Internet enabled computer system management

• US 20020023154A1
• Filed: 08/21/2001
• Published: 02/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Singh, Jitendra K.
• Granted Patent: US 6,779,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/026 using e-messaging for transporting management information, e.g. email, instant messaging or chat
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0879 Manual configuration through operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Methods for using the Internet to create applications that perform many of the functions now performed by management platforms and third party add-on tools in a much simpler manner are described herein. The applications are easier to use by novices than known tools and lower the overall cost of system management. Using known system components, the system'"'"'s configuration can be viewed or changed over the Internet using an HTML document to list and display the managed systems, together with icons that represent the state of the managed systems. By using “active controls” or Java scripts, the state of the managed systems can be dynamically updated by changing the color of associated icons or the displayed text. Using embedded commands or identifiers within template documents, a program can be created to automatically acquire needed system information. In another embodiment, an HTML CGI document containing desired system information and a reference link back to the system at the manufacturer'"'"'s selected site is created, allowing the manufacturer'"'"'s system to retrieve this system information automatically. The system information is then analyzed against a list of currently valid system configurations to detect potential problems. In turn, if potential problems are detected, the information is sent back to the managed system automatically.

Claims

1. In a computing environment comprised of at least one managed system and at least one client system which manages the managed system, each of the client and managed systems being capable of communicating with each other over the Internet, a method for configuration management comprising the steps of:

creating a web browser list of managed systems in the form of an HTML page;

selecting by a user from the web browser list a managed system of interest;

invoking a program to obtain parameters about the managed system of interest;

creating a document from a template document using the program to insert the obtained parameters about the managed system of interest; and

returning the document to the user.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the steps of real time configuration validation of claim 1 are performed after each managed system has been automatically registered.

2. In a computing environment comprised of at least one managed system and at least one system with a configuration database which manages the managed system, each of the system with a configuration database and managed systems being capable of communicating with each other over the Internet, a method for real time configuration validation comprising the steps of:

creating a plurality of system configuration and status documents, one for each managed system using a program to create the documents from a template form;

selecting one of the system configuration and status documents;

creating a standard supported system configuration database on at least a first system with a configuration database;

transmitting the selected system configuration and status document to the at least first system with a configuration database;

comparing the selected system configuration and status document with standard supported system configuration; and

returning any differences between the selected system configuration and status document and the standard supported configuration.

3. In a computing environment comprised of at least one managed system and at least one system with a configuration database which manages the managed system, each of the system with a configuration database and managed system being capable of communicating with each other over the Internet, a method for verifying system configuration and providing system advisories, the method comprising the steps of:

running a program on each of the managed systems at a predetermined interval and generating a first document comprised of pre-selected system information for each managed system;

sending the first document from each managed system by electronic mail to a system with a configuration database;

creating a database of information from the first documents on the system with a configuration database; and

running a second script program on the system with a configuration database at a predetermined interval which compares the database of information from the first documents with a second database of valid configuration information on the system with a configuration database;

generating a plurality of second documents which indicate any differences between the database of information from the first documents and the valid configuration information; and

returning by electronic mail to each managed system the second document that corresponds to the differences between the first document that was generated for that managed system and the second database.

4. In a computing environment comprised of at least one managed system and at least one system with a configuration database which manages the managed system, each of the system with a configuration database and managed systems being capable of communicating with each other over the Internet, a method for automatically registering systems, the method comprising the steps of:

executing a first program automatically upon initial use of a managed system, the program presenting a first form to a first user of the managed system to obtain user registration information;

appending to the first form system configuration information from the managed system, the system configuration information being obtained by a second program running on the managed system;

transmitting the first form to a system with a configuration database;

creating a first database in the system with a configuration database with first forms obtained from all managed systems managed by the system with a configuration database.

6. In a computing environment comprised of at least one managed system and at least one system with a configuration database which manages the managed system, each of the system with a configuration database and managed systems being capable of communicating with each other over the Internet, a method for exception handling comprising the steps of:

detecting exceptions at each of the managed systems by means of a first program;

creating a first document at the managed system with information regarding the detected exceptions;

transmitting the first document to a system with a configuration database over the Internet; and

displaying the first document to an operator of the system with a configuration database to alert the operator of exceptions at each of the managed systems.