Object-based computer system management

• US 20070192453A1
• Filed: 02/16/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Iqbal, Khuzaima, James, David, Copeland, Bruce, Healy, Michael, Pan, Zhengkai, Narayanan, Rajagopalan, Phillips, Jeffry, Sutherland, Jeffrey, Ingalls, Dustin, Song, Donald, Calabig, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,564 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method, system, and architecture for managing computer systems is provided. A management system employs management objects (MOs) to provide administrators the ability to intuitively express the administrative intent in an information technology (IT) environment, and to act out the administrative intent based on the information gathered by the management system. Managed elements of an IT environment, such as, by way of example, hardware components, software applications, software updates, software distribution policies, configurations, settings, etc., may be expressed as MOs. Actions, such as, by way of example, detect, install/apply, remove, remediate, enumerate, etc., may be associated with the MOs. The management system manages the computer systems by deploying the appropriate MOs and their associated actions onto the computer systems, and performing the actions on the computer systems.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for managing elements in an information technology environment, the method comprising:

retrieving a managed object (MO) definition, the MO definition representing a managed element on the computer system, the MO definition being associated with an action;

determining the action for the MO definition;

determining whether valid results of performing the action are in a cache;

if valid results of performing the action are in the cache, using the valid results from the cache; and

if valid results of performing the action are not in the cache,

invoking an appropriate MO handler to perform the action; and

storing the results of performing the action in the cache.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the action associated with the MO definition is specified in a policy.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is to apply the managed element represented by the MO definition on the computer system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is to remove the managed element represented by the MO definition on the computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is to detect the managed element represented by the MO definition on the computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is to remediate the managed element represented by the MO definition on the computer system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the MO definition is a composite MO definition comprised of a plurality of contained MO definitions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the plurality of contained MO definitions is another composite MO definition.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising evaluating the inheritance and composition relationships, if any, of the MO definition.

10. An object-based management system server comprising:

a user interface component that allows a user to author a MO definition for a managed element, assign the MO definition to at least one machine, and specify an action for the MO definition, the MO definition comprises a unique identifier and a detection logic;

a data store storing the MO definition, the assignment information, and the specified action; and

a server MO manager component that deploys the MO definition to the at least one machine.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the server MO manager component evaluates MO relationships associated with the MO definition.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein evaluating MO relationships comprises resolving detected conflicts between MOs.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein deploying the MO definition comprises deploying changes to the MO definition since the last time the MO definition was deployed.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the server MO manager component deploys the specified action for the MO definition to the at least one machine.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the user interface component presents different pages depending on the type of MO definition being authored.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the action is a request for an inventory of instances of the MO definition, and further comprising a server inventory manager component that deploys the request for the inventory of instances of the MO definition to the at least one machine, and receives an inventory report of the requested inventory of instances of the MO definition.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the user interface allows the user to specify a state definition and assign the state definition to the at least one machine, the state definition specifying a desired state of the at least one machine, and further comprising a server desired state manager component that deploys the state definition to the at least one machine, and receives a report of compliance or non-compliance to the state definition.

18. An object-based management system client comprising:

an MO policy/definition system component that downloads MO definitions from a server, and stores the downloaded MO definitions in a data store, each MO definition corresponding to a managed element;

a client MO manager component that retrieves from the data store a first MO definition, determines a desired action for the first MO definition, determines whether valid results of performing the desired action are in a cache; and

upon determining that valid results of performing the action are not in the cache, invoking an appropriate MO handler to perform the action, and storing the results of performing the action in the cache, wherein the client MO manager component is invoked by the MO policy/definition system component subsequent to storing the downloaded MO definitions in the data store; and

a plurality of MO handlers, each MO handler configured to execute one or more actions for one or more MO definitions.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising a client inventory manager component that receives a request for an inventory of instances of one or more of the MO definitions, takes the inventory of instances of one or more of the MO definitions, and responds with the results of the inventory.

20. The system of claim 18 further comprising a client desired state manager component that receives a state definition specifying a desired state, checks for the instance of the desired state, and responds with a report of compliance or non-compliance to the specified desired state.