Model-Based Policy Application

• US 20080059214A1
• Filed: 01/12/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wilson, John, James, David, Vega, Rene, Pan, Zhengkai, Sanghvi, Ashvikumar, Winner, Eric, Woolsey, Jeffrey, Narayanan, Rajagopalan, Parchem, John, McCollum, Raymond, Lassettre, Edwin, Tabbara, Bassam, Voloshin, Vitaly, Rajarajan, Vij, Fries, Robert, Mensching, Rob, Outhred, Geoffrey, Lakshminarayanan, Anand, Grealish, Kevin, Hydrie, Aamer, Copeland, Bruce, Papaefstathiou, Efstathios, Welland, Robert, Healy, Michael, Mohammed, Mazhar, Vinberg, Anders, Hunt, Galen, Hardwick, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6236 between heterogeneous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

In accordance with certain aspects of the model-based policy application, each of a plurality of policies is associated with appropriate parts of a model of a heterogeneous system. A deployment agent is invoked to apply each of the plurality of policies to components associated with the parts of the model. An identification of a change to one of the plurality of policies is received, and the deployment agent is also invoked to apply the changed policy to selected ones of the components associated with the parts of the model.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

associate each of a plurality of policies with appropriate parts of a model of a heterogeneous system;

invoke a deployment agent to apply each of the plurality of policies to components associated with the parts of the model;

receive an identification of a change to one of the plurality of policies; and

invoke the deployment agent to apply the changed policy to selected ones of the components associated with the parts of the model.

2. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions further causes the one or more processors to:

receive an identification of a change to the system, the change to the system being at least one of;

addition of a component to the system,

removal of a component from the system,

change of a type of a component of the system, or

addition, removal, or modification of a relationship among the components of the system;

associate appropriate ones of the plurality of policies with parts of the model associated with one or more components affected by the change to the system; and

apply appropriate ones of the plurality of policies to the affected one or more components in the system.

3. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein to associate each of the plurality of policies with appropriate parts of the model is to:

receive a policy for a heterogeneous subsystem of the heterogeneous system;

identify parts of the model of the heterogeneous system to which the policy applies; and

associate the policy with the identified parts.

4. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 3, wherein to identify parts of the model is to access information pages associated with components of the model and identify, from the information in the information pages, the components of the model to which the policy applies.

5. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

identify one or more parts of the model that are affected by the change; and

modify each policy associated with the one or more parts to reflect the change.

6. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein all policies that apply to the heterogeneous system are associated with selected parts of the model of the heterogeneous system.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a policy for a heterogeneous subsystem of a system;

identifying parts of a model of the system to which the policy applies;

associating the policy with the identified parts; and

invoking a deployment agent to apply the policy to components of the system corresponding to the identified parts in the model.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein all policies that apply to the system are associated with selected parts of the model of the system.

9. A method as recited in claim 7, further comprising performing management of the system using the model of the system, the management of the system including deploying software to components of the system and monitoring health of the system.

10. A method as recited in claim 7, further comprising maintaining the model of the system at a central repository.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising maintaining at least a portion of the model at selected components of the system.

12. A method as recited in claim 7, further comprising changing the policy for one part of the model based on one or more other parts of the model.

13. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein identifying parts of the model comprises accessing information pages associated with components of the model and identifying, from the information in the information pages, the components of the model to which the policy applies.

14. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein identifying parts of the model comprises accessing relationship information associated with components of the model and identifying, from the relationship information, the components of the model to which the policy applies.

15. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of a change to a policy of a system;

identifying one or more parts of a model of the system that are affected by the change, each of the one or more parts having an associated policy;

modifying each policy associated with the one or more parts to reflect the change; and

invoking a deployment agent to apply each modified policy to components of the system corresponding to the identified one or more parts.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

receiving an identification of a change to the system, the change to the system being addition of a component to the system;

associating the policy with one or more parts of the model associated with the added component; and

invoking the deployment agent to apply the policy to the added component in the system.

17. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein identifying one or more parts of the model comprises accessing information pages associated with components of the model and identifying, from the information in the information pages, one or more components of the model to which the policy applies.

18. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising changing the policy for one part of the model based on one or more other parts of the model.

19. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein identifying one or more parts of the model comprises accessing relationship information associated with components of the model and identifying, from the relationship information, the components of the model to which the policy applies.

20. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising performing management of the system using the model of the system, the management of the system including deploying software to components of the system and predicting capacity of the system.