indicated in the particular network protocol message.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a configuration management service implemented on one or more computing devices via a network, from a plurality of remote clients of the configuration management service, a plurality of configuration requests, wherein;

each of the plurality of configuration requests is received from the remote clients of the configuration management service as a particular network protocol message in accordance with a network interface of the configuration management service, wherein for individual ones of the configuration requests received from the remote clients, the particular network protocol message specifies both respective network addresses for respective target systems of a plurality of target systems for communicating with the configuration management service and respective configurations to be installed for respective target systems of the plurality of target systems, and

the respective configurations to be installed do not require any instances of agent software on the respective target systems to implement the respective configurations on the respective target systems; and

for individual ones of the received configuration requests;

generating a plurality of package respectively comprising one or more components for implementing respective ones of the configurations specified by the particular network protocol message on respective target systems of the plurality of target systems indicated by the particular network protocol message independently of any agent software residing on the respective target systems of the plurality of target systems; and

sending, via a network, respective packages of the plurality of packages to respective ones of the network addresses for respective target systems of the plurality of target systems indicated by the particular network protocol message.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising each package installing the specified configuration on a respective target system, independently of any agent software residing on the respective target system, after the package is received on the respective target system.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the generating a package for each received configuration request comprises:

generating at least two packages that include different sets of components for implementing the same specified configuration on respective heterogeneous target systems indicated in the particular network protocol message.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising, for one or more of the received configuration requests:

determining, by the package at the respective target system, that the respective target system does not include one or more components necessary to install the specified configuration on the respective target system; and

obtaining, by the package, the one or more necessary components from the configuration management system.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising, for one or more of the received configuration requests:

determining that a configuration of the respective target system does not match a configuration specification stored by the configuration management service; and

generating an update package configured to correct the configuration of the respective target system; and

sending the update package to the respective target system.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the determining that the configuration of the respective target system does not match the configuration specification comprises:

determining that one or more components specified by the configuration specification is not present in the one or more target systems.

14. A configuration management system, comprising:

one or more server computers configured to couple to a network, wherein the one or more server computers are configured to implement a configuration management service configured to;

receive via a network, from a plurality of remote clients of the configuration management service, a plurality of configuration requests, wherein;

each of the plurality of configuration requests is received from the remote clients of the configuration management service as a particular network protocol message in accordance with a network interface of the configuration management service, wherein for individual ones of the configuration requests received from the remote clients, the particular network protocol message specifies both respective network addresses for respective target systems of a plurality of target systems for communicating with the configuration management service and respective configurations to be installed for respective target systems of the plurality of target systems, and

the respective configurations to be installed do not require any instances of agent software on the respective target systems to implement the respective configurations on the respective target systems; and

for individual ones of the received configuration request;

generate a plurality of packages respectively comprising one or more components for implementing respective ones of the configurations specified by the particular network protocol message on respective target systems of the plurality of target systems indicated by the particular network protocol message independently of any agent software residing on the respective target systems of the plurality of target systems; and

send, via a network, respective packages of the plurality of packages to respective ones of the network addresses for respective target systems of the plurality of target systems indicated by the particular network protocol message.

15. The configuration management system as recited in claim 14, wherein each package is configured to install the specified configuration on a respective target system after the package is received on the respective target system.

16. The configuration management system as recited in claim 14, wherein at least two of the generated packages include different sets of components for implementing the same specified configuration on respective target systems indicated in the particular network protocol message.

17. The configuration management system as recited in claim 14, wherein each package is configured to:

determine that a respective target system does not include one or more components necessary to install the specified configuration on the respective target system; and

obtain the one or more necessary components from the configuration management service.

18. The configuration management system as recited in claim 14, wherein at least two of the generated packages include different sets of components for implementing different configurations on the respective target systems indicated in the particular network protocol message.

19. The configuration management system as recited in claim 14, wherein the configuration management service is further configured to be implemented as a web service, and wherein the network interface is a web service interface.

20. The configuration management system as recited in claim 14, wherein the system further comprises a data storage, wherein the configuration management service is further configured to store configuration specifications for individual ones of the respective target systems to the data storage, and wherein the stored configuration specifications are indexed according to remote client identifiers that each identifies a remote client of the configuration management service that initiated the corresponding configuration request.