System and method for distribution of software licenses in a networked computing environment

• US 20040260765A1
• Filed: 06/07/2004
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lutz, George, Scovetta, Vincent, Re, Vincent
• Granted Patent: US 7,133,917 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities

Abstract

A system and method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment is provided. The system and method in one aspect comprise a management application and a plurality of agents. The plurality of agents each reside on computers in a network, for example, remote from the management application. The management application includes a user interface from which information about the plurality of computers in a network may be obtained via the plurality of agents and license information may be distributed to the plurality of computers.

Claims

1. A system for distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

a plurality of agents residing on a computer in a network, each of the plurality of agents operable to gather configuration information about a respective computer on which an agent resides and one or more products installed on the respective computer; and

a management application operable to communicate with the plurality of agents and receive the configuration information, the management application further operable to communicate with a vendor computer of the one or more products to request a license from the vendor, and provide the license to the plurality of agents,

the plurality of agents further operable to update license information received from the management application in their respective computers where they are resident.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of agents are further operable to generate a new key for the updated license information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the management application includes a graphical user interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the license is a new license for a newly installed product.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the license is an updated license for an updated product.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more reports are generated using the configuration information.

7. A system for distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

a plurality of client agents residing on a computer in a network, each of the plurality of client agents operable to gather configuration information about a respective computer on which a client agent resides and one or more products installed on the respective computer;

one or more server agents operable to communicate with the plurality of client agents, the one or more server agents further operable to maintain the configuration information received from the plurality of the client agents in a central network location; and

a management application operable to communicate with the plurality of server agents and receive the configuration information, the management application further operable to communicate with a vendor of the one or more products to request a license from the vendor, and provide the license to the one or more server agents,

the one or more server agents further operable to communicate the license the license to one or more client agents in the plurality of client agents,

the plurality of client agents further operable to update license information received from the management application.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more server agents are operable to update the configuration information in the central network location with information from the license.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the plurality of client agents is operable to periodically and automatically push the configuration information to the one or more server agents.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more server agents synchronize the configuration information pushed from the at least one of the plurality of client agents with the configuration information stored in the central network location.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more server agents respond to the request from the management application regarding configuration information about at least one of the plurality of client agents using the configuration information stored in the central network location.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of client agents need not run continuously.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the management application provides one or more reports about the computers in the network based on the configuration information stored in the central network location.

14. A method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

providing one or more agents to be installed on one or more respective computers in a network, the one or more agents for retrieving and communicating configuration information about the respective computers and one or more products installed on the respective computers; and

providing a management application to be installed remotely from at least one of the plurality of agents, the management application for administering license distribution for one or more products installed on the computers where the plurality of agents reside by communicating information from and to the plurality of agents.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further includes allowing the management application to communicate with a vendor computer for receiving licenses for the one or more products installed on the computers where the plurality of agents reside.

16. The method of claim 14, further including:

producing one or more reports using the configuration information.

17. A method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

providing a management application including a user interface;

providing a plurality of client agents installed on a plurality computers remote to the management application, the plurality of client agents for retrieving configuration information about the respective computers on which the plurality of client agents reside;

providing one or more server agents communicating with the plurality of client agents, the one or more server agents receiving and storing the configuration information in a central network location; and

allowing a user access to the configuration information via the management application.

18. The method of claim 17, further including pushing the configuration information periodically and automatically from at least one of the plurality of client agents to the one or more server agents.

19. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

providing one or more agents to be installed on one or more respective computers in a network, the one or more agents for retrieving and communicating configuration information about the respective computers and one or more products installed on the respective computers; and

providing a management application to be installed remotely from at least one of the plurality of agents, the management application for administering license distribution for one or more products installed on the computers where the plurality of agents reside by communicating information from and to the plurality of agents.

20. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

providing a management application including a user interface;

providing a plurality of client agents installed on a plurality computers remote to the management application, the plurality of client agents for retrieving configuration information about the respective computers on which the plurality of client agents reside;

providing one or more server agents communicating with the plurality of client agents, the one or more server agents receiving and storing the configuration information in a central network location; and

allowing a user access to the configuration information via the management application.