Inventory and configuration management

• US 20060041567A1
• Filed: 05/03/2005
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Nilva, Leonid
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A schema is provided that describes specific executables and parameters. Relationships between the executables and parameters are also defined. The schema is provided to represent SCM and IM tasks uniformly. Information regarding a specific component is represented by the schema. The schema may then be used to describe metadata for specific components. For example, the schema provides information for components such as how the component is comprised (its parts), its relationship to other components (i.e., dependencies), its parameters, the parameters'"'"' constraints and dependencies, etc. This provides a universal framework that is independent of specific component and can be used for SCM as well as for IM.

Claims

1. A schema for a model of metadata for inventory control and configuration management, the schema comprising:

a description describing an inventory control and configuration management task for a component, wherein the description includes an executable and one or more parameters for the executable, wherein the component models a functionality of the executable,

wherein an instance is created using the description, wherein the instance in includes one or more values for parameters in the one or more parameters of the description,

wherein the description models metadata for the functionality of the component.

2. The schema of claim 1, wherein the component comprises a software component or a hardware component.

3. The schema of claim 1, wherein different components comprise different metadata for attributes of the components, the description modeling the functionality for the component and being compatible with the different metadata.

4. The schema of claim 1, wherein the description comprises a plurality of executables, each executable associated with one or more parameters.

5. The schema of claim 4, wherein one or more parameters for a first executable in the plurality of executables are constrained with one or more parameters for a second executable in the plurality of executables.

6. The schema of claim 1, wherein the description comprises an XML schema.

7. A method for inventory control and configuration management using a schema, the method comprising:

providing a description schema configured to be used to describe inventory control and configuration management tasks, the schema modeling metadata for a plurality of components, wherein metadata for a first component is different from metadata for a second component;

receiving a description describing an inventory control and configuration management task; and

performing the task using the description, wherein the description allows the task to be performed with metadata for models of components.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising creating an instance for the description, the instance comprising state information for the task.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the state information comprises values for parameters, results for the performed task, or a time stamp.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the description comprises an executable and one or more parameters associated with the executable.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the executable describes a functionality of a component.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the parameters are used to perform the functionality for the component.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the description comprises a simplest aggregate, a simple aggregate, a complex aggregate, and a simple array aggregate.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the description schema comprises an XML schema.

15. A method for providing inventory control and configuration management, the method comprising:

receiving a description describing an executable and one or more parameters for the executable, the executable describing an inventory control and configuration management task for a component and the one or more parameters being parameters needed to perform the task;

determining one or more values for the one or more parameters; and

performing the task for the executable using the one or more parameters.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising creating an instance for the description, the instance comprising state information for the task.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the state information comprises values for parameters, results for the performed task, or a time stamp.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the executable describes a functionality of a component.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the parameters are used to perform the functionality for the component.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the description comprises an XML schema.

21. An information storage medium having a plurality of instructions adapted to direct an information processing device to perform a set of steps for inventory control and configuration management using a schema, the steps including:

providing a description schema configured to be used to describe inventory control and configuration management tasks, the schema modeling metadata for a plurality of components, wherein metadata for a first component is different from metadata for a second component;

receiving a description describing an inventory control and configuration management task; and

performing the task using the description, wherein the description allows the task to be performed with metadata for models of components.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising creating an instance for the description, the instance comprising state information for the task.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the state information comprises values for parameters, results for the performed task, or a time stamp.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the description comprises an executable and one or more parameters associated with the executable.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the executable describes a functionality of a component.

26. An information storage medium having a plurality of instructions adapted to direct an information processing device to perform a set of steps for providing inventory control and configuration management, the steps including:

receiving a description describing an executable and one or more parameters for the executable, the executable describing an inventory control and configuration management task for a component and the one or more parameters being parameters needed to perform the task;

determining one or more values for the one or more parameters; and

performing the task for the executable using the one or more parameters.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising creating an instance for the description, the instance comprising state information for the task.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the state information comprises values for parameters, results for the performed task, or a time stamp.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the executable describes a functionality of a component.