Architecture for implementing centralized management for a computing environment

• US 10,476,757 B1
• Filed: 01/26/2016
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: Gueco, Jon Carlo, Pike, Oliver Francis, Co, Van, Ganti, Krishna
• Primary Examiner(s): Theriault, Steven B
• Application Number:
  US15/006,416
• Time in Patent Office: 1,386 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an improved approach to implement a management infrastructure for computing environments. The user interfaces for local management nodes are cached at a central management node. The cached copies of the local node UIs can then be executed as if the user was actually operating from the local node.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to display a management UI of a local node from a first cluster of nodes to manage the first cluster of nodes from a management console user interface (UI) of a central management node, the management console UI of the central management node managing a second cluster of nodes;

determining, based on the request received, a UI version of the management UI for the local node, wherein the UI version corresponds to a version of the management UI executing at the local node for managing the first cluster of nodes; and

executing a cached copy of the management UI of the local node within a browser of the management console UI at the central management node, wherein a request made from the cached copy of the management UI of the local node is proxied to the local node to be executed by the local node to manage the first cluster of nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cached copy of the management UI is within a browser cache.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cached copy of the management UI is within a cache at the central management node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the cached copy of the management UI comprises static UI content that is common across multiple nodes on a same version of management UI, and wherein node-specific content is dynamically loaded by retrieving the node-specific content from the local node.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the node-specific content is retrieved using a proxy request that is sent to the local node through a gateway.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a namespace object is injected into an iframe associated with the local node.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein parent controls are associated with the iframe to interface the namespace object with functionality in a parent interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the central management node and the local node comprises a management virtual machine.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering the UI version of the management UI of the local node, wherein a copy of the management UI of the local node is cached at the central management node if the management console UI of the central management node is of a different version than the UI version of the management UI of the local node.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor of a central management node, causes the processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

receiving a request to display a management UI of a local node from a first cluster of nodes to manage the first cluster of nodes from a management console user interface (UI) of the central management node, the management console UI of the central management node managing a second cluster of nodes;

determining, based on the request received, a UI version of a management UI for the local node, wherein the UI version corresponds to a version of the management UI executing at the local node for managing the first cluster of nodes; and

executing a cached copy of the management UI of the local node within a browser of the management console UI at the central management node, wherein a request made from the cached copy of the management UI of the local node is proxied to the local node to be executed by the local node to manage the first cluster of nodes.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the cached copy of the management UI is within a browser cache.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the cached copy of the management UI is within a cache at the central management node.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the cached copy of the management UI comprises static UI content that is common across multiple nodes on a same version of management UI, and wherein node-specific content is dynamically loaded by retrieving the node-specific content from the local node.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the node-specific content is retrieved using a proxy request that is sent to the local node through a gateway.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein a namespace object is injected into an iframe associated with the local node.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein parent controls are associated with the iframe to interface the namespace object with functionality in a parent interface.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein each of the central management node and the local node comprises a management virtual machine.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises registering the UI version of the management UI of the local node, wherein a copy of the management UI of the local node is cached at the central management node if the management console UI of the central management node is of a different version than the UI version of the management UI of the local node.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for holding programmable code; and

wherein the programmable code includes instructions for receiving a request to display a management UI of a local node from a first cluster of nodes to manage the first cluster of nodes from a management console user interface (UI) of a central management node, the management console UI of the central management node managing a second cluster of nodes, determining, based on the request received, a UI version of a management UI for the local node, wherein the UI version corresponds to a version of the management UI executing at the local node for managing the first cluster of nodes, and executing a cached copy of the management UI of the local node within a browser of the management console UI at the central management node, wherein a request made from the cached copy of the management UI of the local node is proxied to the local node to be executed by the local node to manage the first cluster of nodes.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the cached copy of the management UI is within a browser cache.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the cached copy of the management UI is within a cache at the central management node.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the cached copy of the management UI comprises static UI content that is common across multiple nodes on a same version of management UI, and wherein node-specific content is dynamically loaded by retrieving the node-specific content from the local node.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the node-specific content is retrieved using a proxy request that is sent to the multiple nodes through a gateway.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein a namespace object is injected into an iframe associated with the local node.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein parent controls are associated with the iframe to interface the namespace object with functionality in a parent interface.