CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT UTILITY

• US 20120110142A1
• Filed: 10/29/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Montagna, James Charles, Stone, Anthony Keith, Gajan, Martin Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,356,088 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatuses and methods for managing the configuration settings of one or more servers within a business. The configuration management apparatuses and methods generally relate to creating a configuration schema; creating configuration items to assign to the configuration schema; assigning the configuration schema to one or more servers in the business; capturing a snapshot of the configuration settings for a server based on the configuration schema and assigning it to the configuration schema as the reference snapshot; capturing a current snapshot of the actual configuration settings for one or more servers; and comparing the reference snapshot with the current snapshot to determine the differences in the configuration settings. Embodiments of the present invention also allow a report to be generated that displays the differences between the reference snapshot and the current snapshot, such as the new settings, changed settings, and missing settings.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing a reference snapshot of a first plurality of configuration settings for a first server;

capturing a current snapshot of a second plurality of configuration settings for a second server; and

determining, using a processing device, differences between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a configuration schema to a first server; and

wherein capturing the reference snapshot of the first plurality of configuration settings for a first server comprises following the configuration schema assigned to the first server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a configuration schema to the second server; and

wherein capturing the current snapshot of the second plurality of configuration settings for the second server comprises following the configuration schema assigned to the second server.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

assigning the reference snapshot to the configuration schema.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the first server from which to take the reference snapshot of the first plurality of configuration settings.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a configuration schema; and

assigning the configuration schema to the first server or the second server to capture the first plurality of configuration settings or the second plurality of configuration settings.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising;

assigning a plurality of configuration items to the configuration schema describing where to capture the first plurality of configuration settings or the second plurality of configuration settings.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server and the second server are the same server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server and the second server are different servers.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising;

capturing a reference snapshot of a third plurality of configuration settings for a first server;

capturing a current snapshot of a fourth plurality of configuration settings for a second server; and

determining differences between the third plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the fourth plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the differences are new settings, changed settings, or missing settings.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a report illustrating differences identified between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying an excluded configuration setting; and

excluding the excluded configuration setting from the report.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the differences between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot and the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot are illustrated by displaying values or nomenclature for the differences identified.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference snapshot is a baseline snapshot.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a report illustrating an error encountered in capturing at least one configuration setting.

17. A system comprising:

a memory device having computer readable program code store thereon; and

a processing device operatively coupled to the memory device, wherein the processing device is configured to execute the computer readable program code for;

capturing a reference snapshot of a first plurality of configuration settings for a first server;

capturing a current snapshot of a second plurality of configuration settings for a second server; and

determining differences between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

assigning a configuration schema to a first server; and

wherein capturing the reference snapshot of the first plurality of configuration settings for a first server comprises following the configuration schema assigned to the first server.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

assigning a configuration schema to the second server; and

wherein capturing the current snapshot of the second plurality of configuration settings for the second server comprises following the configuration schema assigned to the second server.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

assigning the reference snapshot to the configuration schema.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

identifying the first server from which to take the reference snapshot of the first plurality of configuration settings.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

creating a configuration schema; and

assigning the configuration schema to the first server or the second server to capture the first plurality of configuration settings or the second plurality of configuration settings.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

assigning a plurality of configuration items to the configuration schema describing where to capture the first plurality of configuration settings or the second plurality of configuration settings.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the first server and the second server are the same server.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the first server and the second server are different servers.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

capturing a reference snapshot of a third plurality of configuration settings for a first server;

capturing a current snapshot of a fourth plurality of configuration settings for a second server; and

determining differences between the third plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the fourth plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the differences are new settings, changed settings, or missing settings.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

creating a report illustrating differences identified between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

identifying an excluded configuration setting; and

excluding the excluded configuration setting from the report.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the differences between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot and the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot are illustrated by displaying values or nomenclature for the differences identified.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein the reference snapshot is a baseline snapshot.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing device is further configured to execute the computer readable program code for:

creating a report illustrating an error encountered in capturing at least one configuration setting.

33. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code portions embodied therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion configured for capturing a reference snapshot of a first plurality of configuration settings for a first server;

an executable portion configured for capturing a current snapshot of a second plurality of configuration settings for a second server; and

an executable portion configured for determining differences between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for assigning a configuration schema to a first server; and

wherein the executable portion configured for capturing the reference snapshot of the first plurality of configuration settings for a first server comprises following the configuration schema assigned to the first server.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for assigning a configuration schema to the second server; and

wherein the executable portion configured for capturing the current snapshot of the second plurality of configuration settings for the second server comprises following the configuration schema assigned to the second server.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for assigning the reference snapshot to the configuration schema.

37. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for identifying the first server from which to take the reference snapshot of the first plurality of configuration settings.

38. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for creating a configuration schema; and

an executable portion configured for assigning the configuration schema to the first server or the second server to capture the first plurality of configuration settings or the second plurality of configuration settings.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for assigning a plurality of configuration items to the configuration schema describing where to capture the first plurality of configuration settings or the second plurality of configuration settings.

40. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the first server and the second server are the same server.

41. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the first server and the second server are different servers.

42. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for capturing a reference snapshot of a third plurality of configuration settings for a first server;

an executable portion configured for capturing a current snapshot of a fourth plurality of configuration settings for a second server; and

an executable portion configured for determining differences between the third plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the fourth plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

43. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the differences are new settings, changed settings, or missing settings.

44. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for creating a report illustrating differences identified between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot with the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for identifying an excluded configuration setting; and

an executable portion configured for excluding the excluded configuration setting from the report.

46. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the differences between the first plurality of configuration settings in the reference snapshot and the second plurality of configuration settings in the current snapshot are illustrated by displaying values or nomenclature for the differences identified.

47. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the reference snapshot is a baseline snapshot.

48. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprises:

an executable portion configured for creating a report illustrating an error encountered in capturing at least one configuration setting.