Remotely managing a data processing system via a communications network

• US 20040015857A1
• Filed: 08/31/2001
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Donoughe, Clifford, Krahn, Richard R., Sweeney, Michael S., Huffman, Arnold Z., Cornelius, Shawn S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,176,137 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0826 for reduction of network costs H04L41/0833 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0833 for reduction of network energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0836 to enhance reliability, e.g. reduce downtime
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

A management system communicates with at least one remote data processing system, associated with a trading participant, on a technical parameter of at least one remote data processing system. A technical parameter may refer to software configuration data, hardware configuration data, operational status of a data processing system, operational status of a software component of the data processing system, operational status of a hardware component of the data processing system, or otherwise. The management system receives a report message on the technical parameter via a communications network. The management system interprets or processes the report message for a presentation on a user interface of the management system.

Claims

1. A method for managing a remote data processing system via a communications network, the method comprising:

communicating with a remote data processing system associated with a trading partner on at least one technical parameter of the remote data processing system;

receiving a report message on the at least one technical parameter via the communications network; and

interpreting the report message for presentation on a user interface to coordinate the management of the at least one technical parameter for trading partners within a trading group.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the communicating comprises polling a remote business-to-business server as the remote data processing system to obtain the at least one technical parameter concerning an operational status of at least one of software and hardware of the remote business-to-business server.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the communicating comprises polling a remote business-to-business server at the remote data processing system to obtain the at least one technical parameter of at least one of software and hardware of the remote business-to-business server.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising presenting the report message on the user interface for review.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one technical parameter comprises one or more of the following:

hardware configuration of the remote data processing system, hardware configuration of a base data processing system, software configuration of the remote data processing system, software configuration of the base data processing system, an installed version of a remote software module, an installed version of a base software module, an installed type of remote software module, an installed type of base software module, operational status data, performance metric data on performance of the remote data processing system, and performance metric data on performance of the base data processing system.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one technical parameter comprises operational status data of at least one of the remote data processing system, a base data processing system, and the communications network.

7. A method for managing a remote data processing system via a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving a report message containing technical parameter data on a remote data processing system via the communications network;

retrieving reference technical parameter data from a reference parameters storage based on the report message; and

determining whether the received technical parameter data of the report data message complies with the retrieved reference technical parameter data.

8. The method according to claim 7 further comprising the step of:

polling a remote data processing system associated with a trading partner on the technical parameter data of the remote data processing system.

9. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

sending a revision to the remote data processing system if at least one software component is noncompliant with the reference technical parameter data.

10. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

sending an upgrade software module to the remote data processing system if the same types of software modules are not specified in the reference technical parameter data and the received technical parameter data.

11. The method according to claim 9 further comprising:

installing the upgrade software module after receipt of confirmation that a requisite hardware upgrade for supporting the upgrade software module has been successfully completed.

12. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

delaying a transmission of a revision to the remote data processing system if the same software components are not specified in the reference technical parameter data and the received technical parameter data and if the remote data processing system requires a hardware upgrade to support the revision.

13. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

sending a desired version of an upgrade software module to the remote data processing system if the same versions of software modules are not specified in the reference technical parameter data and the received technical parameter data.

14. The method according to claim 13 further comprising:

installing the desired version of the upgrade software module after receipt of confirmation that a requisite hardware upgrade for supporting the desired version of the upgrade software module has been successfully completed.

15. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

delaying a transmission of a desired version of an upgrade software module to the remote data processing system if the same versions of software modules are not specified in the reference technical parameter data and the received technical parameter data and if the remote data processing system requires a hardware upgrade to support the desired version of the upgrade software module.

16. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

revising the reference parameters storage such that a reference configuration is defined by the technical parameter data and includes a new feature for installation at the remote data processing system.

17. A system for managing a remote data processing system via a communications network, the system comprising:

a managing communications interface for supporting communication with a remote data processing system associated with a trading partner on at least one technical parameter of the remote data processing system;

a monitor for receiving a report message on the at least one technical parameter via the communications network; and

an interpreter for interpreting the report message for presentation on a user interface.

18. The system according to claim 17 wherein the remote data processing system comprises a remote business-to-business server.

19. The system according to claim 17 further comprising a presentation module for preparing a presentation of the report message on the user interface for review.

20. The system according to claim 17 wherein the technical parameters comprise one or more of the following:

hardware configuration of the remote data processing system, hardware configuration of a base data processing system, software configuration of the remote data processing system, software configuration of the base data processing system, an installed version of a remote software module, an installed version of a base software module, an installed type of remote software module, an installed type of base software module, operational status data, performance metric data on performance of the remote data processing system, and performance metric data on performance of the base data processing system.

21. The system according to claim 17 wherein the at least one technical parameter comprises operational status data.

22. A system for managing a remote data processing system via a communications network, the system comprising:

a monitor for receiving a report message on at least one technical parameter of a remote data processing system via the communications network;

a data manager for retrieving reference technical parameter data from a reference parameters storage; and

a data processor for determining whether the received technical parameter data of the report data message complies with the retrieved reference technical parameter data.

23. The system according to claim 22 further comprising the step of:

a base communications interface adapted to poll the remote data processing system associated with a trading partner on the at least one technical parameter of the remote data processing system.

24. The system according to claim 22 further comprising:

a managing communications interface for sending a revision to the remote data processing system if the data processor determined that the same software modules are not specified in the reference technical parameter data and the received technical parameter data.

25. The system according to claim 22 further comprising:

a managing communications interface for sending a revision to the remote data processing system if the data processor determined that the same software type of software modules are not specified in the reference technical parameter data and the received technical parameter data.

26. The system according to claim 22 further comprising:

a managing communications interface for sending a revision to the remote data processing system if the data processor determined that the same version of software modules are not specified in the reference technical parameter data and the received technical parameter data.

27. The system according to claim 22 wherein the data processor is coupled to a storage device, the storage device including at least one of a reference parameters storage, a received parameters storage, and an upgrade module storage for storing upgrade software modules.

28. The system according to claim 22 wherein the data manager and a user interface support a user'"'"'s revision of reference parameters of the reference parameters storage to add, delete, or modify at least one software feature of the remote data processing system.