Assessment and/or deployment of computer network component(s)

• US 20070088630A1
• Filed: 09/29/2005
• Published: 04/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Patel, Kalpesh, Wong, Felix, Coulombe, Joseph, MacLeod, Stewart, Owen, Perry, Mohiuddin, Osman
• Application Number:
  US11/238,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20070088630A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

A system and method that facilitates automated assessment and/or deployment related to computer network(s) is provided. The assessment system can be employed to automatically discover network asset(s) and inventory the discovered asset(s) (e.g., hardware and/or software). The deployment system can utilize the inventory to (1) create diagram(s) of the network asset(s) and/or proposed infrastructure; (2) create a customized, detailed proposal to upgrade and/or migrate existing infrastructure; (3) create checklist(s) and/or job aids to facilitate upgrade and/or migration; (4) automate setup of the network infrastructure, (5) identify hardware and/or software compatibility issue(s), if any; and/or (6) prepare a software license summary. For example, the system and method can be employed to quickly provide information to business decision makers to facilitate the decision-making process with regard to migration of the computer network infrastructure.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented automated network assessment system comprising the following computer executable components:

an inventory data store that stores information regarding hardware component(s) and/or software component(s) of a computer network; and

, an inventory collection component that automatically discovers hardware component(s) and/or software component(s) and stores information regarding the discovered hardware component(s) and/or software component(s) in the inventory data store.

2. The system of claim 1, the inventory collection component comprising one or more inventory collectors, each inventory collector discovers detail information associated with hardware component(s) and/or software component(s) in a particular manner.

3. The system of claim 2, at least one inventory collector associated with Win32®

, Windows®

Management Information (WMI), Active Directory®

(AD), LanManager API, Service Control Manager and/or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)),

4. The system of claim 1, the inventory collection component remotely connected to computers using remote procedure calls.

5. The system of claim 1, the inventory collection component remotely connected to computers using distributed component object model (DCOM).

6. The system of claim 1, the inventory collection component remotely connected to computers using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a legacy inventory collector installed on a particular computer on the network.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inventory wizard employed to specify information a user desires the system to collect.

9. A computer-implemented automated network deployment system comprising the following computer executable components:

an inventory data store that stores information regarding hardware component(s) and/or software component(s) of a computer network; and

, a project proposal wizard employed to facilitate generation of a detailed proposal based, at least in part, upon information stored in the inventory data store.

10. The system of claim 9, the project proposal wizard generates a detailed project plan that includes a list of software to be installed and configurations selected.

11. The system of claim 9, the project proposal wizard automatically generates a diagram of a current state of the network and/or a proposed state of the network.

12. The system of claim 9, the project proposal wizard automatically generates a checklist that provides details of an upgrade/migration plan that describes the location of a service and one or more step required to complete the upgrade/migration.

13. The system of claim 9, the project proposal wizard automatically generates workflow automation information which is stored in the inventory data store, the workflow automation information describes task sequencing, tasks and steps associated with tasks.

14. The system of claim 13, the workflow automation information further includes precedence constraints, a precedence constraint defines a state required for a particular step to execute, the particular step executed only after all of its precedence constraints, if any, have been satisfied.

15. The system of claim 9, further comprising a compatibility component that identifies a known hardware and/or software compatibility issue associated with the network and/or a computer on the network.

16. The system of claim 9, the project proposal wizard automatically generates scripts to be employed in configuration of a software application and/or an operating system.

17. A computer-implemented method of generating proposal information comprising the following computer executable acts:

receiving information to be employed in generating a proposal;

retrieving inventory information from an inventory data store; and

generating the proposal based, at least in part, upon the information to be employed in generating the proposal and the retrieved inventory information.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising at least one of the following computer executable acts:

generating a task list based, at least in part, upon the information to be employed in generating the proposal and the retrieved inventory information; and

,

generating automation information based, at least in part, upon the information to be employed in generating the proposal and the retrieved inventory information.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating workflow automation information which is stored in the inventory data store, the workflow automation information describes task sequencing, tasks and steps associated with tasks.

20. The method of claim 19, the workflow automation information further includes precedence constraints, a precedence constraint defines a state required for a particular step to execute, the particular step executed only after all of its precedence constraints, if any, have been satisfied.