Methods, systems and computer program products for spreadsheet-based autonomic management of computer systems

• US 20060080665A1
• Filed: 10/12/2004
• Published: 04/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Woods, Joshua M., Eberbach, Andrew M., Chavoustie, Michael D., Montgomery, Trevor L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,276,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/482 Application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing a resource include using a first object to obtain data associated with the resource that is being managed. The first object may be embedded in a cell of a spreadsheet running on a spreadsheet application. Formula in the spreadsheet are executed, where at least some of the formulas reference at least some of the data obtained by the first object. The operation of the resource may then be altered based on the results of the executed formula.

Claims

1. A method of managing a resource, the method comprising:

using a first object to obtain data associated with the resource that is being managed;

executing one or more formulas in a spreadsheet running on a spreadsheet application, wherein at least some of the formulas reference the data obtained by the first object; and

altering the operation of the resource based on the results of the executed formula.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object is embedded in a cell of the spreadsheet.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data comprises metrics associated with the managed resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation of the resource is automatically altered based on the results of the executed formula.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the spreadsheet application runs the spreadsheet separately as a background process independent of a display interface of the spreadsheet application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object obtains data on a periodic basis.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising a timer embedded in a cell of the spreadsheet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more formulas in the spreadsheet are automatically executed by the spreadsheet application on a periodic basis and/or in response to a cell value change in the spreadsheet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the operation of the resource based on the results of the executed formula comprises executing one or more routines associated with the first object in response to execution of the formula, wherein the execution of the routine(s) acts to alter the operation of the resource.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the spreadsheet application is the J2 spreadsheet application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the formula comprise conditional statements that call for the execution of one or more routines associated with the first object if the conditional statement is satisfied.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein execution of the one or more routines associated with the first object initiates the alteration of the operation of the resource.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object is configured to change the value of a first cell in the spreadsheet in response to a communication from the resource that is being managed.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the formulas comprises a conditional statement that calls for the execution of a routine associated with the first object if the first cell in the spreadsheet has a specified value.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of second objects are embedded into the spreadsheet that accept the obtained data.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising a plurality of third objects associated with the resource that is being managed that obtain the data associated with the resource in response to a routine run by the first object and which deliver the obtained data to respective of the plurality of second objects.

17. An autonomic resource manager, comprising:

a spreadsheet running on a spreadsheet application, the spreadsheet including;

one or more first objects that are embedded into respective cells of the spreadsheet, wherein the one or more first objects provide data associated with a resource that is being managed; and

a plurality of formula, wherein at least some of the plurality of formula reference at least some of the data provided by the one or more first objects; and

an interface between the spreadsheet and the resource that is being managed over which the data is transmitted.

18. The autonomic resource manager of claim 17, wherein at least some of the plurality of formula execute one or more routines associated with respective of the one or more first objects in response to a condition of the formula being satisfied.

19. The autonomic resource manager of claim 18, wherein the execution of the one or more routines acts to alter the operation of the resource that is being managed.

20. The autonomic resource manager of claim 17, wherein the spreadsheet includes at least one notification cell that has a data value that may be changed in response to a communication from the resource that is being managed.

21. The autonomic resource manager of claim 20, wherein at least one of the formulas comprises a conditional statement that calls for the execution of a routine associated with one of the one or more first objects if one of the notification cells has a certain value.

22. The autonomic resource manager of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of second objects that are embedded into the spreadsheet that accept the data provided by the one or more first objects.

23. The autonomic resource manager of claim 17, wherein the formula are automatically executed by the spreadsheet application.

24. The autonomic resource manager of claim 17, wherein the formula are automatically executed by the spreadsheet application in response to a detected change in the value of a cell of the spreadsheet.

25. The autonomic resource manager of claim 17, wherein the spreadsheet runs on the spreadsheet application as a background process and executes the formula in response to detected changes in the values of cells of the spreadsheet.

26. The autonomic resource manager of claim 17, wherein at least some of the formula comprise conditional statements that call for the execution of one or more routines associated with at least one of the first objects if the conditional statement is satisfied.

27. A computer program product for autonomic management of a resource, comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to obtain data associated with the resource that is being managed;

a spreadsheet running on a spreadsheet application, the spreadsheet containing one or more formulas, wherein at least one of the formulas reference the obtained data; and

computer readable program code configured to alter the operation of the resource based on the results of the executed formula.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the computer readable program code that is configured to obtain data associated with the resource that is being managed comprises at least one object that is embedded into a cell of the spreadsheet.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the computer readable program code that is configured to alter the operation of the resource based on the results of the executed formula comprises one or more routines associated with the object that communicate with the resource that is being managed.

30. A method of creating an autonomic manager for a computer resource, the method comprising:

embedding a first object in a spreadsheet, wherein the embedded first object includes one or more first routines that, when initiated, obtain data associated with the computer resource that is to be managed and one or more second routines that, when initiated, alter the operation of the computer resource; and

inserting a plurality of formulas into respective cells of the spreadsheet, wherein at least one of the formulas comprises a conditional statement that references a cell that contains at least some of the obtained data.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the at least one of the formulas calls for execution of one of the one or more second routines in response to the conditional statement being satisfied.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the data comprises performance metrics associated with the computer resource that is to be managed.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the first object is configured to change the value of a first cell in the spreadsheet in response to a call initiated by the computer resource that is being managed.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein at least one of the plurality of formulas comprises a conditional statement that calls for the execution of a routine associated with the first object if the first cell in the spreadsheet has a specified value.

35. The method of claim 30, further comprising embedding a plurality of second objects into the spreadsheet, wherein the second objects are configured to accept the obtained data.