System and method for providing a server control interface

• US 20020140743A1
• Filed: 03/30/2001
• Published: 10/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: DeLuca, Steve A., Lee, Juhan, Darcy, Paul B., Snover, Jeffrey P., Martin, Sally J., Hodge, Kevin A., Kiernan, Casey L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,392,485 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/835
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A method and system for providing a computing device control interface are provided. A system administrator accesses a graphical user interface and selects a group of actions that are to be executed by a number of computing devices. The actions selected by the system administrator are embodied in a graphical action icon and displayed on the graphical user interface. The system administrator initiates the actions by manipulating the action icon such that it overlaps a computer icon, which embodies one or more computing devices within the network that will execute the selected actions. The computing device icon is also displayed on the user interface. The user interface executes the selected action on the selected computer and then generates an archive file embodying the execution of the selected actions on the selected group of computing devices. Accordingly, multiple computing devices may be controlled by a single

Claims

1. A method of providing a computing device control interface, the method comprising:

displaying a set of graphical action icons for selection by a user, wherein each action icon is representative of one or more actions to be executed by a computing device;

displaying a set of graphical computing device icons wherein each graphical computing device icon is representative of one or more computing devices in a network;

obtaining a selection of a graphical action icon;

obtaining a selection of a graphical computing device icon; and

instructing each server represented by the selected graphical computing device icon to execute the instructions represented by the selected graphical action icon.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising generating an archive file having a number of instructions corresponding to the actions represented by the actions in the graphical action icon, wherein execution of the archive file causes the one or more computing devices represented by the selected graphical computer device icon to execute the instructions embodied in the archive file.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the archive file is a script file.

4. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising storing the archive file.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 further comprising obtaining user input for editing the instructions stored in the archive file.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one graphical action icon in the set of graphical action icons implements a collection template for capacity planning in the one or more computing device represented by the selected graphical computing device icon.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a number of actions to be executed by one or more servers;

obtaining a user selection of the number of actions; and

generating an action icon representative of the user selected actions.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one graphical action icon in the set of graphical action icons assigns a common priority for the corresponding action to each computing device represented by the selected graphical computing device icon.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the computing device is at least one server computer in an enterprise network.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 1.

11. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable for performing the method recited in claim 1.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the selection of the computing device icon includes:

selecting the action icon with the user interface device; and

manipulating the action icon to overlap the computing device icon on the display.

14. The method as recited in claim 12 further comprising generating an archive file corresponding to the groups of actions represented by the action icon.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the archive file is a script file.

16. The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising:

displaying an input area on the display for obtaining a user selection of an executable file; and

instructing each computing device corresponding to the previously selected computing device icon to execute the groups of actions corresponding to the previously selection action icons.

17. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the user interface device is a mouse.

18. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the computing device is at least one server computer in an enterprise network.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 12.

12. In a computer system having a display and at least one graphical user interface selection device, a method of providing a server control interface, the method comprising:

obtaining an identification of a group of actions to be executed by a computing device;

displaying the group of action as an action icon on the display;

obtaining an identification of a group of computing devices to be controlled;

displaying the group of computing devices as a computing device icon on the display;

obtaining a selection of the action icon by the selection device; and

instructing each computing device represented by the computing device icon to execute the groups of actions represented by the action upon a selection of the computing device icon with the user interface device.

20. In a computer system having a display and graphical user interface selection device, a method for providing a server control interface, the method comprising:

obtaining an identification of a number of actions to be executed by a computing device;

displaying the number of actions on the display screen;

obtaining a selection of one or more of the actions by the user interface selection device;

generating a graphical icon corresponding to the one or more actions selected by the user interface selection device; and

displaying the graphical icon on the display screen.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein one of the number of actions is setting a global priority for the selected actions.

22. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein one of the numbers of actions is establishing a data collection template for each server.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the number of actions includes an action for specifying a time for the collection template.

24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the number of actions includes an action for specifying one or more servers to collect data from.

25. The method as recited in claim 20 further comprising displaying a summary of the actions selected by the user selection device prior to generating the graphical icon.

26. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 20.

27. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable for performing the method recited in claim 20.

29. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 26 further comprising an executable component for generating an archive file corresponding to the number of user selected actions in the action icon.

30. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 27, wherein the executable creation component generates a script file.

31. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 27 further comprising an executable execution component for accepting executable files and for instructing a number of computing devices to execute the number of user selected actions corresponding to the action icon.

28. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for providing a computing device control interface, the computer components comprising:

an action creating component for creating an action icon corresponding to a number of user selected actions; and

a computing device icon component for creating a computing device icon corresponding to a number of servers that will execute the number of user selected actions corresponding to a selected action icon.