SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING PACKAGE PROFILES IN SOFTWARE PACKAGE REPOSITORIES USING SELECTIVE SUBSETS OF PACKAGES

• US 20120054733A1
• Filed: 09/01/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Vidal, Seth Kelby, Antill, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,713,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating package profiles in software package repositories using selective subsets of packages. A physical or virtual client machine can host a set of installed software packages, including operating system, application, and/or other software. A package manager tracks the set of installed packages and reports the inventory of those packages to one or more package servers. The package server(s) can build an aggregate package population record reflecting all packages installed on all machines in the managed network. The package server(s) can then generate arbitrarily selected package subsets from the aggregate package collection, and group or configure sets of machines based on common or compatible package subsets. Machine groups dedicated to different tasks or applications as reflected in their package subsets can then have updating, security, and/or other management tasks carried out on a collective basis.

Claims

1. A method for grouping clients based on selected package subsets, comprising:

receiving an inventory of a set of installed packages from each client in a managed network;

generating an aggregate package population record from the inventory of the set of installed packages received from each client;

receiving an identification of at least one package subset, the at least one package subset comprising selected packages from the aggregate package population record;

comparing the set of package subsets to the set of installed packages for each client in the managed network; and

identifying at least one client group comprising client machines whose set of installed packages matches the at least one package subset.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the inventory of the set of installed packages from each client is generated via a package manager hosted on each client.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the inventory of the set of installed packages comprises an identification of the packages in the inventory of the set of installed packages.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the inventory of the set of installed packages comprises a set of attributes for at least some of the packages in the inventory of the set of installed packages.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the set of attributes comprises at least one of a package name identifier, a package version identifier, a package epoch identifier, a package timestamp identifier, a package size identifier, a file name identifier, a file version identifier, a checksum value, a package release identifier, a file timestamp identifier, or a file size identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, where the aggregate package population record is generated in at least one remote management platform.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one remote management platform comprises at least one of a package management platform or a network management platform.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one remote management platform comprises a package management platform, aggregate package population record is stored in at least one software repository associated with the package management platform.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving an identification of at least one subset comprises at least one of receiving a selection of at least one subset via user input or receiving a selection of at least one subset via an automatic selection.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating a software package update for the at least one client group to update the at least one subset.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a plurality of software package updates for a plurality of client groups based on a plurality of identified package subsets.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an update to the aggregate package population record based on a detected change in the set of installed software packages for the at least one client.

13. A system for generating a grouping of clients based on selected package subsets, comprising:

a data store storing an inventory of a set of installed software packages on each client in a managed network; and

a processor, configured to communicate with the data store and to-generate an aggregate package population record from the inventory of

the set of installed packages received from each client,

receive an identification of at least one package subset, the at least one package subset comprising selected packages from the aggregate package population record,

compare the set of package subsets to the set of installed packages for each client in the managed network, and

identify at least one client group comprising client machines whose set of installed packages matches the at least one package subset.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the inventory of the set of installed packages from each client is generated via a package manager hosted on each client.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the inventory of the set of installed packages comprises an identification of the packages in the inventory of the set of installed packages.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the inventory of the set of installed packages comprises a set of attributes for at least some of the packages in the inventory of the set of installed packages.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the set of attributes comprises at least one of a package name identifier, a package version identifier, a package epoch identifier, a package timestamp identifier, a package size identifier, a file name identifier, a file version identifier, a checksum value, a package release identifier, a file timestamp identifier, or a file size identifier.

18. The system of claim 13, where the aggregate package population record is generated in at least one remote management platform.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one remote management platform comprises at least one of a package management platform or a network management platform.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one remote management platform comprises a package management platform, aggregate package population record is stored in at least one software repository associated with the package management platform.