Centralized Configuration Data Management For Distributed Clients

• US 20080196107A1
• Filed: 04/11/2008
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Williams, Juanya Davon, Dharmarajan, Baskaran, Yip, Ying-Kin Tony, Anson, Scott M., Oliver, Walter, Maccanti, Maximiliano, Bond, Claudia Irene
• Granted Patent: US 7,827,199 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0863 by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager

Abstract

System and method for managing a plurality of clients. A request to implement a change in configuration data is received from a user. The configuration data relates to an operation of a client. The received request is stored in a memory area. Computer-executable instructions request topology data from the memory area based on the configuration data to identify the client. The requested topology data is received from the memory area. Computer-executable instructions identify a notification service associated with the client and notify the identified notification service of the change in the configuration data.

Claims

1. A system for managing a plurality of clients, said system comprising:

a memory area adapted to store topology data, said topology data identifying a relationship between the plurality of clients;

a notification adapted to indicate a change in configuration data, said configuration data relating to an operation of at least one affected client from the plurality of clients; and

a notification service adapted to search the memory area in response to the notification to identify the affected client based on the topology data and to notify the affected client of the change in the configuration data.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface component adapted to receive a request to change the configuration data.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising computer-executable instructions to verify that said request to change the configuration data comprises authorization data authorizing the change in the configuration data.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the interface component comprises a user interface.

5. The system of claim 2, further comprising an application programming interface adapted to provide communication between the memory area and the interface component.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a cache manager adapted to receive a notification manifest from the notification service, said notification manifest defining the change in the configuration data and specifying the affected client, said cache manager further adapted to execute the change in the configuration data on the affected client.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second memory area adapted to store data indicating a status of the change in the configuration data.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to identify the client affected by the change in the configuration data based on the topology data stored in the memory area, said computer-executable instructions further adapted to generate a notification manifest identifying the client affected by the change in the configuration data.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising computer-executable instructions to generate the notification as a function of the notification manifest and to send the notification to the memory area, wherein the memory area is adapted to store the notification, and wherein the notification service is adapted to access the memory area to receive said notification and to notify said affected client of the change in the configuration data in response to receiving said notification.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the notification service is adapted to notify said affected client of the change in the configuration data by sending the notification manifest to a cache manager associated with the affected client, said cache manger being adapted to receive the notification manifest and to process the notification manifest to identify the change in the configuration data, said cache manager further being adapted to execute the change in the configuration data on the affected client.

11. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components for performing a method to manage a plurality of clients, said computer-readable media comprising:

a configuration component to store topology data describing a relationship between the plurality of clients, said topology data further identifying a client affected by a change in configuration data, said configuration data relating to an operation of the client;

an interface component to receive a request to change the configuration data and to receive the topology data stored by the configuration component, said received topology data identifying the client affected by the change in the configuration data;

a notification component to notify the affected client of the change in the configuration data in response to the interface component receiving the request; and

a cache managing component to execute the change in the configuration data on the affected client in response to the notification component notifying the affected client of the change in the configuration data.

12. The computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the interface component is adapted to identify the affected client based on the topology data stored by the configuration component and to generate a notification manifest in response to receiving the stored topology data, said notification manifest defining the change in the configuration data and specifying the affected client

13. The computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the interface component is adapted to generate a notification as a function of the generated notification manifest and to send the generated notification to the configuration component, wherein the configuration component is adapted to store the notification, and wherein the notification component is adapted to access the configuration component to obtain the notification and to notify the cache managing component of the change in the configuration data in response to receiving said notification.

14. The computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the notification component is adapted to notify the cache managing component of the change in the configuration data by sending the notification manifest to the cache managing component, wherein the cache managing component is adapted to receive the notification manifest and to process the notification manifest to identify the change in the configuration data to execute the change in the configuration data on the affected client.

15. The computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the notification component is adapted to store a record in a memory area in response to notifying the affected client of the change in the configuration data, said record indicating that the affected client has been notified of the change in the configuration data.