Service control manager tool execution

• US 20020178297A1
• Filed: 03/20/2001
• Published: 11/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Lister, Terence E., Drees, Douglas P., Finz, Jeffrey R., Sanchez, Humberto A. II
• Granted Patent: US 7,039,917 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/549 Remote execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A service control manager (SCM) tool execution mechanism enables SCM users to execute SCM tools across a set of defined distributed nodes (systems). It provides a secure mechanism, referred to a distributed task facility (DTF), to integrate different operations and execute the operations across the set of distributed nodes.

Claims

1. A method for executing tools in a service control manager (SCM) module, comprising:

receiving a request from a user to run a tool on one or more nodes, wherein the request includes task information;

retrieving tool definition, node definition and user definition from a domain manager;

creating a runnable tool based on the task information and the tool definition;

passing the runnable tool to a distributed task facility (DTF), wherein the DTF issues a task identifier based on the runnable tool; and

passing the runnable tool to agents associated with the nodes, wherein the agents execute the runnable tool and return task results to the DTF.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the task information received from the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking user authorization to run the tool on all of the nodes requested.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step includes receiving the request through a client, wherein the client is a program that interacts with the user and displays information on computer systems that reside on the nodes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving step includes receiving the request from a graphical user interface client.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving step includes receiving the request from a command line interface client for executing tasks.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting the task results from the agents; and

returning the task results to the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the collecting step includes colleting failure reports from the agents.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the collecting step includes updating individual target statuses.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the collecting step includes collecting target outputs that contain an exit code, a standard output, or a standard error output that resulted from running the commands associated with the tool on the nodes.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the collecting step includes updating an overall task status.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the returning step includes displaying the task results on a computer screen.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the returning step includes printing the task results on a printer.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the returning step includes writing the task results to a file or to a directory, wherein the directory contains one file for each node requested and the results for each node are written to the corresponding file in the directory.

16. The SCM module of claim 15, wherein the DTF receives the runnable tool from the clients through task manager interfaces, wherein the task manager interfaces are called by the clients to perform a task, to cancel or kill a task, or to monitor task status operations.

17. The SCM module of claim 15, wherein the agents receive the runnable tool from the DTF through target liaison interfaces, wherein the target liaison interfaces are used by the agents to communicate with the DTF in order to process assigned tasks.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving step includes receiving the request through a client, wherein the client is a program that interacts with the user and displays information on computer systems that reside on the nodes.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the returning step includes returning target outputs that contain an exit code, a standard output, or a standard error output that resulted from running the commands associated with the tool on the nodes.

15. A service control manager (SCM) module for the execution of a tool, comprising:

clients that are programs interacting with users and displaying information on the computer systems that reside on nodes that are managed servers in the SCM module;

a domain manager that manages and stores tool definitions, node definitions, role definitions, authorization definitions, and user definitions, wherein the clients creates a runnable tool based on information returned from the domain manager;

a distributed task facility (DTF) that receives the runnable tool from the clients, and issues a task identifier based on the runnable tool; and

agents associated with the nodes that receive the runnable tool from the DTF, and execute the tool on the nodes.

18. A method for executing tools in a service control manager (SCM) module, comprising:

receiving a request from a user to run a tool on one or more nodes, wherein the request includes task information;

creating a runnable tool based on the task information and tool definition provided by a domain manager;

passing the runnable tool to a distributed task facility (DTF);

passing the runnable tool to agents associated with the nodes;

running the tool on the nodes by the agents; and

returning task results or failure reports to the DTF.